In this piece, the Alaafin of Oyo, Oba Lamidi Adeyemi III, highlights the roles of political parties in democracy as agents of change, education and enlightenment, and midwife of people-oriented policies and programmes.
I have been watching with ken interest the nature, character and direction of politics in Nigeria in recent times from a vantage position of an observer who have equally been privileged to be close to those who practice politics at the various levels.
To say the least, I am very uncomfortable with these developments, which are indicative of the level of our degeneration in political culture, ethos and participation. As a master of the act and science of public administration, political participation and interest aggregation, I wish to call the attention of all to certain neglected themes in the way politics is practiced today.
The Alaafin is the beneficiary and custodian of a political system that not only survived over six centuries but equally stands out as the best political edifice ever constructed by an African state; ancient or modern. As rightly observed by a British colonial administrator, long before many European states had the slightest understanding of a centralised system of public administration, the old Oyo Empire had created a central authority system with elaborate palace and provincial administrative and governance structures.
The Alaafin sits on a throne whose pedigree has never been doubted but widely acclaimed as the exemplar of the delicate and elaborate mechanism of constitutionally guaranteed system of checks and balance. Before and since I became the Alaafin of Oyo, I have been genuinely interested and deeply involved in politics and the management of the political estate for the socio-political and economic good of he people.
It would seem to me that the practitioners of what is today derisively called Nigerian politics are oblivious of the historical and intellectual development of the art of politics properly so called. What is being practiced is a far cry from the ideal as it is a clear departure from what the founding fathers of the Nigerian state envisioned for the country. It is obvious that the political culture has moved many poles away from what could make politics participatory, engaging, interesting and alluring.
The introduction of the elective principle in 1922 by the colonial administration under the leadership of Sir Hugh Clifford paved the way for political participation and the development of informed attitude to political developments by Nigerians. The end of World War II in 1945 quickened the pace of political activities and widened the frontiers of participation.
The demobilization of the Nigerian veterans of the war coupled with their new awareness led to what is generally and popularly called militant nationalism in Nigeria. The involvement of the Labour Union in the struggle for decolonization added the much needed rive to political participation,. There were also, all over the country but especially in Lagos, the emergence of Literary and Debating Societies which provided for a and opportunities to discuss every aspect of Nigerian life and debate political issues. The old Glover Hall, Lagos, became beehive of activities and venue for debates and other literary and political activities.
One organisation, the Nigerian Youth Movement, which was established in 1936 provided opportunities for budding public office holders and political enthusiasts to meet and to analyse political developments all over the world and how they impacted on Nigeria. Needless to say, the press organizations in the Lagos-Ibadan axis, the Zik Group of Newspapers especially the West African Pilot and the Southern Nigeria Defender and of course, Gaskiya Tafin Kwabo (the truth is worth more than a penny) in the North sufficiently mobilized the citizenry for enlightened political participation and robust engagements with the political process.
However, progressively as from the 1950s, political parties begun to play more prominent and patriotic roles in the design of the political architecture of Nigeria. The3se parties with varying degrees of commitment and success were responsible,. In the main, for the political transformation of the country, from the backwater of a colonial estate to a country ready for self government and independence. The three major political parties, The National Council for Nigeria and Cameroon (later known as National Council of Nigerian Citizens when Southern Cameron became excised from Nigeria), The Action Group and the Northern Peoples Congress co-jointly raised the be in political participation. These parties, before the introduction of sectional or ethnic politics provided the tuft for aspiring politicians to learn the rips and participate in the process.
The period between 1945 and 1960 was therefore chracterised by intense political activities inspired and moderated by the existing political parties and not the electoral agency. The globally recognized mandates of political partiers were vigorously pursued and to a very large extent, party supremacy was not to be negotiated. The political parties imposed upon themselves the task of constructing an informed political culture which became generally accepted as norm. With the benefit of hindsight, it may not be too farfetched to claim that the political parties of that era demonstrated a high sense of organization and their leadership appreciated the role of political parties in the political arena and democratic process.
It is however sad to note that the political parties of the present era have not fully appreciated their role in a democratic society and they are limited or constrained by the poor vision of their leadership, the regulating institution and over the law of the land. The new party system has abandoned its traditional roles and seems to be comfortable with being the political orgnisations of a few extremely rich party leaders who parade themselves as party bosses and money bags. Unlike what obtained in the immediate pre and post independence eras, when charismatic leaders served the in terest of the party, it is the party now serving the private and inordinate interests of money bags in as many parties as they want.
As observed by other public commentators on the political and party system in Nigeria, contemporary Nigerians political parties lack ideological foundation and there seems to be no difference between party A and party B except of course in their names, logo and physical address. Political parties in Nigerian are now being run and managed like business outfits to ensure access to the corridors of power and by extension the national wealth.
