By the late 1980s, General Ibrahim Babangida’s military government was advancing a transition programme intended to culminate in a return to civilian rule. The programme moved in phases, lifting restrictions in stages while maintaining firm central control over its pace and structure.
The transition was not limited to organising elections. It sought to redesign the political system itself. Officials argued that Nigeria’s earlier republics had been weakened by fragmented party systems that deepened ethnic and regional divisions. A streamlined two party structure, they believed, could promote national integration and reduce political instability.
In 1989, restrictions on partisan political activity were partially relaxed. Political associations were permitted to organise and apply for registration as parties. Thirteen associations were registered with the National Electoral Commission on 19 July 1989. Across the country, politicians, activists, and organisers began positioning themselves within these associations, expecting that recognised parties would soon emerge from among them.
On 19 September 1989, the National Electoral Commission recommended a number of associations for approval. The expectation was that Nigeria would return to party politics through groups that had already formed within society.
That expectation ended abruptly on 8 October 1989. The military government rejected all thirteen associations. Instead of approving any of them, it announced that two new political parties would be established by government decision.
Parties Created by Decree, SDP and NRC
In October 1989, the government formally created the Social Democratic Party, SDP, and the National Republican Convention, NRC. These parties were provided with initial funding and structured as the only legal platforms through which elections would be contested.
The decision reshaped the political landscape. Rather than allowing parties to evolve organically from associations formed by citizens, the state determined the framework and limited participation to two officially sanctioned organisations.
The SDP and NRC were presented as ideologically distinct platforms. The SDP was widely characterised as centre left, while the NRC was described as centre right. The goal was to structure political competition into two broad national alternatives rather than a fragmented field.
EXPLORE NOW: Military Era & Coups in Nigeria
While party formation had been centrally controlled, political activity within the two parties was vigorous. Aspirants competed in primaries, factions formed, alliances shifted, and internal struggles unfolded across the country. Political actors sought to shape party direction, influence candidate selection, and define policy priorities within the available framework.
Nigerians were not free to create independent political parties outside the two official platforms, but they actively contested power within them. Campaigns were organised, delegates mobilised, and party conventions became arenas of intense negotiation and rivalry.
Campaigns, Coalitions, and a Rising Expectation
As the transition advanced into the early 1990s, the two party system produced local, state, and national contests. Political energy expanded. Civil society actors, labour groups, business interests, and regional blocs all engaged within the structures of SDP and NRC.
The framework led to the presidential election scheduled for 12 June 1993. The candidates were Moshood Kashimawo Olawale Abiola of the SDP and Bashir Tofa of the NRC. The campaign period saw extensive mobilisation and participation across Nigeria’s regions.
The election became one of the most significant political moments in Nigeria’s post independence history. Voting took place nationwide. However, before the final results were officially completed and affirmed, the process was halted. The presidential election was annulled.
The annulment triggered protests, political tension, and heightened repression. Arrests were reported, and restrictions on political expression intensified. The transition programme, which had been presented as a pathway to civilian rule, stalled under renewed uncertainty.
READ MORE: Ancient & Pre-Colonial Nigeria
The Structure and Its Consequences
The creation of SDP and NRC defined the political architecture of the period. It narrowed party formation to two state approved vehicles, concentrated competition within them, and shaped the route to the Third Republic.
Within that structure, Nigerians campaigned, voted, organised, and invested hope in a civilian future. The political arena was active and nationally engaged. Yet the annulment of the June 12 election revealed the limits of a transition whose final authority remained outside electoral institutions.
The two party experiment remains a defining chapter in Nigeria’s political history. It demonstrates how the design of political institutions influences outcomes, how party systems can be shaped from above, and how electoral participation can expand even within constrained structures.
Author’s Note
The era of SDP and NRC shows that democracy is more than ballots and campaign rallies. Nigerians organised, competed, and believed that civilian rule was within reach. Yet the structure of the transition placed ultimate control beyond the electorate. The experience left a lasting lesson, that sustainable democracy depends not only on elections, but on the freedom to form parties, build institutions independently, and allow outcomes to stand without reversal.
References
Oyeleye Oyediran and Adigun Agbaje, “Two Partyism and Democratic Transition in Nigeria,” The Journal of Modern African Studies, Vol. 29, No. 2, June 1991.
Larry Diamond, “Nigeria’s Search for a New Political Order,” Journal of Democracy, Vol. 2, No. 2, Spring 1991.
Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada, “Information on the political parties formed in May 1989, especially the People’s Front of Nigeria,” Response to Information Request NGA6451, 31 July 1990.
Human Rights Watch, Democracy Derailed, Hundreds Arrested and Press Muzzled in Aftermath of Election Annulment, August 1993.
U.S. House Concurrent Resolution 151, 103rd Congress, 2nd Session, on the annulment of the 12 June 1993 Nigerian presidential election.
