ASSESSMENT OF THE FORMS AND EFFECT OF ELECTION RIGGING IN NIGERIA (A STUDY OF 2023 GENERAL ELECTION IN NIGERIA)

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1. Background of the study

The proclivity for violence and election manipulation in Nigeria’s electoral democracy  is embodied in terms of the character of the Nigerian state and its resistance to openness and accountability in the electoral process. Moreover, there is an ongoing conflict between primordialist forces and progressives for state control. The character of the Nigerian state thus derives from the various experiences of the past as experienced under colonial rule, the various attempted, aborted, and successful coups d'état (eleven as of the last count in 1997), ethnic politics, the civil war (1967-1970), and deep-rooted distrust among some of the ethnic nationalities, as well as settler/indigene crises across the country (Moru 2015). These experiences have continued to shape the Nigerian state's form and functioning. However, this framework is widely regarded as facilitating a rentier and nepotistic system that discourages originality and elevates the mediocrity desired by primordialist forces. This predicament is extrapolated to the political process, which is, regrettably, a zero-sum game in which the winner is the individual or organisation that can out-rig all the others. To this degree, power and its application for crude acquisition and influence have devolved into an internecine conflict.

Sadly, owing to election results manipulation, corruption, blatant rigging, perversion of justice, and violence, Nigeria's election process, which is at the heart of every stable and successful democratic state (Osakwe, 2019), is barely tolerable.

According to Ogheneakoke (2023), general elections in Nigeria have been marred by crises and undemocratic practises such as mass rigging, rioting, kidnapping, murder, ballot box theft, and thuggery, among other things, from 1960 to the present. It is worth noting that politicians are ruthlessly intent on seizing political power at any cost, disregarding the sanctity of the rule of law and the protection of electorate rights from political intimidation and the imposition of governance that is not genuinely generated by the electorate's popular mandate. This dreadful state endangers the long-term growth of Nigeria's democracy. Elections, according to Albert (2017), have a crucial role in national life. It is a critical mechanism by which voters select their leaders and, in doing so, greatly contribute to the selection of the type of growth they desire. Notwithstanding the importance of elections in democracies and the necessity for secure, peaceful, free, and fair elections for a stable society and durable democracy, election outcomes in Nigeria have been marred by a high level of violence and manipulation.

Election rigging, on the other hand, is predetermined in this war for primitive accumulation in Nigeria, where the state is not neutral but an active player; fact, it has become an instrument of the class that has taken the state. As a result, the dominant political class utilizes state power to ensure its survival and reproduction. This explains the persistence of electoral fraud and violence. Thus, the state, its structure, institutions, and apparati were used as instruments of domination, tenure extension, and preservation (Okolie 2015,) which explains why law enforcement agencies, INEC, and some of its officials were used to pervert the rule of law and disenfranchise the electorate in an unrestrained manner. As a result, many people believe that Nigerian politics should be discussed rather than practised because to the violence, fraud, and risk involved.

1.2 Statement of the problem

Elections are one of the most important components of democracy, and their conduct has remained a challenge to democratic administration not only in Nigeria, but practically everywhere else in the globe. Nigeria's voting process has been marred by fraud, ranging from the first in 1922 under colonialism to the most recent in 2023. Elections, which are supposed to give a forum for political succession in Nigeria and elsewhere, have been utilised to allow unscrupulous people and groups to commit acts of rigging against both other competitors and the public.

Prior to the introduction of permanent voter cards, as well as the BVAS and IRev technologies, electorates were frequently sidelined by unfettered manipulation, with powerful opponents losing elections or having their votes stolen or invalidated. Yet, when the new technical input was introduced in the Nigerian political area, it was anticipated that results would be exceedingly difficult to manipulate, either by anonymous persons or by arbitrarily and illegally changing data. However, Nigerians were shocked by the recently concluded Nigeria presidential elections, in which the Electoral Body, which was supposed to be a transparent application of this electronic device and its embodied security features, refused to upload polling unit results in real time and instead resorted to old methods of arbitrarily and fraudulently manipulating figures. According to Ogheneakoke (2023), the recently finished presidential election in Lagos and Rivers States experienced the greatest degree of election fraud, with voters being beaten and assaulted because of their desire to vote Labour Party against the Governor's favoured choice in APC. Furthermore, numerous electorates witnessed significant violence during the 2023 general election, including the theft of vote boxes by electoral thugs, the destruction/burning of ballot papers, the vandalization of polling places, and so on. Furthermore, the CDD, a civil society group (CSO), discovered in The cable (28th February 2023) that four important factors — operational obstacles, violence, money influence, and internet lies — affected the 2023 presidential electoral process. Against this backdrop, the purpose of this study is to investigate the forms and effects of election rigging in Nigeria in relation to the 2023 general election.

1.3 Objectives Of The Study

The primary objective of this study is focused on assessment of the forms and effect of election rigging in Nigeria (a study of 2023 general election in Nigeria). Other objectives of this study are

1. Ascertain the prevalence of electoral rigging during the Nigeria 2023 general elections in Lagos State.

2. Find out the forms of election rigging during the Nigeria 2023 general elections in Lagos State.

3. Ascertain factors prompting election rigging during the Nigeria 2023 general elections.

4. Find out the effect of election rigging during the Nigeria 2023 general elections.

1.4 Research Questions

The study will be guided by the following questions;

1. What is the prevalence of electoral rigging during the Nigeria 2023 general elections in Lagos State?

2. What are the forms of election rigging during the Nigeria 2023 general elections in Lagos State?

3. What are the factors promoting election rigging during the Nigeria 2023 general elections?

4. What are the effect of election rigging during the Nigeria 2023 general elections?

1.5 Significance of the study

This research is significant in such a way that it examines the phenomenon of election malpractice and how it threatens the efforts at democratization in Nigeria’s fourth republic. It also x-rays the fundamental factors associated with election rigging and 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. Again, it will serve to sensitize the public and create awareness as to the destructive potentials of election malpractice towards the aspiration for democratization in Nigeria. Empirically, the study will contribute to body of knowledge and serve as a reference material to student and scholars who wishes to conduct further studies in related field.

1.6 Scope of the study

The scope of this study borders on assessment of the forms and effect of election rigging in Nigeria (a study of 2023 general election in Nigeria). The study will further discuss the factors promoting election rigging during the Nigeria 2023, and prevalence of electoral rigging during the Nigeria 2023 general elections in Lagos State. The participant for the study will cover residents of Eti-Osa Local government area in Lagos State.

1.7 Limitation of the study

The researchers encountered slight constraints while carrying out the study. The significant constraint was the scanty literature on the subject owing that electoral violence discourse is vast thus the researcher incurred more financial expenses and much time was required in sourcing for the relevant materials, literature, or information and in the process of data collection, which is why the researcher resorted to a limited choice of sample size covering only residents of Lagos State. Thus findings of this study cannot be used for generalization for other states within Nigeria. Additionally, the researcher will simultaneously engage in this study with other academic work will impede maximum devotion to the research. Howbeit, despite the constraint encountered during the research, all factors were downplayed in other to give the best and make the research successful.

1.8 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. 

Electio

n Malpractice: Election malpractice 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 violence: Electoral violence is any random or organized act that seeks to determine, delay, or otherwise influence an electoral process through threat, verbal intimidation, hate speech, disinformation, physical assault, forced “protection”, blackmail, destruction of property, or assassination.

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