The Electoral Process and National Security: A Case Study of 2011 and 2015 Elections
Chapter One
OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY
The following are the objectives of this study:
- To examine the relationship between electoral process and national security in Nigeria.
- To examine the differences and similarity in the 2011 and 2015 general elections processes in Nigeria.
- To examine the factors that promotes national security in an electoral process.
CHAPTER TWO
REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
CONCEPTUAL FRAME WORK
CONCEPT OF ELECTORIAL PROCESS
election is a process of testing the performance of a government, the level of political participation and the credibility of an existing government. Election is often considered as the heart of democracy and as such carries an intense weight in the success of representative democratic politics all over the world. However, conducting free and fair election has been a weighty albatross in Nigeria’s repeated attempts at sustained democratic governance (Inkoba and Kumokor, 2001). Similarly, the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistant (IDEA) (2001:217) emphasised that the process of election in Nigeria are characterized by stuffing of ballot boxes with ballot papers, over-bloating of voting registers, special treatment of voters, disappearance of or destruction of ballot boxes as well as distortion or doctoring of election results.and that electoral malpractice had become an entrenched practice in Nigerian political system. At worse, the ruling elite resorted to using judicial tribunals to unjustifiably uphold their elections. Garuba (2007) analysis of irregularities that attended the 2003 general elections revealed that events before the elections were deliberately designed strategies to manipulate the elections. Evidence in this regard are the attempt to regulate party registration and the attempt to insert a clause in the 2001electoral Act was a manipulation of the electoral process, delay in voters registration exercise and display of voters register, non – transparent party primaries, questionable fund-raising dinners and anger over recruitment of electoral and returning officers The delay resulting from the attempt to restrict party registration and manipulate the Electoral Act affected the ability of eventually registered 27 new parties from preparing adequately for the 2003 general election. The delay in voter’s registration exercise and display of voters register further provided grounds for suspicion of INEC bending the rules to favour older parties – PDP, ANPP and AD to the detriment of new ones. INEC’s resistance for a fresh voter’s registration exercise before the 2003 elections had to be settled in the court in favour of the new opposition political parties. However, the manipulations affected the preparations because of insufficient time required for campaigning, display and correction of names omitted in the voter’s register (Garuba, 2007: 99). Okoosi-Simbine (2004) also observed that during the 2003 elections, several of the parties pursued practices which could be said to help undermine the chances of peaceful and well-run elections. In this regard, almost all the parties, old and new ones alike, the process of selecting party flag bearers was neither open nor competitive in the real sense of the exercise. For instance, the National Conventions of most of these parties, where presidential candidates were elected were mere charade meant to create the impression that the process was open and competitive. For instance the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) convention witnessed a situation whereby the four presidential aspirants walked out of the convention ground, protesting that General MuhammedBuhari and Dr. ChubaOkadigbo were already endorsed before the convention. Every other political party handpicked its presidential candidate (Omotola, 2007). The second election in Nigeria as a crucial stage in its democratisation process was characterised by mixed feelings regarding the process and outcome of the election. Opposition political parties, international election observers, local monitors and pro-democracy groups adjudged the 2003 elections as lacking in transparency and fairness (Ajayi, 2005: 164). It was rated in varying degrees as relatively poor (TMG, EU cited in Omotola, 2007).
CHAPTER THREE
METHODOLOGY
INTRODUCTION
This chapter covers the description and discussion on the various techniques and procedures used in the study to collect and analyze the data as it is deemed appropriate.
It is organized under the following sub-headings:
- Research Design
- Area of the Study
- Population of the study
- Sample and sampling procedure
- Instrument of Data Collection
- Validation of the Instrument
- Reliability of the Instrument
- Method of Data Collection
- Method of Data Analysis
RESEARCH DESIGN
According to Asika (2009), research designs are often referred to as the structuring of investigation aimed at identifying variables and their relationships to one another. In this study, questionnaire serves as useful guide to the effort of generating data for this study. The survey research design through the administration of questionnaires was used for the study.
AREA OF THE STUDY
The study will be conducted in AkwaIbom State, Nigeria.
POPULATION OF THE STUDY
The population of study consists of every capable individual of Nigeria who have experience on the electoral process and national security in Nigeria.
