By Jide Oyewusi

A big puzzle noticeable with Nigeria’s brand of democracy is that of political parties without recognisable ideologies. All over the world, wherever democracy is in place, what differentiate parties from one another are their ideologies which form their basic framework for acceptability by the citizens.

But in Nigeria, absence of ideologies of political parties is mostly responsible for massive cross carpeting which is a regular trademark of Nigeria’s politicians. As soon as any party emerges winner following any election, especially after a new government is sworn in, the next move by politicians is to start crossing to the party in power because of survival. In Nigeria, politics is a full-time profession and once out of power, politicians are not always different from fish out of water.

In saner climes, democracy and party system are not the kind of caricature seen in Nigeria. For instance, in the United States of America, the two dominant parties since as far back as the 1850s have been the Democratic party founded in 1828 by Andrew Jackson and Martin Van Buren and the Republican party founded in 1854 by Northern anti-slavery activists and moderniser, rising to prominence in 1860 with the election of Abraham Lincoln.

The Democratic party has established its ideology around the center left and supports social justice, social liberalism, a mixed economy, welfare state and very lately, free trade and neo-liberalism. The Republican party on the other hand has its major ideology revolving around economic liberalism, fiscal conservatism, and social conservatism though the election of Donald Trump represents a shift towards a more populist and isolationist orientation.

In the United kingdom, though the British system allows for multiple-party and was, according to the V-Dem Democracy Indices 2023, the 22nd most electrically democratic in the world, fron the 1920s to date, the two dominant parties have been the Conservative party and the Labour party. While the Conservative party tilts towards the center-right and advocates free market policies, traditionalism and British conservatism, Labour party is a center-left political party that promotes social democracy and democratic socialism.

In other democracies across the world, especially in countries such as, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Finland and Ireland, political parties have always been about notable ideologies that tend to address specific problems.

In Nigeria, however, the only parties that were known with what could be said to represent some form of ideologies were the Action Group (AG) and later the Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN) which were formed by Chief Obafemi Awolowo. With its free education, free health, housing for all, etc, Nigerians were able to feel the impact of good governance.

The parties also provided very strong opposition to the party in power and there was nothing like cross carpeting. But ever since then, there has not been anything near good governance as the country continues to drift from bad to worse though the current regime seems to be working relentlessly to change the narratives. There has never been anything like opposition in parliaments which are more of rubber stamp.

The body saddled with the responsibility of handling the country’s electoral process itself apart from usually comporting itself as an extension of the party in power has also never demonstrated proper understanding of ideals of party registration.

As at now, there are at least 18 registered political parties and there are still about 122 applications, meaning that the number of registered political parties in Nigeria may rise to fifty or more before the next election. What further evidence of brazen mockery does anyone need?

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) ought to reduce the number of registered parties to the minimum by insisting on distinguishable, workable ideologies which reflect known personal principles, lifestyles and philosophies of their founders.

Those trying to form political parties must have displayed enduring legacies cherished by a large number of people in order to convince everyone that they mean business and would not deviate or decamp from the ideals they wish to project simply because of losing an election.

Most importantly, a country’s number of political parties should never exceed the number of practicable ideologies within a state which is why in most advanced countries, the bigger parties are not always more than two.

Former Head of State, Gen. Ibrahim Babangida did what could have been the best for Nigeria and then dismantled it by himself. The two parties he formed, the Social Democratic Party (SDP) and the National Republican Convention (NRC) were government funded and well received.

There was no question of anyone using money to dominate other members. But since everything went with the wind, Nigeria has not been able to get its acts together.

Nigeria cannot continue to paint democracy in absurd colours while the entire world watches in utter amazement. And good enough, it is always never too late to make U-turn and allow reason and sanity to prevail.

Oyewusi is the coordinator of Ethics Watch International and Friends of The Denied Inc.