Nigerian Political Parties and Ideology

This chapter discusses the issue of ideology in relation to the parties in the Fourth Republic. Some of the key issues are: ideology and party politics, ideology and conflict, ideology and party programmes, and ideology and representation. The study finds that the lack of a clearly defined ideology in all parties impairs good party organisation, institutionalisation and representation. Contrary to most publications on Nigerian parties which conclude that the parties in the Fourth Republic lack ideology, this study assumes that the parties have a well-defined ideology, especially the ruling parties, APC and PDP, and that this ideology is to grab power by all means to favour narrower members and implement neoliberal policies, as detailed in this chapter with practical evidence.