Political Parties, Party System and Leadership Recruitment in Nigeria Since Independence in 1960

Abstract

This paper is based on political parties, party system and political leadership recruitment in Nigeria since independence. The objective of the paper is to trace the political history of Nigeria from independence particularly in the area of political leadership recruitment, outline the failures recorded so far and make suggestions for improvement through appropriate reforms by Nigerian political parties. It elucidates on the important roles of political parties and the relevance of party system in political leadership recruitment in a democratic political system. It espouses such concepts as political parties, party system, political ideology, political culture and political maturity in relation to political leadership recruitment and formation of governments in a democracy. It adopts historical and sociological approach to capture and chronicle the various attempts made by Nigerian political parties in recruiting credible political leaders for the formation of governments and the many times they have failed in the process from the first republic in 1960 to the fourth republic in 2015. It observes to date that inter-and intra-party crisis is yet to come to an end and more than any other reasons, has gone a long way to affect the functions and responsibilities of political parties as veritable tools for political leadership recruitment. In view of the above, the paper suggests some reforms which if carried out, may strengthen Nigerian political parties as veritable tools for effective political leadership recruitment.