JOURNAL OF LIAONING TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY
(NATURAL SCIENCE EDITION)
LIAONING GONGCHENG JISHU DAXUE XUEBAO (ZIRAN KEXUE BAN)
辽宁工程技术大学学报（自然科学版）
POLITICAL PARTIES AND POLITICAL PARTICIPATION: A VERITABLE MEANS OF DEVELOPING AND SUSTAINING A HEALTHY POLITICAL SYSTEM IN NIGERIA
Ibitoye, Majekodunmi Olusesan (Ph.D), Akinlade, Marcus Temitayo & Bello, Akeem Olalekan
Abstract
The enthronement of democracy in Nigeria on the 29thMay, 1999 after a prolonged military rule had been described as a noble and positive step in the right direction. However, the unfolding negative scenarios in the past and present such as rigging of elections, political assassinations, violence, press war, mistrust, kidnapping, terrorism, and corruption, among other things, have adversely affected the level of political participation among the Nigerian citizenry. The palpable fear is that if care is not taken, the ‘beautiful ones’ may not be allowed to attain leadership positions and if the trend of the event is not properly checked and managed, mediocre, vagabonds, miscreants, and ‘political idiots’, may likely emerge as leaders. This is highly detrimental to the development and sustenance of our nascent democracy. Be that as it may, studies have shown that the Nigerian political parties have not done well in stimulating political participation among Nigerian citizens. This paper, therefore, intends to examine the influence of political parties on political participation with the sole aim of highlighting how political parties can improve political education and enhance political participation in Nigerian political space as against political apathy being exhibited by many Nigerians. This study depends on secondary sources of data and political efficacy theory as its theoretical framework of analysis.
Keywords: Political Parties, Political Participation, Democracy, Political System and Nigeria.