Party politics is nothing perculiar to the Nigerian political terrain only. In fact, most true democratic systems in the world today run party systems, and often multi-party systems in a bid to give the electorates a political community that is to a greater extent a representation of the political interests of all classes of people and orientations. But it appears that that is how far the similarities between Nigeria politics and politics in the western world, in particular, ends.
In the United States for example; political parties were established to support particular ideas and the individuals who represented them as a result of the numerous historical circumstances and ideological diversity of America's people.
America has a multiple-party system today. The two biggest parties are the Democratic and Republican. Other parties that can support candidates in a presidential election include the Reform, Libertarian, Socialist, Natural Law, Constitution, and Green Parties. Political parties will probably continue to be quite important in presidential elections.
The party system appears to have a stronghold now. Some Americans would contend that there is little actual distinction between the ideologies and political positions of the current parties. Some Americans regularly cast party-ticket votes because they think that particular political party will best represent their preferences for leading the country.
Similarly,there are two parties in the British political system. The Conservative Party and the Labour Party have co-dominated the political landscape since the 1920s. The Liberal Party, along with the Conservatives, was the other main political party in Britain until the Labour Party rose to prominence.
Although minority and coalition governments have occasionally been a part of parliamentary politics, the first-past-the-post electoral system used in general elections tends to keep these two parties in power. However, over the past century, each party has relied on a third party, like the Liberal Democrats, to deliver a working majority in Parliament.
The dominance of the Democratic and Republican parties in US presidential politics and the Conservative and Labour parties in British politics have been sustained over the years by clear articulations of party ideologies to which the electorates have been able to identify with.
But not so in the case of Nigeria.
The People's Democratic Party (PDP) once vaunted itself as the largest political party in Africa with the then national chairman of the party and the first national secretary, Vincent Ogbulafor, boldly claiming, then as the ruling political party, that it would remain in power for the next 40 years.
What made the PDP the seemingly stronger party was the fact that it was a party that metamorphosed from various political traditions with the backing of the G-18 and G-34 and made up of many moneybags, as well as several former army generals,
Olusegun Obasanjo, a former military ruler of Nigeria (1976–79), joined the party soon after it was founded. The party had a large membership made up of traditional chiefs, academics, and businessmen. It also proved especially popular with the army. The PDP swiftly rose to prominence under his leadership and took control of the nation.
The party, which has a sizable political following, is in favor of a number of causes, including higher financing for health care and education, human rights, and economic liberalization. But beyond this appeal to this elite group of people and its 16-year rule; the party had to a greater extent failed to meet the aspirations and hopes of the ordinary Nigerian who had given the party their trust overwhelmingly for nearly two decades in spite of its espoused ideologies.
It is this seeming failure of the party; especially during the tumultuous years of President Goodluck Jonathan, that paved the way for the opposition party, the All Progressives Congress, (APC) to dislodge the party during the 2015 general elections; howbeit amidst a lot of propaganda and international pressure.
Unfortunately, the APC has for the past 7 years and 8 months not faired any better at delivering on the promises of democracy. In fact; it is commonly argued on the streets of the nation that the APC, led by Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, has by their policies, or the lack of it, taken Nigeria back into a regressive era never before experienced.
With inflation rate at an all time high in 17 years at 20.59% as reported by Nigerian Bureau of Statistics on Thursday 15 September, 2022; the APC rule under the leadership of Muhammadu Buhari has left many Nigerians disillusioned with the APC.
So, with the 2023 general elections knocking; what are the options of the average Nigerian electorate who knows that the line of distinction between the PDP and APC, is seriously blurred, if any exist at all since it is a common practice for those politicians who fail to actualize their political ambitions in one party to simply cross-carpet to the other side?
Well, never before now since the candidacy of the late SDP presidential candidate, MKO Abiola have Nigerians found a common ground in politics to belief in the possibility of a government that could meet the yearnings of the masses.
Yes, elections in Nigeria have for the past 23 years or so been a straight fight between the PDP and the APC; however, it appears that the 2023 elections isn't going to, by any means, be a two horse race. In fact; the 2023 election has become a case of the PDP, APC and that other party - Labour Party (LP).
While in the past elections, no other political party has managed to position itself as a viable alternative to the PDP and APC, in spite of the plethora of registered political parties during the said time; the emergence of Labour Party as a force to reckon with in the forthcoming presidential election affords the Nigerian electorates, not the choice between the Pharaoh and the Red Sea; but rather as a path through it.
For the teeming supporters of LP, a party that the other two major parties have derided as a structureless or mushroom party; their support of the party isn't necessarily about the party itself; but rather, it is about the candidate who best represents the possibility of redirecting the trajectory of the nation's social-economic flight for a more safe and prosperous country.
The truth is; if Peter Obi had been in PDP, APC, or any other one of the several other parties fielding presidential candidates for the 2023 elections; the massive support that now greets the LP would have similarly be directed at such a party.
Nigeria wants "TRUE" governmental change in all its ramifications; and even if it would take voting in a neophyte like the Americans did in 2017 when they voted for an untested and unproven candidate without an apparent "structure" like Donald Trump as their 45th president instead of the political behemoth that was Hillary Clinton who represented the "old order" ; so be it!
Nigeria's 2023 presidential election has the aura of a "do-or-die" affair as the people try to take back their country!