1 POLITICAL PARTIES AND NATIONAL INTEGRATION: A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF POLITICAL PARTIES IN THE SECOND REPUBLIC (1979-1983) AND FOURTH REPUBLIC (1999-2003) BY ODO, SATURNINUS I. PG/M.Sc/10/57275 DEPARTMENT OF POLITICAL SCIENCE UNIVERSITY OF NIGERIA, NSUKKA AUGUST, 2011. 2 POLITICAL PARTIES AND NATIONAL INTEGRATION: A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF POLITICAL PARTIES IN THE SECOND REPUBLIC (1979-1983) AND FOURTH REPUBLICS (1999-2003) BY ODO, SATURNINUS I. PG/M.Sc/10/57275 A PROJECT REPORT SUBMITTED TO THE DEPARTMENT OF DEPARTMENT OF POLITICAL SCIENCE, FACULTY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT FOR THE AWARD OF MASTER OF SCIENCE (M.Sc) DEGREE IN POLITICAL SCIENCE SUPERVISOR: PROF. M. IKEJIANI -CLARK AUGUST, 2011. 3 CERTIFICATION This study was duly approved and certified as being worthy of presentations as a mater’s project in the Department of Political Science University of Nigeria, Nsukka by the following. ………………………………… ………………………….. PROF. IKEJIANI-CLARK DATE Supervisor ………………………………… ………………………….. PROF. OBASI IGWE DATE Head of Department 4 DEDICATION To Eternal Glory God My parents: Late Mr. Odo Jacob Nnachi and Mrs. Odo Grace (Nee Chizieke) And to My beloved wife Mrs. Anayochukwu Odo for their support and kindness. 5 ACKNOWLEDGMENT I am grateful to God Almighty both for the opportunities within the period and for sustaining love. I acknowledge with humility and profound gratitude the ideas, knowledge, quotation and styles of many intellectual giants, which is used either directly or indirectly in the writing of this project. However, it is not possible for me to bestow adequate recognition on all who in one way or the other contributed immensely to the fulfillment of my academic endeavours which is now a dream come true in my life. I am especially indebted to my project superior Prof. M. Ikejiani-clark. She has keen Oeye for details and passion for excellence. My special regards goes to all my lecturers, Prof. Jonah Onuoha, Dr. Ken Ifesinachi, Dr. A. M. Okolie and others. Next to God is my beloved wife Mrs. Odo Anayochukwu whose loyalty, co-operation and support made the studies possible. Above all she bore the heavy financial burden of my studies with cheerfulness and zeal. Similarly, I am appreciative of the love, encouragements and sacrifices of 6 the following chief O. C. Odo, Barr. V. C. Odo, Chief Patrick Nwodo, Dr. Efemini Andrew, Mr. Igwagu Osmond, Mrs. Agatha Nwmba, Mrs. Bibiana Obeleze. They are all good and helpful to me. A appreciate the love, charity and encouragement which I received from my in laws the Ojili family. Similarly my good and obedient children Adanna, Ifenna, Mmasichukwu and Chioma, also my regards to my brothers and sisters. My parents equally deserves special mention. They laid the very foundation of my existence. My unforgettable instinct and thanks go to them, they never lived to see this journey completed. May their souls rest in perfect peace Amen. 7 ABSTRACT This research was born out of the desire to investigate the extent to which the second and fourth republic political parties impacted on national integration. As the great philosopher, Aristotle posited “man is a political animal”. This means that in every society, there must exist individual diverse interest and that of Nigeria is no exception Political parties are there to aggregate these diverse interests to make way for stability and national integration. To what extent have the political parties in second and fourth republic in Nigeria achieved this goals? And how did the structure of political parties in both republic promote private regarding interest? In order to effectively handle the matter I intend to look at the pre-1960 to early 1960s situation in Nigeria, this is to enable me have an adequate information on the genealogy of political parties in Nigeria to be able to find out whether the non-integrative nature of Nigeria political parties is caused by way these political parties were formed. At the course of investigation into this work I discovered that political parties in both republic were mostly formed and operated along ethnic lines. The structure of political parties in both republics appeared to have promoted private regarding interest. This led to ethno- regional domination and of course a number of imbalances in the party structure. The ethnic origin of these parties and their affiliations promoted private regarding interest which inhabited national integration. The work also proffered solutions to the problems that inhibited national integration and recommended ways through which political parties can help in solving the problem of national integration. An important feature of this research is the method of analysis, which is based on the historical explanation and method of logical assumption; certain lessons that are drawn from history could be relevant to the present and the future. For any research to be meaningful, reliable and scientific facts and ideas must be supplemented with empirical data. As such as substantial portion of this work would be gathered from the internet