Party Politics And National Integration

Party Politics And National Integration

Chapter One

Preface

Background of The Study

The rise of political parties as an instrument of public intergration has captured the attention of numerous scholars in recent times. Their common purpose enables Appadorai( 2004537) to formulate his classical description of political party as “ A political party is more or less systematized group of citizens who act together as a political unit, have distinctive points and opinions on the leading political questions of contestation in the state, and who, by acting together as a political unit, seek to gain control of the government ”. Edmund Burke defined political party as “ a body of men united for promoting by their common trials, public integration upon some particular principles in which they’re each agreed ”( Burke, 1839).

Ostrogorski,( 1854- 1919) was one of the first scholars of politics to fete that parties were getting vital in the new period of popular 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 countries, ruling parties sewed up power in an attempt to reconstruct society and the people within it. In the developing world, nationalist parties came the vehicle for driving social autocrats back to their Homeric motherland. In all their cases, parties succeeded in drawing millions of with the public political process, frequently for the first time. The mass party was the marshaling device of the twentieth century.

In standing between the people and the state, parties came and mainly remain, integral to politics in four main ways.

1. Ruling parties offer direction to government, performing the vital task of steering the boat of state.

2. Parties function as agents of elite reclamation. They serve as major medium for preparing and retaining campaigners for publicoffice.However, you must first convert a party to borrow you as it seeker, If you want to lead your country.

3. Parties serve as agents of interest aggregation. They transfigure a multitude of specific demands into further manageable packages of proffers. Parties elect, reduce and combine interests. They act as a sludge between society and state, deciding which demands to allow through their net.

4. The declining extent, political parties serves as a point of reference for their sympathizers and choosers, giving people a key to interpreting a complicated political world.

Political parties are endless associations which dispute choices, generally because they seek to enthrall the decisive positions of authority within the state, unlike interest groups, which seek simply to impact the government, serious parties aim to secure the regulators of power in Rod Hague and Martin Harrop( 2001167). In Weber’s expression parties live in a house of power Weber( 1968).

A party may live primarily as an electoral machine for gaining power with no coherent gospel, or it may have deep ideological points. It might also conform to Edmund Burk’s description of a group agreed “ upon a papule by which the public interest might be served. It’s a group intimately organized with the intention of gaining political power in government, to realize certain pointsC.A. heeds( 1975124).

public integration is a process which includes among other effects, the objectification of colorful corridor of a society into a performing whole, the growth of obedience and commitment of the nation transcending commitment to its, corridor and emergence of participated values and perspectives or agreement. thus, Nigerian could achieve public integration if fidelity to the nation transcends commitment to the corridor of state. Nigeria would be a country where all the citizens no matter where you live could aspire, work and attain his life ambition without interference grounded on regionalism and countries.

Party politics came into Nigerian during British rule in the country. As a result of the circumstances of their “ birth ”, utmost of thepre-independence political parties in the country demanded public outlook despite the fact that some of their main actors were looked upon as married chauvinists. A possible exception was, still, the National Council of Nigerian Citizens( NCNC) which made a number of concrete attempts to assume a public outlook.

Although political parties in Nigeria under the presidential system wore new markers, the individualities who operated them still retained their oldhabits.However, it was in the structure of the parties, If there was anything new in party politics under the presidential system. For illustration, while political parties under the administrative system tended to consolidate ethnical differences, the bones 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 illustrated pre presidential political parties in Nigeria assumed intimidating proportions under the new system.

The alternate democracy, in malignancy of the indigenous provision for the emergence of true public parties, the five political parties that was registered by Federal Electoral Commission( FEDECO) was nothing but the reincarnation of political parties of the first democracy. The National Party of Nigeria( NPN) was are-emergence of the NPC of the first democracy, inversely, the Nigerian People’s Party, the Unity Party of Nigeria, the NCNC, AG independently.

IBB lifted the ban on political conditioning, which had been in place since the 1983 achievement, 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 theex-military head of state,Gen. Olusegun Obasanjo as democratically tagged chairman on May 29, 1999.

Abubakar appointed the Independent National Electoral Commission( INEC) to conduct choices for Original Government Councils, State council and Guardianship positions, the National Assembly, and Presidency. The INEC successfully held choices on December 5, 1998, January 9, 1999, February 20, and February 27, 1999, independently. For original choices, nine parties were granted provisional enrollment with three fulfilling the conditions to dispute the choices. These parties were the People’s Democratic Party( PDP), the All People’s Party( APP) and the generally Yoruba Alliance for Democracy( announcement).

