Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) in Nigeria have expressed reservations over the domination of the political space by the two main parties, the All Progressives Congress (APC) and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

A cross-section of those who spoke with journalists in Abuja on Sunday said that the country was not ripe for the system.

Auwal Rafsanjani, the chairman of Transition Monitoring  Group, said that the situation had created a serious threat to multi-party democracy in Nigeria.

Mr Rafsanjani said that the two major political parties have practically hijacked public offices and were also controlling the electoral process through their influence.

“The two parties use public taxpayers money to control other smaller political parties especially because they are the ones who have governors and have control over public sector resources.

“This has alienated many Nigerians who have different views and perspectives on how governance should be and how political parties should be,” he said.

Ezenwa Nwagwu, the executive director,  Partners for Electoral Reforms (PEF), corroborated Mr Rafsanjani’s claim, saying that the dominant parties have hugely benefited from state resources.

Mr Nwagwu said that the parties owed their strength to closeness to the public purse, dispensing patronage and cronyism.

“So, what we know in other places of multi-party systems evolving over time into two dominant parties isn’t the case for us.

“The unequal opportunities, absence of level playing ground, big ego, a rise of personality cult and lack of internal democracy even in the emerging parties have suffocated their growth and development,” he said.

Samson Itodo, the executive director of Yiaga Africa said that Nigeria should drift away from creating a two-party state or democracy.

”Voting choices are limited to two dominant parties only and democracy only thrives where voters are presented with multiple-choice options, a two-party system may deepen corruption and polarisation in Nigeria’s political sphere,” he said.

But Odeh Odeh, another expert offered a different opinion, saying that there was nothing wrong with a two-party system in Nigeria.

Mr Odeh noted that the challenge was whether Nigeria was truly on the path to a two-party state or not.

“However, barring other factors, a two-party system will be desirable for the following reasons: One it will be easier for  INEC to manage the electoral process with a two-party system.

“This will not only reduce issues of litigation associated with omissions on ballot papers but will also reduce the cost of electoral management by INEC,” he argued.

(NAN)