REGULATORY FRAMEWORK AND POLITICAL PARTY FINANCING IN NIGERIA; ANALYZING 2011-2019 APC AND PDP PARTICIPATION IN GENERAL ELECTIONS
1Haruna Musa Yakubu & 2Ibrahim Musa Ibrahim Kirfi
1Faculty of Management Sciences; Federal University of Kashere, Nigeria, 2Corporate Affairs Commission of Nigeria
ABSTRACT
This paper examine the regulatory framework on political party financing in Nigeria. There is an ongoing debate on the theme that excessive illicit financing of political parties and massively corrupt financial support of individual candidates on electoral competitions constitute serious threat to the process, and negatively influences the development of politics and consolidation of democracy in developing countries. The study is restricted to political party financing and consolidation of democracy in Nigeria within the period of 2011 to 2019 in two major political parties in Nigeria- All Progressive Congress (APC) and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). The primary sources of financing political parties in any democracy across the globe is through payment of membership dues, but none the less, Nigeria presents an exception because such dues are hardly paid, another source of funding for the political parties are government grants to political parties which is a universal practice. Party financing is the livewire of political parties that further enables political parties to create awareness about party manifestoes as a means for mobilization and recruitment of more members, this is key to winning elections and execution of party programs through government policies.
