THE ROLE OF CREDIBLE ELECTION IN CONSOLIDATION OF DEMOCRACY IN NIGERIA

This abstract explores the significant role that credible elections play in the consolidation of democracy in Nigeria. Democracy is a fundamental pillar of modern governance, providing citizens with the opportunity to participate in decision-making processes and ensuring accountability and transparency in the exercise of political power. However, the journey towards a consolidated democracy is often challenged by various factors, including electoral irregularities, voter apathy, and lack of trust in the electoral process. This paper highlights the importance of credible elections as a critical catalyst for democracy consolidation in Nigeria. Credible elections are characterized by fairness, transparency, inclusivity, and integrity throughout the electoral cycle, from pre-election activities to the announcement of results. Such elections foster confidence among citizens and political actors, ensuring the legitimacy of elected representatives and institutions. Through credible elections, Nigeria can achieve several outcomes that contribute to the consolidation of democracy. First, credible elections facilitate the peaceful transfer of power, allowing citizens to exercise their democratic rights and elect leaders of their choice. This promotes stability and prevents political instability and conflicts that can undermine democratic progress. Second, credible elections enhance political participation and citizen engagement. When individuals trust that their votes will be counted and that their voices matter, they are more likely to actively participate in the electoral process, including voter registration, campaigning, and casting their ballots. This increased participation fosters a sense of ownership and empowerment among citizens, strengthening the democratic fabric of the nation. Furthermore, credible elections contribute to the development of robust democratic institutions. Independent electoral bodies, effective electoral laws, and an impartial judiciary are essential components of credible elections. By promoting and upholding these institutions' integrity, Nigeria can establish a framework that supports free and fair elections, ensuring the rule of law and democratic principles. To consolidate democracy in Nigeria, it is crucial to address the challenges that undermine the credibility of elections. This requires comprehensive electoral reforms, including strengthening electoral laws, enhancing transparency in campaign financing, promoting voter education and awareness, and improving the professionalism and neutrality of electoral management bodies. In conclusion, credible elections play a pivotal role in the consolidation of democracy in Nigeria. They foster political stability, citizen engagement, and the development of strong democratic institutions. By prioritizing the conduct of credible elections and undertaking necessary reforms, Nigeria can further strengthen its democratic system, ensuring the representation and empowerment of its citizens.

The concept of democracy was based on the maxim contained in the American Declaration of Independence from British rule that all men are created equal, and that they are endowed with certain inalienable rights by their creator. Datum (2007). According to this laudable concept, government exists to secure these rights, and governments must derive their powers from the consent of the governed. What that translates into is that the votes of the electorate must count for the electoral system to be credible. 

For democracy to be meaningful, it must have positive impact on the people. Since in democracy the government derives its legitimacy from the people, the founding fathers of American democracy decided that political campaigns and regular elections were the perfect ways to determine the will of the people. “To truly determine the will of the people, elections must be free, open and transparent and without coercion or corruption. It must not be elections where the will of the people is kidnapped or bought by the highest bidder. The free will of the people must be determined and obeyed if you would have a true democracy”. In Nigeria today, there is danger in our democracy as the will of the people is always manipulated and pushed aside in the quest for power and selfish interest. This is evidenced in proven cases of vote buying, election rigging, ballot box snatching and other forms of electoral malpractices. 

The electoral process has been over-monetized to the extent that results announced after elections very often did not  the choice of the people  There is no doubt that the best way to restore the people’s confidence in the electoral system and democracy is by creating and enabling environment for a free, fair and credible elections. But this enabling environment has eluded Nigeria since the inception of its democratic structures. Democracy means nothing if the people do not vote or if their votes don’t count. The most significant challenge to democratic consolidation in Nigeria involves the development of effective strategies for strengthening institutions of state in such a manner that they will be able to withstand the shocks of the democratic process. 

