Internal Democracy in Nigeria Political Parties: A Study of All Progressive Congress (APC) in Zamfara State 2019 -2023.

This article examines internal democracy in All Progressives Congress (APC) in Zamfara 
State from 2019–2023. In the course of this study, data were sourced from two major sources: 
primary and secondary sources. Under the primary source, interviews were used as the primary 
source of data collection, under this method some selected party stakeholders both at the local and 
state level were interviewed. While existing literature on party politics and intra-party democracy 
were consulted under the secondary source. In addition, a qualitative method of analysis was 
adopted to present and analyse the data in relation to the study objectives within the theoretical 
framework of Elite theory, particularly the Iron Law of oligarchy developed by Robert Michels. 
The study concludes that the party in the study area did not employ democratic principles in its 
activities, as members were not fully included in the affairs of the party, especially regarding 
candidate selection during party primaries and agenda setting within the party. The study 
recommends a review of the applicable electoral legislation to incorporate the deleted provision 
of section 87(9) of the repealed Electoral Act 2010, which provides that "where a political party 
fails to comply with the provisions of this Act on the conduct of primaries, its candidates for 
election shall not be included in the election for the particular position in issue". With such 
provision in place. With such a provision in place, the Electoral Commission will be able to 
enforce compliance with internal democratic mechanisms as provided for by the Electoral Act, 
and also strengthen the commission's supervisory role under Section 85(2) of the Electoral Act 
2010 (as amended).