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Electoral Malpractices in Nigeria, Causes, Effects and Solutions

ELECTORAL MALPRACTICES IN NIGERIA, CAUSES, EFFECTS AND SOLUTION
BY BARRISTER OLALEYE OLASUNKANMI,
CHAIRMAN, OYO STATE INDEPENDENT ELECTORAL COMMISSSION
BEING PAPER PRESENTED AT THE SENSITIZATION AND TRAINING COURSE FOR MAN O WAR NIGERIA
OYO STATE COMMAND ON FRIDAY, 11TH JUNE, 2010.

INTRODUCTION:
In any objective political arrangement all over the world, election through the ballot is recognized as the only
credible barometer to determine power equation. However, one of the challenges facing Nigeria today is how to
choose leaders at different levels of Government through a free and fair election. The hottest topic of discussion in
Nigeria today is Electoral Reform and this is as a result of 2007 Federal Election which was adjudged by both
Local and international observers as below, even Nigeria Standard!
Todays topic of lecture, Electoral Malpractices in Nigerian, Causes, Effect and Solution is therefore timely and apt
for our present situation. The evil of electoral malpractices and urgency of Electoral Reforms in Nigeria can best
be captured from the statement of the late President Umaru Yar Adua while receiving the report of the Electoral
Reform Committee. He said and I quote ... our focus on the electoral reform is predicated on the belief that
elections are the very heart of democracy hence they must not only be fair but they must be seen to be so by our
people and the rest of the world it is our abiding belief that failure in instituting an acceptable process by
which the representative of the people are chosen will definitely resort in failure in the long run this
administration has considered it a sacred mandate to institute deep and elaborate reforms that will lead to the
restoration of the integrity of the electoral system in this country
Not only did the late President set up the Electoral Reform Committee to overhaul the electoral process, in many
of his public outings, including the newly sworn-in President Goodluck Jonathan, repeated the need for action to
be taken and with a certain urgency.
So, what are the problems of conducting free and fair elections in Nigeria?
(a.) Absence of Genuine and Electronically Generated Voters Register:
The biggest problem confronting this nation today is absence of correct and genuine Data. We can not give
accurate and correct population figure, we dont have correct number of female and male population, we dont
know the numbers of the unemployed, people above 60 years of age and most importantly and for the purpose of
this lecture, we dont know the correct number of people of voting age! How then can we have free and fair
election when we dont have correct number of potential voters? We must have correct voters register to
eliminate electoral malpractices.
(b.) Economic Development and Corruption:
The dire economic condition of the majority of Nigerians makes social vices like corruption to thrive and make the
electorate susceptible to
money-bag politicians. The lack of economic stability in the Country is a strong motivator for corrupt individuals
who are willing to subvert the electoral process by making elections a do or die affair to ensure they get into
public office with unfettered access to public funds and also in good position to influence thence those who are
economically impoverished to trade their votes for as little as a congo of rice or the sum of N200.00 only. Poverty
has therefore become a strong factor against chosen credible leaders as well as having a free and fair election.
(c.) ELECTION MANAGEMENT AND LOGISTIC PROBLEMS:
One of the greatest challenges to election management in this country is the employment and the attitude of Adhoc Staff to elections. There are about 120,000 polling units that require at least 3 Ad-hoc staff during each
election. This is outside 774 Electoral Officers in all the Local Governments in Nigeria, administrative staff in all
the 36 States and the headquarters. The Ad-hoc staffs are not permanent staff of Electoral Commission, but could

