Nigeria Linkage Institutions
Pgs. 478-484
Linkage Institutions
• Nigeria’s efforts to democratize are
incomplete, so linkage institutions are newly
developed and highly fluid
• Nigerian citizens have organized in many ways
with varying impact on Nigerian Politics
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Political Parties
• Political Parties in Nigeria have always been
regionally and ethnically based
• Nigeria’s extreme factionalism led to so many
parties that it was impossible to create a
coherent party system
• This multi party system has reinforced and
deepened ethnic and religious cleavages
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Political Parties Cont.
People’s Democratic Party
- One of the most established parties
- In 2007 they were accused of widespread fraud in
winning 70% for Umaru Yar’Adua
- They gained the majority of the national assembly, but
they are considered fraudulent so there true support is
hard to measure
- In 2011 presidential candidate Goodluck Johnathan won
the election
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Political Parties Cont.
Congress For Progressive Change (CPC)
- Founded in 2009
- Originated in the Buhari Organization (TBO)
formed in 2006 by Muhammadu Buhari
- After the All Nigeria People’s Party (ANPP)
nominated Buhari as presidential candidate, TBO
worked with ANPP, but when Buhari challenged
the elections, groups split and TBO became the
CPC
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Political Parties Cont.
Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN)
- Formerly Action Congress
- Ran Nuh Ribadu in 2011 (5.5% of vote)
- Ran Atiku Abukbakar in 2007 (7%of vote)
Independent National Election Commission
- Followed death of President Abacha in 1998
- In order to run a party had to get 5% of the vote in twothirds of the states
- Effectively cut the number of parties.
- Widely accused of corruption in 2007
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Election Problems/Reforms
• Since 1999 parties have tended to lose regional base
and draw support throughout country
• Fraudulent elections and violence have caused parties
to lose legitimacy
• Reforms such as a new vote register, ballot papers,
secret ballots have been instituted to better the
election process
• In 2011, Nigeria had a fair and open election, the first
in its history
• http://www.nigerianeye.com/2013/01/nigeria-mustuse-electronic-voting-in.html
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Presidential Elections
•
•
•
•
Citizens vote for candidates on three levels: local, state, and national
The President reports to the House of Representatives
Senators are elected on a national level
The First Presidential election was in 1999 after the one in 1993 was
annulled
• If there is not a majority in an election, a second ballot election may take
place
• Unique quality of Nigeria- The President must receive at least 25% of the
vote cast in 2/3 of the states.
*This is so purely regional votes cannot help win an election
• Nigeria has had difficulty uniting their country
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Legislative Elections
• Senate-the Upper House
109 senators-3 from each of the 36 states-elected by
direct popular vote
• House of Representatives-the Lower House
360 members- elected from Single Member Districts by
plurality vote
Legislative Policymaking power is very weak
The PDP (People’s Democratic Party) currently holds a
majority in both houses, although several other parties
are represented
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Election Fraud
• Only four regularly scheduled popular elections in a row so far
• INEC (Independent National Electoral Commission), with outside pressure,
has made an attempt to cleanse the electoral process when it declared
almost six million names fraudulent in the 2003 election
• Ballot boxes are often vandalized, stolen, and
stuffed with fraud votes
• Elections of 2007 got even worse (INEC
disqualified the VP but the Supreme Court
declared they did not have the power to do soshows how poorly organized these powers are)
• No voter privacy
• Long delays
• Frustrated voters erupted in protest in 2007
election, killed 200 people
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Elections of 2011
• Big improvement from 2007 elections
• Goodluck Jonathan (Current President, from the south) won 59% of the
vote, and Buhari (north) won 32%
• PDP candidates won majorities in both houses but other parties are still
represented
• Flaws such as underage voting and chaos were noted, but reforms
controlled the amount of fraud
• Exposed the ethnic and religious divide between the north and the south
• Mr. Jonathan did not win any states from the north
• Hundreds of people still killed during these elections, with the violence
directly reflecting the cleavages and showing the high poverty rates in the
north
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Civil Society
• Civil society in Nigeria is Hindered by prebendalism
(patronage employment) and corruption.
• Most civil society groups like the Christian Association of
Nigeria are mainly based on religion, and ironically they
do not get along.
• There are many citizens that strive and work toward
creating civil society but their efforts are stalled by
military control they have to work around.
• Example of civil society attempts:
http://nsuuk.org/2012/the-1st-nigerian-electionsensitization-scheme-ness-conference-2013/
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Labor Unions
• Before the 1980s labor unions were politically
powerful
• The Babangida Regime (1985-1993) sought out to
hinder their power
• By 2007 unions showed that they had regained their
lost power with the strike organized by the Nigeria
Labor Congress
• They organized to lower rates on oil and taxes
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W2qoOJR
dm-A
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Business Interest and Human Rights
• The only businesses that have organized together are
manufacturers, butchers, and car rental firms
• These businesses set up associations for economic reform
• Students, teachers, civil liberties organizations, and
professional groups came
together in the 80s and
90s to
protest
the Babangida and Abacha
regimes
to attempt to influence
democracy.
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Mass Media
• Surprisingly, Nigeria has a vast and long
standing independent press.
• Radio is the main source of information in
Nigeria
• There are many newspapers in the North
(Christian) and South (Muslim) that deliver
news seperately.
• http://www.onlinenewspapers.com/nigeria.ht
m
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