Peoples Democratic Party Research Articles

Proximity or Directional Model of Voting for the Turkish Voter?

Voting behavior is a very complex type of political behavior. Therefore, understanding why voters vote for a particular political party or a candidate requires developing complex models. In 1957, Anthony Downs, who built his model on Hottelings’ and Smithies’ models, argued that political parties’ and candidates’ ideological and issue positions can be expressed on a one-dimensional space. On one hand, it was highly reductionist to argue that political ideas on a particular issue can be expressed this way, on the other, it was highly practical from analytical point of view. Locating parties, candidates and voters on a one-dimensional space according to their ideological or issue positions was then a revolutionaly idea and helped comparing party, candidate and voter ideological and issue positions within and across countries. These models, which were called spatial models of party competition were further developed over time and helped understanding voting behavior. Currently, spatial models of party competition have two major competing models linking voter ideological positions with party ideological positions. Simply, while the proximity model proposes that voters vote for the parties or candidates that hold ideological positions in the political space that are closest to their own, the directional model suggests that the voters vote for the parties or candidates that are on their side of the two-dimensional political spectrum and more extreme than their own while being within the acceptability region. This research aims to test the applicability of these two voting models for the Turkish voter. Türkiye constitutes an interesting case study with its long-term PR electoral system as it was suggested in the extant literature that proximity model is a more appropriate tool to explain voting behavior in Proportional (PR) systems. Thus, we hypothesize that in Türkiye, where a PR electoral system is in effect for parliamentary elections, voter electoral preferences are better explained by the proximity model than the directional model. Our research analyzes Comparative Study of Electoral Systems (CSES) data for voters of the four major political parties in Türkiye, the Justice and Development Party (JDP), the Republican People’s Party (RPP), the National Action Party (NAP), and the People’s Democratic Party (PDP). A series of Multiple Linear Regression Analyses were conducted to reveal associations between the dependent and the independent variables. Voter embracement, as expressed as like-dislike of each political party for each voter, is seperately used as the dependent variable for each analysis. Issue distance and issue scalar product were used as key independent variables representing the formulas for the proximity and the directional models, respectively. Additionally, education, age, gender and income were recruited as classical control variables. Comparing explanatory powers of the statistical models showed that, contrary to the findings of MacDonald and his colleagues, the proximity model of voting is a more appropriate tool than the directional model to explain voting behavior in Türkiye. From a macro-political perspective, this finding supports Westholm’s (1997) argument that the PR provides a more appropriate tool to explain voting behavior in PR systems. Yet, it should be noted that further multi-country comperative analyses required for certain results.

CORRUPTION AND POLITICAL PARTY PERFORMANCE IN NIGERIA’S FOURTH REPUBLIC; FOCUS ON PEOPLES DEMOCRATIC PARTY

One of the perennial challenges facing the Nigerian polity is corruption and the political space was not left out in this regard. Despite the fact that political parties are the bedrock of democratic settings as they perform the functions of political recruitment, socialization, articulation as well as strengthening the competition in the political space, lack of ideology, corrupt practices and intra-party contradictions have hindered them from meeting their expectations. This paper interrogated the effects of corruption on political party performance in Nigeria’s Fourth Republic with much focus on the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and to proffer solutions on how the menace could be curbed to enhance the internal democracy and potential of the PDP to capture the state power. The paper adopted qualitative research method through the use of secondary data such as journals, textbooks and periodicals and also utilized the clientelism model as a framework of analysis. The study reveals that corruption has eaten deep into the fabric of all democratic institutions in the state including the political parties as the electoral processes have been monetized beyond reasonable doubt. The study, therefore, recommended among others that the democratic institutions in the state such as political parties and the electoral commission be strengthened so as to promote good governance, values ethics and national prosperity. Again, there should be focus on meritocracy in selecting the leadership of political parties and party candidates rather than emphasis on nepotism and relying on patron-client agreements where the patrons decide who and how leaders are elected. This will go along to establish a just, fair and an egalitarian society.

