Democracy, Intra-Party Struggle and Good Governance in Nigeria: The People's Democratic Party and all Progressive Congress Experience

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http://www. europeanjournalofscientificresearch.com

Democracy, Intra-Party Struggle and Good Governance in Nigeria: The People's Democratic Party and all

Progressive Congress Experience

Atelhe, George Atelhe

Department of Political Science, Faculty of Social Sciences University of Calabar, Calabar

Abdullahi Mohammed Lawal

Alagh, Terhile

Abstract

Democracy is no doubt the most suitable system of government in the modern day political system and development world over. Political parties and election are vital tools necessary for the achievement and advancement of good governance world over and Nigeria in particular. The paper, therefore, focus on intra-party struggle/conflict and how it affects good governance in Nigeria from 2013 to 2019 with general emphasis on 2015 and 2019 elections. However, the history of the country’s democratic experience shows that elections and electoral process have generated so much tension which has in some cases threatened the corporate existence of a country as indivisible entity. As a result, the paper, therefore, made attempt to among others, that political parties in Nigeria especially the PDP and APC should go back to the drawing board and understand their roles as political parties such as political socialization, internal democracy, adherence to party ideology etc. through this, they can instil in the minds of their members the democratic tenets and value which they will exhibit if eventually elected into power. By implication, this will doubt help in consolidating good governance in the country.

Keywords: Democracy, intra-party and Good governance

1. Introduction

Democracy alongside political parties with vibrant ideologies and manifestoes are very important tenets that ensure good governance world over and Nigeria in particular. They remain pillars of democracy and channel through which effective services and good governance could be delivered to the people. As observed by Pwanagba (2015), without ideologically-based, strong and independent political parties, good governance is likely not be deepened. This is because, political parties should not be an avenue only for capturing political power but should provide a platform for delivering good governance by ensuring good living conditions to the people by instituting viable policies that will improve on the quality of life of the populace.

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Democratic Party and all Progressive Congress Experience 492

The word democracy is derived from two Greek words “demo” which means “people” and

“cracy” which means “rule” i.e. rule by the people or government by the people, however, all attempt by extant literature in defining the term is centred on the people (majority) in the governance of the state ( Obi & Oddih, 2006).

Democracy is all about popular participation on the part of the electorate and transparency and accountability on the part of the elected representatives. Democracy has some platform that will better the actual operation of the system in a given state which political party is most important. For Nnoli (2003), political party is an organized group of people who come together because they have a common conviction about how political power should be used for the general welfare of the people and who want to get power through a legitimate way in a democratic setting. He further emphasized the importance of this definition in three phases (1) political parties are different from other organizations (2) are people interest oriented (3) political parties are not pressure groups that want to lobby or influence government policies rather they want to grab power and be the ones to direct government policies. This is what separates political parties from all other such organizations as trade unions, professional associations and so on.

Intra-party struggle/conflict is when there is a prolonged disagreement by members of the same political party which threaten the harmony and smooth running of the party. This kind of conflict is not strange to human behaviour in a group. This is because in a group dynamics, clashes of interests and egos often occur. But this conflict is harming because it often results in some members selling out to other parties or sabotaging the general objective of the party or some simply walking out of the party.

According to Okonkwo and Felix (2016) for democracy to be truly a representative government, political parties must have the capacity and willingness to produce people who can provide for the welfare of the people and protect public interest. Intra-party struggle appears to obstruct the realization of orderliness during internal politicking. In Nigeria for instance, democracy and good governance no doubt has been in continual trouble of lack of internal democracy as a result of ethnicisation of the party politics, bad political leadership, corruption, anti-party and party indiscipline, lack of clear ideologies and manifestos, politicization of the military as well as absence of internal party politics.

In a similar view, Azazi (2012) attributed the rising cases of security in the Nigeria to the PDP policy of zoning of elective position. And because of how lucrative Nigerian political offices are, politicians often deploy “the any means necessary” approach. According to Edo (2002) the acquisition of political power in Nigeria is equal to the acquisition of the key and license to run the national treasury for personal use.

Therefore, the paper examines the challenges of democracy and intra-party struggle as it affect good governance in Nigeria. In other words, to what extent could good governance be enshrined? What are the challenges of good governance? Is internal democracy a major tenet of good governance? What factors could be injected into the current system to make it run stable and democratic? To answer these questions, the paper is organized into four sections- the first section introduced the paper, the concepts of democracy, intra-party and good governance are examined in the second section, the third section is dedicated to the assessment of intra-party struggle in nigeria, evidence from PDP/APC experience from 2013 to 2019. Conclusion and prognosis formed the last section.

