Go Back

Journal VOL. 1 NO. 1, June. 2019, ISSN: 2714 - 4054

 

The Dynamics of Party Alliance and Coalition in Nigeria's Fourth Republic

Dauda Isa

 

ABSTRACT

As a democratic institution, political party does exist with the aim of capturing political power by competing for peoples' votes either alone or in cooperation with other party/parties. This paper examines the dynamic of alliance/coalition within the context of party politics in Nigeria's democratic journey with a focus on the manner and difficulty in party competition. As a result, this was subjected to qualitative-descriptive method. The paper submits that momentous attempts for political parties in Nigeria to form alliances in order to challenge the dominant parties and turn them into a winning coalition were marked by fiasco. Therefore, the perennial collapse and failures of party alliances culminated into the merger of three political parties to form the present governing All Progressive Congress (APC) which displaced the hitherto dominant Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). Alignment and re-alignment geared towards creating grand coalition among numerous parties become necessary to strengthen competitive party system in order to achieve the objectives of capturing power for the benefit of the people.

 

Download the full text uploaded