Candidacy Endorsement and Rebuttals as Mediated Campaign Strategies in The 2023 Nigerian Election

Endorsements trigger arguments and rebuttals about the relevance of political actors by the spokesmen frontline political parties. Previous linguistic studies have focused more on campaign speeches; little attention has been paid to endorsement as a campaign strategy. This study investigated the endorsement speech of Olusegun Obasanjo (OBJ) and rebuttals by supporting and opposing spokesmen of Labour Party (LP), People’s Democratic Party (PDP), and All Progressive Congress (APC) in Nigerian elections, identifying and analysing the locutionary, illocutionary and Pragmatic strategies. The qualitative design was used. Data comprise purposely selected and transcribed texts from Channels Television (CHNLSTV) interview, moderated by Seun Okinbaloye. Data was downloaded from their YouTube channel Mariana Sbisa’s Speech Act, supported by John Searle’s classification of illocutionary, and the textual part of Mey’s Pragmatic Acts were used as the framework. The locutionary strategies of endorsements and rebuttals in the data were: juxtaposition with alternative facts, conscious denial of position and facts, affirmation of thoughts, representation of opinionated position and counter-position, acceptance of position or facts and attack/defense of personality traits. Three major illocutionary acts: expressive, representative, and directive, were seen. Pragmatic resources such as inference, reference, relevance, metaphor and shared situational knowledge underlined. Expressive was achieved by condoning, criticising, condemning and praising. Representative was constructed by the forces of asserting, accusing, comparing and contrasting or juxtaposing. Directive was justified by defining, declaring, endorsing and analogising. The study concludes that endorsements and rebuttals are the performance ratings of political agents.

Democracy for Sale: Examining the Phenomenon of the Cost of Expression of Interest and Nomination Forms for Major Parties in Nigeria’s 2023 General Election

Elections in Nigeria are increasingly turning democratic practice into a bazaar for the highest bidder. Preparations for the 2023 General Election, especially the purchase of statements of interest and nomination forms, as well as party primaries, threaten to squeeze non-super-rich candidates out of participation. This study examines how Nigerian democracy is being manipulated into a business of the highest bidder by examining the costs of the entire process of nomination and party primaries in the All Progressives Congress and the Peoples Democratic Party. The study draws on face-to-face in-depth interviews selected on the basis of criteria such as accessibility, relevance, and quality of information. The informants were classified into different categories. The data obtained from the interviews were analyzed using thematic content analysis. Clientelism is adopted as a framework to explain this phenomenon. The study found that APC and PDP deliberately drive up the cost of nomination to displace poor and non-rich competitors. The impact is evident in the reckless use of money during the parties’ primaries where the process was conducted in dollars. Transparency is being circumvented and to restore integrity to nomination and party primaries in Nigeria, reforms that go beyond politics to include civil society, the electorate, international partners, and other stakeholders are needed.

Tribalism: A Thorny Concern in Nigerian Politics–A Discursive Review and Appraisal

This paper conducts a review and appraisal of discourse surrounding tribalism, which is deeply entrenched in Nigerian politics at different levels of government as the polity of the country has often experienced significant tension along tribal/ethnic lines. Using digital media data, with specific focus on discourses produced during the 2023 general elections in the country, this study reviews and analyses the discourse of tribalism in Nigerian political communication. In an election heavily contested by the All Progressives Congress (APC), the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), and the Labour Party (LP), with candidates representing three major ethnic groups in Nigeria involving Yoruba, Hausa, and Igbo respectively, the entrenched nature of the tribalism mindset in the country was fully exposed. Although tribalism in Nigerian politics has been in existence for a long time, it was only recently witnessed on a large scale on social media given that it is the first time that three popular presidential candidates have emerged from the country’s three most popular ethnic groups. Through a multimodal discourse analysis, the study reveals instances of tribalist discourse in the country vis-à-vis the social context and implications for the democracy, national cohesion, and the development of the country.

Youth Political Participation and Party Politics during the 2023 General Elections in Nigeria

The waning of young participation in politics has made the involvement of Nigerian youth in politics a contentious issue since the country's return to democracy on May 29, 1999. Therefore, this study seeks to investigate the level of youth participation at the party level during 2023 general elections in Nigeria. This study used secondary data such as textbooks, Journal articles and online sources while content analysis was used to analyse the data collected. Moreover, this study is situated within the “Sleeping Dog Theory”. The study argues that the African Democratic Congress (ADC) recorded the highest number of youth participation at the party level during the 2023 general elections. Other parties in order of increased youth participation include Action Democratic Party, New Nigeria's People Party (NNPP), Socialist Democratic Party (SDP), Action Alliance (AA) and Labour Party among others. However, Labour Party occupied sixth position, Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) thirteen positions while the All Progressive Congress (APC) fifteen positions. This shows that the three dominant Political parties during the 2023 general elections namely Labour Party, Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) and All Progressive Congress (APC) were not among the leading political parties that encouraged youth participation at the party level during the 2023 general elections. On the whole, this study recommends among other things that Interparty Advisory Council (IPAC) which is the umbrella body for Political parties in Nigeria should work closely with the various political party leadership on ways to increase youth participation at the party level like the reduction of the party nomination/interest form.
 