This challenge is particularly important for institutions like the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and the judiciary. The politicians on their part have not shown respect for democratic consolidation in Nigeria. Duru (2002) corroborates the above view when he asserted, “What happens is those politicians, conscious of the value of the spoils of office, adopt various means to ensure that they capture power. They buy votes, rig elections and commit other infidelities designed to subvert the people’s will to choose leaders capable of leading the state towards development and enduring democracy”. This paper will among other things as stated in the abstract address the moral question in relation to elections and democratic consolidation in Nigeria. 

One identifiable obstacle to the development and consolidation of democracy in Nigeria is that Nigerian politicians make bogus promises in order to win over the electorate, they do little or nothing to deliver the dividend of democracy to the people. Instead, what they have succeeded in doing is to fan the embers of hate and ethnic division, kill and maim one another, loot the treasury, rig elections, engage in corruption and suppress the rights of the less privileged. 

There is insincerity and insensitivity of the leaders to the needs of the ordinary citizens whom they have been elected to serve. Ebegbulem (2005) observed that “democracy, as it is practiced in Nigeria today, has no agenda for the people. People’s rights are not protected, neither are their wishes carried out by the government. 

We see a “democratic” Nigeria where the purpose of the government is the good and welfare of the ruler and his party members instead of the ruled; we see a “democratic” Nigeria where the leaders are sacrificing the interest of the masses on the altar of individual and class interest”. He went further to say that the Nigerian type of democracy has produced leaders who have blighted the lives of Nigerians who now wallow in poverty, illiteracy and hunger. Today, we have leaders in Nigeria who have criminally mismanaged the economic affairs and resources of the nation. Ebegbulem’s observation is corroboratedby Akinboye who posits that the current trend in the democratic agenda of the country seem to be more problematic as the political class surreptitiously collaborated with greedy and self serving politicians to subvert political processes and at the same time undermine values and norms (Akinboye, 2003). 

Godfatherism is another major obstacle to democratic consolidation in Nigeria. The activities of “Godfathers” have demeaned the development and consolidation of democracy in Nigeria. Godfatherism negates all tenets of democracy. It blocks the democratic process by obstructing selection of good and qualified candidates for elective posts. The so-called godfathers often rely heavily on money and force to achieve their goals. They share out money in order to establish a network and create political bonding. 

However, if that fails to win support, they unleash violence both as deterrence and punishment. Under politics of godfatherism, elections cannot be free and fair nor can governance be transparent or people-friendly. Godfatherism has created doubts about the legitimacy of the electoral process and the elected. It creates an environment that delinks the Nigerian people from the government. It is one of the biggest dangers to democratic consolidation in Nigeria. Godfatherism as an “ideology”, promotes exclusion and denial of legitimate entitlements of the citizenry. “There is total absence of culture of accountability, and this negates one of the critical attributes of democracy which is a responsible and accountable government. Good governance predicated on rule of law, due process, accountability and transparency in the management of public space is precariously compromised”.(Gambo, 2006).

Research questions formulated to guide this study is as follows:

The following are the research objectives: 

These are the following assumptions:

The moral foundation of the state is what determines its capability to meet its obligation to the citizens, and citizen’s ability to obey the laws of the state. This takes us to John Locke’s “Social Contract” theory in which he argues that the government of the state has the contractual obligation to guarantee to every individual the rights enjoyed in the state of nature. In other words, government exists to provide security and defence, and protect the rights of individuals. In turn, the individual obey their rights and fulfills its part of the contract. If the state exists to pursue the interest of only a few, as we have in Nigeria, then it has no right to expect obedience. Osaghae (1994) made it clear that for there to be democratic consolidation, the state and its operators should be credible in the eyes of the people. Where such credibility is absent the political process is unlikely to be stable. This is what he describes as the moral imperative of the state. What this means is that good government is the major index for measuring stability. “Ideally, only a government that performs well can be stable. In line with this, a bad government, adjudged to be so by the citizens themselves, sustains itself in power by means otherthan consent, usually brute force and support by foreign super powers” (Osaghae, 1994) Under normal circumstance, such a government should not remain in power once it has lost the support of the people. Such “vote of no confidence” by the people means that the mantle of governance should now shift to alternative party or people of the citizens’ choice through free, fair and credible elections.