The People’s Redemption Party( PRC) announced a new Constitution grounded largely on the suspended 1979 constitution, before the May 29, 1999 induction of the new mercenary President. The Constitution includes vittles for a bicameral council, the National Assembly conforming of a 360 member House of Representatives and 109 members Senate.

Former Head of State Olusegun Obasanjo, freed from captivity by Abubakar, ran as a mercenary, seeker. PDP won the 1999 presidential election with its flag deliverer, President Olusegun Obasanjo. The PDP produced 21 state governors, ANPP 9 governors and announcement produced 6 governors. The exigency of a popular form of government in Nigeria on May 1999 ended 16 times of successive military rule.( Vanguard, August 18 2013)

In the study, we shall comparatively analysis two political parties in Nigeria. Our task thus is to pierce 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 republic enthrall a central position not only in the academic circle, but also in the disciplines of civil society, public policy and republic aid assiduity. This is presumably so because sustaining republic is frequently a task delicate as establishing it( Schedler, 1998; 2001), if not much more daunting. also, the experience of history demonstrates convincingly the shifting fortunes of democratisation in Africa, given the bottomless failure of all former attempts at democratisation in the mainland. Worse still, under the third surge of democratisation, African republic appear not to have taken firm roots. Indeed, they appear to be under the pitfalls of implicit breakdown and/ or corrosion. Tatah Mentan characterized them as being held together by legs and constantly under siege by antidemocratic forces( Mentan, 2007). putatively, the democratization process in Nigeria appears epileptic and inconsistent, beaming new expedients in some countries and cases, 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 tore-echo the sentiments ofanti-democratic study as to the possibility of republic in Nigeria( see Gilley, 2009).

The heightening extremity of democratisation in Africa seems nearly connected to the material issue of multiparty choices and their administration( Omotola, 2009). Effective electoral reforms energises choices by contributing to the structure of social capital for the democratization process. For the utmost part of Africa, still, electoral reforms and thus, electoral administration has tended to be largely ineffective, getting popular arrears, rather of means, thereby buttressing the thesis that choices in Africa are nothing but a fading shadow of republic( Adejumobi, 2000; Van de Linde, 2001 Lumumba Kasongo, 2005; Obi, 2009). The conception of public integration is the high political problem facing the Nigerian nation. numerous authors and political scientists have devoted time and attention to this problem but it seems to be more decreasingly intractable. Political party’s conditioning because of the determinative part they play in Nigeria and these places shouldn’t always be taken for granted. Since political parties give a link between the individual and the larger political community, they can be a medium for political socialization, mass rallying and therefore for achieving public integration.

public integration in summation may correspond of political integration, social integration, artistic integration; profitable integrationetc. part of the problems of public integration is that originally the colonialists arbitrarily lumped together colorful groups under the name Nigeria. In fact Nigeria has remained a society where forces of race, parochialism and religious diversity or pluralism seriously predominate over centripetal forces. The emergence of political parties in the fourth democracy entails the formal confluence of colorful communities with their leaders and members as well as their commitment before. In an trouble to comparatively analysis two political parties in Nigeria, the following questions are considered abecedarian

Exploration Questions

The problems to be encountered in this exploration are

1. How does the ethnical character of political parties undermine public integration in Nigeria between 1999 and 2015?

2. Does the virtuality of the nationally acquainted political parties affect public integration in Nigeria between 1999 and 2015?

Objects of the Study

It’s the intention of this exploration to expose indispensable styles of achieving public integration and how political parties can help in bringing about public integration in Nigeria. thus, the points and objects of this exploration are as follow.

1. To examine how race in political parties undermine public integration in Nigeria between 1999 and 2015

2. To ascertain how the virtuality of the nationally acquainted political parties affect public integration in Nigeria between 1999 and 2015

Significance of the Study

To realize public integration, there must be an association responsible for the provision of the necessary labor force for the handling of government. Then the part of political parties came imperative. It’s the function of the political parties to give the ministry for the selection of labor force of government.

This work aims at immortalizing itself as a feasible resourceful and applicable material to advance information to unborn experimenters especially in this chosen field. The significance of this exploration is as follows

It’ll explore the roots of the problem of public integration and proffer results and how political parties can help in bringing about public integration. The problems of public integration in this exploration are the issue of ethno-indigenous domination, private interest etc. This work would proffer results on how these problems could be controlled.

It’ll act as a companion to inquiries on how the problem of ethno-indigenous domination, corruption has hampered on public integration. It would give result and indispensable ways through.