Former presidential candidate, Shitu Kabir, has blamed Nigeria’s deepening political crisis on the absence of ideological political parties.
Kabir, a former leader of the Advanced People’s Democratic Alliance and ex-chairman of the Inter-Party Advisory Council, argues that the failure to build parties around clear beliefs has entrenched desperation, opportunism and a winner-takes-all culture.
He spoke during an interview on ARISE Television on Wednesday, where he defended his decision to join the ruling All Progressives Congress despite his long-standing criticism of Nigeria’s dominant parties.
According to him, Nigeria’s refusal to embrace ideological party politics and proportional representation has left the country “in a mess,” where politicians are driven largely by personal gain rather than ideas.
We wouldn’t have found ourselves in this mess that we found ourselves, because it’s a mess where everybody just knows ideology is absent.
“We have no ideological political parties now. All we want is to find a way to just get what I want to get,” Kabir said.
He recalled that during his tenure as IPAC chairman, proposals were submitted to the National Assembly to introduce proportional representation and reform local government electoral processes, arguing that such measures would have strengthened Nigeria’s democracy.