 Received: 10 October 2023 / Accepted: 28 December 2023 / Published: 5 January 2024

A critical discourse analysis of some selected 2019 Nigerian presidential election campaign advertisements on social media

Political campaign advertisements are one of the mediums where the electorates hope to get the right information to help them make a choice before an election. The study explored the lexico-syntactic patterns, discourse strategies and how they were used to create ideologies in the 2019 Presidential campaign advertisements. The study adopts the theoretical framework of Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) by Van Dijk called socio-cognitive model and his (2000) model on principles that express ideological stances. Five campaign advertisements were purposively selected for analysis from the following social media platforms: Facebook, WhatsApp, Twitter and also the following media outlets punch.com, nairaland.com, to mention but a few. The campaign advertisements chosen featured the two major candidates, Atiku Abubakar of the PDP (Peoples Democratic Party) and Muhamadu Buhari of the APC (All Progressives Congress) in the 2019 Presidential elections. The study revealed that the campaign advertisements chosen used discourse markers that emphasized ideologies like; APC is a haven for corrupt Nigerians, Atiku is a thief, Buhari and Atiku do not care about the poor, Buhari is incorruptible, are among other ideologies that the campaign advertisements tried to portray. The study submits that discourse was negative especially in the presentation of the ‘out group’ (the political opponents) and that the ideology of the text creators was a very strong force in all the texts analyzed. Therefore, the electorates need to be more critical in reading these presidential campaign advertisements before forming their opinions and taking actions, in order to deepen our democracy.

Textual Analysis of Acceptance and Declaration Speeches of Selected 2023 Presidential Candidates in Nigeria

Language remains a great asset to its users; its indispensability in politics is quite remarkable. This study examined how the English language has been utilized by 2023 presidential candidates in Nigeria. The researcher examined the acceptance and declaration speeches of selected 2023 presidential candidates-Ahmed Tinubu of All Progressive Congress (APC), Atiku Abubakar of Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP), and Peter Obi of Labour Party (LP). The study was anchored on the theoretical framework of cohesion. However, the approach adopted was a comparative study. The researcher compared how the three candidates used the English language in the presentation of their acceptance and declaration speeches to find out the cohesive devices that were employed to assure the people that their multifarious problems would be solved. The researcher identified the grammatical, lexical and clausal relations in consonance with their functions/roles in the political speeches examined. The present research was deemed necessary as the researcher discovered that nobody (as of the time of this study) has done a textual analysis of the acceptance speeches of these presidential candidates. It was found that the three candidates used cohesive devices as their campaign tools. The researcher also found out that clausal relations employed in the texts were internal procedures and interpretations which helped the speakers in achieving both registeral and generic coherence.

An Exposè on Encumbrance in Political Parties' Financing and Electoral Credibility in Nigeria

