of party members, imposition of candidates by party bosses, and organised violence and acrimony among factional candidates. They pointed to the inability of political parties to organise their own internal affairs according to rules of transparency and to allow ordinary members to freely compete for the right to stand for elections on a party ticket. Political parties were also seen by stakeholders to have zero tolerance of opposition, whether among internal constituent members or with other parties. Intraparty conflicts over positions means that a lot of energy and resources are diverted into solving such tensions as opposed to building and consolidating democratic and nationalistic ideologies, programmes and agendas. 224. It would appear that ‘moneycracy’ has replaced democracy, according to some stakeholders. Many stakeholders asserted that corruption, especially the use of money in politics, is a great hindrance to the development of constitutional democracy in Nigeria. Stakeholders constantly referred to party ‘big men’ or ‘godfathers’ with their “money bags and thugs” as the most flagrant example of how elections are manipulated in Nigeria. This was palpable at the time of the CRM, when there were stunning revelations from various election petition tribunals set up to investigate the many allegations of irregularities and malpractices during the 2007 general elections. Significantly, some of the judgments by the election petition tribunals that were rendered during the CRM included those concerning Kogi, Anambra, Adamawa and Rivers States, in which the courts reversed electoral victories or ordered a rerun of the elections. These were illustrative of the recklessness in the administration of the 2007 election process. However, some election results, such as those for the presidency, were upheld. As the CRM was leaving the country, the losers in the electoral court’s decision on the presidential election were contemplating appealing to the Supreme Court. Political parties 225. Political parties have had a chequered history in Nigeria since independence. At independence, there were only regional parties, and consequently there was no dominant party. In any case, no political party had a long history since, following every military coup, all political parties were either banned or suspended. As soon as the military dictators lifted the ban on politics, new parties were formed. The consequence is that there have been frequent discontinuities and disorder in the political party experience in Nigeria. As a result, there are no traditions and experience to draw on every time political parties are reconstituted before another coup. 226. The law does not limit the number of political parties, as to do so would impinge on the right to freedom of association. In the current democratic dispensation that dates from 1999, many political parties emerged to participate in the elections in 1999, 2003 and 2007. By then, Nigeria had about 51 political parties (Source: www.inecnigeria.org). The proliferation of political parties has led to a kind of political infidelity whereby politicians easily change parties for the sake of expediency. However, the rules regulating the formation of political parties and the election of the 93