TABLE OF CONTENT
Title Page i
Approval page ii
Dedication iii
Acknowledgement iv
Table of Content v
Abstract vii
Chapter One:
Introduction
1.1 Background
of Study 1
1.2 Statement
of the problem 5
1.3 Research
Question 7
1.4 Objectives
of the Study 8
1.5 Significance
of the Study 8
1.6 Scope
of the Study 9
1.7 Hypothesis 9
Chapter Two:
Literature Review
2.1 An
overview of Political Parties in Nigeria 10
2.2 Concept
of National Integration 12
2.3 Political Parties and National Integration in Nigeria 14
2.4 Multi-Party System and Democratic Development in Nigeria 24
2.5 Political in the Fourth Republic 27
2.6 The origin of people’s Democratic Party (PDP) 28
2..7 Summary of the Gap in Literature 34
Chapter
three: Theoretical Framework and Methodology
3.1 Theoretical
Framework 36
3.2 Research
design 38
3.3 Method
of Data Collection 39
3.4 Method
of Data Analysis 39
Chapter
Four: Data Analysis/Hypothesis Testing
- The ethnic Character of Political parties undermine National Integration in Nigeria Between 1999 and 2015 41
4.1.1 Introduction 41
4.1.2 Multi-Party and Democratic Development in Nigeria Fourth Republic 41
4.1.3 The
activities of politician undermined National integration in Nigeria 44
4.1.4 Political
Parties and their un-developmental manifesto in Nigeria 45
4.1.5
Political parties breeds insurgency in Nigeria
for their interest of their member 48
4.1.6 Party Structures and national’/private Interest 48
4.2
The non-existence of the nationally
oriented political parties affect national integration in Nigeria between 1999 and 2015 51
4.2.1 Multi-party system and crisis of National Integration in Nigeria 51
4.2.2 Non-National Parties of the Fourth Republic 54
4.2.3 Politics of Disintegration among political parties 55
4.2.4 Politics of Mistrust among political parties in Fourth Republic 57
Chapter
five: Summary, Conclusion and Recommendation
5.1 Summary 60
5.2 Conclusion 64
5.3 Recommendations 64
References 66
Abstract
Since the attainment of independence in 1960, it has been known that party polities has not really done much in the area of national integration in Nigeria because of this; political parties in Nigeria tend to promote ethnic and private interest which has milted against National integration. Based on this, this study sought to investigate the party politics and national integration with a view to analyzing the nature and structure of the People ’s Democratic Parties (PDP) between 1999 – 2015 in order to ascertain how it has promoted National Integration in Nigeria. Qualitative method of data collection based on documentary evidence was used. Secondary source of data was employed. Also Qualitative descriptive method based on content analysis was used as our method of analysis. The work was predicated on the systems theory approach as our theoretical framework of analysis, this study desire to investigate the extent to which fourth republic parties’ politic has impacted on national integration. The study found that the structures of parties in fourth republics tended to promote ethnic and private interest and this really affected national integration. The Nigerian ruling class, patriotism or national interest was a hollow propaganda intended to mask class selfishness. The ruling class demonstrated their private interest through awarding contracts to party loyalists who abandon those contracts and embezzle the money and nothing would be done. It had been noted that parties politics have not really done much on the achievement of national integration, we recommended amongst others things that Political parties in Nigeria should be formed on the basis of promoting National integration. Grassroots and people oriented political parties should be formed, founding of political parties should not be done by few wealthy individuals but by the entire people. Also participation in political party activities should be open and transparent for all citizens.
Key words:People’s Democratic Party
(PDP), Ethnic Identities, National Integration, Propaganda, Fourth Republic,
Grassroots.
CHAPTER
ONE
INTRODUCTION
- Background of The Study
The rise of
political parties as an instrument of national integration has captured the
attention of many scholars in recent times. Their common purpose enables
Appadorai (2004:537) to formulate his classical definition of political party
as “A political party is more or less organized group of citizens who act
together as a political unit, have distinctive aims and opinions on the leading
political questions of controversy in the state, and who, by acting together as
a political unit, seek to obtain control of the government”. Edmund Burke
defined political party as “a body of men united for promoting by their joint
endeavors, national integration upon some particular principles in which they
are all agreed” (Burke, 1839).
