The National Party of Nigeria (NPN) was the dominant political party in Nigeria during the Second Republic (1979–1983).

History

Formation

The party's beginning could be traced to private and sometimes secret meetings among key Northern

Nigeria Nigeria ( ), , ig, Naìjíríyà, yo, Nàìjíríà, pcm, Naijá , ff, Naajeeriya, kcg, Naijeriya officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf o ...

n leaders after the proscription of political parties in 1966 by the military regimes of Johnson Aguiyi-Ironsi and General

Yakubu Gowon Yakubu Dan-Yumma 'Jack' Gowon (born 19 October 1934) is a retired Nigerian Army general and military leader. As Head of State of Nigeria, Gowon presided over a controversial Nigerian Civil War and delivered the famous "no victor, no vanquishe ...

. A few members of the proscribed parties based in the Northern section of Nigeria began to organize to form a northern party to prepare for a return to

democracy Democracy (From grc, δημοκρατία, dēmokratía, ''dēmos'' 'people' and ''kratos'' 'rule') is a form of government in which the people have the authority to deliberate and decide legislation (" direct democracy"), or to choose g ...

, the group also approached southern Nigerians about the prospect of a truly national party. A

constitution A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organisation or other type of entity and commonly determine how that entity is to be governed. When these pr ...

al assembly organized in 1977 to prepare a constitution for a new democratic government, proved to the best avenue for members of the burgeoning group to meet and discuss plans for their regions and nation. On September 20, 1978, the National Party of Nigeria was formed, composed of members of the constituent assembly and was headed by Makaman Bida, an old Northern People's Congress (NPC) member. At formation, the party was able to draw beyond it core base of former NPC members and attracted some First republic politicians such as Joseph Tarka, former leader of the United Middle Belt Congress, K.O. Mbadiwe, one time minister and

Remi Fani-Kayode Chief Victor Babaremilekun Adetokunboh Fani-Kayode, Q.C., SAN, CON (1921–1995) was a leading Nigerian politician, aristocrat, nationalist, statesman and lawyer. He was elected deputy premier of the Western Region of Nigeria in 1963Emmanue ...

, a former NNDP member. In October 1978, the party adopted

zoning Zoning is a method of urban planning in which a municipality or other tier of government divides land into areas called zones, each of which has a set of regulations for new development that differs from other zones. Zones may be defined for a si ...

to elect party officials. The party then elected a new chairman,

Augustus Akinloye Chief Augustus Meredith Adisa Akinloye (August 19, 1916 – September 18, 2007), popularly known as A.M.A, was a Nigerian lawyer, politician and the Seriki of Ibadanland, thus making him a Yoruba tribal aristocrat. Legal career Akinloye read ...

, a

Yoruba The Yoruba people (, , ) are a West African ethnic group that mainly inhabit parts of Nigeria, Benin, and Togo. The areas of these countries primarily inhabited by Yoruba are often collectively referred to as Yorubaland. The Yoruba constitute ...

man and former Nigerian National Democratic Party government minister over contenders such as Fani Kayode, Adeyinka Adebayo and Adeleke Adedoyin. The election of a southern Nigerian paved the way for the presidential candidate to go to the core base of the party: the Hausa-Fulani states. One of the campaign promise was implementation of

Green Revolution The Green Revolution, also known as the Third Agricultural Revolution, was a period of technology transfer initiatives that saw greatly increased crop yields and agricultural production. These changes in agriculture began in developed countrie ...

as an agricultural policy.

Elections

The NPN presented candidates for two major elections, the 1979 elections and the 1983 elections. The party won 36 Senate seats out of 95

Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

seats and 168 seats out of 449 seats of the House of Representatives. On August 16, 1979, the party's candidate in the

presidential election A presidential election is the election of any head of state whose official title is President. Elections by country Albania The president of Albania is elected by the Assembly of Albania who are elected by the Albanian public. Chile The p ...

, Shehu Shagari, was declared the winner. The party entered into a shaky alliance with the Nigerian Peoples Party to earn majority votes in the National Assembly, the alliance later hit the rocks in 1981. To gain support among

Igbo people The Igbo people ( , ; also spelled Ibo" and formerly also ''Iboe'', ''Ebo'', ''Eboe'', * * * ''Eboans'', ''Heebo''; natively ) are an ethnic group in Nigeria. They are primarily found in Abia, Anambra, Ebonyi, Enugu, and Imo States. A s ...

, the party allowed the return of Odumegwu Ojukwu, the Biafra leader.

Moshood Abiola Moshood Kashimawo Olawale Abiola , also known as M. K. O. Abiola (24 August 1937 – 7 July 1998) was a Nigerian businessman, publisher, and politician. He was the Aare Ona Kankafo XIV of Yorubaland and an aristocrat of the Egba clan. M.K.O ...

, a former member of the

National Council of Nigeria and the Cameroons The National Council of Nigeria and the Cameroons (NCNC) later changed to the National Convention of Nigerian Citizens, was a Nigerian nationalist political party from 1944 to 1966, during the period leading up to independence and immediately ...

(NCNC), was not successful to hold chairmanship or presidential ticket of the NPN and later stood as the candidate of the

Social Democratic Party The name Social Democratic Party or Social Democrats has been used by many political parties in various countries around the world. Such parties are most commonly aligned to social democracy as their political ideology. Active parties For ...

(SDP) in the cancelled 1993 presidential election.

Adamu Ciroma Adamu Ciroma (20 November 1934 – 5 July 2018) was a Nigerian politician and Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, born to a Bole family in Potiskum, Yobe State. He was a member of the People's Democratic Party. Second Republic career I ...

, a former secretary of the NPN, later became a senior member of the

People's Democratic Party People's Democratic Party or ''variant thereof'', could refer to: * People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan *People's Democratic Party (Belize) *People's Democratic Party (Bhutan) * People's Democratic Party (Chile) *People's Democratic Party (Dom ...

Electoral history

Presidential elections

House of Representatives and Senate elections

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, - !Votes !% !Seats !+/– !Position !Votes !% !Seats !+/– !Position , - ,

1979 Events January * January 1 ** United Nations Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim heralds the start of the '' International Year of the Child''. Many musicians donate to the '' Music for UNICEF Concert'' fund, among them ABBA, who write the so ...

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1983 The year 1983 saw both the official beginning of the Internet and the first mobile cellular telephone call. Events January * January 1 – The migration of the ARPANET to TCP/IP is officially completed (this is considered to be the beginning ...

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References

*"AROUND THE WORLD National Party takes lead", The Globe and Mail (Canada), July 20, 1979 *Shehu Shagari, Beckoned to Serve: An Autobiography, Heinemann Educational Books, Defunct political parties in Nigeria