New Telegraph 
The time has come for Nigerian political parties to mature and genuinely become political entities. They are currently the weakest link in the electoral process chain.
The setbacks in Nigeria’s democracy and the near-disastrous mishaps of the electoral process can be traced back to the failure of Nigerian political parties to mature and play the vital role expected of them in strengthening democracy.
For too long, political parties have been nurtured and have often behaved like dogs in the manger. As we approach the 2027 general election, their actions and inactions may determine the future and health of democracy in Nigeria.
The electoral management body, the judiciary, and the Nigerian public cannot continue to protect Nigerian political parties without accountability. Three actions are urgently needed to address this issue.
The first could lead to the creation of the proposed Political Parties Registration and Electoral Offences Commission. The second involves relieving the electoral management body of the responsibility for registering, regulating, monitoring, and overseeing political parties.
The third is for the judiciary to relinquish jurisdiction over the internal affairs of political parties. The Electoral Reform Committee, chaired by the late Justice Mohammed Uwais (of which I was a member), recommended establishing a separate Political Parties Registration and Regulatory Commission, alongside an Electoral Offences Commission.
Other panels, committees, and commissions have suggested combining both. They preferred a Political Parties Registration and Electoral Offences Commission. Combining the two would serve dual purposes, reduce costs, and avoid the oversaturation of commissions.
The Commission will set the criteria for registering associations as political parties, which involves amending the constitution and requiring associations to establish offices in the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, and at least twothirds of all the states of the federation.
It is idealistic and theoretical to claim that we can register associations as political parties with a presence in one local government while pursuing environmental issues, gender rights, or the rights of ethnic and religious minorities.
Such rights and causes can be promoted within the framework of an association. The moment we start to fragment political parties, separatist agitators will find a platform. Insurgents and agitators will have a stage.
Ethnic and religious irredentists will gain a political platform, and the unity we desire as a people and nation may slip away from us. The proposed Political Parties Registration and Electoral Offences Commission can handle matters related to the names, logos, and identities of political parties.
The Commission will also oversee the financial activities of the parties and ensure that they do not engage in crowdfunding, money laundering, or accepting funds from hostile entities.
This will insulate Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) from the perception of bias in its relationship with registered political parties.
The INEC is conceived as an independent and impartial electoral agency responsible for conducting elections as mandated by the constitution and the Electoral Act.
The Commission must be protected from the mischief of certain associations and political parties. Some individuals and organisations reg
have also proposed that once elected to any office, Councillors, Chairmen, State and National Assembly members, Governors and the President must remain with their parties for the duration of their mandate
ister multiple political parties, with some serving as the main party while others act as auxiliaries or for transactional purposes.
The Commission spends resources and effort to register phantom political parties. It finds itself embroiled in contentious issues with various political parties, some of which have multiple factions and ongoing court cases concerning their leadership.
Some parties emerge during election periods and subsequently enter a phase of hibernation. The electoral management body must verify that these parties continue to exist.
It monitors their conventions, conferences, and meetings, many of which attract no more than 50 attendees.
These events may take place in different states across the federation, prompting the electoral management body to incur expenses on flights, accommodation, catering, and other logistics to supervise them.
Some gatherings serve merely to meet procedural requirements, lacking any political or electoral significance. Conversely, the conferences, conventions, and meetings convened for mergers or leadership elections can often be acrimonious.
This contention is also evident in party primaries, which may pose serious security challenges. Factionalised parties challenge and contest the Commission’s reports, consequently dragging it into political disputes.
This situation is detrimental to the Commission, and the parties must mature and address their internal issues effectively.
The courts have become more proactive in urging and nudging political parties to resolve their internal leadership issues, as they are not equipped to deal with them.
The courts have expressed these sentiments in numerous cases and delineated the parameters and concerns they can address. Yet, the parties inundate the courts with their leadership disputes.
They file multiple cases regarding party primaries, and sometimes, their party primary problems lead to the postponement or cancellation of elections.
Occasionally, they file cases related to party primary elections in multiple jurisdictions. This has resulted in the stripping of the High Courts of jurisdiction to entertain matters concerning party primary elections.
Lawmakers proceeded to define matters and issues relating to pre- and post-election matters, as some pre-election issues overlap with post-election litigation. These manoeuvres are no longer necessary.
The courts should allow political parties to manage their internal issues, and those that cannot resolve them should be deregistered.
When the threshold for party registration is strengthened and made more stringent, some of the individuals and associations behind the parties will learn their lessons.
Currently, due to the lenient nature of the party registration regime, some individuals and associations rush to register new parties while abandoning those facing challenges.
Some of our political leaders enjoy quoting and urging us to adopt good practices from other countries, yet when these practices are introduced, they find ways to undermine them.
We must call them out and hold them accountable. This is the norm in other countries to which they constantly refer. In some of those countries, political parties have existed for generations.
People are born into membership of particular parties. Their parents belong to the same party, and their grandparents were also in the same party. Disagreements occur, yet defection is rarely heard of.
The challenge facing Nigerian political parties and the political elite is the absence of a guiding ideology. Parties must be registered based on their ideological orientation.
The parties must be rooted in their membership. The membership registration must be deposited with the Political Parties and Electoral Offences Commission.
Individuals wishing to contest the general election must register with the party. Such individuals cannot join or leave their parties two years before a general election.
Such individuals may have the freedom to exit the party but cannot find their way into the register of another party. I have also proposed that once elected to any office, Councillors, Chairmen, State and National Assembly members, Governors and the President must remain with their parties for the duration of their mandate.
If they are tired of their parties, they can resign and recontest at another time, since they may be caught by the two-year waiting period in the membership register.
The urge and rush to register new political parties must be curbed. The political elite must strengthen existing political parties and make them more functional and structural.
Nigeria cannot have over 120 political parties with the same ideological orientation. Some political parties are registered as a backup by individuals belonging to other parties, thereby diluting their fidelity to their original party.
Nigerian political parties must mature and be rooted in their membership and with an ideological direction.
