Who is a party member?

The latter-day, afterthought, logic-challenged, enforcement-bereft amendment to the Electoral Act 2026 passed by the House of Representatives on Wednesday last week, which bars anyone from belonging to more than one political party at a time, set me thinking as to exactly who is a member of a political party in Nigeria. Three new subsections introduced to Section 77 of the Electoral Act 2026 provide that a person who knowingly registers in more than one political party at the same time commits an offence and is liable on conviction to a fine of ten million naira or two years’ imprisonment or both.

In Nigeria here, how do we determine who is a member of a political party? We see opinion polls in some countries breaking down respondents according to party membership, which helps to explain their thinking. If you were to conduct a proper opinion poll in Nigeria, assuming you get an overall result, will you be able to break it down and say, so-so percent of APC members said this, so-so percent of PDP members said this, while so-so percent of Independents said this?

Who qualifies to be called a party member in Nigeria? Is he the one who says he supports a political party? Which political party a Nigerian says he supports, depends on where he is at present and who he is with. A Nigerian has a very keen sense of audience. In the days when there was keen competition between political parties, most city wards were easily identified with one political tendency or another. One can make that out as soon as he enters a ward, from the flags flying on top of people’s houses to the posters pasted on walls. The governing adage here is, when in Rome, do as the Romans do. People in a city ward support a particular political party most likely because of a certain chieftain who has been helping them over the years with food, rent, school fees, hospital bills and wedding expenses. Which politician a community decides to support is determined not by his ideology or programs, but “what have you done for us here all these years? How many people have you helped to get a job?”

Is a political party member the one who displays a party flag in front of his house? Party flags and mottos displayed in people’s homes, shops, stalls and on their bicycles, motorcycles and Keke Napeps and even on the tailboards of tipper trucks and trailers may indicate which party they support, but not always. Quite often, it merely tells you who gave him the Keke. A man can paste party colours in front of his house because he knows a certain party chieftain regularly passes by, so that his house will not be overlooked in the sharing of palliatives.

Is a party member here the one who attends a party meeting? Attending a party meeting is not evidence of support for a political party. Children and youngsters, especially, love spectacle. They cannot resist attending any event where there is singing, dancing and a lot of colour, not to mention where free food and drinks are distributed. Youngsters also love to collect souvenir T-shirts, face caps, calendars, biros, buckets, cups and kettles. If you see a youngster wearing a T-shirt with party colours or even spotting a face cap with a party’s name, it is not evidence of support for it. The day he stumbles into a similar gathering by a rival political party, he will again jump in, collect as many souvenirs as he can and again wear them as he walks around the locality. Nobody asks any questions; people know that it is all awoof.

Is party member the one who attends a party rally and shouts himself hoarse with party slogans? In Kaduna in 1992, I attended the ceremony on Alkali Road where NRC presidential aspirant Alhaji Umaru Shinkafi opened his Choice 92 campaign office. A group of five elderly women arrived early at the event and occupied front row seats. They were very enthusiastic and they jumped up and danced anytime Marafan Sokoto said anything, quite often before he even finished the sentence.

When the occasion ended, I was driving out in my jalopy Fiat car when those same women asked me for a ride. They begged me to drop them at Unguwar Rimi, and I soon saw that they were going to the house of another presidential aspirant, Alhaji Lema Jibrilu. As soon as I stopped the car, they ran out, charged into the house and began shouting praises of Alhaji Lema at the top of their voices. It was an eye opener; I muttered to myself, “So this is the stuff political supporters are made of.”

In 2003 I attended the launch of a state governor’s reelection campaign. I was impressed by the size and enthusiasm of the crowd at the rally. When the rally ended, I entered the car of the State Assembly’s Majority Leader, and I congratulated him on the success of the rally. He looked at me with tired eyes and said, “It is not difficult to organize this kind of event. A week ago, I sent a message to all bus owners in my hometown that they should not go anywhere because I will hire them for the whole day. I then told people at the motor park that whoever enters a bus, it will take him to the state capital and bring him back after the rally, that food will be distributed inside the bus and he will also get N200 upon return. Flags and posters were given to them in the bus. Whatever number of buses you station there, will be filled to the brim.” These were the “members” zealously shouting at the rally.

Is party member the one who registers at his ward party office? Appearing at a party office to register your membership and collect a membership card may look like a serious matter in some countries, but not here in Nigeria. If the party office is within walking distance from your house, you just walk in and register; the card comes in handy when a party chieftain is sharing palliatives. Party leaders at the ward level reserve early membership cards for big fish who may come into the party at a later date. A state governor who recently defected to APC was given card number 0001. You mean, there were no members in the party all these years before this governor came in?

Speaker Tajudeen Abbas, have you heard about this youth activist in Jos, during the Third Republic presidential campaigns, who was reported by a newspaper to be the one who ushered seven different presidential aspirants, singing and drumming, from Jos Airport all the way into the town? Four of them were NRC aspirants and the other three were SDP aspirants, so which party will you say he belonged to? The guy had a dedicated team of “supporters,” complete with drums and music bands. They had the huge flags of both parties, and they expertly sang the anthems of both parties.

Is party member the one who stands for election on the platform of a political party? Years ago, before many changes were made to election rules, there was this House of Representatives member who stood for re-nomination at his party’s primaries and lost. He sat all day in his house, close to a nervous breakdown. So his very energetic aide offered to get for him another party’s platform. At 2’oclock in the night, the aide went and knocked at the door of the chairman of a small brief case political party. The man asked for two million naira. The money was delivered to him at 3am, so he went into his house, got dressed, and they walked to the party office, where he summarily issued a membership card, then filled, signed and stamped the nomination forms for the Honourable Member. Neat; no primaries, nothing.

House of Representatives, you legislated a stiff two years’ jail and ten million naira fine on anyone who belongs to more than one political party at a time. Are you serious? How do you know when a man is hiding ten different party membership cards in his drawer? All the people who did multiple voter registration, have you caught them? After one exercise, INEC said two million people did double registration. Computer server picked them out by their fingerprints, but that INEC had no capacity to apprehend or prosecute all of them. All the people with multiple driver’s licenses in case Road Safety Corps confiscates one, have you apprehended them? What about the people with several passports, including the recently revealed one where a person that does not exist “obtained” an international passport?

There is this thing that judges say, that “a court does not make an order in vain.” Why should we fill our statute books with “crimes” for which no one will ever be brought to book?