Ostrogorski, (1854-1919)
was one of the first students of politics to recognize that parties were
becoming vital in the new era of democratic politics. The twentieth century
proved to be the century of parties. In West Europe, mass parties battled for
the votes of enlarge electorates. In communist and fabist states, ruling
parties monopolized power in an attempt to reconstruct society and the people
within it. In the developing world, nationalist parties became the vehicle for
driving colonial rulers back to their imperial homeland. In all their cases,
parties succeeded in drawing millions of with the national political process,
often for the first time. The mass party was the mobilizing device of the
twentieth century.
In standing
between the people and the state, parties became and substantially remain,
integral to politics in four main ways.
- Ruling parties offer direction to government,
performing the vital task of steering the ship of state.
- Parties function as agents of elite
recruitment. They serve as major mechanism for preparing and recruiting
candidates for public office. If you want to lead your country, you must first
persuade a party to adopt you as it candidate.
- Parties
serve as agents of interest aggregation. They transform a multitude of specific
demands into more manageable packages of proposals. Parties select, reduce and
combine interests. They act as a filter between society and state, deciding
which demands to allow through their net.
- The
declining extent, political parties serves as a point of reference for their
supporters and voters, giving people a key to interpreting a complicated
political world.
Political
parties are permanent organizations which contest elections, usually because
they seek to occupy the decisive positions of authority within the state,
unlike interest groups, which seek merely to influence the government, serious
parties aim to secure the levers of power in Rod Hague and Martin Harrop
(2001:167). In Weber’s phrase parties live in a house of power Weber (1968).
A party may exist primarily as an electoral
machine for gaining power with no coherent philosophy, or it may have deep
ideological aims. It might also conform to Edmund Burk’s definition of a group
agreed “upon a pimple by which the national interest might be served. It is a
group publicly organized with the intention of gaining political power in
government, to realize certain aims C. A. heeds (1975:124).
National
integration is a process which includes among other things, the incorporation
of various parts of a society into a functioning whole, the growth of obedience
and loyalties of the nation transcending loyalties to its, parts and emergence
of shared values and perspectives or consensus. Therefore, Nigerian could
achieve national integration if loyalty to the nation transcends loyalties to
the parts of state. Nigeria would be a country where all the citizens no matter
where you reside could aspire, work and attain his life ambition without
hindrance based on regionalism and states.
Party politics
came into Nigerian during British rule in the country. As a result of the
circumstances of their “birth”, most of the pre-independence political parties
in the country lacked national outlook despite the fact that some of their main
actors were looked upon as committed nationalists. A possible exception was,
however, the National Council of Nigerian Citizens (NCNC) which made a number
of concrete attempts to assume a national outlook.
Although
political parties in Nigeria under the presidential system wore new labels, the
individuals who operated them still retained their old habits. If there was
anything new in party politics under the presidential system, it was in the
structure of the parties. For example, while political parties under the
parliamentary system tended to deepen ethnic differences, the ones under the
presidential system cut across enthnic solidarity. But because there was no
corresponding change in the political ways of Nigerian political corruption and
other vices that typified prepresidential political parties in Nigeria assumed
alarming proportions under the new system.
The second
republic, in spite of the constitutional provision for the emergence of true
national parties, the five political parties that was registered by Federal
Electoral Commission (FEDECO) was nothing but the reincarnation of political
parties of the first republic. The National Party of Nigeria (NPN) was a
re-emergence of the NPC of the first republic, equally, the Nigerian People’s
Party, the Unity Party of Nigeria, the NCNC, AG respectively.
IBB lifted
the ban on political activities, which had been in place since the 1983 coup,
two political parties were established: the center-right National Republican Convention (NRC)and the center-left Social Democratic Party (SDP). Pulse.ng (2018)
Going forward,
Abacha’s political madness cost Nigeria a great deal. But that ended on June 8,
1998 when the cold hand of death gripped him in what Nigerians believed to be a
decisive moment. Gen. Abdulsalami Abubakar prepared way for transition that saw
the power returned to the ex-military head of state, Gen. Olusegun Obasanjo as
democratically elected president on May 29, 1999.