and journals. Secondary materials like Journals, Newspapers, Textbooks etc would also be used. Primary materials, which would also include party documents, would be also used. 8 TABLE OF CONTENTS Title Page i Certification ii Dedication iii Acknowledgement iv Abstract vi Table of Contents viii CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION 1.1 Background of the Study 1 1.2 Statement of the Problem 12 1.3 Objectives of the Study 13 1.4 Significance of the Study 14 1.5 Scope of the Study 16 1.6 Literature Review 16 1.7 Theoretical Framework 29 1.8 Hypotheses 33 1.9 Method of Data Collection 34 1.10 Method of Data Analysis 34 9 CHAPTER TWO: ORIGIN OF POLITICAL PARTIES IN THE SECOND AND FOURTH REPUBLICS 2.1 Before 1960 47 2.2 Political Parties in the Second Republic (1979-1983) 63 2.3 Political Parties in the Fourth Republic (1999-2003) 74 2.4 Ethnic Identities of Parties in the Second and Fourth Republic 81 CHAPTER THREE: PARTY STRUCTURE AND NATIONAL PRIVATE INTEREST 3.1 Party Structures: The Second Republic 95 3.2 Party Structures: The Fourth Republic 99 3.3 Inhibition to National Integration 104 CHAPTER FOUR: THE COMPARATIVE ROLE OF POLITICAL PARTIES IN NATIONAL INTEGRATION 1979 TO 1983, 1999 TO 2003 4.1 Political Parties in the Second Republic and National Integration: 1979 to 1984 119 10 4.2 Political Parties in the Fourth Republic and National Integration: 1999 to 2003 140 CHAPTER FIVE: SUMMARY, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS 5.1 Summary and Conclusion 150 5.2 Recommendations 155 Bibliography 158 11 CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION 1.1 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY The rise of political parties as an instrument of national integration has captured the attention of many scholars in recent times. Their common purpose enable Appadorai (2004:537) to formulate his classical definition of political party as “A political party is more or less organized group of citizens who act together as a political unit, have distinctive aims and opinions on the leading political questions of controversy in the state, and who, by acting together as a political unit, seek to obtain control of the government”. Edmund Burke defined political party as “a body of men united for promoting by their joint endeavors, national integration upon some particular principles in which they are all agreed”. Ostrogorski (1854-1919) was one of the first students of politics to recognize that parties were becoming vital in the new era of democratic politics. The twentieth century proved to be the century of parties. In West Europe, mass parties battled for the votes of enlarge electorates. In communist 12 and fabist states, ruling parties monopolized power in an attempt to reconstruct society and the people within it. In the developing world, nationalist parties became the vehicle for driving colonial rulers back to their imperial homeland. In all there cases, parties succeeded in drawing millions of with the national political process, often for the first time. The mass party was the mobilizing device of the twentieth century. In standing between the people and the state, parties became and substantially remain, integral to politics in four main ways. • Ruling parties offer direction to government, performing the vital task of steering the ship of state. • Parties function as agents of elite recruitment. They serve as major mechanism for preparing and recruiting candidates for public office. If you want to lead your country, you must first persuade a party to adopt you as it candidate. • Parties serve as agents of interest aggregation. They transform a multitude of specific demands into more manageable packages of proposals. Parties select, 13 reduce and combine interests. They act as a filter between society and state, deciding which demands to allow through their net. • The a declining extent, political parties serves as a point of reference for their supporters and voters, giving people a key to interpreting a complicated political world. Definition Political parties are permanent organizations which contest elections, usually because they seek to occupy the decisive positions of authority within the state, unlike interest groups, which seek merely to influence the government, serious parties aim to secure the levers of power in Rod Hague and Martin Harrop (2001:167). In Weber’s phrase parties live in a house of power. A party may exist primarily as an electoral machine for gaining power with no coherent philosophy, or it may have deep ideological aims. It might also conform to Edmund Burk’s definition of a group agreed “upon a pimple by which the national interest might be served. It is a group publicly 14 organized with the intention of gaining political power in government, to realize certain aims C. A. heeds (1975:124). National integration is a process which includes among other things, the incorporation of various parts of a society into a functioning whole, the growth of obedience and loyalties of the nation transcending loyalties to its, parts and emergence of shared values and perspectives or consensus.