Nigerian Political Parties and the Party Manifestos by A. O. Eze

Nigerian Political Parties and the Party Manifestos
Nigerian political parties only parade documents they called manifestos during electioneering campaign which they often than not deny its contents immediately they secure victory. One wonders where they got the manifestos since they have no iota of political ideology. A political party that has manifesto without ideology should not be trusted because it is a mere political gimmick and trick. A Party cannot have practicable and implementable manifesto without ideology because it is ideology that gives cue to party manifesto. Party ideology which is the constitutional gene of political parties is the engine room that generates party manifesto. Party manifesto is just a subset of party ideology. It is only a political ideology that distinguishes one party from another and determines their manifestos. As we have stated, a party without an ideology is a virus to the state. Nnoli, (2003:182) enunciates the role of ideology in politics as thus: Ideology enhances the political appeal of a political party. A coherently articulated ideology is an important attribute of a political party; it differentiates one party from another. Otherwise, all parties would be look alike with no proof of superiority, only personalities and ethnicity. Ideology constitutes the big and long-term program of the party; it needs to be stepped down to a manifesto during elections.