Intra-Elite Factionalism and the Quest for Sustainable Political Platforms in Nigeria

Abstract

The People’s Democratic Party was the governing party for 16 years until it was defeated in the 2015 general elections. The dominance of the party over the Nigerian political landscape masked the deep internal schism that has bedevilled the party since its formation. This paper traced the origin of the protracted internal conflicts in the party to its formation process, accentuated by the prebendal character of the Nigerian state. A collection of political grandees assembled in the party without a well-articulated vision for governance other than take hold of political power and the resultant patronage accruable from occupying public office. Conflicts in the party manifest in several dimensions, namely: suspension or expulsion of party members, protracted litigation, formation of parallel party structure, defections to rival parties, verbal and physical assault of members. This pattern of conflicts weakened internal cohesion and distracted those elected from the task of actualizing their campaign promises. The methodology is qualitative, primary data sourced from party members is complemented with data from secondary sources. The paper concluded that the ultimate losers from the internal fights in the party are the citizens who suffered the effects in the form of unfulfilled electoral promises.