Little Democracy, More Oligarchy: The Bane of Nigeria’s Political System

Abstract

Nigeria’s quest for democracy encounters oligarchic assaults that develop into political and economic dominance. Democratization fails often to gain a progressive inroad into a secured scheme of rule of law. This paper uses oligarchic influences on political parties, public officials and, policymaking machinery as indicators to argue that the Nigerian political system is dominated by oligarchs. The situation leaves a tight political space for democratization. It constitutes a major challenge to the progress and peace of the Federal Republic. The paper is qualitative as well as descriptive. It employs the Marxist theory of economic determinism and Pareto, Mosca and Michel’s elite theory of state power. The theories explain the relationship between oligarchs and the majority of the Nigerian population, the way the situation dwarfs democracy and constitutes a major bane of the political system. Findings show that the elitist monopoly of resources in Nigeria results in the political empowerment of a few and the domination of the majority. This leads to difficult socio-economic and political conditions and the resultant agitations for a redress. It creates dual political systems (oligarchy and democracy) of unequal powers and means. Oligarchy dominates and leaves little space for democracy. The situation breeds uncertainty and tension in the politics and general spheres of people life. Constructive resistance by the dominated class will be a good lesson to the oligarchs for a better democratic society to emerge.