Definition of Election
An election is a formal or organized process by which members of a community, group or
association choose a person or persons into political office or other positions and to
exercise authority over them. In the context of countries, elections are the process by
which citizens of a country choose the leaders who occupy government positions and
offices. Elections are a basic hallmark or requirement of a democratic system of
government and all those who are qualified to vote in election make up the electorate.
Purpose of Elections
The main purpose or use of elections is to ensure that governments and office holders
exercise the powers and authority of their offices with the consent of the citizens they
govern. Elections give legitimacy to the authority of government and the real test of a
credible election is if the voters have alternatives to choose from, without fear or favour.
Among the purpose of elections are the following:
1. Elections provide citizens with opportunity to choose those who rule over them.
2. Elections are instruments of ascertaining the preference of the electorate.
3. Elections serve as a means of making governments and political office holders
accountable to the citizens.
4. Elections offer the electorate alternatives among candidates to choose from.
5. Elections provide a process of orderly political succession and transfer of power.
6. Elections allow a predictable and orderly transfer of power from one government to
another within a political system.
7. Elections and the electioneering process provide a forum for the discussion of
national issues and policies through campaigns and debates.
Types of Elections
1. Primary Election - this is an election which takes place among members of a
political party with the objective of choosing candidates who will represent the party
in the general election to be contested with other parties. It is an internal election
open to only registered members of the party.
2. General Election – a general election is one that holds across the entirety of the
country. Using Nigeria as an example, a general election holds simultaneously
throughout the thirty-six states and the Federal Capital territory to elect the
president, state governors and members of the National Assembly. General
elections take place at specified periods as contained in the constitution of the
country. In Nigeria, general elections hold every four years and are contest by
registered and recognized political parties.
3. Bye Election – this refers to an election held to fill a vacant seat in a legislature or
parliament. A bye-election becomes necessary in the event of the death,
resignation, or removal of the occupant of the seat. It only takes place within the
constituency concerned and the elected candidate is to complete the outstanding
term or tenor of the member whose seat becomes vacant.
4. Run-Off – elections are guided by the electoral law of a country. A run-off election is
one that takes place where none of the candidates satisfies the conditions required
to be declared as winner. A run-off election is usually organized for and contested by
the two leading candidates in the first election. A run-off election can also be
referred to as a second ballot.
Historical Background of Elections in Nigeria
Nigeria came into being in 1914 with the amalgamation of the northern and southern
protectorates. The British colonial masters had administered the country by mainly British
officers without recourse to the people of Nigeria. The colonial government administered
the country under different constitutions with little or no participation of Nigerians and this
generated agitations which culminated in Nigerian nationalists demanding for increased
participation of Nigerians in the decision-making processes of the country. Nationalist
activities ultimately veered towards demand for self-government.
Elections in Nigeria are closely related to constitutional development in the country with
the Clifford Constitution of 1922, which introduced the elective principle into the Nigerian
political space leading to the formation of political parties such as the Nigerian National
Democratic party, the Nigerian Youth Movement and National Council of Nigeria and the
Cameroons. The process continued with the Richard’s Constitution which however
restricted elections to only Lagos and Calabar. By the time of the Macpherson constitution,
elections were held both directly and indirectly. Only male taxpayers voted in the north
whereas both males and females were allowed to vote in both the Eastern and Western
regions.
The Lyttleton constitution promoted regional autonomy with each region having its own
electoral process. There was a central legislature known as the House of Representatives
while the three regions also had their regional houses of assembly. This was the
formalization of Federalism in the country and the introduction of the elective principle into
the political administration of Nigeria. This principle represents the foundation on which
Nigeria’s elections and electoral processes are being continually built upon.
Election Management Bodies in Nigeria
In every political community, institutions, bodies, or agencies are created and given the
responsibility of managing the electoral systems and processes. These institutions, usually
referred to as the Electoral Commission, are required to organize and implement elections
in line with the electoral laws of the land.
The electoral commission in Nigeria is charged with the conduct and supervision of
elections and the electoral process. In Nigeria, the electoral commissions have assumed
different names over the years as determined the government of the day. The electoral
commission has assumed the following names in the course of the nation’s history.
