Contending Issues in Political Parties in Nigeria: The Candidate Selection Process

This article focuses on the issue of candidate selection process within Nigeria's political parties. Hence the article argues that in Nigeria, primary elections are the most common method of selecting party flag-bearers, and more often than not, this process is undermined by party elite who deploy money to influence choices thereby, leading to the outright collapse of the party structures, which are expected to breed internal democracy. This, in turn, hinders the emergence of credible candidates and also gives rise to internal party squabbles, litigation, and the exclusion of certain segment of society, notably, women, youth and the people with disability. Therefore, the authors conducted a series of interviews with party leaders from three political parties and officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), and prominent members of civil society organisations.