2. Conceptual Clarifications

Three basic concepts which form the bedrock of this paper will be discussed in this section. They are democracy, intra-party struggle and good governance.

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2.1. Democracy

To conceptualize the concept of democracy, Ogundiya & Baba (2007) argued that participation and accountability are the core tenets of democracy. The people decide who rule them through the ballot and those who they elected to rule them must give account of their stewardship after they finished serving. Democracy is founded on the principle of the rule of law which is opposite of dictatorship or military rule (Kwasau, 2013).

Democracy is also a system of government whereby citizens enjoy a number of civil and political rights, in which their leaders are elected in free, fair and credible elections and accountable under the law. According to (Atelhe in Agbaje, 1999:192) democracy as a political practice is characterized by the following attributes: civil liberty, rule of law, constitutionalism and popular participation/representation, periodic elections etc. Democracy, therefore, remains the best system of government in the modern day political process because people are allowed to make choice among many alternatives in terms of leadership and policies of government. Above all fundamental human rights are guaranteed and protected especially freedom of speech to express their opinion about the working of the government in their respective countries. The bottom line here is Nigeria really a democratic country going by the above definitions?

2.2. Intra-Party Struggle

The term intra-party struggle/conflict is coined to include all battles and internal strife within a political party that are unfavorable to normal nomination or election of party flag bearers, as against inter-party politics which is a political activity among many political parties. This ugly trend manifest in the form of opposition within a particular political party (Okonkwo & Felix, 2016). Democratic values and tenets are important for good governance, as well as enhancing the party strength. It makes mockery to stand for a democratic election and yet there is no practice of democracy within the party internally.

The voters readily perceive the contradiction in the party that does not practice what it preaches, this trend may likely not favour them at general election as in the case of the PDP in the 2015 general election

Okoli (2001) pointed that, intra-party conflict is like having an opposition party within a political party. This is a situation where there are factions in a political party that are fighting over who becomes the flag bearer of the party in general elections. This situation often leads to anti-party activity, disloyalty and sabotage. . Clashes of few powerful members’ interests and sometimes ego due to personality differences are among the factors that cause intra-party conflict, and beside this is the undemocratic way that has come to characterize the way and manner party leaders run the party (Okoli, 2001).

2.3. Good Governance

This is the efficient and effective use and management of public institution and resources in such a way that the rule of law is enshrined and the general welfare of the public is promoted. According to Johnson (1991) good governance involves investing in projects that has the general interest of the people, and operating a system that punishes corruption but guarantee fundamental human right and accountability of public office holders.

UNESCO (2010) identified eight (8) major characteristics of good governance, to include:

participation, rule of law, transparency and responsiveness, others are consensus oriented, equity and inclusiveness, effectiveness and efficiency, as well as accountability. UNESCO (2010) further elaborate by saying good governance ensure that corruption is reduced, the minorities, including the vulnerable, have their say in decision making in the society. UNESCO (2010) concluded by pointing out good governance is ideal but it is not possible to have a perfect governance. That only a few countries have try in the area of achieving good governance in total. That the ideal of good governance should be continuously pursued.

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3. Methodology

The paper examines democracy and intra-party struggle as it affect good governance in Nigeria from the experience of PDP/APC political parties, the methodology adopted is qualitative in method, as a result descriptive research design is used to guide the study. The qualitative descriptive study is a comprehensive summarization in every concepts of events experience by individuals or groups of individuals. It involves the utilization of enormous data that are collated by government ministries, departments and agencies, private organization, civil society groups and scholarly publications.

4. Intra-Party Struggle in Nigeria

This segment of this paper shall bring to the fore and analysis of some intra-party struggle/conflict in Nigeria from period under review (2013 to 2019). With focus on the two major political parties in the country; the People Democratic Party (PDP) and the All Progressive Progress (APC). To begin with, APC as a political party was formed on the 6^th February, 2013, it comprises of merger of some opposition parties in preparation for the 2015 general election. These political parties include, the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), All Nigerian People Party (ANPP) and faction of All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA). 2013 and 2014 was seen as the period of cross-carpeting from one political party to the other.

PDP conducted a mini convention in 2013, at the venue of the convention which was held at the Eagle square Abuja, seven (7) then PDP state governors, six northern state governors (Adamawa, Kano, Kaduna, Jigawa and Niger) and one South-South governor (River) with almost all members of national and state assemblies with their supporters walked out of the venue of the convention to form a splitter group called the N-PDP which later stroke a deal with the All Progressive Congress (APC).

