Electoral Act in Nigeria: a Quest to Putting an End to the Problem of Rigging During Election

CHAPTER ONE

 INTRODUCTION

Background of the Study

Most nations’ electoral weaknesses lead to election fraud, which poses a severe danger to democratic principles in any free democracy. According to Ismailaa, & Zaheruddin (2016), most African countries’ electoral rules include these weaknesses. Kenya, Sierra Leone, Nigeria, and other nations are affected by defects in the Electoral Act. These problems have an impact on Nigeria’s democracy. Nigeria’s democracy is the most populous in Africa, with a population of over 150 million people. Nigeria is so massive that it is said that when Nigeria declines, so does Africa. As a result, much is anticipated of Nigeria. This implies that the manner in which she conducts her elections serves as a model for other African democracies. Nigeria earned independence from British imperialism in 1960 and was born into democracy. When civilian control crumbled due to a variety of circumstances, the most significant of which was a fraudulent election, the seeds of democracy had yet to grow.

It is critical to recognize at this point that democracy and elections are intricately intertwined. The reason for this is that without elections, there is no democracy since electorates exercise their popular sovereignty by giving their assent to a certain political office bearer to rule. Nigeria faced election-related issues, which rendered Nigerian democracy a phantom among the world’s nations. In reality, this is at the heart of the challenges that Nigeria’s democratic experiment faces today. Nigerians have frequently emphasized the need of transparency in the process by which political office holders obtain political power (Birch 2019). When a politician gains executive power through the back door, through election fraud and the use of violence, he undermines democracy and creates preventable flaws in the system. There are several variables to blame for Nigeria’s faulty elections. The incompetence of the electoral commission, which serves as an umpire in the electoral process, the do-or-die syndrome of political parties to capture political power by any means, widespread procedural irregularities, numerous incidences of violence, intimidation of the electorate, stuffing of the electoral box, electorate poverty, and so on are among the major factors. Many elections have been so hotly contested that the country’s and democracy’s existence has been imperilled. This tragic history of election fraud has major consequences for Nigeria’s democratic future since, rather than lessening, the practise is rising and getting more sophisticated with each subsequent election. Election fraud or irregularities were discovered in the elections of 1964, 1965, 1979, 1983, 1999, 2003, and 2007. Elaigwu (2007) cited in Vickery and Shein (2018),  examines the patterns of the election process after 1999, claiming: “The electoral process has been crisis-ridden since 1999.” Since then, it appears that each election has been worse than the previous one. As a result, administrations arrive with a baggage of legitimacy issues, which frequently complicates the dynamics of federalism. This is what happened following the elections in 2003 and 2007.

Statement of the Problem

In recent times, elections in a third-world nation like Nigeria may be compared to a relay race, in which one administration delivers the baton of power to another. It is the foundation of every legitimate administration in any democratic regime. According to Omotola (2018), when elections are marred by intimidation, vote buying, manipulation, forging of ballot papers, ballot box snatching, and other electoral malpractices, the entire process loses credibility, and any government that emerges cannot be called credible. On Friday, February 25th, 2022, the Nigerian public was greeted with the good news that the long-awaited Electoral Amendment Bill 2022 had been signed into law by the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. The National Assembly passed the Bill on November 10, 2021, and it was sent to Mr. President for his presidential assent via a letter dated January 31, 2022.

The new Act, among other things, establishes the Independent National Electoral Commission Fund, through which payments from the Federal Government, investments made from the fund, and other aids and grants will be paid to enable the Independent National Electoral Commission (“the Commission”) to carry out its functions. Furthermore, The New Electoral Act (hereafter referred to as The New Act) incorporated several creative aspects targeted at utilising technical advancements to facilitate and eventually conduct legitimate elections in the country. The new Act requires the Commission to preserve the Register of Voters at its National Headquarters and other places, with the Register kept in electronic mode in its central database, as well as manual or hardcopy format. This Register was only preserved in manual or paper format under the previous Act (Ebegbulem, 2022).

Although the  provision made by the 2022 Electoral act is laudable,  political scholars are in doubt in its potency to promote transparency and effectiveness in the Commission’s record-keeping and in tracking the number of registered voters who will be voting in the upcoming elections, thereby curbing illegal voting by non-registered voters and election rigging. Upon this premise the researcher seeks to electoral  act in Nigeria: a quest to putting an end to the problem of rigging during election.

Objective of the Study

The broad objective of this study is to examine electoral  act in Nigeria: a quest to putting an end to the problem of rigging during election.Other specific objectives includes:

1.  To examine the extent at which election is rigged in Nigeria political space

2.  To investigate nature of electoral misconduct acclamatized in Nigeria Election.

3. To ascertain whether the new 2022 electoral bill significantly addressed the problem of election rigging in its provision.

Research Hypotheses

The study is guided by the following tentative statement.

HO1: The extent at which election is rigged in Nigeria political space is low prior to 2022 bill

HO1: The extent at which election is rigged in Nigeria political space is high prior to 2022 bill

HO2: The  2022 electoral bill did not address the problem of election rigging in its provision

HO2: The 2022 electoral bill significantly addressed the problem of election rigging in its provision

 Significance of the Study

This research is significant in such a way that it examines the phenomenal transformation  the new electoral bill bring to Nigeria democracy as it addresses the problem of election misconduct and how it threatens the efforts at democratization in Nigeria’s fourth republic. It also x-rays the fundamental factors associated with election misconduct ad ultimately recommends ways for obviating them. It will serve as an eye opener to researchers, government officials and general readers who truly intend to understand the impediment to democratic consolidation in Nigeria. To government and INEC, the study will urge them to follow through the provision of the bill in the upcoming 2023 elections towards upholding fair and credible elections. Again, it will serve to sensitize the public and create awareness as to the destructive potentials of election misconduct towards the aspiration for democratization in Nigeria.

 Scope of the Study

The scope of this study borders on  examine electoral  act in Nigeria: a quest to putting an end to the problem of rigging during election. The study will further discuss  nature of electoral misconduct acclamatized in Nigeria Election and whether whether the new 2022 electoral bill significantly addressed the problem of election rigging in its provision. The study is however delimited to Federal Capital territory Abuja.

 Limitation of the Study

Like in every human endeavour, the researchers encountered slight constraints while carrying out the study. The significant constraint was the scantiness of literature on comprehensive data covering  2022 electoral bill.  Thus much time and organization  was required in sourcing for the relevant materials, literature, or information and in the process of data collection. Also the study is limited in period as the study covered only INEC officials in Federal Capital territory Abuja. Therefore findings of this study cannot be used for generalization for other years of administration pioneered by the two president  which  creates a  gap  in scope and gives room for further studies.

Definition of Terms

Election: An election is a formal group decision-making process by which a population chooses an individual or multiple individuals to hold public office.

Election misconduct: Election misconduct refers to all illegitimate acts carried out before, during and after elections in order to influence the outcomes of an election to the advantage of a particular political party and to the detriment of the other(s). Such illegitimate acts include rigging, thuggery, violence, intimidation, fraud, bribery, vote buying, misrepresentation and all sort of illegal manipulations hinged on altering the otherwise anticipated outcome of an election.

Electoral reform: Electoral reform is change in electoral systems to improve how public desires are expressed in election results.