Beyond Party Lines: When Legislators Fight. We are dealing with individuals, who are putting their interests ahead of the people. Article.

NIGERIANS may get a better glimpse of the direction of our democracy when the leadership of the National Assembly is elected today. Ordinarily, it should be the members who should elect their leadership, but it is obvious that there are more external influences than any of the parties would be willing to admit.

Religions, regions, politics of the formation of the All Progressives Alliance, APC, the politics of successions in 2019, have all coalesced into the confusion that is attending a simple exercise that held in the past 16 years without much attention on the external influences that marked it. Today would mark the first major fight in APC after the election, and a test of the party’s capacities to manage fall-outs of success.

Change could start with the National Assembly, where the numbers are not so clear to give one party the majority. The growing interest in leadership of the National Assembly, unfortunately, would not be for the benefit of Nigerians. From the political parties to the principal holders of political powers, who mostly operate from the background, the contests for the leadership of the National Assembly are beyond interests in law making.

In the absence of resolutions to the factions, internal crises, irreconcilable differences, open disagreements among members of the same party, the National Assembly would take off in its most factious and fractious state since 1999. Internal party discipline is weak, the passion of those vying for the leadership is strong enough that disagreements within APC may have more consequences for the party outside the working of the National Assembly, Nigerians are aghast at these developments.

Party manifestoes and positions would take a second place in these contentions, meaning that factions would grow in APC. Parties are now ordinary platforms through which personal desires are actualised, rather than vehicles for delivery of services to the people. While the parties made promises to us during the campaigns, we are dealing with individuals, who are putting their interests ahead of the people.

None of the contestants for the National Assembly is discussing provision of leadership that would cater for the interest of Nigerians. The elections in the National Assembly would pass, even if they turn chaotic. Another way of looking at what is going on is that Nigerians can use the contests to assess the leanings of those they have elected. A National Assembly that from its constitution considers its interests ahead of the country’s poses further danger after the deep divisions that the elections created.

Our dysfunctional political party system, without clear-cut programmes is the main cause of the squabbles we are witnessing in the National Assembly, squabbles that are more widespread than they appear.

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Culled from Vanguard