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Corruption And Electoral Process: A Comparative Study Of The 2011 And 2015 Presidential Elections In Nigeria
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The 2015 general elections are indeed symbolic in Nigeria’s political
history. They mark the first time the opposition party would
successfully dislodge the incumbent party from power at the federal
level particularly in a less controversial and peaceful process.
Clearly, this interesting development is in contrast to the gloomy
picture presented by many analysts in the pre-elections period. For
many, the aftermath of the elections may possibly mark the end of
Nigeria as a nation, which generated rising tension in the country.
Their arguments are founded on the following compelling points: first,
the country experienced for the first time in its post-democratic
transition history the emergence of a strong opposition party which had
the capacity to displace the incumbent party that was strongly resisted
by the incumbent using state machinery; second, there was growing public
perception of poor preparation by the Electoral Management Body (EMB) –
the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) – following
problems experienced in the voter registration process which influenced
beliefs that the elections might be another charade; third, the
electoral process was characterised by a heated campaign process which
was anchored on ethnic and religious sloganeering which did not only
divide the potential voters along religious and ethnic lines but also
potentially prepared the grounds for another ethno-religious violence;
fourth, the suspicious process that surrounded the sudden postponement
of the elections for six weeks (February 14 to March 28) also increased
public distrust of the electoral process (International Crisis Group,
2015; Onapajo, 2015). Therefore this research study seeks to investigate
corruption and electoral process: a comparative study of the 2011 and
2015 presidential election in Nigeria.
1.2 Statement of the Problem
Electoral corruption has impaired hard work, diligence and efficiency.
It has caused incalculable damages to the social and political
development of Nigeria and the electoral process. It subverts credible
voting system and facilitates the emergence of an unpopular government.
Furthermore, it weakens the electoral institutions, which are saddled
with the responsibility of conducting presidential elections in the
country.
Since the country’s return to democratic rule in
1999, presidential elections in 2011 and 2015 were won and lost
under conditions in which electoral malpractices, rigging and
violence were pronounced, a phenomenon described by Dauda as “The
Slippery side of landslide†(Dauda 2007:102). Participation in
presidential elections in Nigeria is characterized by machine politics
which “involves the parceling out of parts of the state
including territories to individuals, usually under the leadership
of one or two notables … who maintain their prebends essentially by
force†(Ibeanu, 2007:9). Ibeanu further asserts that under such
circumstances, elections give rise to the primitive accumulation of
votes, which he refers to as the “winning of votes by both
objective and structural corruption and disregard for the rule
of law†(Ibeanu, 2007 :6). In this kind of environment, there is
usually sustained rigging which ensures that votes do not count and
voters are not counted leading to the lack of credible elections.
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