1Akonye, Enyioma Joseph, Ph.D,2Onele, Sunday and3Obike Hilary Nwokoma
1&2Department of Political Science, Alex Ekwueme Federal University, Ndufu-Alike, Ebonyi State, Nigeria
3Department of Political Science, Abiastate University, Uturu,AbiaState, Nigeria
Corresponding Author’s email: akonye.@funai.edu.ng
Abstract
Nigeria and Ghana are among African countries that were colnized by the British over lord; hence, both countries got their independence on the 6th of March, 1957, and October 1st 1960 as a democractic state respectively which then gave them room to control their political, economic and socio-cultural activities without foreign interference. The independence of these two countries later gave birth to power contestation and struggle among the political gladiators of the day. This paper explored power contestation among African leaders with a focus on the comparative study of Nigeria and Ghana poltical administration experiences in various administration. Evolutionary Governance Theory was employed as a theoretical framework of analysis, while documentary method of data collection which anchored on secondary sources like; archival data from regime gazettes, text books, newspapers, journal articles, and internet sources was employed. The paper’s investigation on the factors respomsible for power contestations among African leaders, Nigeria and Ghana as a study implicated Imbalance in the Political Structure, Corrupt leadership, Tribalism and Nepotism between and among their leadership, Fraudulent political activities among political parties, Abuse of elections by politicians. Division within the political leadership, Ineffective Judiciary, and Electoral malpractice/rigging, Based on the findings, the paper recommed redefinition of political system and leadership style of both countries, compulsory leadership training and youths mentorship, Poweer rotation, constitution review, age limit and condition of service for political office holders/office seekers in both countries.
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