be Civil Servants, Teachers, or Youth Corp Members. Because they are not permanent staff, they are easily
influenced into electoral malpractices and in most cases not even available during proceeding at election
tribunals. Similar to this problem is the logistics of managing election in more than 120,000 units in a single day.
This is an enormous responsibility, because it overstretched the manpower, material resources and the security
forces. In addition, there is the need for knowledgeable, skilled and competent people to work at the Electoral
Commissions.
(d.) JUDICIARY AND SECURITY:
The functioning of the judiciary is imperative in any political system. The Judiciary is one of the most important
institutions of Government and the state of the judiciary has serious implications for the electoral system. The
Nigerian judiciary is weakened by corruption, poor funding, inadequate facilities, large number of petitions and
poor training of judicial staff, to name a few. These can only impact negatively on the adjudication of election
issues and petitions. It is therefore not surprising, though unacceptable that elections petitions drag on for 3 years
before they are finally disposed of. Another cause of electoral malpractices is the corruption within the security
forces. In most cases the security agent that suppose to protect the polling units and the ballot boxes is obviously
biased in favour of a candidate, political party or ruling party and therefore turn the other way when electoral
malpractices is being committed.
In addition, the Police Force, the Civil Defence and even the Man O War were established on the basis that crime
will be limited, but when crime exceeded the strength of the security forces, what can they do? (e.)
INADEQUACIES AND RESTRICTIONS OF ELECTORAL LAWS:
Sophisticated laws and sophisticated system are futile electoral reform initiatives in the absence of the will to
enforce the law. I am not one of those people who believed we dont have enough laws far from it. However, there
are some of our laws that needed to be repealed, amended or reformed. The following examples will suffice:
(i.) Section 153 of the 1999 Constitution established some
executive bodies. In section 153(f), we have INEC
Section 156 provides that NO person shall be qualified
for appointment as a member of any of the bodies aforesaid
if (a) He is not qualified or if he is disqualified for
election as a member of the House of Representatives.
Section 65(2)(b) of the Constitution provides that a
person shall be qualified for election to the National
Assembly if he is a member of a Political Party and is
sponsored by that Party!
(ii.) Similarly, Section 197(l) provides that there shall be
established for each State of the Federation State Independent Electoral Commission 197(l)(b). Section 200 of
the 1999 Constitution provides that, no person shall be qualified for appointment as a member if (a) he is not
qualified or if he is disqualified for election as a member of a House of Assembly.
Now section 106(d) provides that a person shall be qualified for
election as a member of the House of Assembly if (d) he is a member of Political Party and is sponsored by that
party!
The Constitutional provisions that make it compulsory for members of Electoral Commission to belong to a
political party is wrong and immoral. This should be amended.
(iii) In advanced and large Democracies like India and United States of America, Electronic Voting System have
been used to achieve free and fair elections and combat logistic problems, that usually confront countries with
huge size and population like Nigeria. Therefore, and without overlooking the challenges posed by the Evidence
Act, the provision of Section 53(2) of the Electoral Act which says: The use of Electronic Voting Machine for the
time being is prohibited, is legislative over- kill and should therefore be repealed. I shall address
further, the issue of Electronic Voting System when I discuss Solutions to Electoral Malpractices in Nigeria.
(f.) POLITICAL PARTIES AND INTERNAL DEMOCRACY:
The fundamental Rights Provisions of the Constitution of Nigeria which provides for freedom of Association has
now been extended to mean equally, the right of the people to associate, to form political parties to compete for
elective post. The result is that we now have 57 political parties and from the latest information I gathered, these
many get up to 60 before the next election. The question then is how do you manage 60 political parties and their
candidates in an election, what form or size will your ballot papers take, how do we curtail acrimonies and
competition? The challenges are enormous. Closely related to this, is lack of internal democracy within the

