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| ACN National Leader H.E.Asiwaju Bola Tinubu and THE CPC National Leader. H.E. General Mohammadu Buhari |
Prince Frank Ukonga Lecture 19-The Politics of Mergers, Political
Parties Cooperation and Union Governments in Nigeria;Focus on ACN,CPC,ANPP- SDMP,ACCORD,PPA & PDP &CO- A critical analysis by
Prince Frank Onaivi Ukonga
The State of Nigeria came into being by the amalgamation of
the Northern and southern protectorates of the British Government in 1914 about
100 years ago. The Nigerian polity was ruled by the British till it gained its
independence in 1960 to become a sovereign Republic. Prior to this Nigeria was
divided into three major Regions of Western Region, Northern Region and Eastern
Region for administrative purpose, each ruled by a Governor and a Premier
elected to the House. Later in 1963 another Region was carved out of the
Western Region as the Mid West Region.
Before the first Republic in the 50’s of the previous
century the British allowed for self rule by the Regions and elections were
conducted as a stepping stone to full independence in 1960. And in those times several
constitutional meetings were held in London, Lagos and else where to
fashion out a working arrangement for the general election of 1959/1960.
The first Republic:
In the 1959/1960
general elections that ushered into being the first Republic the major
political parties that contested the election were as follows:
21 Political Parties of the First
Republic:
Action Group-AG, National Council of Nigeria and the
Cameroon-NCNC, Northern Peoples Congress-NPC, Northern Element Progressive
Union-NEPU, Nigerian National Progressive Party-NNDP, Northern Progressive
Front-NPF, Republican Party, United Middle Belt Congress-UMBC, Zamfara
Commoners Party-ZCP, Kano Peoples Party-KPP, Igala Union-IU, Democratic Party
of Nigeria and the Cameroon-DPNC, Igbira Tribal Union-ITU, Niger Delta
Congress-NDC, Midwest Democratic Front-MDF, Lagos State United Front-LSUF and
Dynamic Party, Mobolaje Grand Party-MGP. Borno Youth Movement- BYM, United
National Independence
Party-UNIP.
A total of 21
political parties participated actively in the elections of the first Republic
but the Major players where the Action Group of Chief Obafemi Awolowo, the NPC
of Sir Ahmadu Bello/ Tafawa Balewa, and the NCNC of Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe and Hubert
Macaulay. Also prominent but in the progressive camp was the NEPU of Alhaji
Aminu Kano,The Akintola’s NNDP, The Joseph Tarka’s Middle Belt group and the
Borno Youth Movement of the young Ribadu Brothers. Mid West Democratic Front
–MDF of Chief Ogbodo Ukonga [The grand Father of Prince Frank Onaivi Ukonga]
During the elections lots of horse trading came to being
among the progressives and the conservatives alike.
According to the recently released memoirs of a prominent British
officer that supervised the elections Sir Harold Wilson he claimed that the NPC
and the NCNC were secretly sponsored by the British Government but that it was
only the Action Group of Chief Obafemi Awolowo that sponsored itself out of the
three major players in the general polls of the first Republic. He said that
even the cars, bicycles, material and funds used by the two mentioned political
parties were provided by the British government. So in reality the polls were
the Action Congress of Chief Obafemi Awolowo against the British government. And
he went further to reveal that they were surprised on how Chief Obafemi Awolowo
was able to raise fund and materials to put up such a grandiose credible fight
as to almost win the polls. But then the result came out and though the NPC
lead the polls but did not have the sufficient mark to form a Government. Neither
did the NCNC that came third has sufficient mark to form the central government
nor the Action Group that came second… so the polls had to move to the Electoral
College to form alliances. Chief Obafemi Awolowo was in deep discussion with Dr
Nnamdi Azikiwe to form a Union Government of NCNC and AG and it was almost
sealed only for Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe to show up as alleged on the orders of his sponsors
to pick up the post of a Union government with NPC as a ceremonial President
under the leadership of the NPC government in a Union where His Excellency
Tafawa Balawa emerged as the first Prime Minister with executive powers, of the
Nigerian State. So Chief Obafemi Awolowo had to form the opposition government,
But then lots of horse trading were also done among the
middle weight political parties like the Borno Youth Movement , the NEPU, UMBC,
the Middle Belt group were all allied to AG of Chief Obafemi Awolowo, while the
NNDP, DPN etc were allied to the NPC and the NCNC also had its own alliances.
