SDP & NRC: Two Sides of the Same Coin

Ahead of the June 12 1993 election, the Babangida regime created a two-party system, in which only the National Republican Convention party (NRC) and Social Democratic Party (SDP) were allowed to run for office. NRC was meant to represent right-wing views while SDP was meant to represent left-wing views. However, critics have argued that both parties were actually similar, lacked ideological difference and consistency, and were a ploy the Babangida regime engineered to maintain control over Nigeria’s democratic transition. Notably, the lawyer and politician, Bola Ige, once remarked that NRC and SDP were ‘two sides of the same coin’. How true was this?

In this episode, Wale Lawal finds some answers.