1. Federal Electoral Commission (FEDECO)
2. National Electoral Commission (NEC)
3. National Electoral Commission (NECON)
4. Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC)
Federal Electoral Commission – FEDECO
This body was created by the military government headed by General Olusegun Obasanjo
to implement its transition to civil rule programme that would culminate in the handover of
political power to an elected president on October 1, 1979. Its operations were guided by
the Electoral Decree promulgated by the military government, which removed the ban
placed on partisan politics in September 1978. Over fifty-eight (58) political associations
were formed while only five were registered by the electoral body, as political parties in line
with the criteria stipulated in the electoral decree. These were the Great Nigeria Peoples’
Party (GNPP), National Party of Nigeria (NPN), Nigerian Peoples’ Party (NPP), Peoples’
Redemption Part (PRP) and the Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN). The Nigeria Advance Party
(NAP) was later registered in 1982.
FEDECO organized the 1979 elections by holding five staggered elections between July 7
and August 11, 1979 in the following order – Senate, House of Representatives, State
Houses of Assembly, Governorship and Presidential. The elections proceeded quite
smoothly until the presidential election, which was dogged with controversy as to how to
interpret or determine what constituted two-thirds of nineteen states, which was one of the
requirements to be met for a candidate to be declared winner. FEDECO, the electoral body
under Chief Michael Ani, eventually declared Alhaji Shehu Shagari and winner of the
election and the declaration was upheld by the election tribunal and subsequently by the
Supreme Court .
The electoral body was also responsible for the 1983 elections. Justice Ovie Whiskey was
appointed as chairman and decided to change the order of the elections, with the
presidential coming first, followed by the gubernatorial, senatorial, House of
Representatives and states’ Houses of Assembly respectively between August 13 and
September 3, 1983. The 1983 elections were widely believed to have been massively rigged
and hotly disputed resulting in violent protests and demonstrations across parts of the
country, which created the environment for the military to return to power on December 31,
1983.
National Electoral Commission - NEC
This was a creation of the military government of General Ibrahim Babangida as part of its
Transition to Civil Rule Programme. The regime lifted the ban on political activities in May
1989 and NEC was empowered to register parties that would be allowed to contest the
general elections. Thirteen political associations applied for registration, but none was
considered good enough to be registered. The government went ahead to form two
political parties namely the National Republican Convention (NRC) and Social Democratic
Party (SDP). It has been alleged that the constitutions and manifestoes of the two parties
were written by the NEC, the electoral body under the leadership of Prof. Eme Awa. He was
later removed and replaced by Prof. Humphrey Nwosu.
The elections organized by NEC were contested between the two government established
parties. Elections were successfully conducted for local governments, state legislatures,
governorship, and National Assembly seats in 1992. The presidential election, usually
referred to as the ‘June 12 Election’, which was to have been the final event of the transition
agenda proved to be difficult and eventually resulted in the abortion of the transition
programme following the annulment of the election, which showed Chief Moshood Abiola,
clearly on the way to winning. The annulment precipitated serious crisis within the country
which compelled Babangida to ‘step down’ and constitute an Interim National
Government, which was overthrown by General Sani Abacha.
National Electoral Commission of Nigeria - NECON was the electoral commission
created by the Abacha government to manage its transition to civil rule programme, which
was similar to that of the Babangida regime. The body, which was mandated to register
political parties registered five in September 1996 namely the United Nigeria Congress
Party (UNCP), Committee for National Consensus (CNC), National Centre Party of
Nigeria(NCPN), Democratic Party of Nigeria (DPN) and the Grassroots Democratic
Movement (GDM). NECON was established in December 1995 and headed by Mr. S.K.
Dagogo-Jack. It however did not achieve anything of significance as the Abacha transition
programme ended abruptly, with his death on June 8, 1998.
Independent National Electoral Commission – INEC
General Abdulsalami Abubakar became Head of State after the death of General Abacha
and immediately announced a transition to civil rule programme with a terminal date of
May 1999. INEC was established by the 1999 constitution to among other things organize
elections into various political offices in Nigeria. Its functions include to organize,
undertake, and supervise all elections into elective offices, register political parties,
monitor the organization and operations of political parties, including their finances,
conventions, congresses, and primaries, arrange annual examinations and auditing of the
funds and accounts of political parties and publish a report on such examinations. The
commission is also to organize and conduct registration of persons qualified to vote in
elections, prepare, maintain, and revise the voter register in addition to conduct voter and
civic education.
INEC conducted all the transitional elections that ushered in the 4th Republic on May 29,
1999. The following individuals have served as national chairmen of INEC since inception:
Justice Ephraim Akpata (1999-2000), Dr. Abel Guobadia (200-2005), Prof. Maurice Iwu
(2007-2010), Prof. Attahiru Jega (2010-2015) and Prof. Mahmood Yakubu (2015-Date).
