The National Institute of Legislative and Democratic Studies (NILDS) has advocated the deregistration of 90 out of the 93 registered political parties in Nigeria and adoption of ‘guided democracy’.
Abubakar Suleiman, NILDS director-general, who made the call during the pre-Convocation briefing held in Abuja, also called for adoption of 3-Party System against the current multi-party system.
Suleiman urged the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to initiate necessary amendment 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 take recourse to 3 political parties the better.
“Some political parties today do not have offices at the various state levels 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 have guided democracy with 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,” he said.
“I remember the late Gani Fawewemi advocated for this; he spoke for this. One of the things we observed in Nigeria is that 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,” he further said.
According to him, “On the issue of Bicameralism 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.
On the forthcoming convocation of graduates scheduled for Monday, the former Minister of National Planning disclosed that total number of 271 students have so far enrolled for various programmes during the five academic sessions since inception, adding that a total of 79 students graduated from the 2015/16 and 2016/17; while 77 students enrolled in 2018/2019 alone.
James Kwen, Abuja