The decamping and cross carpeting continue up to early 2015 few month to the general election. On the part of APC, former governor of Kano State, Mallam Ibrahim Shekarau decamped from APC to PDP as a result of the then governor of the state Rabiu Kwankwaso taking over of the APC leadership in Kano state, Shekarau was compensated by the then president Jonathan by appointing him minister of education in 2014. The same scenario happened in Sokoto state were the former governor of the state, Attahiru Bafarawa also decamped from APC to PDP in 2014.

PDP suffered most as far as cross –carpeting and decamping is concern especially from the northern part of the country as APC is seen as party of Muslims as against the PDP that was regarded as a Christian party. Another striking decamping then was that of Atiku Abubakar, a former Vice president, from PDP to APC, he later contested for the party’s primaries were he lost to the incumbent president Mohammadu Buhari, other notable decamping then include that of the former speaker house of representative, Aminu Waziri Tambuwal who decamped to APC and contested for the governorship of Sokoto state, also in Kebbi State, a PDP senator Abubakar Atiku Bagudu decamped from PDP to APC and contested the governorship of the state. At the end of the decamping and cross-carpeting, in March 2015, APC won the presidential election and also won governorship election in majority of the State, at the same time winning the majority of senate and House of Representative seats.

The crisis with the APC started immediately after its inauguration at the centre, where the leadership of the national assembly emerged against the consent of the party and the presidency, Senator Bukola Saraki emerged the senate president against the preferred candidate Senator Ahman Lawal from Yobe State. The same scenario happened in the House of Representatives where the speakership went to Honourable Yakubu Dogora against the preferred candidate Hon Femi Gbajabiamila. Since then the leadership of the national Assembly are always at the logger head with the executive, this can be attested with the manner in which the former senate president was seen moving from one court to another with different charges of corruption, non-declaration of assets, and sponsorship of armed thugs (Offa robbery case) among others. The National Assembly on their own side refused to confirm nominees sent to them from the presidency especially that of the acting

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chairman of the Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC), delay in the passage of appropriation bill and such other bills sent to them from the executive.

Towards the 2019 general election, history repeated itself were some governors and many members of the national assembly from the APC decamped back to PDP. The affected governors are Kwara, Sokoto and Benue states. The senate president, Bukola Saraki, speaker of the House of Representative also decamped back to PDP. Other Senators include Senator Rabiu Kwankwaso from Kano state and Senator Dino Maleye from Kogi State, among others. Though APC was able to hold onto power at the centre after 2019 general election but lost about six states to PDP as a result of internal crises within the party, the affected states are Bauchi, Oyo, Adamawa, Sokoto and Benue.

Zamfara state which the APC won was also given to PDP because of the internal crisis within the APC in the state. APC could not also participate in the 2019 in the general election in Rivers State and Cross River state because of the factions within the party in the States. This can be attested to the recent judgment delivered by the national assembly election tribunal in Cross River State were the only House of Representative seat won by APC was given back to PDP because as at the time of election, APC has no candidates.

Another striking decamping was that of the former vice president Atiku Abubakar in 2018 back to PDP where he eventually emerged the party presidential candidate. The former minority leader of the senate, Senator Godswill Akpabio, also decamped from PDP to APC, though Akpabio lost his senate seat to PDP but he was compensated with a ministerial appointment.

5. Democracy, Intra-Party Struggle and the Challenges of Good Governance in Nigeria

Democracy and internal democracy within any political party has significant role to play as far as good governance and representation is concern. Internal party activities such as membership, recruitment, socialization, training, discipline and resources of the party have profound influence on good governance because political parties serve as an avenue through which political leaders emerge. When political parties are weak and ineffective, politics is reduced to unbridled opportunity and self-serving interest of individual politicians who may derail nation-building process and democratic project.

The international institute for democracy and electoral assistance (2006 cited in Omilusi, 2016), in a report, summarized thus: that party congress is where leaders and candidates of political party are nominated and elected but that conflict begins when party bosses or “moneybags” have their preferred candidate who they want to impose on the members of the party. That the main culprits of intra-party conflict are godfathers and “moneybags”. That these godfathers or “moneybags” have made it hard for any candidate who is not in their good book to emerge. And this is lack of internal democracy.

According to the IDEA’s report, political parties in Nigeria deployed several tricks or ways to deny some members participation in primary election. These include:

The anointed of a particular candidate by powerful figures within the party such as state governors, godfathers, “moneybags’ etc. enlisting the supports of these few powerful members threaten the chances of others who may be force to withdraw from contesting

Zoning: this deny some section of the members who are not from a particular zone from contesting.