General Elections in Nigeria
1959 – The election was very critical as it would determine the individuals and parties that
will control the federal government after independence, given the intense regionalism,
mutual fears, and suspicions among political leaders. There were three major parties
which were essentially regional in membership and support. There was the Northern
Peoples’ Congress (NPC) , dominated by politicians from the Northern Region and led by Sir
Ahmadu Bello, the National Council of Nigerian Citizens, with the Eastern Regions as its
mainstay and with significant support in the Lagos area of the Western Region. The party
was led by Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe. There was also the Action Group (AG) with its bastion of
support in the Western Region and Lagos, which was led by Chief Obafemi Awolowo.
The NPC was already placed in a position of advantage however, as the Northern region
was allocated more than fifty percent or half of the seats in the House of Representatives.
The NCNC and AG entered into alliances with some opposition northern parties such as
the Northern Elements Progressive Union (NEPU) and United Middle Belt Congress
(UMBC). This was successful as the NPC failed to secure a majority required to form the
government alone. The NPC eventually formed a coalition government with the NCNC with
Sir. Abubakar Tafawa Balewa emerging as the first Prime Minister of Nigeria.
1964 - the elections were coming on the back of different crisis within the politics of the
country, including the country’s lopsided federal system, the mistrust and tension within
the NPC/NCNC coalition, the crisis within the Action Group, which resulted in the
declaration of a state of emergency in the Western Region followed by serious and
widespread violence and the census crisis.
There had always been a palpable fear of Northern domination of the country’s politics. The
political situation was volatile with the realignment of political forces into two alliances –
the Nigerian National Alliance, NNA (NPC and the Nigeria National Democratic Party,
NNDP led by Chief Ladoke Akintola, Niger Delta Congress, NDC and the Mid-West
Democratic Front) and the United Progressive Grand Alliance, UPGA made up of the NCNC,
AG, NEPU, UMBC.
The elections were scheduled for December and the process involved claims and counter
claims of intimidation of opponents, disruption of political campaigns and the use of thugs.
At the close of nominations several candidates of the NPC and NNDP had been returned
unopposed leading to UPGA announcing a boycott of the elections. The boycott was
effective in the Eastern and Mid-Western regions, with the NNA winning by a clear majority
but Azikiwe refused to reappoint Balewa as Prime Minister as required. The Chief Justice of
the Supreme Court, Sir Adetokunbo Ademola eventually mediated an agreement and
Balewa was invited with the following conditions: institution of a broad-based government
and the rescheduling of boycotted elections in the Eastern and Western regions. The
repeated elections in the Western region were acrimonious and violent. The NNDP was
declared the winner and this announcement was greeted with violent demonstrations
leading to a complete breakdown of law and order, which is still considered as one of the
immediate causes of the military intervention in the country’s politics on January 15, 1966.
1979 – five staggered elections were held between July 7 and August 11, 1979, which
ushered in Nigeria’s Second Republic. General Murtala Mohammed had announced a
transition to civil rule programme on assumption of office in July 1975. Although he was
assassinated in a failed coup attempt on February 13, 1976, his successor, Generally
Olusegun Obasanjo, faithfully carried on with the programme and duly handed power to
civilians on October 1, 1979.
Five parties were registered to contest the elections into the Senate, House of
Representatives, State Houses of Assembly, State Governorship and Presidential positions
in that order. The parties were the Great Nigeria Peoples’ Party (GNPP), Nigeria Peoples’
Party (NPP), National Party of Nigeria(NPN), Peoples’ Redemption Party(PRP) and the Unity
Party of Nigeria (UPN). Each of these parties had strongholds and control in different parts
of the country but the NPN had more national spread and more widely accepted, winning
seats in all the state houses of assembly across the country except in Lagos and Ogun
states.
The elections went relatively smoothly until the presidential elections where the issue of
what constituted two thirds (2/3) of nineteen states required by a candidate to be declared
as winner in line with the electoral law became a subject of controversy. Alhaji Shehu
Shagari of the NPN had scored the highest number of votes. He did not however score 25%
in two thirds of the states of the federation, which many construed to mean thirteen states.
He had twenty five percent in twelve states and only 19.4% in the thirteenth state, Kano.
The electoral commission, FEDECO however declared him winner. The UPN, whose
presidential candidate was second challenged this declaration at the election tribunal,
which upheld the declaration stating that what was required was 25% of two thirds of the
13th state. The Supreme Court subsequently upheld the judgement of the tribunal and
Shagari assumed office as the first Executive President of Niger on October1, 1979. The
NPN formed a coalition government with the NPP, because it did not have a majority in the
National Assembly.
