The Impact of Parties’ Internal Democracy on Nigeria’s Development
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Date
2016
Authors
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Journal ISSN
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Publisher
Akungba Law Journal
Abstract
The paper examines the authority of members of political parties
to elect or recall party leadership and to vote candidates for
elective offices. It argues that the Nigerian democratic
dispensation is one, which encourages holding public office as a
platform to amass wealth rather than service to humanity. This
explains the desperation of politicians to secure one elective
position or the other. In this process, there is always manipulation
and abuse of party’s internal democracy. In the ensuing
manipulation, names of validly elected candidates that had
already been submitted to INEC are often withdrawn and replaced
with another. The paper also examines the financial requirements
for entry into electoral competitions and that elected officials
become more accountable to those who finance their campaigns
than to their constituents. The paper submits that much damage
had been done to the democratic governance in the country as it
has been running without the desired human and national
development. The paper examines the relevant laws on the issue
and posits that to achieve true democracy the availability of
independent judiciary is essential.