EXAMINE THE DIMENSION AND STRUCTURE OF NIGERIA GEO-POLITICAL ZONES IN THE CONTEXT OF POWER SHARING FROM 2011 TO 2015 (original) (raw)

The phenomena of zoning and political parties are high stake politics in Nigeria's democracy. This is because zoning is seen as a mechanism of uniting various diverse people while political parties are the vehicle for realizing democracy in Nigeria. Making use of the secondary data, the study examines the issue of zoning/power shift in connection with the party politics with reference to the People Democratic Party (PDP) in Nigerian body politic. It is observed that the emergence of President Jonathan in 2011 presidential election is a dilemma because the 2015 election has to settle the contentious zoning formula of PDP to satisfy every zone, particularly the South East, to avoid an imploding consequence. INTRODUCTION Party politics and zoning/power shift are two very important elements of any liberal democracy that no one can brush aside with a wave of the hand in a primordial state like Nigeria. Political parties serve as veritable tool for which democracy is enhanced. Akindele et al (2000) described the importance of the political parties in a liberal democracy when they succinctly posited that: Political parties encourage stability of the governing process because once elected for a fixed term, the government knows its life span at the corridor of power, and the opposition parties too are aware of this. Thus, both the government and opposition would operate along this political axis. Party politics is inevitable in any country operating liberal democracy. The practice of modern democracy would be totally impossible without the existence of political parties. In other words, political parties are indispensable features of democratic societies due to the conglomeration of people with similar ideologies under one umbrella. The existence of political parties within a political system breeds various forms of relationship or coexistence within the polity itself. Political parties are essential for democracy to function, as well as for the promotion of peace and stability and the prevention of violent conflict.