Purpose: This study examines political party financing and voting behaviour in north-central Nigeria, with particular focus on the level of financing in the region, the underlining motivations for such financing, and insight into the benefits or otherwise of political party financing on governance and development in the region vis-à-vis electoral process credibility. Theoretical framework: Electoral window in Nigeria political terrain is conceived by the elite as investment venture of which profit is to be maximized by means of exchange of electorates voting power for money, entrenchment of poverty and by extension hold the electoral system to hostage via manipulation, corruption and election irregularities and weak judicial system. According to the investment and social exchange theory, the political class are to business of investment for profit and exchange of services (voting power/vote buying) transaction politics for elite interest aggregation and articulation. Design/Methodology/Approach: The study uses using survey and in-depth interview. The research work was carried out across three dominant political parties in north-central Nigeria, namely the All Progressive Congress (APC), People’s Democratic Party (PDP), and Labour Party (LP), in the north-central geopolitical zone of Nigeria. The research follows three stages of random sampling. Stage one involves the random sampling or selection of two local governments across Benue, the Plateau, and Nassarawa, totaling six units of study. Stage two involves the random selection of two council wards from each of the six (6) identified focus areas, for a total of twelve (12) council wards. Stage three involves the selection of 18 respondents from each unit sampled, making a total of 216 respondents for the study. The study made use of descriptive statistics (Graphs) to analyse the data obtained from a field survey and interview analysed thematically. However, 200 questionnaires were valid for analysis after two weeks of administering the questionnaire. Findings: Findings reveal that unregulated political party financing undermines Nigeria electoral process vis-à-vis electoral credibility. It promotes political patronage and clientele networks; thus, political or electoral funders control and select politicians, thereby sacrificing good governance and development. Excessive and unregulated financing breaks the link between the electorate and politicians, leading to unequal participation, making it difficult for new political forces to emerge. Politicians with large resources often give preferential treatment to their backers, and politicians abuse their access to state resources to maintain power which in turns undermines the electoral process due to transactional (party with big money bags wins’ election) political nature in Nigeria. Research, Practical & Social implications: This study shows that political elites has weaponized transactional politics and corruption to hold on to power and by extension undermines the electoral process which in turns gave rise to bad governance, corruption and poverty in Nigeria and Nigeria is currently suffering from institutional fragility (INEC) and if proactive measures is not taken to suppress these menace in Nigeria political landscape, the country is heading to banana republic. This study helps policymakers to be in the know of the impending disaster that awaits Nigeria in the near future if proactive measures are not taking to quell this menace of transactional politics. Originality/Value: The findings suggest several consequences for the electoral processes in Nigeria and by extension Africa on how eexcessive political party financing affects the performances of eventual winners and electoral outcomes and this transactional politics does not does not benefit the north-central zone as it concerns service delivery oriented governance and development.

Political confrontations and disagreements in the Nigerian Government’s COVID-19 response

The COVID-19 outbreak has led to various interventions and policies from governments around the world, including Nigeria. However, Nigeria’s response was laden with political interests, confrontation and disagreements from various blocs of interest. Therefore, this study aims to examine various phenomena of political confrontation and disagreement during COVID-19 intervention. This study uses qualitative methods. Data were obtained through qualitative secondary data and analyzed thematically. The results of this study indicate that the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and the All Progressive Congress (APC) are the two political parties that engage in the most political confrontation and disagreement. This study found that conflicting interests also occurred between the government and several interest groups regarding the import of foreign health workers and the distribution of COVID-19 assistance. Similarly, disagreements also ensued between the federal government and some subnational governments over their refusal to acknowledge the existence and/or severity of COVID-19. This study concludes that political conflicts and disagreements during COVID-19 in Nigeria were caused by government policies and interventions that could not be separated from competing interests and needs of the political, business, and professional elite.

Rhetoric and Political Power: Analyzing Language and Persuasion in Political Discourse

This abstract presents a research paper that examines the pragmatic influence of rhetorical strategies in political speeches. The paper acknowledges that language manipulation by politicians can result in threats and hate speeches, posing a challenge to peace, unity, and progress. The theoretical framework used is Fairclough's Model and Analytical Framework, and the methodology employed is qualitative research. The data for the study were collected from print media advertisements in Nigerian newspapers during the period of political campaigning for the March 2015 general elections. The data primarily consist of campaign speeches delivered at rallies by politicians from the Peoples' Democratic Party (PDP) and All Progressives Congress (APC). Content analysis is used to analyze the data in line with the research framework. The study emphasizes the contextual nature of rhetoric, highlighting the importance of the speaker-audience relationship within the broader sociopolitical context. The conclusion suggests that rhetorical strategy is a significant aspect of political analysis and can contribute to understanding the operation of political power in society.

