By Sam Otuonye
A Professor of Political Science at the University of Jos, Samuel Egwu, has cautioned that the current actions of Nigeria’s political parties are gearing towards worsening the country’s electoral integrity even as Nigerians press for an improvement on the 2023 election conduct.
Presenting keynote speech on the theme: “From Promise to Paralysis: Political Parties and Challenges of Democratic Consolidation in Nigeria”, in memoriam of Late Dr Tajudeen Abdul-Raheem and Prof. Abubakar Momoh, prominent Human Rights Activists and founding members of Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD), in Abuja, Prof. Egwu extolled the evergreen values of the duo and cautioned the political elites to allow for competitive elections.
He said: “Already all the political parties, ruling and opposition parties, have given signposts that the 2027 election could mark a further decline in the country’s scorecard on electoral integrity. Some of the body signs include the dependence of incumbency factor advantage in a way that threatens the idea of competitive elections and the prism of the position to fully organize, but contrary to the practice that we are accustomed to revolve for party primaries to the vessel of the national election committee of the different parties to constitute another layer for screening candidates after party members have made their choice now, and I think this is something that we need to wonder, or be troubled about, because we are marching steadily to the 2027 election.
“On the one hand, we have seen an INEC that has a new leadership, and we expect that this new leadership would bring a new deal to the job. Secondly, we have seen preparation for the election going on in terms of improving the technology that will be deployed for the election. Continuous voter registration is going on, and more Nigerians will be captured into the voters’ roll, and there’s also a lot of public pressure that 2027 election must be an improvement over the 2023 election, these are very positive signs, but on the other hand, we have seen emerging threats to democratic election in 2027 indicated by recurring challenges of insecurity, rising levels of poverty and social desperation, weakening and ethnic mobilization of voters, and hate speeches by the mainstream elements of the political class, and the failure, or even the opposition, to articulate clear programs of action and policy alternatives to address the real and emerging problems of the polity. In fact, the threat born by lack of integrity on the part of the judiciary.”
The University don maintained that democracy is about citizens making choices of their leaders through political parties, competitive and credible elections where their votes count.
“Democracy denotes a political system in which citizens make decisions about those that govern them through open and competitive elections, in which political parties present programs and candidates that offer citizens the freedom to make choices according to one authority in a democracy, rulers are held accountable for their actions in the public realm by citizens acting indirectly through competition and cooperation of elected representatives. Furthermore, democracy is about choice, diversity, and voice, the rule of the majority, and the tolerance for minority views and interests.”
In the same breath, Director CDD, Dr Dauda Garuba, expressed concerns over the 2027 elections stating that it was still uncertain which political parties were going to be on the ballot paper.
“We are still having court judgments. We are still having people going on appeal to address basic issues regarding as to the authenticity of the political parties that are currently fighting to be involved in the 2027 election. And the worst, I mean, the worst of this is that none of the big parties, including the ruling party, has produced a verified list of candidates in the coming election. Two days ago, I heard APC announce that the public should disregard a list that has been circulated as the list of those who are contesting the elections in 2027.
“So when I say not even the ruling party has a list. And those who told us we were going to be correcting the situations, I’ve also watched a video of somebody who said he’s contesting for the House of Representatives and he’s currently in Abuja from the southeast, waiting for the results of the primaries that were conducted days ago, long time ago, to be announced. And he’s also complaining that he spent 1 million naira every extra day he stays in Abuja.
“So everybody is holding to their chests the list of those that are going for elections several months in advance. And they have no substitution. They will have no substitution. And they will have no substitution”, he stated.
Also speaking, the Chairperson of the event and Co-founder/CEO, The African Policy Research Institute, Prof. Nana Tanko, in her introductory remarks extolled the doggedness and forthrightness of Late Dr Tajudeen Abdul-Raheem and Prof. Abubakar Momoh, socially and intellectually in the advancement of true democratic values, clear political party ideology and electoral integrity, calling for realistic reforms.
“Our gathering today is very important. It’s very important because these are two very special people that serve with a lot of energy and commitment and have intellectually influenced where we are and still have a lot to say about Nigeria today and where Nigeria is going to. The memorial value of this lecture lies not only in remembering these two distinguished fellows or scholars but in renewing the questions, the democratic questions that animated their lives and their writings. What is a political party for? Who owns democracy? What happens when parties lose ideology and citizens lose trust? Can elections consolidate democracy if parties remain internally authoritarian? Can democracy survive when citizenship is reduced to voting while governance fails to deliver parity, equality, and development? Momoh and Taju compelled us to recognize that the paralysis of the Nigerian political party is not inevitable. It is produced by choices, incentives, institutions, political cultures that can be changed.
“Democratic consolidation will require reformed laws and institutions, but also renewal of political party ethics, civil organization, ideological clarity, and citizen-centered governance.”
