How to join a Political Party in Nigeria

Wondering how to join a political party or become a member of a political party in Nigeria? It is one of the easiest things to do.

Joining a political party in Nigeria is an important step for anyone interested in participating in the country’s political process. Political parties are the pathways through which individuals pursue their political aspirations and represent their constituencies, state or countries.

To run for a political office in Nigeria, you must belong to a political party, this is according to the Law. According to Section 40 0f the 1999 Constitution, every Nigerian has the fundamental right of  registering or belonging to a political party.

List of Political Parties in Nigeria

According to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), there are 18 registered political parties in Nigeria. They include:

• Accord (A)
• Action Alliance (AA)
• Action Democratic Party (ADP)
• Action Peoples Party (APP)
• African Action Congress (AAC)
• African Democratic Congress (ADC)
• All Progressives Congress (APC)
• All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA)
• Allied Peoples Movement (APM)
• Boot Party (BP)
• Labour Party (LP)
• National Rescue Movement (NRM)
• New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP)
• Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)
• Peoples Redemption Party (PRP)
• Social Democratic Party (SDP)
• Young Progressive Party (YPP)
• Zenith Labour Party (ZLP)

For more information on the key party leaders, the address and contact numbers of each party, check here.

How to become a member of a Political Party in Nigeria.

To begin your application to join a political party, you must do the following:

1. Ensure that you are 18 years and above at the time of doing your membership registration.
2. You must be a citizen of Nigeria irrespective of your religion, sex and place of origin.
3. You must not be in the Civil Service of the Federation, State or Local Government Area/Council.

To join a political party,

1. Locate the official website of your preferred political party. Political parties have a functional website. Simply input the name of your preferred political party into the Google search bar, the website is usually the first site that appears immediately you do this.
2. Fill the membership form on the website by inputting all relevant details in the required fields as provided on the website and print a generated membership card which you will need.  After this, visit the Ward Headquarters of your preferred party in your location.
3. If your preferred political party does not have a functional website, visit the Ward Headquarters.
4. Complete your documentation process.
5. Pay the required fees for registration. This information will be made available to you at the Ward Headquarters.
6. Your application will be reviewed by the Ward Executive Committee which reserves the right to accept or reject your application to join the party.
7. Once the process of the approval and acceptance of your application is complete, the Ward will issue a Membership Card to you containing the Party’s logo, your information, membership number and your passport photograph.

As a person, you may want to aim higher and take your ambition further by creating your own political party. You will have questions like how to form a political party, how much does it cost to register a political party and the requirements for political party registration in Nigeria.

Steps to register a Political Party in Nigeria

According to the provisional guidelines of 2014 for the registration of new political parties by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), the following are the requirements to register a political party.

1. Have an association of an. organised group of people who share common political goals and ideologies with you.
2. The association must obtain INEC’s FORM PAI which serves as an application form.
3. The application for the proposed political party must be made on the FORM PAI and replicated into 50 copies. This must be accompanied with documents showing :

• The name of the proposed party.
• The names, signatures and residential addresses of the Chairman and Secretary of the association.
• Evidence of the payment of a non refundable sum of #1,000,000 (One Million Naira only) with a bank draft to the Independent National Electoral Commission.
• Fifty (50) copies of the Association’s Constitution.
• Fifty (50) copies of the Association’s Manifesto.

4. Other important information needed by the Commission are:

• The logo/flag of the proposed political party.
• Minutes of meetings.
• Disciplinary procedures for erring members.
• Membership Register
• Bank statement

The FORM PAI along with the required supporting documents must be submitted within 30 working days from the day it is obtained from the Commission. The Commission will review the application and accompanying documents and reserves the right to accept or reject the application.

If the application is rejected, the Commission will issue a reason for the rejection. The political party can re-apply without having to pay the #1,000,000 administrative fees again.

Understand that this is a summary. For better understanding of the requirements, read the guidelines for registration of new political parties by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) (2014).

As a person with political interest, read how you can keep up with real time results from Polling Units for the March 18th Gubernatorial Elections and States House of Assembly elections here.

SEE ALSO: INEC Results Viewing Portal 2023 (How to check INEC results online)