The activities of the Nigeria political parties before the year 1960 can be traced back to its origin from the year 1922.
The Nigerian National Democratic Party (NNDP) was Nigeria's first political party which was formed in 1922 by Herbert Macaulay.
When the Nigerian people saw the Clifford constitution, Herbert Macaulay wasted no time informing NNDP. The party was founded majorly to put people into the legislative council. But the party also had the responsibility of promoting democracy in Nigeria and increasing the participation of Nigerians in the economic, social, and educational development of the country. The party won all the seats in the elections held in 1923, 1928, and 1933.
Sooner, some young intellectuals saw the feat attained by NNDP and decided to come together to form the Lagos Youth Movement (LYM) in 1934. The party had Samuel Akinsanya, Earnest Ikoli, J.C. Vaughan, and H.O. Davies as foundation members. However, some other young intellectuals also joined the party, the likes of Dr. Nnamdi Azikwe, Obafemi Awolowo, Dr. Kofo Abayomi and so on. However, the party was later changed to Nigerian Youth Movement to make it national in outlook.
The NNDP political party later lost power and popularity after Herbert Macaulay began mingling with the British again and lost most of its seat in the 1938 elections to the Nigerian Youth Movement.
Again, in 1944, another political party was birthed – the National Council of Nigeria and Cameroun (NCNC). NCNC was able to be found due to two reasons; firstly, the infusion of the southern Cameroun into the Nigeria state, which by implication, makes it a territory part of Nigeria and under the grip of the colonial authority; and secondly, the Clifford constitution of 1922 that pave way for the participation of Nigerian people in their own affair.
Later in 1951, Nigeria again had another constitution. This time around, it was the Macpherson constitution. Macpherson constitution was not unilaterally made, the whole country participated in the making of the constitution which was completed on Saturday, June 30, 1951.
The attendant implication of the constitution was the formation of two more political parties. The Macpherson constitution gave birth to the Action Group (AG) and the Northern Peoples’s Congress (NPC) in 1951 respectively.
The AG metamorphosed from a cultural movement, Egbe Omo Oduduwa (society for the descendant of Oduduwa) that was formed in 1945 in London by Obafemi Awolowo, Ooni of Ife, and Michael Ajasin. This movement transformed into the AG at Owo in April 1951.
The NPC, on the other hand, was formed to cater for the northern people in 1951. Its membership was restricted to northerners alone. It was equally formed from an old cultural association, the Jamiyar Mutanen Arewa.
Thus, the NNDP, NYM, NCNC, AG, and NPC were the basic political parties that had existed up to 1960.



REFERENCES:
Joe Project Store. (2012). POLITICAL PARTY DEVELOPMENT IN NIGERIA. iProject. Retrieved from: https://iproject.com.ng/political-science/political-party-development-in-nigeria/index.html on the 21st of January, 2019.

Johnson O. (2018). Who formed the first political party in Nigeria? Naij Media: Legit. Retrieved from: https://www.legit.ng/1124153-who-formed-political-party-nigeria.html on the 21st of January, 2019.

Sherif. (2018). History Of Political Parties In Nigeria. NaijaQuest. Retrieved from: https:///history-of-political-parties-in-nigeria/ on the 21st of January, 2019.