DG NILDS to INEC, NASS: We need only 2 or 3 political parties, delist others

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and the National Assembly have been advised to amend some sections of the Electoral Act in order to reduce the number of political parties in the country.

Former Minister of National Planning and now the Director General of Nigerian Institute of Legislative and Democratic Studies (NILDS), Prof. Abubakar Suleiman, made the call while presenting the scorecard and academic plan of the institute for the year 2019/2020 in Abuja on Friday.

According to him, most of the political parties in the political arena are “jankara” unions that are not adding any value to the country’s democracy.

He therefore called on INEC and the National Assembly to make amendments to the relevant sections of the Electoral Act for urgent reduction of the list of parties to “two or three”.

“Most political parties, are nothing, but jankara political parties; for us to have a proper democracy, we need only 2 to 3 political parties; it will be better for us. INEC should come up with amendments to the Electoral Act, to prune down parties to 2 or 3. The earlier we have fewer parties, the better for us,” he said.