1983 – the crisis resulting from the 1979 presidential elections formed the basis for the
preparations for the 1983 elections, creating the expectation that its outcome will be even
more controversial. Opposition parties questioned the appointment of members of the
electoral commission, particularly the chairman, Justice Ovie Whiskey, who they
considered a sympathizer of the ruling party. Concerns were also raised about the roles of
the police, security, and other government agencies such as the federal government
national media, who were expected to play neutral roles but were openly partisan in favour
of the ruling party.
The electoral body also decided to reverse the order of elections, scheduling the
presidential election first, which was opposed by opposition parties but supported by only
the ruling party. Against many predictions and expectation, the NPN won the elections in a
landslide, almost doubling its gubernatorial tally. Many neutral observers and analysts
concluded that given the poor performance of the ruling party especially at the federal
level, the 1983 elections were massively rigged in favour of the National party of Nigeria.
Many results were hotly disputed with different versions of election results announced by
the different candidates and many of the elections eventually decided by the courts. There
were violent demonstrations in states such as Ondo, where the courts overturned the
governorship results declared by the electoral body. The 1983 elections confirmed the
assertion that civilian politicians are unable to conduct free, fair, and credible elections
and was credited as being a major reason for the return of the military to political
governance barely five months later.
1993 – this election was expected to culminate in the disengagement of the military regime
of General Babangida from political governance in Nigeria and usher the country into the
third Republic. The presidential election scheduled for June 12, 1993, was supposed to be
the climax of the regime’s transition to civil rule programme. Prior to this day, elections had
been successfully conducted into the National Assembly (Senate and House of
Representatives), State governorship seats and state houses of assemblies. The military
regime had established and recognized two political parties, the Nigerian Republican
Congress (NRC) and the Social Democratic Party (SDP), which presented Alhaji Bashir Tofa
and Alhaji Moshood Abiola as presidential candidates respectively.
Collation and announcements of the results was already in progress and showed MKO
Abiola of the SDP in a clear and very comfortable lead before the announcements were
stopped and eventually annulled by the military regime, resulting in the abortion of the
transition programme, and forcing Babangida to step down as head of state and installing
an Interim National Government, headed by Chief Ernest Shonekan.
1999 - the abrupt demise of General Sani Abacha in June 1998 led to the emergence of
General Abdulsalami Abubakar as head of state. He announced his intention to hand over
power to a democratically elected government by May 29, 1999, embarking on a ten-month
transition to civil rule which was faithfully concluded. Three parties were registered to
contest the elections namely the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP), the All-Peoples Party
(APP) and the Alliance for Democracy (AD). Chief Olusegun Obasanjo of the PDP and Chief
Olu Falae, representing the APP, which entered into an electoral arrangement with the AD,
contested the presidential election, which was clearly won by the PDP, which also won
most of the gubernatorial seats as well a majority in the National assembly and state
houses of assembly.
2003 - this election signified the first successful civilian to civilian transition in Nigeria, with
the ruling PDP winning the presidential election and returning Chief Obasanjo for a second
term. The party also continued its domination of the country’s politics winning several
governorship seats especially in the Southwest zone from the ruling AD. It only failed to win
Lagos and Ondo states in the south-west.
2007 – this election was more a repeat of the 2003 elections with the PDP winning
massively across the country. Its candidate in the presidential election, Alhaji Umaru
Yar’Adua comfortably won the elections against the former vice president, Alhaji Atiku
Abubakar, who contested on the ticket of the Action Congress after decamping from the
PDP. It also continued its almost total domination of the National Assembly in addition to
controlling the majority of the governments of the states of the federation.
2011 - President Yar’Adua had passed on in office and was succeeded by his then vice
president Goodluck Jonathan in 2010. He emerged as the candidate of the ruling PDP and
contested against Mohammadu Buhari, candidate of the Congress for Democratic Change
(CDC) and Nuhu Ribadu, the candidate of the Action Congress of Nigeria for the
presidency, winning resoundingly. The PDP also continued its domination of the states and
national assembly elections.
2015 – the election of 2015 was very unique in the history of Nigeria. it was the first and only
election to date, where the ruling party was defeated in the general election by an
opposition party. The PDP had dominated the Nigerian political firmament since the
inception of the 4th Republic on May 29, 1999. The elections were a straight fight between
the ruling PDP, with President Jonathan as the party’s presidential candidate and the All-
Progressives Congress, with Muhammadu Buhari as its candidate.
