This article reviews the security arrangements that undergirded the relative peace and order that characterised the 2011 general elections. It explores the security guarantees for the various phases of the election and argues that the elaborate security arrangements not only ensured relative peace but contributed to the credibility of the elections. It argues, further, that […]
Nigeria’s 2011 elections marked a watershed in the country’s democracy. Before then elections conducted there had been marred by controversy, with monitors and observers who assessed the quality of elections consistently questioning their integrity. The 2011 elections, however, received resounding approval as an improvement. This article examines the monitoring and observation by international and local […]
This article examines issues of women’s involvement in party politics in Nigeria against the background of the 2011 general elections. It explores the influence of patriarchal disposition on women’s participation as well as the extent (or otherwise) to which women are respected and accepted as equal stakeholders in democratic politics and party decision-making organs. It […]
This article examines the cost of the 2011 general elections in Nigeria in real and financial terms. It reviews the regulatory framework for financing the elections and attempts to estimate the costs, drawing on figures and reports published by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and reports relating to the financial activities of political parties, […]
Nigeria held presidential and parliamentary elections in April 2011, the fourth since the return to democracy in 1999. While both domestic and international observers judged the elections to be free, fair and transparent it must be stated that there is more work to be done by Nigeria’s Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in order to […]
In a plural and deeply divided society like that in Nigeria post-election disputes are a recurring problem and if care is not taken in their resolution may exacerbate the problems of national integration. Elections do not only perform the function of elite recruitment into public office but are a mechanism for national integration. In a […]
For many Nigerians, and indeed in the eyes of most foreign observers of Nigerian affairs, the restoration of democratic rule in Africa’s largest country in May 1999 has brought little or no change in the politics of this vast nation of 150-million people. Corruption, electoral malpractice and political violence, the usual causes of governmental instability, […]
The article analyses the ongoing electoral reform process in Nigeria and the prospects for the consolidation of democracy. Specifically, it explores the justifications for reform, evaluates the mechanisms adopted to promote electoral reform, notably the inauguration of the Electoral Reform Committee, its report, government’s white paper on the report and the implementation of approved reform […]
The Nigerian elections of April 2007 were neither credible nor well managed. The prospects of ‘free and fair’ elections determining the leaders of Nigeria in the future are also poor. Nonetheless, elections are a secure and consequential feature of the country’s governance structure. This article analyses the institutionalised aspects of Nigeria’s government, economy and society […]
Nigeria’s electoral process has been confronted with daunting and enormous challenges which bedevil the conduct of elections considered free, fair and acceptable both within the country and internationally. But a more crucial problem in Nigeria’s electoral system is that of vote buying (and vote selling). This study exposes the nature of vote buying (and selling) […]
