Abstract
Modern understandings of democracy not only suggest a regime in which those who govern are selected through contested elections, but more fundamentally, a system of government in which parties lose elections. Yet, the mechanism of vertical accountability whereby the people can hold the ruling government responsible depends on parties in opposition providing choices for voters while remaining loyal to the idea of governmental power. Adopting the principle of loyal opposition as the basis of this study in the Nigerian context, we try to interrogate whether the duty to serve as “government in-waiting’’ equally affects how the duty to critique the actions of the government is performed. The study further probed; can a ruling party cope with the criticism of the opposition party? To answer these questions, the study argued that it is tempting not to assume that, the institution of political party is still at its lowest ebb despite the successful democratic transition in Nigeria since 1999, and the alternation of political power resulting in the change of party in government from the People’s Democratic Party to the All Progressives Congress in 2015. These issues have consequences for the principle of loyal opposition and democratic stability in Nigeria.
Highlights
Evidence continues to highlight competition among political parties as one of the fundamental characteristics of a democratic regime (Adeola, 2014; Dahl, 1973; Salih and Nordlund, 2007)
Part of the criticism of lack of ideology of political parties in Nigeria is on the pursuit of selfish agenda by opposition parties to unseat the ruling party without clear cut idea of what to do in government
The fact needs be restated that Nigeria operates a multi-party system, and until the 2015 general election which brought in the All Progressive Congress (APC) in control of political power, the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) dominate the national government and spread its tentacle in majority of the states for sixteen years
Summary
Evidence continues to highlight competition among political parties as one of the fundamental characteristics of a democratic regime (Adeola, 2014; Dahl, 1973; Salih and Nordlund, 2007). Loyal opposition is central to the running of political parties because opposition political parties reserves the right to contest election and hope for better luck time (to take control of government power) when the winners policies are flawed, turn out to have been disastrous or unpopular in their implementation (Waldron, 2012). In spite of the criticism by the All Progressive Congress (APC) in the build up to the 2015 general election in Nigeria, it is just a political strategy to depose the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) from political power (Awofeso and Irabor, 2017). This method of opposition politics defies the principle of loyal opposition. This is with a view to examining the nexus between opposition politics and loyal opposition in a developing democratic country, like Nigeria
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