There is hardly any politically enlightened Nigerian that does not hold the view that the poor economic and political growth of the country is traceable to equally poor leadership. This is especially so since 1979 when the nation embraced the American presidential system of democratic governance. The type of government has not failed in the US since 1789 when George Washington became inaugurated as the first president of the country.
Unfortunately, Nigeria copied the American government pattern without taking into account the components that guaranteed its success. For instance, the Democratic National Committee, DNC was formed in 1848 alongside the Democratic Party. The committee’s responsibilities include the formulation of strategies to ensure, not only the victory of the party at the polls through credible party primaries for choosing credible candidates but also to assist towards making the people of the country feel the positive impact of the party, especially after winning elections.
By constitutional provisions, if the Democratic Party wins the presidential election, the committee submits itself to control from the white house through the president. The same rule applies to the Republican Party with its own Republican National Committee, RNC. In other words, political organs in the US are made to have bodies that moderate the activities of political party members with a view to making sure that they are on the same page at all times in terms of party manifestos, organisations, fund raisings for campaigns, discipline of erring members and so on and so forth.
The over 175-year old structure of the Democratic Party has remained in force till date. Having considered his experience as the former Chairman of the Democratic party of Southern Carolina, Biden nominated Jammie Harrison for the position of the Chairman of the Democratic National Committee in 2021. This was accepted by members of the committee, who later elected him to that position. Needless to say that since its formation, the Democratic Party has continued to alternate governance of the US with the Republican Party with members joining either of them based on ideological principles and beliefs.
However, political parties in Nigeria appear to be operating without ideological and administrative structures. And this has remained the bane of democratic leadership in the country. Apart from the People’s Democratic Party, PDP that was proudly run by board of trustees that can be likened to the DNC of America, all the other parties are run with political party election contestants acting mainly in manners that are at variance with their political parties’ principles. People with bourgeoisie characters defect to political parties with socialist-inclinations and vice versa with ease. This is very unhealthy for political growth and development.
Unfortunately, today’s PDP has become a shadow of its former self. Its 100th NEC meeting held on the 30th of June 2025 is still a subject of political debates. While the acting chairman, Ambassador Umar Damagun led his faction of the party to the meeting, the voices of Governors Seyi Makinde, Peter Mbah and Douye Diri of Oyo, Enugu and Bayelsa states respectively were not loud during the event.
This, among other reasons has left the Enugu state branch of the party promising that they will only react to the declaration of Senator Samuel Anyanwu as the National Secretary of the Party after consulting widely at the South East regional level.
Organisationally speaking, none of the opposition political groups, including the so called Coalitions seem formidable enough to wrestle power from the ruling All Progressives’ Congress, APC come 2027. Both PDP and the LP have lost many of their National Assembly members to the ruling APC.
In Rivers state, it is difficult to understand where the people stand in the nation’s political equation. The immediate past governor of the state, Nyesom Wike functions as one of the most powerful members of Tinubu’s cabinet. Yet he controls Damagun’s faction of the party that brought him to lime light. Despite truce reached recently between him and the suspended governor Sim Fubara, the state is yet to significantly move away from the political imbroglio ravaging it.
For the records, the PDP performed fairly well when it held sway (1999 – 2015) mainly because of its robust structure with men like late Dr. Alex Ekwueme, Barnabas Gemade, Chief Tony Anenih and others as BoT chairmen at one point or the other. The party’s fortune crashed when Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, the former president (1999 – 2007) refused or failed to sustain the leadership style of the party when he took over as the first former president to function as its chairman of Board of Trustees.
In the final analysis, Nigeria cannot be dreaming of credible democratic leadership when the leadership at the political parties’ levels is faulty. Parties cannot conduct primary elections characterized with irregularities and rancour and expect good governance to emerge from them.
Meanwhile, Politicians and Nigerians generally must learn from what has happened in the Republic of Senegal and Ghana where presidential elections held without any contestant proceeding to court to contest the outcomes.
