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CONDUCT OF ELECTIONS IN NIGERIA: IMPLICATIONS ON
NATIONAL SECURITY
ABSTRACT
This research is about the conduct of
elections and its effect on national security. The study was geared at
determining 4 distinct objectives. These are to establish the relationship
between conduct of election and national security. Thereafter, the nature of
Nigeria electoral process would be examined. The implications of electoral
process on the national security were then established. Finally ways of
enhancing the conduct of elections in Nigeria were proffered.
The descriptive research method was
used for the study. The research revealed that conduct of elections is a means
to achieving national security. It was further discovered that Nigeria’s
electoral process the FPTP system has an inherent shortfall in the area of
under-representation of minority groups. This often leads to disenchantment and
violence. Furthermore, the study
revealed the need for a review of the aspect of the constitution relating to
the appointment and removal of chairman and membership of INEC. In the same
vein, the study stressed the pitfall on the reliance of the electoral
management body (EMB) on the executive for the approval of its financial
budget.
To this end,
adopting the Proportional Representatives Electoral system and the funding of
INEC from established consolidated revenue is considered expedient. Also, the
imperatives of labour and civil societies playing a key role in constituting
members of EMB were highlighted.
CHAPTER ONE
BACKGROUND TO THE
STUDY
1. Over the years, nations have risen and
fallen due to the deeds or misdeeds of its leaders. Good leadership can determine the success or
failure of a country as it inspires, directs and mobilizes the citizens to
pursue a common goal. The role of leadership in the success of nations has
necessitated the quest for a viable means of selecting leaders. Robert Art
defines leadership as one of the most dynamic elements of organizational life
such that the effectiveness of an organization depends on the quality of its
leadership.1 Consequently, nations strive to select efficient and effective
leaders through the consent of the governed. The mechanism for translating this
consent into governmental authority is by the use of a democratic process.
2. The democratic process of selecting a
leader is referred to as elections.
Election is the process of selecting a few persons from a group as
representative sample of the group. It is an essential element of democracy
since it reflects the wishes of the people.2
Attesting to this, Bello-Imam a renowned political scientist define
election as the process by which citizens choose their representatives in
accordance with mechanism fixed by the constitution or established government
of a state.3 The origin of elections can be traced to ancient Roman and Greek
empires in the Twelfth Century. In those
empires, election is done with voting by show of hands and acclamation by
voice. In some other situations, decisions were made by use of secret ballots
in the form of white and black pebbles, marked or unmarked shell or carved
wooden tablets.4
Globally elections, follow processes
which differ from nation to nation. These processes may include the selection
of candidates, the registration of voters and the voting procedures amongst others.
These procedures are unique and differ from one country to another. For
example, in USA, the National Government established federal electoral
requirements, which many of the states adopt to reduce cost and avoid the
complexity of having two different systems.5
In Africa electoral processes are confronted
by several challenges especially in countries emerging from oppressive regimes
or long periods of dictatorship. This is because the electoral processes in
nascent democracies involve fragmented political parties with weak political
base. These political parties depend on few notable personalities or a shared
ethnic identity and affinity.6 In such instances, reason and competence of the
candidates are sacrificed for religion, ethnicity or parochial cleavages.
Regrettably, national development efforts suffer setbacks due to leadership
incompetence.7
Several scholars have argued that the
greatest problem confronting African countries are the prevailing political
condition in the conduct of elections. The right people are rarely elected and
seldom opportune to steer the affairs state. Sunil in agreement, observed that
one of the greatest challenges to confronting national development among
African is political leadership.8 Nigeria is no exception in this regard.
Nigeria has conducted several
elections since independence. These
elections include the 1965, 1983 and 1979 general elections. Others are the 1999, 2003 and the 2007
general elections. These elections have been fraught with malpractice and
violence giving the perception that it does not reflect the will of the
people.9 When an electoral process is perceived as unfair, unresponsive or
corrupt, its political legitimacy is compromised and violence can ensue. Also, notwithstanding the credibility of an
election, a desperate loser candidate can at times precipitate violence. In such an instance, resources which could
have been used for developmental projects are channeled to mitigating violence or
rebuilding destroyed infrastructure.
Bob Dewar, the former British High
Commissioner to Nigeria observed that the conduct of credible elections in
Nigeria would lead to national development.10 To underscore the seeming
importance of credible elections to the development of Nigeria, the present
administration has used every opportunity to reiterate its preparedness to
ensure credible elections in 2011. In order to ensure this, the Federal
Government (FG) released the sum of 84.7 billion to the Independent National
Electoral Commission (INEC) for the procurement of Direct Data Capturing (DDC)
machines. 11
In Nigeria, the recurring incidences
of civil unrest and disturbances following the conduct of elections have
continued to pose security concerns. Examples of these crises are disturbances
sequel to the 1983 and 1993 general elections as well as the on-going Jos
crises. 12 In most of these instances lives are lost and properties worth
millions of Naira are destroyed. Also,
emerging security threats such as kidnapping, use of improvised explosive
devices (IEDs), political assassinations among others further deepen these
challenges. These threats represent a
clear and present danger to the image of Nigeria in particular and peaceful
coexistence of the country in general.