political parties. Without internal democracy in the political parties there can be no democracy in the nation. So far
experience has shown that the processes by which candidates emerge from their political parties is open to
manipulation. In many cases, candidates are handpicked by their party leaders. Where primaries are conducted
and candidates emerge who do not enjoy the support of the party hierarchy they are substituted without regard to
due process. If members of a political party are so ruthless in their dealings with one another, one can hardly
imagine how much more ruthless they will be in their dealings with members of other political parties.
(g.) ABSENCE OF DEMOCRATIC CULTURE:
In addressing this sub-head, I will quote verbatim, Chief Kanu Agabi SAN, in one of his lectures on electoral
reforms. Hear him among the factors militating against true democracy is the entrenchment over the years of a
culture of dictatorship following the advent of the Military in 1966 With this of kind of background is it any
surprise that we see nothing wrong with employing the most inferior methods to acquire power. The ruthless and
relentless rigging of elections is a substitute for the brutal assassination of those from whom we desire to seize
power .. For over thirty years we were under a dictatorship. Gradually, dictatorship became a part of the
spirit and consciousness of the nation. It resided not only in the military head of State but also in the Ministers and
Public Servants. It resided in cooks and stewards. It permeated every department of our national life. That spirit is
at the root of the problems now bedeviling our electoral system. We are still dictators in spirit Today we want to
dictate the political party that should contest, the candidates to compete and the results that should come out of an
election. Haba!
THE EFFECT
The effects of all these malpractices are:
(a.) Political instability (operation wetie of 1966, the 12 2/3 problem
of 1979 and the 1983 Military Coup, annulment of June 12, 1993 election, the matter of life and death election of
2007, political assassinations etc.
(b.) Corruption allows emergence of sham and incompetent leaders
(c.) Election rigging through violence, money laundering and ballot box stuffing become the order of the day.
(d.) Absence of foreign investors no investor will bring his investment into an unstable environment.
(e.) The over-all effect is economic instability, unemployment, poverty, crime (stealing and armed robbery), poor
health and high mortality.
WHAT ARE THE SOLUTIONS TO OUR ELECTORAL PROBLEMS
(1) The first solution to our electoral problems is for us to ensure that every vote count. The vote must be the
determining factor to elect leaders and representatives. It is the means of establishing social contract between the
leaders and the voters. A leader who manipulated his way into office has already dribbled his way out of social
contract with the electorate and therefore not duty bond to be responsible to them when he sit in his stolen
position! This is the foundation of our political instability and the economic quagmire we perennially find ourselves.
Therefore, we must take note of
the followings:
(a.) ensuring the integrity of the voter register. Until we get correct number of voters, politicians will continue to
inflate election figures through fictitious names they inject into voters register. (We should therefore consider
Electronic Voters Register. This technology embodied several devices which enables the electoral Commission to
eliminate multiple registrations and improve the method of collecting voters biometric data. The Automated Finger
Identification System (AFIS) eliminated all persons who registered more than once and legally excluded them
from the voters register.
(b.) Closely related and associated with the above, is introduction of Electronic Voting System (EVS) with its four
components:
(i.) Electronic Voters Register (EVR)
(ii.) Electronic Voting Machine (EVM)
(iii) Electronic Voters Authentication (EVA) and
(iv.) Electronic Transmission of Result (ETR).
It is the best and easiest method of voting in large Country and huge population.
(2.) Building Adequate Capacity for Election Management: The credibility and integrity of any election depends on
a combination of factors i.e. the logistics (men and materials), the guiding principle (law) and the method of voting.
We can have free and fair elections only if we build adequate capacity for election management including the
complex logistics required for organizing elections in a large country like Nigeria. Therefore staff of Electoral

Commission must be well trained, and continuously trained, materials for election must be adequate and
distributed on time (Enugu experience).
(3) Staggering of Election: The attempt at conducting several elections throughout the nation in one day also leads
to problems. It overstretches the men and materials, and overwhelms the security agencies. There is no reason
why, the governorship elections cannot be conducted on different dates in different States. Our recent successes
with the Anambra State Gubernatorial elections is due to the fact that it was the only election been conducted in
the country on that day. The presidential election can be conducted in Zones.
(4.) Implementing voter and civic education intensively and on a large-scale to empower citizens to exercise their
franchise.
(5.) Encouraging and developing a virile civil society in its role and status as a watchdog impacts positively in a
political system.
(6.) Empowering the security agencies to curtail the threat and the actual incidence of violence in and around the
electoral process.
(7.) Improving the transparency of the vote counting process and the transmission and tabulation of result, starting
at the polling station. Finally,
(8.) Enabling a process of election Observation that helps to build confidence in the electoral process.
CONCLUSION:
Before I round up this lecture, I want to call the attention of all Stakeholders in election administration and the
Government of Nigeria to the fact that in a country of 120 million population, 70 million voters and 120,000 polling
units and in about nine (9) months to the general elections, there is no certainty as to the laws that will be used for
the exercise.
It is critically necessary to conclude all legislative processes in time to enable stakeholders appreciate the
operating laws for the exercise. If the laws are not ready on time, and the time for election preparation becomes
short, what then can the Electoral Commission do? I wonder, I just wonder!