Containing Contagion in a Garrison State

Containing Contagion in a Garrison State

Gender segregation in parliamentary committees of Turkey: Intermediary spaces of women's political representation

Do the Turkish parliamentary committees exhibit gendered appointment practices? If so, what are the driving factors behind women's limited representation in some committees? Previous studies find a division of labor in committees based on the perceived gender roles: women legislators are over-represented in low-prestige committees with “feminine” themes such as family, health, and education, whereas they are under-represented in strategically key policymaking committees. These studies —mostly on Western democracies— explain this gender bias with the appointment practices of the conservative right-wing parties. Using an original dataset of appointments between 2002 and 2020, this paper examines the partisan effects on the under- and over-representation of women on certain committees in the Turkish context. We find that all parties except the small left-wing Peoples' Democratic Party (PDP) perform in a similarly biased way. We argue that parliamentary committees are gendered institutional spaces greatly affected by the institutional culture of political parties. Even though institutional culture is mostly shaped by ideological stances, political parties are still among institutional spaces where ideologies of masculinity are effectively shaping power relations. We conclude that institutionalizing mechanisms that enhance agential capacities and practices at the party level are vital for gender equality within the political sphere.

Intra Party Politics as a Veritable Tool for Democratic Consolidation in Nigeria: Assessment of PDP (Peoples Democratic Party) And G5 in 2023 General Election

This paper clearly investigates the role of intra party politics as a tool for democratic consolidation in Nigeria, with a search light in Peoples Democratic Party and the role of G5. In doing this the researchers uses purposive sampling technique in selecting four different States where 30 respondents each were randomly selected from political science department. A structured questionnaire was adopted as instrument for this study, using simple percentage and Paired Sample Statistics method for its data analysis. The findings shows the indispensability of intra party politics on the sustenance of democracy in the country as well as some hindrances because of players egocentric attitudes. In conclusion certain recommendations were made by the researcher; respecting the fundamental rights of other people in the field, playing the political games by its rules and participation in politics with the spirit of sportsmanship (just to participate and not to win by do or die affair).

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

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.

Assessment of Bukola Saraki Administration in Kwara State of Nigeria (2003-2011)

Abstract
 The paper examines the assessment of the Bukola Saraki Administration 2003-2011. The administration is an act of getting things achieved through the people; it requires leadership quality, ideology, and value. The historical analysis of Kwara State administrations in the fourth republic is not complete without considering the political dynastic transfer of Olusola Saraki to a biological son Bukola Saraki in the political process of Kwara State as a governor. The objective of this paper is to assess the success and failure of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Kwara State during the Abubakar Bukola Saraki administrations. The theory employed in this paper is the Stakeholders theory, which is relevant to this work. The research methodology is a secondary source and analytical. The findings of the paper identify the successes and limitations of PDP administrations from 2003-2011. The paper recommends democratic lifestyle leadership with transparency and accountability government to the citizen as the best set of administration to be practiced in any polity.

Deception in the era of digital technologies and the distortion of reality and facts: An X-Ray of Nigerian peculiarities

The phenomenal increase in the level of digital technologies has in no small measure enabled and opened new vista of possibilities that were hitherto inconceivable before the advent of these digital technologies. Indeed, this phenomenon has also increased the ‘crescendo’ of various seemingly impossible trends in the area of circulation of information in the globalised world in ways such as global rapid communication, unhindered and constant access to information, democratised production and dissemination of information and digital content, and the ability to coordinate global political activities or movements through several populist strategies and political antics employed by politicians. Currently, it is somewhat seemed intractable to separate truth from falsehood due to striking similarities in the appearance of the two. However, these phenomena have brought about untoward development resulting in the amplification of various forms of digital deceptions peddled on several digital devices. Like other countries, Nigeria, too, is battling with the rise in populism politics, fake news, ethnic nationalism (laden with ethnic jingoism), hate and dangerous speech and other kinds of digital deceptions, among others. The escalating herder-farmer communal clashes, ethno-religious crises in some states in Nigeria, a tsunami of misinformation and disinformation about COVID-19, as well as political tensions between the two dominant political parties (All Progressives Congress and People’s Democratic Party (PDP)), have been influenced by deceptions, untruths and political propaganda. Therefore, through extensive interaction with (and review of) both the extant and current literature, this paper: provides further insights into the evolving issues regarding deceptions, fake news, epistemic errors as well as democratic and social harms emanating from deceptions in the Nigerian polity. The methodology used in this paper involves a comprehensive but selective literature review conducted to locate papers (Journal articles and theses or dissertations) on the foregoing evolving issues. Also, literature related to each of the analyses of the trend of fake news and other forms of digital deceptions in the light of the emerging post-truth era and their potential impacts on the country is incorporated into the review. However, a conclusion is drawn from the findings while the paper recommends that curtailing the influence of digital deceptions and fake news on the body polity of Nigeria requires collective responsibility of all the stakeholders coupled with enhanced steps (which include but are not limited to: credibility, media skills, regulation, collaboration, media literacy, professionalism, gatekeeping, self-censorship as well as detection) towards fighting the menace and morbidity of digital deceptions in the country.

