The Peering Advocacy and Advancement Centre in Africa (PAACA) has accused political parties of undermining democratic standards through flawed primary elections, warning that weak internal electoral processes are contributing to Nigeria’s wider electoral credibility crisis.
The organisation also attributed the growing internal crises within Nigeria’s political parties to weakened leadership structures and the increasing influence of powerful political figures over party organs.
Executive Director of PAACA, Ezenwa Nwagwu, who spoke with journalists in Abuja, said political parties have failed to uphold the same standards of transparency and accountability they demand from the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) during general elections.
According to him, political parties are themselves “electoral managers” because they conduct primary elections that produce candidates for public office, yet many of the processes observed across party structures fall short of accepted democratic principles.
“The political parties in some sense are electoral managers themselves because they conduct primary elections. The expectation is that they will use the same measure with which they hold those conducting the general election accountable in managing their own elections,” he said.
Nwagwu argued that many party primaries observed in recent weeks lacked proper accreditation procedures and failed to reflect credible electoral standards.
He raised concerns over the use of digital membership registers, which political parties are legally required to maintain and submit to INEC, questioning whether such registers were genuinely deployed during accreditation exercises at ward congresses and conventions.
“The law mandates political parties to maintain digital membership registers and parties have admitted submitting those registers to INEC. But did we see proper accreditation? Did we see the deployment of the digital membership registers in the processes we observed?” he queried.
He further questioned the oversight role of INEC in ensuring compliance with the provisions governing party membership and accreditation processes.
“If the registers were not deployed, what then is the oversight responsibility of INEC? How do we even determine the authenticity of the registers?” he asked.
Nwagwu alleged that in some instances, participation in the primaries appeared open to individuals outside party structures, thereby undermining the integrity of the process.
“In some places, it looked like they just took everybody in the community to come out and vote,” he said.
The PAACA Executive Director lamented what he described as the disproportionate attention given to general elections while primary elections, which determine who eventually appears on the ballot, receive little scrutiny from the media, civil society groups and election observers.
“We are focused on the secondary election, which is the general election, but we are completely absent in the primary election process whether as journalists, civil society organisations or observers,” he said.
According to him, greater scrutiny of party primaries would improve leadership recruitment and strengthen democratic governance in the country.
“Political parties present candidates to Nigerians, not INEC. If we pay the same level of attention to primary elections, especially the process that produces candidates, we will get better democratic outcomes,” he added.
Nwagwu also accused politicians and political parties of being central actors in electoral misconduct, arguing that security agencies and INEC are often unfairly blamed for problems rooted in the conduct of politicians.
“The perpetrators of everything that diminishes our elections are politicians and their political parties. But because they are the dispensers of patronage and cronyism, society often avoids holding them accountable,” he stated.
He called for stronger public scrutiny of political parties and urged Nigerians to pay closer attention to internal party democracy as part of broader electoral reform efforts.
According to him, sustainable electoral reforms cannot be achieved if political parties continue to operate internal processes that fail to meet democratic standards.
Nwagwu also said the persistent disputes, factionalisation and court cases within political parties are symptoms of the collapse of internal democratic institutions meant to regulate party affairs.
According to him, the rise of influential political actors who now dominate party structures has weakened the ability of political parties to enforce discipline and manage disagreements internally.
“We still have a lot of internal disputes within the political parties and many court cases. Part of what we see is the ascendancy of political figures who have annexed the structures of these political parties,” he said.
Nwagwu explained that organs such as the Board of Trustees (BoT), which are traditionally expected to provide moral authority and stabilising leadership within parties, have lost their independence and credibility.
“If the Board of Trustees is functional and respected, it should have the credibility to rein in erring, dissatisfied or frustrated members of the party. But because the BoT is feeding from political figures, it can no longer exercise that kind of discipline,” he stated.
He further alleged that many Boards of Trustees across political parties have themselves become factionalised, thereby weakening their capacity to mediate disputes and protect party stability.
“The BoT is supposed to be the most respected organ of the party because it is made up of statesmen. But if you check the political parties, including the less dominant ones, do they still have BoTs that can truly play this role?” he queried.
The PAACA Executive Director also criticised the composition of National Working Committees (NWCs) of political parties, arguing that many members now serve the interests of political patrons rather than the institutional interests of their parties.
“The NWC, which is supposed to be the engine room of the party, is filled with representatives of political figures. By their own admission, membership of the NWC is shared among so-called party leaders,” he said.
According to him, many NWC members are more accountable to political godfathers who sponsored their emergence than to the party structures they are expected to manage.
“They came there to defend the interests of their principals who are not members of that organ of the party,” he added.
Nwagwu warned that the weakening of party institutions and the capture of party structures by influential politicians are undermining internal democracy and threatening the stability of Nigeria’s democratic process.
“Because of the ambush of these organs of party administration and structures, they can no longer function the way they should,” he said.
He stressed that strong internal institutions remain critical for political parties to effectively manage disputes, maintain discipline and deepen democratic culture.
According to him, unless political parties rebuild credible internal structures capable of functioning independently of powerful political actors, internal crises and instability within the parties will persist.
