Internal Democracy and Conflict Management within Political Parties in Nigeria: A Historical Evaluation of the Osun State People’s Democratic Party (PDP)

Abstract

The study investigated how inter­nal conflicts within Osun State Peoples’ Democratic Party de­veloped over time, and the management strategies used in addressing the conflict. In addition to this, it assessed the impact of these strategies on electoral victory in 2023 Osun State gubernatorial election. This is with a view to shed light on the impact of internal party conflicts, par­ticularly those stemming from primary elections on party cohesion and electoral success. Descriptive research design was adopted for the study, qualitative method of data gathering via in-depth interview was employed, data gathered was the­matically coded, categorised and sub­jected to qualitative content analysis and thematic analysis to establish answers to the research objectives. Purposive sam­pling techniques was used in selecting the participants. Academic works, offi­cial newspaper publications and adver­tisements relevant to the study were also analysed for contents. The study revealed that absence of internal democracy with­in Osun State PDP triggered intra-party crises in the 2014, 2018, and 2022 gover­norship primaries, while violence, intim­idation, and manipulation of party rules played major role. Although, the party has constitutional provisions for free and fair elections, but their inability to ap­ply these provisions intensified conflicts which made some key members to exit the party. However, the national working committee adopted another strategic ap­proach in managing their conflict before the 2023 gubernatorial election, by ap­pointing neutral officials that mediated on the conflict. This prioritized electoral viability, eventually securing victory for the party in the 2023 gubernatorial elec­tion.