With the increasing momentum to register new political associations, so far, about forty new political associations have signified their interests to be registered with the INEC.

Some feel that the internal rivalries and misunderstandings pervading the existing political parties were due to the hurried nature of the Abubakar Abdusalami’s transition programme, as people had no time to select whom to associate with, but others felt that even if all the time were given to Nigerians to form political parties, it is more doubtful if a workable crisis-free political party association can even emanate from any of the homogeneous ethnic entities that comprise Nigeria.

The on-going re-alignments of political parties are due to one or a combination of factors such as greed, intolerance and individual interests and therefore has nothing to do with ideological orientation. Most politicians converge where their personal interests, not those of the masses, can be better served. They try to avoid associating with those whom they feel are more clever and able to outwit them in the competitive game of struggling for the goodies of life which constitute the fallout from our own brand of politics.

The coalescence of dissidents from various political parties into a forum has nothing to do with ideological similarity, rather the opening of another opportunity to seek for votes and be in government with all its appurtenances. It is rare to find politicians coming together to form associations based on perceived misrule or mishandling of the affairs of state by some of those in power, or of the misuse of the resources meant for the masses.

They move to form parties as a result of personality clashes and some real or imaginary marginalisation by some groups. Many political dissidents move because the positions which they felt should be given to them were offered to their rivals or the contracts which ought to be theirs by the mere asking were denied them. As a result, the rapidity in the formation of political parties represents unnecessary dissipation of energy, which would have been harnessed for the progress and development of the nation. The masses represent an uncomplaining flocks who must be herded from one party to another, especially as the elites take all the decisions without consulting the masses.

It is strange that the three parties in existence are perceived to be bad, apart from some cross border movements from one party to the other, that about forty new ones are now seeking registration. It is agreeable that it is their constitutional right to be given registration provided they are able to comply with the laid-down rules and regulations of INEC.

Those who reduce this attempt to court action against INEC are merely complicating the confusion in the political landscape, there must be reasonable rules and regulations to avoid anarchy and a situation where every household is registered as a political party may pose confusion to the polity. Nigerians have perfected an ingenuous device of putting a group together, which might be purely ethnic, parochial or sectional organization, to ask for registration in an attempt to enhance the bargaining power of their sponsors who have no plans to stand on their own as a political party but eager to utilize such opportunity as a bargaining leverage in merger talks with more serious associations.

Individuals shun joining political parties alone, but they feel that it is more prestigious when a crowd joins another party. While the UNDP is yet to meet the registration requirements, it has reached an advanced stage in the merger talks with ANPP. The question is why go for a merger via an application to INEC for registration, is this purely to enhance their standing? There are no ideological posturing or remarkable similarities between the UNDP and ANPP, the similarity identifiable is common opposition to Obasanjo- Atiku second coming.

The PLP was one of the parties seeking registration from INEC, but somewhere along the line, it has also reached a merger arrangement with the PDP. Again by seeking registration the value of its members had been enhanced to warrant the recognition by the PDP, whereas it would have been less dignifying if members have joined on individual basis, in fact such members would have been told to go and join in their wards.

 The isolationist tendencies of Nigerians bordering on intolerance are verifiable in numerous religious sects which hate the parent bodies and regard them as paganistic, small ethnic nations as against a untied Nigeria, demand for separate political associations, isolated local governments that have little or nothing to do with their nearby neighbours, whereas there is a lot of strength in unity as against this tendency to discrimination. Therefore, there is a limit to which Nigerians can form parties. If the purpose of the formation of these is to take care of the welfare of the suffering masses of Nigerians, politicians should be prepared to subsume personal interests for the welfare of Nigerians. There is hardly any perfection in party formation, therefore when political parties are made to respond to the divergent interests of the founders only at the expense of the masses, it poses great danger to the polity, it retards progress and social cohesion and development. There is every tendency that too much cook will spoil the broth. With time Nigerian elites will be attuned to democratic culture, especially when elections are routinely held for decades, the polity should not be extremely heated up at the approach of every election, especially through the unbridled quest for new party formation.