The Nigerian Constitution recognises a multiple range of political parties. This has been called the multi-party system and this denotes that citizens in the country can form political parties as much as possible, as long as they meet the standards for establishing one.
Due to this provision, there are many political parties than the country actually needs. There are currently 18 political parties in Nigeria. This is a massive reduction from 92 political parties that were active at the beginning of 2020.
This is, however, not the point of this post. As the 2023 elections approach, there is already a surge of new political parties in the country. It happened during the last election and well, here we are.
The reasons for new parties are many, but top on the list would be due to lack of satisfaction with the already existing parties.
Some people believe they haven’t found what they are looking for in the available political parties and so they would stretch, in a bid to create one that truly satisfies them.
This is where the problem lies. The emergence or existence of many political parties may seem like the solution. It may seem as though it will enable the masses exercise their power of choice but that would only be on the surface level.
In-depth political analysis would reveal that where there are so many parties, there is bond to be scattered resources and probable confusion among the masses. There is also the probability that those parties would not exist to cater for the masses but would likely be an arm for the expression of selfish interests.
Therefore, while I am not suggesting a single or two-party system, my humble submission is that instead of forming a thousand and one political parties, already existing smaller parties should come together to form a coalition.
When parties build a coalition, their resources, strengths and perspectives become small drops of water that actually make up an ocean. A broomstick can easily be broken just as long as it stands alone.
Therefore, while I am not suggesting a single or two-party system, my humble submission is that instead of forming a thousand and one political parties, already existing smaller parties should come together to form a coalition.
When parties build a coalition, their resources, strengths and perspectives become small drops of water that actually make up an ocean. A broomstick can easily be broken just as long as it stands alone.
If we like, we can keep forming parties that finally function as WhatsApp groups or we can join forces together to become a 3RD FORCE that can be reckoned with.
Igwe bu ike!
Dr Ben Odoh is a legal practitioner and expert at Alternative Dispute Resolution