236 Ruling Parties and Nigeria’s Democracy: From Primitive Acquisition of Power to Primitive Accumulation of Capital

Abstract

Nigeria’s return to democratic rule since 1999 has seen two political parties rule; the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for 16 years and the All Progressives Congress (APC) for nearly 9 years. How these parties have accessed political power and the purpose for which it has been deployed have been examined. Based on documentary evidence, elections have served as a conveyor belt to public office for the ruling parties having primitively manipulated the electoral process to gain power and in turn deployed privatization, oil subsidy payments and other forms of malfeasance to accumulate private capital. Democracy is therefore serving the private interest of the ruling class rather than that of the majority of Nigerians who have been assailed by the vicissitudes of deepening poverty and insecurity. The mass mobilization of the electorate is critical to reclaiming the democratic mandate to serve the ends of governance through the efficient and effective delivery of public goods in a democracy.