Two-Party System,Protest As Lawmakers Reject it.

It was a rowdy session yesterday in the House of Representatives when the proposal to re-introduce two-party system in the country was defeated.

Voting on the issue, 172 lawmakers were against the proposal, 48 were in support while one legislator abstained.

The decision did not go down well with opposition lawmakers and they attempted to stage a walk-out, though belatedly.

The House was forced to adjourn following the uproar caused by the decision to jettison the proposal.

The lower chamber has been sharply divided over the issue since it was introduced into the ongoing amendment of the Electoral Act 2006 about two weeks ago.

Its defeat on the floor of the House has, however, laid to rest anxiety across the country over the implications of narrowing the political space to two political parties and the yet-to-be-introduced independent candidacy option.

The proposal sought to return the country's electoral system to the days of the defunct Social Democratic Party (SDP) and National Republican Conven-tion (NRC), two political parties created by the then military government under Gen. Ibrahim Babangida as part of its political transition programme.

But there were apprehension that the idea was part of the permutations of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to eliminate the crowd of over 56 opposition political parties contending with it for power in the country.

The atmosphere was tense yesterday when the lawmakers resumed consideration of the report of its Special Ad hoc Committee on the Review of the 1999 Constitution and the Electoral Act because of the controversy the two-party system had generated in the past couple of weeks.

The first attempt to decide on the matter through a voice vote became controversial and generated rowdiness across the length and breadth of the chamber as the voice vote was not in favour of the proposal.

House Speaker Dimeji Bankole had an uphill task piloting the rowdy proceedings and he inquired if all members had their smart cards to enable them to use the electronic voting platform to resolve the controversy.

The response was negative - many of the lawmakers were not with their cards. This situation forced Bankole to call for a division of the House so as to have all members present divided into two groups of pro and anti-two-party system. The numbers were then counted to arrive at the final decision.

The move to insert a provision limiting the number of political parties in the country to two with independent candidature as a third option began on Wednesday, May 12, 2010. The proceedings of that day had barely begun when the Minority Leader of the House, Hon. Mohammed Ali Ndume (ANPP Borno), proposed the insertion into Section 80 of the Electoral Act, a provision that "there shall be two political parties and independent candidacy".

The proposal was immediately greeted with shouts of two... two... two... by some members who also raised two fingers to demonstrate their support for the re-introduction of the two-party system.

However, confusion ensued thereafter as some members kicked against the proposal during the debate. The prolonged rowdiness and the seeming unwillingness of the contending groups to agree on a common party structure ahead of the 2011 polls forced the House to adjourn, leaving the proposed amendment inconclusive.

The next day, the House also failed to reach a consensus on the matter and was again forced to defer voting on it till the following week. However, by the next legislative day, strong indications emerged that the lawmakers had changed gear and were now gunning for the second proposal to limit the number of political parties to five rather than two.

As it was on the first day, the second attempt was rowdy as several lawmakers who contributed to the debate supported the two-party system, while others supported the five-party structure. However, the lobby came to a climax when some members of the PDP rose to their feet in apparent support for the five-party system.

The lawmakers shouted PDP slogans and displayed their five fingers as a symbol of the change in the previous game plan. Even with the seeming support from the ruling party, the House could not agree on which way to go.
The kite for a return to the two-party model was first flown when some former state governors under the auspices of Governors' Forum 2007 paid a surprise visit to the House and urged Bankole to consider the option of returning to the days of two-party system.

The ex-governors were led to the House by the former governor of Akwa Ibom State, Obong Victor Attah. Others in the entourage included Dr. Peter Odili of Rivers State; Alhaji Abdullahi Adamu of Nassarawa State; Alhaji Adamu Aliero of Kebbi State; Dr. Chris Ngige of Anambra State; Chief Achike Udenwa of Imo State; and Alhaji Abubakar Audu of Kogi State.

The delegation expressed disgust at the overcrowded political turf and urged the House to slash down the 57 political parties in the country to a "bearable" number before the 2011 general election.

Thisday News ,21-5-10

Ehh wooo!

I am very confused,Is PDP for or against the proposal?. The PDP Governors brought the issue,the PDP legislatives voted against it.

Originally Posted by okoyeh

I am very confused,Is PDP for or against the proposal?. The PDP Governors brought the issue,the PDP legislatives voted against it.

Take a clue from this excerpt

"Senator Omar Hambagda (ANPP-Borno South) on Thursday in Abuja, advocated for the emergence of two political parties.

Hambagda, who spoke on the background of calls for reducing the number of parties in the country, described the present 57 parties as "a collection and gathering of friends."

He told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) that "two party system will not only strengthen democracy, it will provide greater unifying factor among the people.

"By this, I mean that every party will have locations in the 36 states of the country and will be fairly strong in structure.

"If we are going to have a political system, we must have a system that reflects the definition of Nigeria.

"The best and fairest election we have ever had in this country was recorded under a two-party system.

"So if in Nigeria, two-party system has managed to give us the best election in our political history, then it should dawn on us to begin to think seriously about having a two-party system," he said.

He added that "I know people say that the constitution guarantees the freedom of association.

"But where in the world do they practice such freedom without a consideration of the circumstance in the environment," he said

"Nigeria has its own peculiarities as we are still a collection of nationalities which means that when we say freedom of association, we are talking about free dom of small ethnic groups," he said.

"Out of the existing 57 political parties, how many really have up to two-third offices across the federation," he said.

On the issue of government grant to parties, Hambagda described it as a welcome development, saying that "some of the existing political parties are using the grant to create employment opportunity for themselves.

"All it requires is for you to open an office beside your house, get INEC registration and the grant, then you are good and cool," he said.

He added that "aside from removal of the grant, additional requirements should be introduced that will, for instance, allow parties win certain number of legislative seats at both the state and federal levels.

"Any political party that fails to meet these requirements has no business remaining in the political space.

"This particular provision must be canvassed gradually, over the years, we will manage to bring down the number of the parties to a manageable level," he said. (NAN)"

I don't support the idea of two party system,It is as bad as having a single party because Nigerian politicians are not faithful ,once one party is winning,they will all decamp there and that will result in the second party being useless.

It is true, that 2 party system is not good for us yet. Still the 50+ parties are too rowdy and speak of how we value democracy. Even true Banana republics do not display as we do.