WRITTEN BY LEONARD AKAOLISA
Recently, the Supreme Court of Nigeria ended the lingering impasse between the two warring factions of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) following the apex court’s landmark judgment in
favour of Senator Ahmed Markafi’s faction. As a result of the ruling, the party is now believed to join other political parties in Nigeria in playing the role of formidable opposition as the nation looks forward to the next general election in 2019.
Many political analysts have emphasized the need to have a viable political alternative in Nigeria, if we must actualize the gains of civil governance. A cursory look at Nigeria’s democracy shows that the nation has not been able to fashion out a credible opposition in the face of arbitrative tendencies of the ruling party. This scenario has adversely affected our democratic growth as a nation.
For example, in the first Republic, the country’s politics was polarized along ethno-ideological line, giving rise to hotchpotch political marriage amongst badly fragmented political parties both at the centre and in the regions. For instance, while the National Council of Nigerian Citizens (NCNC), Action Group (AG) and Northern Progressive Front (NPF) formed an alliance called United Progressive Alliance, the Northern Peoples Congress (NPC), Nigerian National Democratic Party (NNDP) and National Democratic Congress (NDC) produced a coalition called Nigeria National Alliance.
However, these political arrangements could not yield the desired result as the first republic collapsed like a pack of card following the inability of the opposition coalition to successfully checkmate the excesses of the ruling party.
The story was not different in the second Republic as the Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN) of Chief Obafemi Awolowo, Nigeria’s Peoples Party (NPP) of Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe, Peoples Redemption Party (PRP) of Mallam Aminu Kano, Great Nigeria Peoples Party (GNPP) of Alhaji Waziri Ibrahim and others only formed a fragile opposition that was bridled with ethnic suspicion, mutual distrust, greed and eccetricism. Hence, they could not withstand the over-bearing antics of the ruling National Party of Nigeria (NPN).
Although the All Progressive Congress (APC) was able to wrestle power from the PDP in the last dispensation, the vexed issues of lack of internal democracy, impunity among some members of the political class, corruption, ethnic sentiment, hatred and unhealthy power struggle still impede the realization of credible opposition in the nation’s politics.
The significance of a viable opposition in any democratic system cannot be over emphasized. Apart from being the beauty of democracy, opposition party serves as a watchdog of the ruling party by making constructive criticisms in the face of tyranny and misrule. Beyond all these, a strong opposition makes the party at the centre more proactive and susceptible to democratic principles through its pronouncements, views and manifesto.
In advanced democracies such as the United States of America, the Democrats and Republicans are always there to take over the reins of power from the other in the event of the ruling party not living up to the expectations of the American populace. The same is obtainable in Britain where the Conservative Party and Labour Party are always at each other’s neck, thereby making democracy sweet and the citizenry effectively conscious of political developments in the country.
Absence of viable opposition breeds dictatorship and engenders leadership ineptitude. That Nigeria experienced military rule for a long time was partly because of lack of formidable opposition and consequent perpetuation of political mediocrity at all levels of the polity.
Now that Nigeria is more committed towards entrenching a virile and stable democracy, all hands must be on deck to ensure formidable opposition in Nigeria. This is the only way to correct any anomaly in the system and ensure adequate checks and balances in the country.
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