Effects of Money Politics on Party Primaries in Nigerian 2019 General Election: Reflections on All Progressives Congress (APC) and People's Democratic Party (PDP)

Money politics has become an acceptable norm and a part of Nigerian political culture before and after the conduct of general elections since the resurgence of the democratic rule in the Fourth Republic (1999). The nature and dimension of money politics have taken a new picture in Nigerian politics during the party primaries in preparation for the 2019 General Election, particularly between the two major contending parties; the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) who were involved in excessive use of money unprecedented in the history of Nigerian politics during the party primaries in September and October 2018. This work investigated the role of money in determining the outcome of party primaries in Nigeria in the ruling APC and the major opposition PDP and how it will affect the General Election in 2019. The research used a quantitative method of data collection and analysis. Both the primary and secondary sources were used during the conduct of the research. The data obtained were grouped in a thematic form where a simple tabular percentage was used for interpretations and results. The research discovered that there was an extraordinary deployment of money from the state-owned resources by politicians to arrest their campaign expenses and political ambition. In the process, vote-buying and excessive spending violated the electoral process and deprived the electorates of getting credible candidates in the parties' primaries. The research recommends that there is a need for a more aggressive and severe sanction on all politicians that are found in this evil act. The work also realized the serious need for massive public enlightenment on the evil of money politics.

The Implications of Party Leadership Crises on Nigerian Democracy: A Comparative Analysis of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and All Progressives Congress (APC)

Political parties are the engine wheel and the machinery on which the vehicle of democracy thrives. Democracies require sound parties with focused leadership and a clear ideology for national development on the assumption of power. In Nigeria, the two dominant ruling parties of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) which ruled for sixteen years and the All Progressives Congress (APC) which is currently in its fifth year of ruling are pre-occupied with internal leadership crises which collapsed the former and are threatening to tear the latter today. The inability of the country’s political leaders to establish parties with a dedicated and pragmatic party leadership is affecting the democratic governance in the country despite having the experience of the longest experiment in the history of the country. The research utilised both primary and secondary sources of data. The primary sources of data consist of an in-depth personal interview with some selected stakeholders in the subject matter of study and direct participant observation. The secondary sources are documented materials such as books, journals, internet sources and other related documents. A suitable framework; Game Theory was adopted to support the views presented in the work. The data obtained were discussed, analysed and interpreted using thematic content analysis and statistical modules. The work discovered that the leadership crises in the two dominant parties in Nigeria are affecting democratic delivery and good governance because of the power tussle. The work recommends among others that the parties must develop a culture of internal democracy and ideological focus with a frame for national interest and development.

Aggression and Banter as (de)legitimisation Strategies in Political Debate

Political debate is an emerging culture in Nigerian politics, aimed at fostering popular democracy, and presenting candidates to electorates to make their choice. But it is likewise a platform for exchanging cynic comments and banters, especially between the contestants, most of the two dominant political parties in Nigeria, the All-Progressive Congress (APC) and the People’s Democratic Party (PDP). This has not been sufficiently researched in studies on political discourse. Extant studies have focused on campaign speeches, acceptance, and concession speeches, among others, using speech acts, socio-stylistics, and critical discourse analysis. This study investigates the comments and rebuttals of Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu of the APC, and Governor Godwin Obaseki of the PDP, in the 2020 Edo Governorship Debate. It adopts implicature, explicature and pragmatic acts as theories to, qualitatively, analyse the downloaded and transcribed excerpts from Channels Television’s website, where they were televised to reach millions of people, both in local and international spaces. The results show that both conventional and conversational implicature, and explicature were employed by both aspirants to achieve party and self legitimisation, supremacism, cynicism, and criticism. These are used as campaign strategies. The study concludes that the contestants in the Edo 2020 political debate made it about themselves and their parties. Aggression is initiated and managed as a debate-campaign strategy to canvas for the electorates’ votes.