KHAKI AND AGBADA,” A HISTORICAL ANALYSIS OF THE PEOPLES DEMOCRATIC PARTY GOVERNMENT IN ANAMBRA STATE, 1999-2006

Abstract

After long years of military rule in Nigeria a new set of politicians emerged under the different umbrellas of the newly registered political parties. In Anambra State, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) had their way into the executive and majority of the legislative seats in the state. Through means short of democratic ideals, the party was able to hold sway in the state until 2006. However, a historical analysis of the performance of the party during these years, viz a viz their ability or inability to establish a marked change from the military modus operandi, remains scarce. Considering the identified academic gap, this paper adopts the historical method of research, which involves the primary, secondary and tertiary sources of data gathering to examine how lack of change management abilities enhanced the factors that led to the exit of the PDP government in Anambra State. The paper observes that the PDP evidently lacked change management capabilities and the willingness to eschew impunity which was characteristic of the military in politics. This ultimately led to the internal debacles precipitated by such factors as electoral malpractices and godfatherism. The paper concludes that until these undemocratic factors are adequately dealt with in the state, and until political office holders are voted for meritoriously based on their change management capabilities and other areas of technocracy, the desired democratic change needed in the state would remain a mirage.