The study will concentrate on role of credible elections on consolidation of democracy. A study of kaduna north local government, kaduna State. However In the course of carrying out this research, the researcher may encounter some constraints which could put serious limitations on the execution of the study:

Time: The time allowed to carry out the research may not be enough.

Office protocols may serve as one has to observe before key officials are reached a hindrance to the study.

Inadequate finance could be another obstacle the researcher may encounter.

The possibility of non co-operation to be exhibited by some respondents could yet be another hindrance to the exaction of this research.

According to Nwogu (2001:50), a research is a plan or blueprint which specifies how data relating to a given problem should be collected and analyses how data relating to a given problem should be collected and analyses. It provides the procedural outline for the conduct of any given investigation. In defining design, Odo (2002:4), states that design means 'outlining' the name of the equipment and applying same to properly execute the practical aspect of the research.

Descriptive survey design will be applying in this study. A descriptive research purely involves large small in order to have equivalent representation to ensure a meaningful description of a given population which also request for empirical proof through data gathering process. It studies both large and small population in order to find out the relative incidence distribution and interrelation of variables.

The population for the study comprises of members of Kaduna north. The random sampling technique will be used to select the sample.

From the entire members of Kaduna north, the sample of one hundred and twenty (120) respondents will be drawn. Each of the areas being used will be satisfied and respondents will be picked.

Basically, data for this work came from the two source which are primary and secondary sources.

These  are data gathered specifically for the purpose of this project. Gathering of data for this work was done mainly through questionnaire and interview, in designing the questionnaire; the research objectives were considered as well as findings from the review literatures. 

Are those already gathered data collected originally for some other purpose. Several ready available sources of secondary information are at the disposal of the researcher. Such secondary sources include textbook, journal, News paper articles, internet and other class materials.

Questionnaire was employed as the research instrument to be used in this study. The questionnaire involves fundamental analysis of respondents opinions aimed at producing information on education gender and political participation. The questionnaire will be sub-divided into two section: A, comprises of demographic characteristics of respondents. While section: B, is on the topic of the research i.e. education gender and political participation comprises of demographics characteristics of respondents. The questionnaire will contain strictly close ended questions. This questionnaire will be supported by interview where some of the respondents may not be able to read and write.

Respondents shall be given a day to complete the questionnaire but will be extended where success is not recorded in retrieving the questionnaire from the respondents or at the request of the respondent. In cases where the questions to them and then record their answers accordingly.

This is one of the most crucial properties of measurement and it is concerned with where a test really measures what it is supposed to measure.

The analysis will be based on the completed and returned questionnaire, which will be scanned for errors. Frequency counts and percentage will be used to analysis the descriptive data for easy understanding. The descriptive analysis will be used with the simple percentage.

Basically, this study is divided into five chapters for proper investigation and analysis of the subject matter. Chapter one deals with general introduction of the subject and related aspects that traditionally associated with research introduction are discussed.

Chapter two handles the review of related literature, vis-à-vis the subject matter. In chapter three, the study takes an in-depth look at the role of credible elections on consolidation of democracy in kaduna north local government. Chapter four deals with presentation and analysis of data as well as the discussion of findings.

Lastly, chapter five summarizes the study, put for forward recommendations and draws conclusion.

Democracy 

Mbachu (1994 : 12-13) is a political system in which the eligible people (electorate) in any country participate actively not only in determining the kind of people that govern them, but also actually participate in shaping the policy output of the government.  Abraham Lincoln the 16th American president sees democracy as the government of the people by the people and for the people (1972). Is a political method , that is to say, a certain type of institutional arrangement for arriving at political, legislative, and administrative decision. It is a method by which the individual requires power to participate inn decisions, by means of a competitive struggle for the peoples vote . (Schumpeter 1942:56).

ELECTION Election is a democratic arrangement whereby eligible citizen decide to choose the kind of people that governs them, they cast votes to make their decisions known.