INTRAPARTY CONFLICT AND FACTORS THAT MADE IT A PROTRACTED ISSUE IN NIGERIA

Abstract

Political parties are vital institutions of democracy and democratic sustainability, as it brings about people who come together to control the government apparatus to develop policies favourable to their interests, organize and persuade voters to elect their candidates to office. This is what is found in Nigeria’s political system and mostly in Edo State since the advent of the second republic like others states, though, the political system exemplifies a sorry state of political parties in Nigeria as such system epitomized intra-party conflicts, despite the internal party mechanism and the alarming rate ratio of litigation intervention in this party conflict. Study adopted phenomenology design. The population of the study consist of three main political parties in Edo state APC that controls government, as well as PDP and APGA being the first and second runner-up in the last governorship election of 2016 were understudied. Purposive sampling technique was employed in selecting participants for this study, while data were collected by in-depth interview. Realist conflict theory was adopted, study reveals that the frequent occurrence of intra-party conflict is the highjack of party structures, by every successive governments. And money bags or put differently ‘big men’ as the more money and influence you have the more party structure you control and lack of knowledge or understanding of the party constitution. Study suggested people’s participation in the affairs of the party and government should be encouraged and Political parties should be superior to individual or group of individuals.