The need to conceive and design an effective means of conducting
credible elections as well as the inadequacies observed in previous elections
are issues that motivated the choice of this topic by this researcher.
STATEMENT OF THE
PROBLEM
In Nigeria,
periods of elections often generate apprehension among politicians, electorate
and security agencies due to the level of violence that occur within this
period. These violence often result from unwillingness of political parties and
their members to accept defeat, level of malpractice observed during this
period among others.
The conduct of credible elections
avails the electorate the opportunity to choose leaders who are accountable and
who owe their mandate to the people. On the other hand, electoral malpractice
leads to the emergence of leaders who are insensitive to the plight of the
electorate and whose ascension to office are not dependant on the mandate of
the people. This often affects the growth and development of the country and in
some instance leads to political instability. The general elections of 1979 and
1983 were characterised by malpractices that triggered violence in many parts
of the country. Similarly,
the 1992,
1999,2003 and 2007 general elections
were fraught with irregularities and violence posing security concerns.13
Based on the foregoing, this study
seeks to proffer answers to the following:
a. What is the relationship between conduct
of elections and national security?
b. What is the nature of electoral process in
Nigeria?
c. What is the impact of electoral process
on the national security of Nigeria?
d. What are the ways to enhance conduct of
elections in Nigeria?
OBJECTIVES OF THE
STUDY
The purpose of this study is to assess
the impact of conduct of elections on Nigeria’s national security. The specific
objectives are:
a. To establish the relationship between
conduct of election and national security.
b. To examine the nature of Nigeria electoral
process.
c. To examine the implications of electoral
process on the national security of Nigeria.
d. To proffer ways of enhancing the conduct
of elections in Nigeria.
SIGNIFICANCE OF
STUDY
The importance of this study is to
contribute to the advancement of knowledge on the conduct of elections in
Nigeria. Its findings would enable appropriate government agencies to
appreciate the relevance of conduct of elections on national development.
Additionally, it would serve as a suggestive solution to the problems affecting
Nigeria’s electoral process.
It is hoped that the study will add to
existing literatures and body of knowledge on the impact of election to
national development. Additionally, this research work would provide material
for future studies on this topic.
RESEARCH
HYPOTHESIS
The ultimate pursuit of any nation is
the search for stability, peace and security without which development would be
impossible. In its quests for security, nations have a misplaced notion that
security problem is exclusively a problem of security agencies. However, a
secured nation is a nation with a viable economic and stable political system.
This could be achieved by conducting credible elections that would lead to the
emergence of good leaders.
Election in Nigeria has not been a
worthwhile experience. It is hypothesized that the conduct of elections in
Nigeria can contribute to national security. Furthermore, conducting of
credible elections would lead to the emergence of a leader who has the capacity
to lead the nation to growth and development
SCOPE OF STUDY
The conduct of elections has been a
source of concern to most African countries as it determines the quality of
political leadership. Nigeria is no exception in this regard. This study will
look at the conduct of elections in Nigeria and its implications on national
security. Similarly, it will examine Nigeria’s electoral process and establish
the relationship between conduct of elections and national security.
18. In the course of this study, only relevant
literatures on this topic from 2000 to 2010 will be referred to. Though other literatures could address the
issue of conduct of election, it is believed that such works would be out of
context with the approach adopted by international organizations from 2000.
METHODOLOGY
The methodology employed in this study
is descriptive and analytical. The various steps used to carry out this study
is discussed below:
a. The materials used were obtained mainly
from secondary sources. The secondary sources of data were obtained from official
reports of election monitoring teams and agencies in Nigeria.
b. The study also used relevant books,
published and unpublished materials as well as journals, magazines from
libraries of AFCSC, NWC, NDA and Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria. The data
collected from secondary sources were analyzed qualitatively using logical
arguments.
LIMITATIONS
This study had some limitations. The major limitation of this study is the use
of data generated only from the South-East and South- South geopolitical zones
of the country. The purpose for this was
based on the assumption that the political behaviour of politicians and tactics
for attaining political power are the same nationwide. Also, in the course of data gathering it was
observed that some few respondents introduced some elements of bias, falsehood
and emotions into their responses which gave some extra ordinary results in few
isolated cases.
Further, the
writer was unable to interview key officials of INEC. In this regard, none of
the State Independent National Electoral Commission (SIEC) officials could be
interviewed. Furthermore, the current INEC Chairman, Prof Attahiru Jega could
not be interviewed. Also, the study covers the period 1993 and 2007. In Nigerian electoral history,
this period might not be significant; nonetheless it is relevant to the subject
of study. To overcome these limitations information collected were cross
marched and carefully analysed so as to provide authentic result. Therefore, the reliability of the research
findings was not compromised.
ASSUMPTIONS
This study was based on 1993, 1999,
2003 and 2007 general election. The 2003 and 2007 general elections were the
main focus of this study because they were the most recent elections in
Nigeria.
The conduct of elections in 1993,
1999, 2003 and 2007 are distinct in several ways. However, the researcher
assumed that the findings from the selected elections during the period are
adequate to give an appraisal of basic tenets of conduct of elections in
Nigeria.
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