At this juncture we must mention that it was the implosion
of the political parties due to ambition and irreconcilable differences in
merger and cooperation that led to the crisis in the West that later
conflagrated the entire Nigerian polity into a burning wild fire that brought
into being the military intervention into Nigerian government in 1966.
The second Republic:
In 1979 the second republic came into being when Major
General Olusegun Obasanjo decided to hand over government to democratically
elected people. Six Major political Parties contested keenly to grab power in
the second Republic
Political Parties of the Second
Republic:
Unity Party of Nigeria- UPN, National Party of Nigeria-NPN,
Nigerian Peoples Party-NPP, Peoples Redemption Party-PRP, Great Nigerian
Peoples Party-GNPP, and the Nigerian Advance Party-NAP-
The UPN was led by Chief Obafemi Awolowo, with Chief
Ebenizer Babatope, chief Adekunle Ajasin, Chief Bola Ige, Chief Lateef Jakande,
Chief Ambross Ali, Chief Gabriel Onaivi Ukonga [Father of Prince Frank Onaivi
Ukonga- governorship candidate –Edo 2012-] ,Chief Anthony Enahoro, Chief
Abraham Adesanya etc.
The NPN was led by Alhaji Shehu Shagari as the Presidential
Candidate with Chairman in person of Dr Emannuel Adisa Meredith AMA Akinloye
alias Adisco 87, Dr Umaru Diko,Basorun MKO Abiola, Alhaji Maitama Sule, Alhaji
Abdulrahman Okene, , Alhaji Uba Ahmed, Chief Frank Alkali,Dr Omololu Olunloyo,
Chief Richard Akinjide, Dr Chuba Okadigbo,K,O Nbadiwe alias man of Timber and
caliber etc
The NPP was led by Dr Nmamdi Azikiwe, Sir Arthur Nzeribe,
etc.
The PRP was led by Alhaji Aminu Kano, the Great Nigerian
Peoples Party was led by Alhaji Ibrahim Waziri and the NAP was led by Barrister
Tunji Braithwaite.
The polls was conducted and though the NPN won the election
which incidentally was a grouping of the old NPC in a new wine bottle but did
not had sufficient mark to form a government as the infamous 12 2/3 drama. And
an attempt to form a union government was thwarted as Chief Obafemi Awolowo was
already deep in Negotiations with other progressives the then powers that be went
ahead and sworn in Alhaj Shehu Shagari based on the premises of single large
vote. That election was highly controversial as many believed that Chief
Obafemi Awolowo won the election but then because of his utterances that he was
going to probe his predecessors he was edged out in the Nigerian roulette. We
must note the contributions of Professor Ayodele Adedeji a vibrant genius of mathematics
who explained the meaning of 12 2/3 in the constitution but to the favor of the
progressives who are Social democrats. Alhaji Aminu Kano’s PRP was allied to
Chief Obafemi Awolowo’s Unity Party. While the NPP allied to the NPN.
The second Republic was toppled again out of the irreconcilable
differences in the ambitions of the various groups that were struggling for the
control of power but this time it was the implosion of the Ruling Party the NPN
that provided the necessary and sufficiency reason de entre of a military coup
de Etat that brought in General Mohammadu Buhari and Major General Tunde
Idiagbon to the helm of affairs of the Nigerian State. Major General Babangida
later took over from the duo in a Palace Coup de Etat and ruled for 8 years. He
also decided to step aside and hand over to a democratically elected
government. He formed two political parties , funded them and conducted one of
the best elections in the Nigerian history as in the June 12 1993 elections
that was won by Basorun MKO Abiola .but unfortunately the election was annulled
.
It should also be noted that the factors that led to the
annulment of one of the best, freest and fairest election in Nigerian history
are not unconnected with the same underlying reality of the suspicion and
irreconcilable differences among the Ruling class as in mergers and cooperation
among political groups, which as usual leads to implosions.
Political Parties of the Aborted third Republic;
Social Democratic Party-
SDP. And National Republican
Convention-NRC
Among the political gladiators of the third Republic were
Chief Anenih who was the Chairman of SDP and Chief Kusamotu that was the
Chairman of NRC.Alhaji Bashir Tofa was the Presidential candidate of the NRC.
