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ABSTRACT
The sustenance of an enigmatic political party is significant in consolidating democracy for any society. In the First Republic and that of the Second in Nigeria, political parties were based on regions and their activities led to the collapse of those experiments. This paper is an exploration of the significant area of the politics of Fourth Republic Nigeria with particular focus on the People Democratic Party (PDP) and the All Progressive Congress (APC). The research opined that there is a direct interaction between the character and conduct of a nation’s political parties and the degree of democratic consolidation in that country. The paper argues that 22 years into this civilian regime, Nigeria has not scored high when placed in similar pedestal with states that are heading towards stable democracy. In attempting a discourse of this issue, the democratic theory also known as the elite theory was adopted as the theoretical framework of the study. The Method of data collection was both Primary and secondary. It was argued that the opposition parties in Nigeria which ought to serve as alternative parties from which the electorate can choose from have been weakened by the lack of total commitment on the part of politicians to the national course. The paper further argues that almost all the political parties in Nigeria are weak institutions hence, have only developed shallow roots in the society and concludes that Nigerian political parties have failed in their democratic responsibilities of interest aggregation, constituencies’ representation and serving as mediator between state and society.
