APPRAISING THE ELECTORAL PROCESS IN NIGERIA: THE NEED FOR OUR VOTES TO COUNT
Abstract
Every democratic government entails the rule by the people for the good of all the people; that is to say, the people willfully choose their leaders/representatives to pioneer their affairs in government. The process whereby a given population choses a few persons to represent them needs to be guarded so that the will of the people/population would not be jeopardized or truncated. This process ought to be transparent, free, very fair to all parties and then credible enough to the satisfaction of both citizens and even the foreign observers of the elections. The objective of this study would be to appraise the Electoral history from Pre-Independence time till this present time. It further considered the predominant challenges in our electoral process and principles that would ensure a smoother electoral process and principles that would ensure a smoother electoral process and also conditions to attain a free and fair election. This study relied essentially on qualitative methodology as it gathered most information from documentary sources such as books, journals, magazines and internet materials. More so, a handful of the information was obtained by direct observation and participation during the last concluded 2019 General Elections in Nigeria. The study thus recommends inter alia, that all the institutions or bodies involved in the Electoral process (such as the Independent Electoral Commission, the Political parties, the judiciary and the executives) should ensure that the votes count. Also voter education should be taken seriously and zealously to the grassroots, this is to ensure maximum and purposeful participation in the Electoral process as it would help to install the choices of the electorates into the relevant elective positions.
Keywords
Full Text:
PDFReferences
Abe, T. (2008). Elections and Electoral Violence in Nigeria’s Federal Republic, Journal of Contemporary, 1 (1), www.iosrjournal.org
Ademowo A. (2016). GST 203: Government and Political Institution, General Studies Department, Afe Babalola University
Affe M. & Odey P. (2019, Feb. 20). REC says desperate politicians, threat to development. Punch Newspaper. Retrieved from https.//punch.ng.com/rec-say-desperate-politicians-threat-to-development/
Akerele A. (2003). Electoral Reforms: An Agenda for Reform. A Paper presented at 3rd Ambrose Alli Memorial Lecture, Ekpoma: Ambrose Alli University
Andrew P. & Osasona K., (2019, Jan 30). Onnoghen: Separation of power, Rule of Law and Politics. BluePrint. Retrieved from https://www.blueprint.ng/onnoghen-separation-of-power-rule-of-law-and-politics/
Boix C. (1999, September). Setting the Rules of the Game: The Choice of Electoral Systems in Advanced Democracies. American Political Science Review, 93 (3) pp. 609 – 624
Dye, R. T. (2001). Politics in America. 4th ed. New Jersey: Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle, Rivers State
Ebirim S. I. (2014). The Effects of Electoral Malpractices on Nigeria Democratic Consolidation (1999 – 2013) Public Policy as Administration Research, 4(2) www.iiste.org
Elekwa, N. N. (2008). The Electoral Process in Nigeria: How to make INEC Succeed. The Nigerian Electoral Journal. 2 (1). Pp. 30-42
Enyenihi O. A. (2012) IT–Based solutions to the Electoral systems in Nigeria West African Journal of Industrial and Academic Research (2012 – 12) 5(1).
Eniola A. (2015, March 28). History of Elections in Nigeria from Independence. People’s Daily. Retrieved from www.people’sdaily.com/history-of-election-in-Nigeria-from-independence/Abubakar A/
Ezeani E.O. (2004). Electoral Malpractice in Nigeria: The Case of 2003 General Elections. Nigerian Journal of Public Administration and Local Government. xii (1) 143-162
Idike, A. (2014, May). Democracy and the Electoral Process in Nigeria: Problems and Prospects of the E-Voting Option. Asian Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences. 2(2). pp. 133-141. Retrieved from http://www.ajhss.org.
Independent National Electoral Commission Official website (2019) https://inec nigeria.org/election – updates/.
Independent National Electoral Commission Official website (2019) Political Parties. https://www.inecnigeria.org/political-parties/
Independent National Electoral Commission, 2019 Presidential Election, Declaration of Results, 23rd February, 2019, Retreived from: https://inecnigeria.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/2019–Ge-Presidential–Election–Results.Pdf/
INEC (2006). Building Confidence in the Electoral system, Abuja: Independent National Electoral Commission
INEC (2019) Political Parties. Retrieved from: https://www.inecnigeria.org/political-parties
Iwu, M. M. (2008). Electronic Voting and the Future of the Electoral System in Nigeria. The Nigerian Electoral Journal, 2 (1) 1-29
Iyayi, F. (2004). The conduct of Elections and Electoral Practices in Nigeria. Paper delivered at the NBA Conference in Abuja on 24th August, 2004
Jega A. M. (2015, Dec. 15). Towards Effective Electoral Processes in Nigeria. IT Telecom Digest, Retrieved from https://it-telecomdigest.com-towards-effective–electoral–processes–in–Nigeria/
Jega A. (2015) Extract from Prof. Attihuru Jega of the Department of Political Science, Bayero University and the immediate Chairman of the Independent Electoral Commission (INEC), delivered this Keynote lecture at the eNigeria Conference 2015 in Abuja, organized by the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA)
Nachana’a A., Yusuf A. & Auwalu M., (2004). Elections, Electoral Process and the challenges of Democratization in Nigeria’s Fourth Republic, Research on Humanities and Social Sciences. 4(17). Retrieved from www.iiste.org
Obafemi Awolowo v. Shehu Shagari (1979) 6 – 9 S. C. 51
Odusote A., (2014). Nigeria Democracy and Electoral Process Since Amalgamation: Lessons from a Turbulent Past. Journal of Humanities and Social Science, 19(10) pp. 25-37, www.iosrjournals.org
Sahara Reporters New York (2019, Feb. 12). Don’t Allow Desperate Politicians use your children to perpetrate violence: Nigerian Government warns parents. Retrieved from http.//saharareporters.com/2019/02/12/do-not–allow–desperate-Politicians–use–your–children…/
Samuel O. (2017). Youth Involvement in political violence/Thuggery: A counter weight to Democratic Development in Africa. Journal of Political Science. Retrieved from http://www.omic.sonline.Org/open-access/youth–involvement–in –political–violence-thuggery/
Sanusi O., Election Administration in Nigeria: A comparative Analysis with the United States of America. Retrieved from http://www.cdra.org.ng/home/?Page id =131??
Tanimu A. K. (2011). Violence and the Electoral Process in Nigeria: A Case study of the 2007 Gubernatorial Elections in Plateau State. Being an M. Sc Political Science dissertation as supervised by Prof. Ayo Dunmoye and Dr. Kayode Omojuwa. Retrieved from http://www.kubanni.abu.edu.ng/.../violence%20and%20
The Economist (2011). Nigerian Elections of Ballots and Bullets: Political Violence Reaches New Heights. Retrieved from http://www.economist.com/node/18561189
The Free Dictionary, www.thefreedictionary.com/electoral+process.
The Free Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, Retrieved from https//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2015-Nigeria_General_election/
The Free Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia. org/wiki/2015_Nigerian_general_election/https://inec nigeria.org/election – updates/.
The Free Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, Retrieved from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walter_Samuel_Nkanu_Onnoghen
Umar, Wali & Sule (2018). Effect of political Thuggery on sustainable Democracy in Democracy. Retrieved from
Refbacks
- There are currently no refbacks.
Copyright (c) 2020 Eberechukwu Ekemma Omezue-Nnali
ISSN (PRINT): 2682 - 6135
ISSN (ONLINE): 2682 - 6127
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.