Abubakar
appointed the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to conduct
elections for Local Government Councils, State legislature and Governorship
positions, the National Assembly, and Presidency. The INEC successfully held
elections on December 5, 1998, January 9, 1999, February 20, and February 27,
1999, respectively. For local elections, nine parties were granted provisional
registration with three fulfilling the requirements to contest the elections.
These parties were the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), the All People’s Party
(APP) and the predominantly Yoruba Alliance for Democracy (AD).
The People’s
Redemption Party (PRC) promulgated a new Constitution based largely on the
suspended 1979 constitution, before the May 29, 1999 inauguration of the new
civilian President. The Constitution includes provisions for a bicameral
legislature, the National Assembly consisting of a 360 member House of
Representatives and 109 members Senate.
Former Head of
State Olusegun Obasanjo, freed from prison by Abubakar, ran as a civilian,
candidate. PDP won the 1999 presidential election with its flag bearer,
President Olusegun Obasanjo. The PDP produced 21 state governors, ANPP 9
governors and AD produced 6 governors. The emergency of a democratic form of
government in Nigeria on May 1999 ended 16 years of consecutive military rule.
(Vanguard, August 18 2013)
In the study, we
shall comparatively analysis two political parties in Nigeria. Our task
therefore is to access the attempt made by political parties in the achievement
of political integration.
- Statement Of The Problem
Since the return
of Nigeria to the paths of democratization, the challenges of consolidating
democracy occupy a central position not only in the academic circle, but also
in the domains of civil society, public policy and democracy aid industry. This
is probably so because sustaining democracy is often a task difficult as
establishing it (Schedler, 1998; 2001), if not much more daunting. Moreover,
the experience of history demonstrates convincingly the fluctuating fortunes of
democratisation in Africa, given the abysmal failure of all previous attempts
at democratisation in the continent. Worse still, under the third wave of
democratisation, African democracies appear not to have taken firm roots.
Indeed, they appear to be under the threats of potential breakdown and/or
erosion. Tatah Mentan characterized them as being held together by pins and
perpetually under siege by antidemocratic forces (Mentan, 2007). Evidently, the
democratization process in Nigeria appears epileptic and inconsistent, beaming
new hopes in some countries and instances, and faltering prospects in some
others (Osaghae, 1999; Young, 1999; Baker, 2000; May, 2000;Basedau, Erdmann and
Mehler, 2007; Journal of African Election, 2007; Menocal; Fritz;Rakner, 2008;
Lindberg and Morrison, 2008). The situation is so terrible that one may be
tempted to re-echo the sentiments of anti-democratic thought as to the
possibility of democracy in Nigeria (see Gilley, 2009).
The deepening crisis of democratisation in Africa seems closely connected to the pertinent issue of multiparty elections and their administration (Omotola, 2009). Effective electoral reforms energises elections by contributing to the building of social capital for the democratization process. For the most part of Africa, however, electoral reforms and therefore, electoral administration has tended to be largely ineffective, becoming democratic liabilities, instead of assets, thereby reinforcing the thesis that elections in Africa are nothing but a fading shadow of democracy(Adejumobi, 2000; Van de Linde, 2001; Lumumba Kasongo, 2005; Obi, 2009). The concept of national integration is the prime political problem facing the Nigerian nation. Many authors and political scientists have devoted time and attention to this problem but it seems to be more increasingly intractable. Political party’s activities because of the determinative role they play in Nigeria and these roles should not always be taken for granted. Since political parties provide a link between the individual and the larger political community, they can be a mechanism for political socialization, mass mobilization and thus for achieving national integration. National integration in totality may consist of political integration, social integration, cultural integration; economic integration etc. part of the problems of national integration is that initially the colonialists arbitrarily lumped together various groups under the name Nigeria. In fact Nigeria has remained a society where forces of ethnicity, parochialism and religious diversity or pluralism seriously predominate over centripetal forces. The emergence of political parties in the fourth republic entails the formal convergence of various communities with their leaders and members as well as their loyalties behind. In an effort to comparatively analysis two political parties in Nigeria, the following questions are considered fundamental.
PARTY POLITICS AND NATIONAL INTEGRATION: A CASE STUDY OF PEOPLE’S DEMOCRATIC PARTY (PDP) IN NIGERIA, 1999-2015