Use of violence and thugs to intimidate members who want to go against all odds to contest Monetization of the electoral process which makes it very expensive for some people who want to aspire for any elective position.

Election by “result declaration”, this is when the party go ahead to announce candidate without due process or without resorting to party election.

Both PDP and APC as political parties have abandoned their traditional roles in a democracy, thereby constituting more of a clog in the wheel of this system. According to Momoh (2010), the lack of political education of citizens, lack of regular party congress even at the grass root, non-fulfillment of financial obligation consistently by members have led to the hijack of different political party by

“moneybags” who do everything within their whims and caprices to produce their individual political

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outcome rather than the overall party outcome. This behaviour manifests in almost all the political parties in Nigeria and has a negative consequence to good governance in the country.

Since the return of democratic rule in 1999, nigeria has witnessed series of political challenges such as imposition of candidates on party members by their godfathers, no defined ideology which a party is known for and no clearly spelled out manifestoes, “moneybag” politics, anti-party activities by members etc ( Abimbola & Adesole, 2012). The absence of internal democracy in both the PDP and APC, as the two major political party in Nigeria constitutes a big threat to good governance in the country.

Intra-party struggle/conflict diverts the energy and the attention of government from making policies and taking actions that will improve the living conditions of the people since they are busy trying to resolve the crisis generated within the party and finding ways to calm tempers of the aggrieved members. What really happens is that government will lose control and the confident of the people of Nigeria. This situation has no doubt affected the delivery of good governance to Nigerians, and bad governance is reflected in all aspect of the Nigerian socio-economic and political sectors.

According to Bassey (2015), Nigeria has a problem of leadership failure. Nigeria is blessed with good climate and topology, the problem with Nigeria is just the absence of visionary leadership to harness the country’s human and material resources for the benefit of every Nigerian. By this, one can attribute the country’s bad governance to the manner in which our leaders emerged, they came to power through faulty processes such as imposition, manipulation and rigging of election, money politics and so on. Good governance could only flourish where leaders emerged through democratic processes right at the party level (internal democracy) to the inter-party elections.

Bishop Mathew Kukah cited in Bassey (2015):

How do we explain the fact that after over 50 years, we are unable to generate and distribute electricity, supply water to our people, reverse the ugly and avoidably high infant mortality, set up and run an effective educational system, agree on rules of engagement for getting into power, reverse the circle of violence that attends our elections, contain corruption, instil national discipline and create more humane and caring society?

From the above observation about governance in Nigeria, and its incapacity of providing for the citizens their burning aspirations for better and progressive Nigeria, where fundamental transformation in the lives of citizens in term of the basic material amenities such as electricity, easily accessible tap water, good-roads, healthcare services, education, security and employment, are not available because neither the PDP nor APC as political party have an identified ideology, rather you see a mixture of capitalist and conservative ideologies, liberal and labour ideology and even ones you cannot understand where they belong. Political parties in Nigeria (PDP/APC) are digital watch that swing on the nature of the politics of the day. That is why politics is often regarded as a “do or die” affair and making the game of politics dirty in Nigeria. Until Nigerian politics becomes ideological based, intra- party struggle will continue to be part and parcel of Nigerian politics.

6. Conclusion

The paper discussed the nature and character of democracy, and intra-party politics as it affect good governance in Nigeria. Intra-party struggle in the country is a great distress to good governance.

Therefore, the undemocratic posture of the party primaries in Nigeria goes a long way in creating and recreating itself endlessly not only in the intra-party politics but in the inter-party politics which no doubt culminated in challenges to good governance in the country.

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7. Concluding Remarks/Way Forward

An inclusive democratic process is urgently needed to foster good governance and sustainable development, the paper therefore recommended as follows:

Transparent and credible party primaries should be encouraged and argued that when such is done it will be reflected at the national level, with this reflection, democratic culture will be developed among citizens and good governance will be in place. Political parties should be guided by a given ideological basis upon which any member that wants to join such political parties should be aware and guided. This i believe will guide the party from the hands of power hungry elites that may use the political party for their own interest.

Members who are contesting as flag bearers of their different political parties should be allowed and given a democratic atmosphere to do so without intimidation by “money bags’ or “godfathers” in the party. There should not be any imposition of “favoured” candidates on the party members. When these are done, it will go a long way in enhancing good governance in Nigeria.

Political parties should be guided by the constitution of the country, electoral act and the electoral body.

Finally, political parties have structures and they should not allow the influence of the elites to contradict these structures as erring members should be properly disciplined.

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