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From three political parties that birthed the Fourth Republic in 1999, the number has risen to dozens. As politicians step up horse-trading preparatory to 2023 elections, KUNLE ODEREMI reviews the terms of the social contract that the nation’s political leaders signed with Nigerians, beginning from 1998 when political parties were registered by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
Precisely 22 years and four weeks ago, three major political parties midwived the return to civil rule in Nigeria. Of the three, only two remain more than two decades in terms of nomenclature, impact and presence: the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the Alliance for Democracy (AD), though the latter is atrophied because of indiscretion and political prostitution in the land. The AD is crippled by conspiracy of pro-establishment politicians after making a far-reaching impression as a party and in government in the six states in the South-West geopolitical zone. The other three: All Peoples Party (APP) is on record to have gone into extinction due to inconsistency and rudderless. It has been consumed by political harlotry in the name of curious alliances, alignments and merger.