The implosion of the political class now brought in to being
the necessity of an interim National Government of Chief Ernest Shonekan
addressed to sort things out but Chief Shonekan was ousted by General Sani
Abacha and he ruled for 4 years and decided to hand over to a democratically
elected government as well but this time it was an obfuscating transition
program that produced 7 political parties out of which 5 were allegedly traced
to the powers that be as in the transition common among the Francophone
countries of Sub Saharan Africa and in the seething period of Latin American
countries.
The Parties of the 4 th Republic
National Democratic Coalition- NADECO
Committees for National Consensus-CMC
Democratic Party of Nigeria-DNP
Grassroots Democratic Movement-GDM
National Centre Party of Nigeria-NCPN
United Nigerian Congress Party-UNCP
Justice Party-JP
The death of General Sani Abacha brought an end to that 4th
Republic in the making and ushered in a new dispensation of General Abdulsalami
Abubakar and General Okhai Akhigbe that ruled for one year and decided to hand
over to a democratically elected government in 1999.
The Fifth republic:
General Olusegu Obasanjo was horridly released from prison
were he was jailed on trumped up charges of coup de Etat by the General Sani
Abacha government and pardoned and asked to lead the PDP- Peoples Democratic
Party to success in a widely disputed election ,with Chie Olu Falae’s Alliance
for Democracy-AD Party. To cut the long story short General Olusegun Obasanjo was
sworn in, 1999 as a democratically elected President of the Nigerian Federation
after a protracted 5 years struggle of the progressives to install back
democracy in the Nigerian polity. Later several other political parties came to
being among which includes the ACN Action Congress of Nigeria led by Asiwaju
Bola Tinubu, the ANPP, the CPC led by General Mohammadu Buhari, the SDMP led by
Chief Olu Fale, The NCP led by Chief Gani Ifawehinmi, the Labor Party led by
Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, the APGA party led by Chief Odumegwu Ojukwu, the PPA
led by Chief Orji Uzor Kalu, the Accord Party led by Chief Rasheed Ladoja, the
PPP led by Chief Gbenga Daniels, and several others that totaled 63 political
parties.
From the fifth republic
of OBJ, there were no
major alliances in his tenor of 8 years as such it was a mere transitory period
for the Nigerian state. Coupled with lots of economic and political exegesis
the era was a seething period for the Nigerian state. But soon after in the era
of the sixth Republic where major differences started to emerge then the reason
de entre of mergers and cooperation among the political parties has become
inevitable.
The Sixth
Republic:
It first reared it head in the Era of President Yar Adua
when H.E. Atiku Abubakar had to use the ACN lather to contest the 2007
elections. President Yar Adua decided to invite the ANPP of Genral Mohammadu
Buhari in to a union Government but while the amiable General rejected the
offer, the ANPP apparatchiks decided to accept the offer of a Union government
with President Yar Adua and that heralded the first successful Union Government
of Political parties in contemporary times in sub Saharan Africa.
The Seventh
Republic;
Another major cooperation among political parties was the
2011 general elections in Nigeria
were a number of political parties allied with President Goodluck Jonathan’s
PDP to win the general polls; some of the parties include APGA, ADC, etc.
While a major
cooperation among the progressives was the cooperation between SDMP of Chief
Olu Falae, Prof Pat Utomi and Prince Frank Onaivi Ukonga alliance with ANPP of
Alhaji Shekarau in the presidential polls which was an alliance that was
heralded as beautiful in the annals of cooperation among the progressives. In
2011 polls ACN and CPC of General Mohammadu Buhari tried to work together but
the alliance failed and ACN had to field Malam Nuhu Ribadu as their
Presidential candidate while the CPC fielded General Mohammadu Buhari.
Mergers due to
Political exigencies: In contemporary times as Nigeria is becoming more politically
advance it has become imperative for political parties to horse trade and
cooperated or even merge together to form bigger structures that can put
forward credible struggles to capture political power. And that exactly is the
reason for this thesis;
The ACN ,CPC ANDS ANPP Marger is a great idea, but its workability is very obfuscating as such though the appear as all progressive parties but the ideological and personality frame work cannot not work but then if it can pull through then the PDP will face a stiff opposition in 2015.
The SDMP,ACCORD,PPP and co forming the new mega party is a great possibility that will make a big difference in the affairs of the progressives of this nation as it will give a third alternative.
