The National Institute of Legislative and Democratic Studies (NILDS) has advocated deregistration of 90 of the 93 political parties in Nigeria and the adoption of ‘guided democracy’.
Abubakar Suleiman, NILDS Director-General, who gave this indication during the pre-Convocation briefing held in Abuja, also called for adoption of a three-party System against the current multi-party system.
Suleiman urged the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to initiate necessary amendments for the consideration of the National Assembly to curtail the proliferation of political parties.
“Most of the political parties that we have, I stand to be corrected, are ‘Jankara’ political organisations and they are adding no value to democracy. I want to subscribe therefore that for us to have a well-deepened political culture, the earlier we took recourse to three political parties, the better.
“Some political parties today do not have offices at the various state levels, and yet they occupy space on the ballot papers thereby causing confusion.
“Some Nigerians in the rural areas find it difficult to differentiate between symbols because we have a ballot paper that is unnecessarily lengthier than 1kilometre.
“So the earlier we had a guided democracy with respect and apologies to President Ibrahim Babangida, the better for all of us. INEC should come out by initiating a bill for an amendment of the electoral act.
“I remember the late Gani Fawewemi advocated for this. One of the things we observed in Nigeria is it is not only power that is being abused; at times freedom is also abused. Our people take freedom for granted, they are abusing the freedom and if care is not taken in the next two or three years we would have 200 political parties.
“We submit as Suleiman as an Institute we are going to look into it and conduct a study on it that the earlier we have limited number of political the better for us.
“On the issue of Bicamelism, every society comes up with a system that fits into its own political environment. Having Bicameral legislature to my mind is the result of the federal character of the Nigerian State. The more medium whereby people can debate issues, express their feelings the better for us.
“The issue is still ongoing as an institute we don’t want to be seen to be prejudicial. It is left for the leadership to take the lead when it comes for us to make our input we shall do that. It is an ongoing debate at an appropriate time when our service is being required we shall offer,” Suleiman stated.
