6 Political Parties and Intra party Conflict in Nigeria's Fourth Republic: The Experience of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP (original) (raw)

I ntra party conflict is one of the features of party politics. This is not unconnected with the divergence nature of men that makes them to adopt different approaches in an attempt to achieve the same goal. Thus, though a political party is an assemblage of men with similar view on how best to run a state, the lack of homogeneity in their approach coupled with the series of activities that take place within the party predispose members to articulate divergent interests which sometimes breed intra party conflict leading to factionalization within such a party (Momodu and Matudi, 2013). It therefore follows that, as a social group, conflict is inevitable within a political party. This is more so giving the reality that whenever people come together to pursue a common goal, there is the tendency that some members would pursue their personal interests instead of group’s interest. Nevertheless, a political party should try to aggregate the varying interests of its members and articulate a unified front for achieving its goals. The pursuance of this goal would limit the destructive impact of intra party conflict in the polity. Intra party conflict is a recurrent phenomenon that finds expression in different forms and at different stages in the process of democratization. It is in this context that scholars are really interested in understanding the dynamics of intra party conflicts, particularly in developing democracies where the process of nurturing democratic ethos is very tardy. However, the dimension, multitude and impact of intra party conflict in Nigeria continue to be a worrisome phenomenon to the development of democracy. As Olaniyan (2009: 51) observed, “party politics has adorned the toga of notoriety in Nigeria to the extent that its defining characteristics have been intrigues, bickering, backbiting, schisms and violence”. An examination of the activities of political parties in Nigeria, right from the colonial period to the Fourth Republic, would reveal a disturbing varying degree of intra party crises. Most disturbingly is the experience of the Fourth Republic where party activities are “replete with so much intra-crisis that rather than furthering democratic ethos, have indeed become stumbling blocks to the attainment of stable democratic order” (Eme and Anyadike, 2011: 1). The question that is agitating the minds of analysts and scholars is why do political parties in Nigeria find it difficult to harmonize their divergent views? This chapter seeks to answer this question. Therefore, the chapter is divided into six parts. This section is the introduction. The second part presents a conceptual framework of analysis; the third historicizes intra party conflict in Nigeria; the fourth examines intra party conflicts in the Fourth Republic; the fifth discusses the implications of intra party conflict on democracy and democratization in Nigeria and the last part is conclusion.