Political parties are only concerned with supporting aspiring candidates for political office on their individual merit and not as official representatives of the parries in government to ensure the implementation of party programmes, polities on the different sectors of national life and indeed party manifesto and pact with the electorate. It is therefore convenient for parties that are in fact partly funded by the government to abdicate the role of soliciting and priotising needs and policy in line withy the needs, wishes and aspirations of the their members and supporters.
Nigerian parties no longer familiarise or educate voter’s and citizens in the functioning of the political and electoral systems and in generating correct political values. What they do at best is to criticise the activities and progrmmes of government appointed and funded electoral supervising authorities. They neglect the role of educating and training party members and leadership on a continuous basis. Members are only called upon during elections and compromised with what is generally known as empowerment, dividend of democracy or even the more recent terminology of stomach infrastructure; whatever that means.
Nigerian political parties no longer care about balancing opposing demands and converting them into general policies because they seem to lack intellectual premise or foundation. Unlike what obtained in the First Republic when every intended government policy enjoyed very robust debate and trenchant analysis by party members, our politicians no longer have time for such niceties because according to them, such intellectually stimulating exercises waste precious time and resources.
Today, the Nigerian political culture has been so mismanaged that it could hardly be described as coming close to anything scholarly or intellectual. This negative development has produced a situation in which political parties can no longer activate and mobilize citizens toward political participation or transform public opinion into viable policy options for the government in power.
Respective ministers and heads of government agencies and parastatals are now left almost alone to design and implement policies without the input of their political parties and with scant regard to the aspirations of the citizens.
What is even more worrisome is the inability of political parties to recruit and train candidates for public office. As if standing common sense or logic on its head, candidates now shop around and finance political parties to ensure the realisation of their selfish and narrowly defined political agenda. There is a complete breakdown of order, discipliner and system. Individuals within political parties now loom larger and more influential than political partiers. They easily subvert popular will and subsume the general will of the real owners of the process under their own inordinate ambition.
To the leaders of the various political parties, I wish to, with humility, call upon you all to have a second thought on the mandate of your party, its role in a democracy, its obligations to the citizens of this country and how the counter can use the agency of these political parties to develop a progressive, dynamic and participatory political culture which will be capable of producing correct political values and attitudes.
If Nigerians will live up to the bidding of being the giant and power house of Africa, it must begin with a repositioning of our political parties for relevance. Political parties are the engine rooms of change and are responsible, in the main, for the development of government programmes and policies that arte capable of transforming the Nigerian society. It ids indeed your patriotic duty to rise above pettiness and bickering to do what is right and noble and for which you will be eternally remembered.
We must do away with personality cults, and focus on mass political participation fort meaningful development. There is yet no provision for independent candidature in the Nigerian constitution or electoral law and to that extent, candidate for all elective positions are candidates of their respective political parties. Constitutionally, political partiers contest and win elections not individuals per se. The winners are therefore responsible to and accountable to their parties and must submit to the dictates of the party while in office.
I implore political party leaders to kindly ensure that you support the interest of those candidates who will abide by the dictates of the party and recognize that they owe their mandates in trust for people. A situation where certain individual office holders will assume the role of the party must not only be discouraged but out rightly condemned and abhorred. The vexatious malady of unwarranted carpet crossing of senior and ranking members of the party for personal political aggrandizement should be outlawed completely through constitutional and extra constitutional provisions. It is an anathema to talk about carpet crossing in the United States from where the Nigerian presidential constitution is borrowed. It is unimaginable that member of the Kennedy or Clinton family will change party to embrace the Republican Party or any member of the Bush family to identify with the Democratic Party. Even in Britain, the Tory will never cross the carpet to join the Labour Party. Fidelity with or faithfulness to the party is a major factor in maintaining discipline and supremacy of the party in every instance.
Opportunities should be provided for the citizens to express their desires, needs and expectations without let or hindrance. Political parties are to articulate and aggregate these expectations and translate them to policies that will go into your manifestos or charter of promise to the electorate. Elected officials are therefore duty bound to remain faithful to the sacred pact by implementing the party manifesto to the best of their ability and in good faith in accordance with the constitution. Each level of government must be allowed to function as effectively as defined in the co0nstitution. A situation of one level subsuming another level to the point of making it totally irrelevant in the political process must never be allowed again.
For instance, local government autonomy must be pursued to generate political activities and p-participation at the grassroots level. The primitive system of appointing local government chairmen and councilors must never be allowed again. Never again should any individual be encouraged to behave in like manner as the District Officers in the era of colonial domination who lorded it over the people without due regard to aspirations and needs of the people they presided over. Political re-engineering must begin from the local governments for effective political participation, responsible and accountable leadership.
I wish that we have the courage to do that which is noble, just and fair in the onerous task of redeeming the political system in Nigeria.
