- By Okoi Obono-Obla
History offers invaluable insights, allowing nations to navigate the future by learning from past experiences. It is deeply intertwined with the cultural ethos of a people, shaping their political behaviour and decision-making.
Over the last eighty years, the Nigerian political landscape has witnessed numerous attempts at coalition-building, often driven by a desire to consolidate power and challenge dominant parties. However, history has consistently shown that these coalitions rarely succeed.
Early political coalitions:
In the 1950s, two dominant parties—the Northern Peoples Congress (NPC) and the National Convention of Nigerian Citizens (NCNC)—attempted to form a coalition following the 1959 elections, as no single party secured the majority needed to govern. Initially, the NPC and NCNC sought to collaborate, but ideological differences led to their eventual split. The NCNC then formed alliances with parties such as the Action Group, the Northern Elements Progressive Union, and the United Middle Belt Congress, culminating in the creation of the United Progressives Grand Alliance (UPGA).
Conversely, Chief Ladoke Akintola’s faction of the Action Group joined forces with the NPC to establish the Nigerian National Alliance (NNA). The 1964 general election was contested primarily between these two coalitions, with the NNA emerging victorious.
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Coalitions in the Second Republic:
By 1983, Nigeria had four major political parties: the National Party of Nigeria (NPN), the Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN), the Nigerian Peoples Party (NPP), and the Great Nigeria Peoples Party (GNPP), alongside the Peoples Redemption Party (PRP). As the NPN grew into a formidable political force, opposition parties attempted to unite against it. The UPN, NPP, and PRP formed the Progressive Peoples Alliance (PPA), but internal discord led to the GNPP’s withdrawal, significantly weakening the coalition. The result was a crushing defeat in the 1983 general elections, with the NPN securing a landslide victory, winning the presidency, a majority in the National Assembly, and over half of the governorship seats.
Failed attempts in the Fourth Republic:
The trend of unsuccessful coalitions continued into Nigeria’s Fourth Republic. In 1999, the Alliance for Democracy (AD) and the All Peoples Party (APP) attempted to counter the dominance of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the presidential election, but they were soundly defeated. Similarly, leading up to the 2011 elections, the fledgling Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) and the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) sought to merge, yet negotiations collapsed before the coalition could take shape.
A persistent pattern:
Across different eras in Nigerian history, coalitions have consistently failed to achieve their objectives. This raises the question: Is coalition-building fundamentally incompatible with Nigeria’s political culture? Proponents of coalitions argue that they offer the best chance of unseating the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC). However, history suggests that forming a successful alliance requires more than just shared opposition—it demands unity, strategic compromise, and long-term cohesion.
Will the current push for coalition politics break this historical cycle, or will it simply reaffirm past failures? Only time will tell.
- Obono-Obla is a lawyer and member of the APC’s 2023 Presidential Campaign Team