Interparty Competition and Policy Convergence in Nigeria’s Fourth Republic

This study analyses the relationship between interparty competition levels and the degree of policy convergence between Nigeria's major political parties, investigating whether more competitive multiparty environments produce greater policy differentiation or whether structural incentives push parties toward programmatic similarity. Policy convergence among competing parties is widely regarded as a sign of democratic shallowness, suggesting that elections offer citizens limited real choices between alternative governance approaches. Using a mixed-methods design, the study codes the policy platforms of the All Progressives Congress, Peoples Democratic Party, Labour Party, and New Nigeria Peoples Party across five policy domains from the 2019 and 2023 electoral cycles, constructing a platform differentiation index. This index is then correlated with state-level measures of party competition intensity derived from electoral margin data. Secondary analysis of public opinion surveys on citizen policy preference alignment with party platforms supplements the quantitative analysis. The spatial theory of elections and the programmatic versus clientelistic politics literature are applied to interpret the findings. Findings reveal a paradox in which increased formal electoral competition in the 2023 cycle was accompanied by minimal policy differentiation across the major parties' presidential platforms, with all parties converging on broadly similar positions on economic management, security, and anti-corruption rhetoric. Labour Party's Obadient movement represented a partial exception in terms of mobilisation discourse but offered limited programmatic depth. Recommendations include reforms to campaign finance law that incentivise policy-based rather than personality-based electoral competition and civic education emphasising platform scrutiny. Keywords: interparty competition, policy convergence, party platforms, Fourth Republic, electoral politics