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THE SALIENT AND UNDERCURRENT FACTORS THAT LEAD TO INCONCLUSIVE ELECTION IN NIGERIA

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Abstract

Elections in Nigeria have been associated with irregularities and violence since 4th Republic. With inconclusive election becoming a trend setter, a new vintage point has been unearthed in the Nigerian electoral landscape. The term “Inconclusive election” has attained the status of a new lexicography of electoral trite and clichés in Nigeria. Idike, (2016) surmises that the imbroglio surrounding “Inconclusive election” as a pervasive buzz word is that it lacks any scholastic cum academic definitions due to the fact that it has not been subjected to such rigors. But in an attempt to display remarkable scholarship and irrepressible ingenuity I will employ a legalistic approach at defining the seemingly ambiguous compound-concept.

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

INTRODUCTION

Stefan (2006) posits that official participatory choosing of leaders in form of formal government organized elections started in Africa in 1848; the first elections to legislative councils in former British colonies such as Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, and Sierra Leone and Zambia took place in the 1920s. Therefore, elections are not novel to the Nigerian State and her citizens. Nigeria has passed the ―founding elections‖ stage. From the pre-colonial era to date the Nigerian people have been conducting some forms of elections at all levels—in the families, communities and in different types of cultural, economic and political associations.

Consequently, Nigeria can be safely regarded as an ―election country because virtually all largely unknown and as well as known associations such as the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC), National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG), Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN), etc. conduct elections to get there executive members. It is a fact that all the students’ unions in tertiary institutions in Nigeria conduct major elections every two years. Election is not merely a condition for democracy; it is a necessity and necessary process for democracy, development, peace, unity and the achievement of purely economic-related goals such as the MDGs. Since independence, elections for legislators and chief executives in Nigeria have always been marred by irregularities because of so many factors that are now well-known. However, successive governments have claimed to either tackled or promise to tackle these challenges with the help of electronic devices, information technology or others. Of recent, a new phenomenon has evolved in the Nigerian electioneering practice, which is the phenomenon of inconclusive elections. To this end this study seeks to demystify and unravel fads, facts and fallacies about inconclusive elections in Nigeria by empirically diagnosing the cause and effect, and also proffering workable solutions that will nip the issue in the bud.