Delegate System and Democratic Consolidation in Nigeria; The 2022 PDP and APC Presidential Primary Elections

This paper investigated the delegate system and democratic consolidation in Nigeria with emphasis on the 2022 People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and All Progressive Congress (APC) Presidential primary elections. The use of the delegate system in the conduct of primary elections in Nigeria has been a clog in the wheel of democratic consolidation as it allowed the emergence of unpopular, incompetent and corrupt candidates who are imposed on the electorates during general elections. This has implications for good governance, performance and accountability. The study adopted the elite theory propounded by Robert Michel, Gaetano Mosca and Vilfredo Pareto. It attributed the electoral infraction that characterized the delegate system in Nigeria to the excessive ambition of the political elite. The delegate system is elitist in nature as the masses are often alienated from the process which portends grave danger to competence and good governance. The secondary source of data was utilized for the study; data were sourced from textbooks, journal articles and seminar papers among others. The study found that the use of the delegate system in the conduct of primary elections was not unique to Nigeria; other countries such as the US, Germany and Italy also use the same system. What is unique about the delegate system in the Nigerian context is that it is often subjected to manipulation by the political elite. These were demonstrated in the 2022 presidential primary elections of the PDP and APC. The study therefore recommended among other that in order to deepened democracy through the electioneering process, the delegate system should be abolished from the Electoral Act and replaced with the direct system of election to enable eligible party faithful participate in the selection of candidates that will fly the flag of their parties. This will help eradicate excessive financial inducements that characterize the delegate system so as deepen our democracy.