CHAPTER ONE
1.0 INTRODUCTION
1.1 BACKGROUND OF STUDY
A political party is an association of people who hold similar views about what should be a community or society’s social and economic priorities and come together to establish these priorities by gaining control of the machinery of government (Derbyshire & Darlyshire, 1991:13a). Modern political parties, whose predecessors were cliques and factions, are products of the eighteenth century onwards. They display three essential features; one, a permanent structure and organization; two, an authority to represent people, whatever or not they are( card carrying) members of the party, based open elections; and three; an intention to form a government or participate in government.
        Political parties have an important role to play in a democracy. In fact, it is mostly through them that two important attributes of democracy, free and fair elections and right to run office (Dahl, 1989:221) can be actualized.
        Since Nigeria’s independence in 1960, there has not been much practice with party politics in the country. This was due to largely to the incursion of the military into the political realm beginning only six years after independence when major Kaduna Nzeogwu staged the first military coup. Prior to this time, there was party politics in the first republic and some of the parties that completed for political power were the Action Group (AG), National Council for Nigeria and the Cameroons (NCNC), and the Nigeria People’s Congress (NCP) (Sklar, 1983). Later, between 1979 and 1983 during the second republic, the political parties that completed were National Party of Nigeria (NPN), The Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN), The Nigeria Peoples party (NPP), The Peoples Redemption Party (PRP), and The Great Nigeria Peoples Party (GNPP) (Ayeni and Soremakun, 1958; Faldla & Ihonvbere, 1985).
        Under President Ibrahim Babaginda’s transition to civic rule programme(1984-1993), and after several attempts at party formation, outside the preview of government, the bitched Third Republic was saddled with two government established and registered parties-The Social Democratic parties (SDP), and the National Republican Convention (NRC). During General Sanni Abacha’s regime (1993-1998), there also attempt at party formation with The United Nigeria Congress Party (UNCP), The Congress for National Consensus (CNC), The Democratic Party of Nigeria (DPN),  The National Centre Party of Nigeria (NCPN) and The Grassroots Democratic Party (GDP) participating in that regime’s transition programme  (Lipsat, 2000).
        Within inauguration of the Fourth Republic in 1999, three political parties were formed and it was through the platform of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Alliance for Democracy (AD), and All Peoples Party (APP) that the politicians contested for election in various states o the federation. These political parties, as political institutions, are very critical to success and sustenance of democracy considering the widely held view that indeed, Nigeria as only undergone a handover from military to civic rule and that the transition to democracy proper is only now beginning. (IDEA, 2000).
        Unlike the 1999 elections that ushered in the Fourth Republic, the 2003 general elections presented another opportunity for transition from one civilian government to another. In that election, about 29 political parties contested for elective post, which was unprecedented in history of election in Nigeria. The electoral body that oversees the elections was the Independent Electoral Commission (INEC) and was chaired by Maurice Iwu (Aderemi, 2005).
        The 2007 polls individual by the same regime and the first ever civilian- civilian transition in the political history, lack of preparedness on the part of the Independent Electoral Commission (INEC) and the acrimonious inter and intra-party squabbles, it was clear that the elections were jinxed from the outset. Also, the 2011 elections was not an exception. It was a similar experience. The 2015 general elections was the fifth and most competitive elections since transition from military rule in 1999. For the first time, the ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP) was challenged by a new unified opposition party, the All Progressive Congress (APC), which was formed in February, 2013 by the four biggest opposition parties. The emergence of the APC prompted political realignment across the country resulting in a head-to-head electoral competitive between the two main parties. Apart from PDP and APC, 25 small parties participated in the elections (Henry 2015). Eventually, the APC won the presidential election and it establishes the government that is currently piloting the affairs of the nation. Of course, the achievements is seen or perceived different. While some argues that the APC president has done creditably well, others disagreed.
        The study therefore, gives an insight into the 2019 Presidential election in Nigeria. It will unveil how the PDP and the APC draw attention to the importance of credible elections