Covenant University Journal of Politics & Internationall Affairs. Vol. 5, No.1, June, 2017 An Open Access Journal - Available Online Party Primaries, Candidate Selection and Intra-Party Conflict in Nigeria: PDP in Perspective Muinat Adetayo Adekeye Kwara State University, Malete [email protected] Abstract: This paper underscores the interplay among party primaries, candidate selection and intra-party conflicts in the People‟s Democratic Party (PDP). It employs the theoretical explanations of the Group Conflict Theory which posits that conflicts within groups are borne out of incompatible interests catalyzed by selfish nature of individuals. Findings from the qualitative analysis signifies that while institutional structures have been enacted to avert conflicts within the party, non-adherence to the dictates of such structures have birthed a wide range of internal conflicts within the party, thus resulting to cases of defection, factionalization, proliferation of political parties, unconstitutional change of party leaders and most importantly, the defeat of the party in 2015 general elections. It was recommended that effective restructuring of internal laws and polices within PDP, establishment of punitive measure and the practice of transparency by the INEC would ensure good governance in Nigeria. Keywords: Political Party, Party Primaries, Candidate Selection, People‟s Democratic Party, Nigeria. Introduction democracy in the context of political It is incontestable that political parties parties; Agudiegwu and Ezeani (2015 have remained vital and indispensible p.105) emphasized that “the strength tools in institutionalizing democracy in and effectiveness of political parties is most democratic polities in the world directly proportional to the degree of today. Arising from the catalytic feature resilience democracy enjoy”, Omotola of political parties, they serve an (2009) similarly opined that political intermediate role in democratic societies parties are makers of democracy such by acting as a connecting cord between that no democratic settings can exist the government and the people, thereby without them. From these, it is therefore ensuring all tenets of democracy are a truism that political parties pose as an upheld in the country. This justifies the instrumental paddle of democratic reason why most literatures explain foundations, which employs diverse 22 Muinat Adebayo Adekeye CUJPIA (2017) 5(1) 22-39 processes in ensuring such democratic And as Odibachi (2010) rightly asserted structures are guarded and protected. In that what exists within them can only be line with this, they are thus institutions equated to battles such that party politics which sponsor a wide range of aspiring has exhibited more crisis than cohesion political office holders through a formal for national development and that and constitutional process, setting them virtually all the political parties have aside as the parties‟ official candidates. been perpetually enmeshed in conflicts In relation, the selection of viable and owing to lack of internal democracy and competent candidates is most imposition of party candidates and party importantly and firstly done through the leadership. organization of primary elections which Amidst such, the People‟s Democratic is a type of poll organized before the Party (PDP) maintained the front burner general elections for the purpose of in the perpetration of internal crisis nominating a party‟s candidates for a resulting from selection of candidates political office (Keithly, 2012), thus through party primaries. Aniche and making it a relevant activity in ensuring Egboh (2015) maintained that no that internal democracy of the party is political party has been bedeviled by properly upheld. This is because, not internal conflict like the People‟s only does it create room for political Democratic Party. Such crisis arose out position average party members, but of indiscriminate imposition of also weakens the influence of political candidates by powerful members of the elites within the party, which will party, substitution of candidates who consequently aid the institutionalization have won the primary election with of the party. In turn, institutionalization others who did not and disrupting will allow for a proper method of internal rules and regulations, which channeling social demands, and will resulted to defection of members to also help in ensuring most of the party other parties and factionalization within activities are in order. Thus, it suffices the party. Additionally, enduring crisis to posit that parties‟ survival, in the People‟s Democratic Party also effectiveness and buoyancy is largely contributed to the defeat of its 16-year anchored on its internal process of party incumbency in the 2015 general primaries and candidate selection elections. process. This inescapable situation of the However, while the institutionalization Nigerian political parties thus creates a of party primaries and candidate need for the analysis of intra-party selection has commanded a robust conflicts in the PDP vis-à-vis its discussion at the theoretical level, it has candidate selection and party primaries enjoyed limited applicability in Nigeria in Nigeria‟s fourth republic. To do that, with the implication that political parties the paper takes a long historical view of in the country have been marred by the emergence of the party, the legal and various degrees of internal conflicts, institutional framework that undergirds squabbles and crisis with the implication its candidate selection process as well as that the internal structure of the parties some empirical cases of crisis in the are often mired in endless contestations. party arising from the candidate 23 Muinat Adebayo Adekeye CUJPIA (2017) 5(1) 22-39 selection process. The paper further these roles is largely hinged on the explores the implications of such capability of the party to foster internal internal crises for the country at large, unity, relations, democracy and especially for the sustenance of our cohesion. nascent democracy. It finally proffers However, although these political some solutions for curbing the persistent parties theoretically befit constitutional occurrences of internal party crisis in qualities and prospects ascribed to them, Nigeria. The focus on the PDP is made enhancing internal democracy remained germane by the fact that the party a herculean task in practice; they have exercised predominant control over been bereft of proper adherence to their Nigeria‟s political landscape in the first respective constitutional party sixteen years of the Fourth Republic and structures, particularly in the process of also recorded unparalleled spate of selecting candidates and conducting its internal crises within the period. primaries. Such discrepancy has sparked Statement of the Problem odious cases of internal conflicts among Maintenance of internal democracy, them, resulting to the enmeshment of through the process of selecting intra-party conflicts in the fabric of candidates among political parties in political parties. In the spate of this, Nigeria, particularly in the People‟s intra-party conflicts in Nigeria have Democratic Party has remained a vexed reduced political parties to a “liability issue (Akubo & Umoru, 2014). than an asset to the common man and Consequently, enhancing the democratic the system at large (Omotola, 2010 process since the launch of the fourth p.141)”. Amidst these, the People‟s democratic dispensation has also been a Democratic Party has unfortunately daunting task in the country. After remained the carrier of such odious decades long colonial rule, military rule legacies of internal crisis. Since its and epileptic democratic surge, it was establishment, it has demonstrated wide expected that the new democratic ranges of internal conflicts, thus dispensation would create an avenue for necessitating the understanding of how the maximization of democracy in the its election and selection process has country. The trend remains an overt bred internal conflicts and also the reliance on structures of political parties implications of such conflicts in Nigeria. to aid in the achievement of such Brief Review of Literature democracy; since political parties are The People’s Democratic Party: dividends and makers of democracies, it History, Nature and Formation is expected of them to not only aid in The People‟s Democratic Party has a achieving the needed democracy in the long history in Nigerian party politics. country, but also ensure that they Its origin dates back to 1998, in maintain democratic principles within preparation for the new democratic themselves. In essence, political parties dispensation. Osumah and Ikelegbe were seen as the purveyors of the (2009) asserted that the end of military democracy, because they themselves dispensation in the country created the exude democratic principles among necessity to have political parties which members. Hence, the achievement of were not only devoid of ethnic-based 24 Muinat Adebayo Adekeye CUJPIA (2017) 5(1) 22-39 typology of political parties that marked sent to the barracks. The objectives of the previous republics, but which would the party at inception, according to also help in underlining the country‟s Ojukwu and Olaifa (2013), included: to readiness for plural democracy. This led seek political power for the purpose of to the establishment and registration of protecting the territorial integrity of several political parties, including the Nigeria