INTRA AND INTER-PARTY CRISES IN NIGERIA ’S FOURTH REPUBLIC: IMPLICATIONS FOR THE SUSTAINABILITY AND CONSOLIDATION OF DEMOCRACY IN POST THIRD TERM NIGERIA

      Eme, Okechukwu Innocent, and Anyadike Nkechi

Department of Public Administration and Local Government Studies

University of Nigeria, Nsukka

ABSTRACT

Political parties across the globe represent a significant avenue through which difference among individuals and groups in democratic societies are resolved. Also, they provide platform for occupation and succession of candidates to governmental offices. However, the history of political parties activities since 1999 replete with so much crisis that rather than furthering democratic ethos, have indeed become stumbling blocks to attainment of stable democratic order. The implication is that, if the original founders and party faithful are pushed to the wall, they would be left with no alternative but move en mass with their political structures to form new ones. How far the party leadership would go in mending fences would determine the fate of the parties and the roles they are expected to play in a democracy. This research therefore contends that there is a need for adequate grasp of the nature and dynamics of Intra and Inter-Party crises that have characterized Nigeria’s Fourth Republic with a view to drawing lessons for a virile party competition that promotes sustainable democracy in post Third-Term Nigeria.