Between April and May 2003 Nigeria held general elections to elect the country’s President, state governors, and members of legislative houses at both national and state levels. The first election, held on 12 April 2003, was for National Assembly (the federal legislative house) members. This was followed by the presidential and governorship elections on 19 April 2003. Two dates – 26 and 29 April 2003 – were set aside for possible run-off elections (which did not happen). The last election, on 3 May 2003, was for members of the state houses of assembly (INEC 2003). In all, 30 political parties contested the election, although not all the parties fielded candidates for all the political offices. Remarkably, the 2003 elections were the first since the return to constitutionalrule on 29 May 1999, after many years of military dictatorship. As will be seen below, many observers and commentators (both national and international) have condemned the elections for what some have called massive electoral frauds and malpractices. It was alleged that in many places in the country there was virtually no voting, yet ‘results’ were declared by the Independent National Electoral.