Nigeria, June 24 -- In most thriving democracies, political parties are not just vehicles for acquiring power, they are ideological institutions grounded in a clear vision of governance, policy direction, and the social contract. They represent coherent philosophies, conservatism, liberalism, socialism, or centrism, each defining a party's character, shaping its policies, and guiding its engagement with the electorate. In Nigeria, however, political parties are increasingly becoming ideological orphans, bereft of defined philosophies, united only by opportunism, and driven more by personal ambition than public good.

The absence of ideology in Nigerian political parties is not a new phenomenon. Still, it has reached a crisis point in rece...