By Emman Ovuakporie & Johnbosco Agbakwuru

ABUJA — MEMBERS of the House of Representatives, yesterday, ‘killed’ an amendment bill seeking to reduce the number of political parties in Nigeria from about 65 to five.

This led to a debate on the general principles of a “Bill for an Act to Alter Section 40 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999, Cap. C23, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004 to Limit the number of Political Parties to five and for other Related Matters” promoted by Ali Mohammed Wudil (APC, Kano).

Wudil had said the amendment would allow for a manageable number of political parties that could be structured toward exerting maximum impact during electioneering periods.

He explained that the current structure of having over 60 political parties in the system had created platforms for mere adoption of popular candidates from politically viable parties for pecuniary exchange that adds no real value to the struggle for offices around the country.

He said: “This is the 7th amendment, by and large, to allow other four parties to exist along side the party which is currently in power.

“Some parties are not fit to be called parties at all by the sheer pronunciation of their names, the structure of their offices and leadership component, and as such should be removed by the provision of the amendment bill.”

In her contribution, Nkeiruka Onyejeocha, said: “If we have a lot of political parties that have failed to measure up in the past, now is the time to reduce them.”

Philip Shuaibu (APC, Edo) in his submission, argued that the bill was coming at the wrong time, adding that the nation’s political landscape was not matured for a reduction in the number of parties operating within it.

Based on Shuaibu’s superior argument and the support it got from other lawmakers, who spoke against the bill, it was killed by voice vote as majority of lawmakers present rejected the amendment, following question by Speaker Yakubu Dogara.