14. Nigerian Political Parties in the Fourth Republic and Comparative Perspectives: A Case of APC/PDP and Some Selected African Political Parties

The chapter adopts a comparative approach to examine the major ruling parties in Nigeria, the APC and the PDP, with some similar parties in Africa. The chapter establishes some criteria that qualify a party for comparison. Based on the technique used, APC and PDP are grouped together as one party that has similar characteristics for comparison with other major parties in Africa. After identifying the population, geographical spread, duration of democracy and status of the parties in the respective countries, the ANC in South Africa, Ennahda in Tunisia and KANU in Kenya are selected and compared with the APC/PDP to determine the evolution, characteristics, activities and areas of convergence and divergence between the Nigerian parties and the selected African major parties. The chapter provides a comparative basis for the classification of modern African parties.