By Ayodele Fagbohun

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Rather than becoming a vast dumping ground for idle chatter, in and, undesirable political activities, unwholesome ends and cesspool of political corruption harmful of the growth of liberal democracy and good governance.
Political parties are the nurseries of good and purposeful government. We cannot reasonably produce a good government if our political parties are banal, corrupt or unorganised.
Any political party, the governing party for that matter which shamelessly and unscrupulously enmesh in carpet crossing in the hallowed chambers of parliament and hollow celebrations of mass defections in government lodge cannot grow to run a responsible and purposeful government to benefit the masses.
Such a governing party at its behest will only exert overbearing influence, power of life and death swallow other parties ushering in totalitarianism which is so facto oppose to democracy.
Since Nigeria is committed to democracy, multi party system is the most appropriate, ideal and should be practiced with constraints. An attempt to eliminate small parties would wreak incalculable injury or damage to the very foundations of federalism and democracy.
This would seriously curtail the natural instinct and right of the citizen to free association.
However, democracy thrives and flourishes best in party system. Democracy cannot thrive let alone flourish amid political parties which are bereft of party manifestoes on policy papers impinged on entrenched political ideology or principle of governance to educate and mobilise the electorate at electioneerings and the public from time to time with a view to fostering harmonious relations and to articulate good governance amongst the citizenry.
Although the abject failure of party system that brought about sudden collapse of First Republic Politics (1960 – 1966) should not be a prima facie evidence that the baby deserves to be thrown away with bath water.
In addition, political parties then and now are often riddled with factions, the emergence of splinter groups within the main political parties which is not healthy for the growth of party system in the country’s democracy.
The kernel of the argument is that political parties must be virile, well organised, not corrupt and entrenched on solid principles or ideologies for stable political governance.
Some Western democracies, Great Britain, France and the United States (US) and the recently dismembered socialist Union of Soviet Republics otherwise known as USSR in the Eastern block determinedly and aggressively deployed two well known political and economic ideologies, viz capitalism and socialism regardless its imperfections for mass mobilization of effective and efficient service delivery of good government suitable to their respective milieu.
I reiterate for emphasis and for fear of being repetitive that political parties as being practiced in civilized clime should not only mobilise and educate the electorate but the entire citizenry on the universal principles of capitalism or socialism.
It is disheartening and unfortunate that the foreign ideology that some articulate Nigerians foist on us due to ignorance and gullibility, has not met the needs of the people to promote the unity and prosperity of the masses.
It is high time we fashioned home grown specific ideology or principle to build our own political parties’ structure that can meet the basic aspirations of the population.
The excruciating experience of naked capitalism imposed by foreign capital on our agrarian rural economy by courtesy of ruthless colonial exploiters and overloads. This violently increases the over yawning gap of haves and the haves not, the rich and the poor and the emergence of commission agents and neo colonial agents that bestride our political landscape like the colossus.
It is time we redress the anomalies, political venality and indolence rampant in our party system or is the nation running any party system at all if to ape the imperfections of the British Colonial Political tutelage?
By all means, let us restore sanity to the indisplined and morally bankrupt political party system by embracing the fundamentals of party politics.
For instance, Anthony Eronsele Enahoro, a formidable journalist’s editor and parliamentarian at impressionable age of 29. His political party Action Group (AG) sent him to the United Kingdom in 1952 to study parliamentary procedure in the House of Commons and in Belfast, Northern Ireland.
Now, where are such trainings, seminar, workshop, etc to train and enhance the proficiency and political mastery of our politicians in the arduous task of nation building?
Things have irretrievably broken down as prophetically captured in Things Fall Apart, a master piece authored by Chinua Achebe, in the rude incursion of new faith Christian missionary activities which upset the African traditional setting.
As it is humanly impossible to produce a good government and stable democracy under the present top heavy corrupt, unorganized and unrealiable party system. The national secretary of a party should be as good as the secretary of the government either in the state or federal government.
In this case, two national parties only at the government and the opposition at any given time should be recongnised and grant-aided to galvanise a stable democracy, to discourage political prostitution and venality.