THE 2022 HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY PRIMARIES AND CHALLENGES OF INTERNAL PARTY DEMOCRACY IN NIGERIA

Abstract

This article examined what happened at the state party primaries when political parties elected their delegates and candidates to vie for state Houses of Assembly seats for the 2023 general elections in Nigeria. Successful aspirants to state Houses of Assembly are expected in the next four years to make laws on matters that are closest to the grass root. The article however limited its examination of state Assembly primaries to the two dominant political parties – the APC (All Progressive Congress) and the PDP (Peoples Democratic Party) because as of January 2022, these two parties, of the currently registered 18 political parties in Nigeria, controlled 92.8% of the entire state Assembly seats in the 36 states of the Federation. It was established from findings that the problems of imposition of candidates and sponsorship by godfathers characterized the conduct and outcome of party primaries at this level, the extant legal instruments that supposedly ruled against such infractions notwithstanding. This article, by providing a background to this study, established with examples that these problems have existed within the Nigerian political space and in party primaries in particular, during the first second, and third Republics respectively. This creates challenges of accountability when aspirants emerging through this process are elected into office. The article concluded with recommendations on what should be done to limit or eliminate the control of governors, money bags, and godfathers, especially at the level of state Assembly primaries. The emphasis in the recommendations was placed amongst others on the rank-and-file card-carrying members being attracted and retained, as strong financial members of their parties, committed to the party’s ideology and programs, and being made therefore to own the party and its structures.