The PDP will not fold its hand either while others form bigger mega parties. It is likely that the moves of the PDP is to woo H.E.Oji Uzor Kalu into a merger that is PDP AND PPA & CO. but 2015 is still far away.
A number of factors militate against political cooperation
and mergers of political parties, some of which are the followings-
1] Anxiety: The
fear of losing out in a merger or cooperation
2] The fear of being
short changed: where the beneficiary of the merger/ cooperation renege to fulfill
the terms of agreements be it written, verbal or gentleman’s agreement. And
this is most common among politicians. Most make promises and overtures to
other parties but after the victory of the election they simply hijack the
victory and push away other partners and renege the terms of agreement. He hijacks
the entire pot of soup and refuse to share with other partners with impunity.
3] Fear: The fear
of losing ones identity and importance in a merger or union or even
cooperation. For Instance if you stand the chance of being a Chairman of your
political party going into alliance, or merger with another, you stand that risk,
of loosing that seat to the newly emerging union and may perhaps become a
second fiddle or irrelevant.
4] Irreconcilable
political differences and orientations- ideologically there is nothing that
you can offer some progressives parties in this world they will never allied or
work with the conservatives in power. Like the CPC ,can never merge with PDP
because they are ideologically opposed to one another.
5] Reasons of
reputation- some political parties will never work or merge with another
when they discover that the said political party harbor peoples of questionable
personalities as in what Chief Bola Ige the former leader of AD party describes
as peoples of Nuisance Value.
6] Mind set-
Recent research by National Peoples News revealed a new reason why some
Political parties will not want to merge or work with another which is traced
to the traditional mind set of the peoples as to how they accept others from
different geo political areas of the country. It became a startling revelation
when one contributor to this discussion made a spectacular revelation that they
don’t trust some peoples from certain geo political area of the country who
they believe can sell out their political party if the price is ripe and will
betray them so in the case of a merger with such political party that has a large
membership of peoples from that geo political area they will insists on holding
onto the major important political portfolios of the party and if that is ok by
the other parties then they can merge… but
which political party will agree to that. I don’t think any political
party will agree to merge with another where they will transfer all the key
posts to the other… so inadvertently a merger can never be arrived at with such
a party…due to lack of trust, suspicion and traditional iconoclastic bias that
has perhaps no basis in contemporary times..
7] Tribal / ethnicity-
Some ethnic groupings in the polity believes that they somewhat have a superior
claim to rule over others and in a merger with a major political party that
they predominate it will be unlikely that they will be insisting to grab all
the positions of leadership while the other parties will be left with the
crumbs as regards shearing of key positions of the party. And this factor also
can alienate the other partners and the merger or cooperation will not work
8] Religious factor-
Though this is held very fragile and many a time overlooked but subtly too this
factor as to who leads the entire party to the battlefield and to what religious
faith her/she hold to could be a factor that could obfuscate mergers and
cooperation among political parties. Though, never really spelt out verbally.
9] The fear of
Domination/ Marginalization: Most large political parties from certain geo
political entities are afraid to go into merger because of fear of being
dominated by the new arrangements if they had to play second fiddle.
10] Oppression and
Neo colonization: This perhaps is the strongest of the factors why each geo
political region want to evolve a home grown political party to govern them
without merger while they meet at the
centre in the context of federalism. That was the major philosophy of Awoism ,
based on the premises that each region should govern itself with home grown
political parties and cooperates with other political parties from other
regions not as in mergers but as in loose cooperation for the purpose of ruling
and accessing the central federal government. And this philosophy is still in
place when the arrangements of the contemporary political structures are
analyzed critically.
Conclusion: To
move Nigeria
towards the attainment of a stable egalitarian society and a strong economic
giant by 2020 we need strong institutions. The political institution is too
weak, frail and fragile and though this is a transiting period, it is believed
that with time these frail political parties will develop and mature up into
solid, big, well managed political structures and mergers and cooperation
becomes inevitable if that culture of building strong political institutions
will manifest.The Federal Government and other donor agencies and international stakeholders in the Nigerian Project are advised to assist in this context as it will be a wise investment- We need to shed off some
fears, dogmas, iconoclastic mundane believes and jockey the polity into the
novae enlightenment through positive education of the people, tolerance and
building the spirit of brotherhood, understanding and issue oriented discuss.
By Prince Frank
Onaivi Ukonga
Presidential Aspirant
of the Nigerian federation 2015
