Ibrahim Dan Halilu
[KADUNA]
As the debate on the need for expanding the political space persists, the newly registered parties, the members of the National Assembly and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) all have a lesson to draw from Alhji Amadu Kurfi’s article “Registration of political parties in Nigeria: The Way Forward, published in Weekly Trust of August 16-23.
As a former Secretary of the Federal Electoral Commission (FEDECO), Alhaji Kurfi has confessed that the restrictions imposed on party registration is a character of military era which we have to let go for our democracy to be practised on a level-playing field. He has rightly postulated that such imposed restrictions are not in the best interest of democracy.
Coming from an experienced bureaucrat and an insider during the past military era that ushered in the Alhaji Shehu Shagari administration in 1979, no right-thinking Nigerian will agree more with Kurfi in recommending the amendment of the electoral laws that inhibit the emergence of multi-partyism in our democracy. The National Assembly has an onerous task of looking at both the Electoral Act 2001 and Electoral Bill 2002 with a view to amending the relevant sections to broaden the political space.
Quite rightly, there is no genuine basis whatsoever in imposing on parties seeking recognition by INEC the stringent two-third of 36 states as their area of coverage or operation as a condition for their registration, except that some political players either at the presidency or the National Assembly or both want to sideline the most active and capable segment of our politicians. Nigerians have been watching how the PDP and ANPP leadership are objecting to the presidential aspiration of some Nigerians even as they are bona fide members of the parties.
The two-third requirement should be imposed, if necessary only on those parties seeking nomination of candidates into national elections. Otherwise parties whose primary focus is capturing power at the state and local government have no business meeting this requirement. The most to be expected of them is to have a presence in certain number of local governments or wards. That is if what we want to nurture is participatory democracy not manipulative democracy.
What the proponents of national parties failed to realize is that the more the number of parties the easier it is to check abuses and impose discipline, contrary to what both INEC and governments of the day have told us. Also, the multiplicity of parties will ensure even spread of development, the absence of which has pushed many to promote presidential candidature on the basis of ethnicity.
Without any doubt, the opening up of the political space is in consonance with our culture, tradition and diversity as a federation. The diversity of our society can only be accommodated under a multi-party system that allows for the emergence of as many parties as people can build and sustain. The fear that some parties may eventually graduate into religious and ethnic parties is unfounded. And even if that is the ultimate, don’t the alarmists understand that pluralism and freedom of expression and association is promoted much more under multi-partyism than through broad-based parties? If one must confess, the undue emphasis on national parties and protective regime is what killed the interest of many active politicians of the first and second republics in politics, as it reduced the game to control of power at the center. It is the same factor that led to the emergence of upstarts and incompetent people as local council chairmen, state legislators and even governors in some instances.
In fact, it is largely responsible for overheating the system because people who have no previous experience of managing human beings and resources are entrusted with people of diverse background and enormous resources.
To my understanding, every profession or vacation has its apprenticeship, from where one will learn the ropes to become an expert or at least an excellent practitioner. But Nigerian politics is always a newcomer’s game. How do we expect them to play a good game?
To return to the era of politics without bitterness and politics of issues, we must encourage the emergence of political parties from grassroots-based into full-pledged national parties. And the only way to achieve this is to allow for the existence of local parties side-by-side with national ones, as Dr. Kurfi suggested. Here one must recognize the contribution of some national legislators during the debate on the electoral bill 2002 who advised that the new parties be allowed to participate in only the local elections. This would have been a good beginning for them to garner sufficient resources and membership in preparation for national elections after the first four years of restrictions. I think our politicians should look at that proposal with an open mind instead of reading some ulterior motives into it.
For a country like Nigeria local parties are more relevant and manageable than national party because of our vast land mass, human population and diversities. Entrenching local parties in our body politics will create politically conscious electorates that will hold their representatives accountable and keep them in check. More worrisome in the preference for national parties is the fact that the interest of the minorities like women, destitute and those without voting power is being ignored and often jettisoned to the advantage of the rich and powerful people.
All these tendencies put together have brought us to a state of oligopoly politics, as Dr. Kurfi asserted, where a few political parties hold sway and impose their will on us, and protect their group interest as national interest.
A re-invented and new National Assembly must look at these contentious issues seriously and critically with the view to freeing us from the political conundrum we were forced into by past military administrations. Nothing less is desirable for a free nation like Nigeria.