Principle of Loyal Opposition: The Case of Political Parties in Nigeria’s Fourth Republic

Abstract

Modern understandings of democracy not only suggest a regime in which those who govern are selected through contested elections, but more fundamentally, a system of government in which parties lose elections. Yet, the mechanism of vertical accountability whereby the people can hold the ruling government responsible depends on parties in opposition providing choices for voters while remaining loyal to the idea of governmental power. Adopting the principle of loyal opposition as the basis of this study in the Nigerian context, we try to interrogate whether the duty to serve as “government in-waiting’’ equally affects how the duty to critique the actions of the government is performed. The study further probed; can a ruling party cope with the criticism of the opposition party? To answer these questions, the study argued that it is tempting not to assume that, the institution of political party is still at its lowest ebb despite the successful democratic transition in Nigeria since 1999, and the alternation of political power resulting in the change of party in government from the People’s Democratic Party to the All Progressives Congress in 2015. These issues have consequences for the principle of loyal opposition and democratic stability in Nigeria.

Benefits of the Constituency Development Catalyst Fund on Community Development: A Case of Bahi District, Tanzania

“…In Ghana, CDF was recognized in 1996 as a means of addressing rural poverty specific to individual constituencies after the implementation of the District Assemblies Common Fund of 1994, which enforces members of parliament contribution of 5% (Belley, 2020;Serbeh, 2022). Nigeria, much like Ghana, launched the CDF in 2000 to enhance the community infrastructure (Adekunle, 2019;Awofeso and Irabor, 2020). This was accomplished by constructing boreholes, public health facilities, roads, parking lots, illuminating streets and other public spaces.…”

“…Social Services that provide support and improve community life have been scarce for long. Different approaches that have been used to enhance social services have been proven unsuccessful in improving community's life and therefore community welfare escalates and leads to extreme poverty (Sulemana & Amakye, 2019;Awofeso & Irabor, 2020). Therefore, the Constituency Development Fund (CDF) was established to assure community development by implementing programs through the coordination of elected representatives (Nawawi et al, 2020).…”

“…Constituency Development Fund (CDF) is a central government fund developed to carter for projects based on constituencies to improve the living standard. The funds are considered important because the prosperity of the local community is determined locally contrast to other development funds that pass from the central government through larger administrative bodies and bureaucracies (Awofeso & Irabor, 2020;Sulemana & Amakye, 2019;Sinclair, 2020). It aims at providing elected Members of Parliament the authority to comprehend developmental difficulties facing their communities.…”

Political Opposition in Islamic Political Perspective

“…Therefore, all elements of citizens are obliged to obey the constitution, as a legal basis in development as well as in resolving political conflicts or conflicts. With the constitution, it can avoid the resolution of conflicts that are barbarian or arbitrary (Awofeso & Irabor, 2018). Fourth, Opposition is for the benefit of the Ummah/people.…”

El estatuto de la oposición y la política subnacional en Colombia

“…Al margen del detalle en sus funciones, la oposición está atravesada por la temporalidad del rol que ejercen los actores políticos (Dahl, 1966), con una vocación creíble de poder, encarnada, generalmente, en los partidos (Avendaño, 2011;De Giorgi & Ilonszki, 2018). Esto permite que la oposición, como elemento consustancial a la democracia (Reveles, 2006), garantice una dinámica inclusiva (Adebiyi et al, 2019), al tiempo que conforma un sistema político receptivo y representativo (Awofeso & Irabor, 2018). En últimas, la oposición es entendida como una relación que, en el marco democrático, permite que se desarrolle un debate pacífico e institucional acerca del manejo de un Estado, asegura la alternancia del poder y evita la conformación de autoritarismos (Lindberg, 2006).…”