The APC was formed on February 6, 2013 in a merger of the ACN, CPC, a faction of the All-
Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP), a faction of the All-Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) and
the New PDP, which consisted of five governors of the ruling PDP and several members of
the national and state assemblies who decamped and joined forces to form the APC. It
was recognized by INEC on July 31, 2013. The election was decisively won by the APC,
which also won most gubernatorial and legislative seats across the country. In an
unprecedented move, President Jonathan conceded defeat and congratulated Muhammad
Buhari.
2019 - the election was a repeat of the 2015 election with the APC and its presidential
candidate coming out victorious in the contest against Alhaji Abubakar Atiku. The party
also won a majority of governorship and legislative seats at the federal and state levels. The
result of the presidential election was challenged at the election tribunal and Supreme
Court, which both upheld the declaration of President Buhari as winner.
2023 - the elections, marking the seventh in the Fourth Republic took place between
February and March 2023. There were major political realignments within the nation’s
political landscape in the buildup to the elections. All the major parties experienced major
crisis within their ranks leading to decampments which eventually played out in the results
of the elections, which are still been challenged at various election petition courts and the
Supreme Court.
The election was unique in the sense that for the first time, there were three viable parties
with the capability of winning the presidential elections. These were the APC with Asiwaju
Bola Tinubu as its candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar of the PDP, and Mr. Peter Obi of the
Labour Party (LP), who had earlier left the PDP. The electoral body had declared Tinubu as
winner, but this declaration is presently being challenged at the Supreme Court by both the
PDP and LP, who came second and third respectively in the elections according to the
results announced by INEC.
Problems of Elections in Nigeria
Democracy has been adjudged as the best form of government because it compels
candidates and public office holders to seek and obtain the consent of the electorate.
Elections are the recognized process of obtaining the consent of the electorate. Many of
the elections in the country have however not adequately met the standards required of
credible elections and have inevitably negatively affected the faith of the electorate in the
electoral process. This is reflective in the very low voter turnout in elections and heated
disputes associated with election results announced by the electoral bodies both at the
federal and state levels.
A historical analysis of elections in Nigeria reveals that almost all our elections since
independence have been hotly disputed. Indeed, this is considered to be worse for
elections organized and conducted in civilian dispensations and seems to confirm the oft
stated assertion that civilian politicians are unable or unwilling to conduct free, fair,
credible, and transparent elections. President Yar’Adua is notably recorded as
acknowledging that the election that brought him in as president was flawed, prompting
him to appoint a committee, led by a former Chief Justice of the Supreme Court to look at
modalities of making the electoral process more transparent and credible. The following
are a few of the identified problems of elections in Nigeria.
1. The ethno-regional character of Nigerian political parties. Over the years, Nigerian
political parties have been conspicuously associated with particular ethnic, regional
and in many instances religious groups. This results in very bitter contests with
parties resorting to winning at all costs.
2. The ‘winner-takes-all’ nature of politics. Nigeria’s political system grants too much
powers to incumbents, which has made it an uphill task for incumbents to be
defeated, since they have absolute control on the levers of power, which they use to
perpetuate themselves and parties in power.
3. The composition of the electoral commission has been identified as contributing to
electoral problems in Nigeria. The current practice is for the President to nominate a
candidate for the post of Chairman of the electoral commission for confirmation by
the senate. It is argued that this procedure enables the president to appoint a
person, who is not truly impartial and neutral as required for the position. This is
also prevalent at the state level.
4. The misuse or abuse of government agencies and agents by those in position of
power as incumbents to provide advantage to the incumbent in power.
5. The partisan use of the police and security and other state agencies to potentially
distort the wishes of the electorate because of their significant and growing
involvement in the electoral processes.
6. Inadequate and inefficient processes and infrastructure of the electoral
commission. The credibility of recent elections held in February 2023, with
particular reference to the presidential election, has been called into question
following the failure of the commission to transmit the election result in real time on
its IREV system as promised. The were also, several reports of malfunctioning of the
Biometric and Visual Accreditation System (BVAS) which ironically has brought
significant credibility and transparency to the country’s electoral process.
7. The generally low literacy level in Nigeria and the level of poverty in the country is a
major problem of elections in Nigeria as they facilitate the manipulation of the
process.
8. The Electoral Act as amended still needs to be tweaked to strengthen the process
and imbue it with additional credibility and transparency.
