Intra-Elite Factionalism and the Quest for Sustainable Political Platforms in Nigeria

Abstract

The People’s Democratic Party was the governing party for 16 years until it was defeated in the 2015 general elections. The dominance of the party over the Nigerian political landscape masked the deep internal schism that has bedevilled the party since its formation. This paper traced the origin of the protracted internal conflicts in the party to its formation process, accentuated by the prebendal character of the Nigerian state. A collection of political grandees assembled in the party without a well-articulated vision for governance other than take hold of political power and the resultant patronage accruable from occupying public office. Conflicts in the party manifest in several dimensions, namely: suspension or expulsion of party members, protracted litigation, formation of parallel party structure, defections to rival parties, verbal and physical assault of members. This pattern of conflicts weakened internal cohesion and distracted those elected from the task of actualizing their campaign promises. The methodology is qualitative, primary data sourced from party members is complemented with data from secondary sources. The paper concluded that the ultimate losers from the internal fights in the party are the citizens who suffered the effects in the form of unfulfilled electoral promises.

Party Politics and National Integration in Nigeria: An Appraisal of All Progressive Congress 2019-2023

“…The APC lacks internal cohesion and has been unable to fuse its legacy parties and situate the party as a credible platform. The leadership of the party and members in government subscribe to much the same political opportunism as its predecessor, the PDP [47]. The national consensus on the need for an alternative platform to challenge the dominance of the PDP in 2015 may have overshadowed the glaring dysfunctions and internal contradictions of now governing party.…”

Political hibernation in‐between elections? Exploring the online communication and mobilisation capacities of Nigeria's political parties

“…Instructively, ‘[a]s soon as elections are over, most of the parties literally cease to exist’ (Owete, 2017), or go into ‘politically induced hibernation’ (Gabriel, 2016). In general, most parties exude features which portray them as ‘very weak and unable to effectively carry out political communication, mobilization, education and discipline’ (FRN, 2008, p. 4), and ‘rarely mobilize the citizenry around any grand vision’ (Ashindorbe & Nathaniel, 2019, p. 759).…”

“…With respect to these indicators, Nigerian parties as rated as having low degree of institutionalisation (Akubo & Yakubu, 2014;Liebowitz & Ibrahim, 2013). Following Richard Joseph's use of the term 'prebendalism' to describe the Nigerian party system (Joseph, 1987), most of the parties have been studied from an ethnoclientelist perspective with conclusions that show them as poorly organised and under-resourced, lacking in internal cohesion and ideology and operating largely as power opportunists (Ashindorbe & Nathaniel, 2019;Yagboyaju & Simbine, 2020). Although the party system operates a regime of liberalisation allowing registration of multiple parties, only two parties-All Progressives Congress (APC) and People's Democratic Party (PDP)-dominate the polity (Fagbadebo et al, 2017;Ibrahim & Idayat, 2013).…”