SAMPLE OF THE STUDY
The Convenient sampling technique was used in selecting 200 respondents cutting across various phases of the state from the entire population. This was chosen due to the financial strength of the researcher coupled with time constraints.
CHAPTER FOUR
PRESENTATION ANALYSIS INTERPRETATION OF DATA
INTRODUCTION
Efforts will be made at this stage to present, analyze and interpret the data collected during the field survey. This presentation will be based on the responses from the completed questionnaires. The result of this exercise will be summarized in tabular forms for easy references and analysis. It will also show answers to questions relating to the research questions for this research study. The researcher employed simple percentage in the analysis.
CHAPTER FIVE
SUMMARY CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION
INTRODUCTION
It is pertinent to note that this research was to ascertain the impacts of the electoral process and it security tendency, thus the topic “the electoral process and national securitya case study of 2011 and 2015 elections”.
In the preceding chapter, the relevant data collected for this study were presented, critically analyzed and appropriate interpretation given. In this chapter, certain recommendations made which in the opinion of the researcher will be of benefits in addressing the problems and challenges associated with electoral process in Nigeria.
SUMMARY
Democracy is anchored on losers accepting the results of elections and on citizens‟ confidence on the sanctity of the secret ballot and their votes. Achieving trust worthy elections requires balancing security, funding and involving all the stakeholders to act with responsibility and civility not impunity. Information from the generated data has shown that one of the factors that causes conflict and invariably insecurity is the perception of the electorate towards the process. For instance, when the umpire puts measures that increaseactual security they win the confidence of the electorate who respond accordingly. On the contrary when the electorate perceive that the process has been compromised they respond negatively. A good example is the issue of the electronic card reader which was used for the first time during the last election. In places where they did not malfunction voters responded with enthusiasm and the elections recorded minimal security breaches. But in states where the card readers failed the voters perceived a form of disenfranchisement from the umpire and resorted to self -help especially when the umpire advised that they resort to manual accreditation. It became a license to inflate the votes since they were given a negative stimuli through the malfunction of the card readers. The lesson is that the umpire must be perceived to be an impartial umpire by both the electorate and the political parties. Anything to the contrary is a recipe for conflict, violence and brigandage which ultimately may derail the whole electoral process. Concomitantly, voters‟ education is one area that has not been fully explored as discovered prior to the 2011 elections. Voters‟ education should not be a one off initiative embarked on just during an election period. It should continuous and INEC should explore the possibility of incorporating it into civic education in primary and secondary schools. Over time it will create generations of enlightened voters who would view elections as a contest and not a do-or-die affair.
CONCLUSION
Conventionally security of the electoral process comprises the policing and the management of security during elections. The challenge of securing elections and election management in a world where insecurity is rife is a daunting task for both INEC and the government of Nigeria. However, the presidential election of March 28th 2015, has shown that where the will exists the state can rise above issues such as social divisions and insurgency to manage an election. The challenge for transition states especially in Africa is how to manage its social divisions to ensure participatory inclusivity during elections. This issue becomes germane in view of the fact that electoral violence as experienced in Kenya in 2007 and in Nigeria in 2011 arose from perceived injustice emanating from social divisions. Significantly, it is this feeling of exclusion that gave fillip to situations of conflict experienced during the April 11th 2015, governorship elections as candidates and their parties came into the election with the mind-set of winning at all costs because of the „winner takes all‟ syndrome characteristic of our politics. To change this mind-set and ensure properly managed elections political parties should desist from having a strangle hold on their candidates seeking political office.
RECOMMENDATION
- Incorporating civil society organizations into ICCES will help to confer more credibility on the committee
- INEC‟s initiative with the ICCES is laudable but should be enlarged to incorporate other stakeholders and replicated at the community levels.
- Funding has always been a problem in election management and this is fundamental to credible elections. Therefore government should provide adequate funding for INEC and if possible independent of the civil service.
- Government should walk the talk by providing adequate funding to all its institutions especially the police to insulate its personnel from corruption.
- Where electronic devices are used in the electoral process the fidelity of such devices must be guaranteed by INEC by ensuring that its staff are trained on the use of such devices ahead of elections.
- Finally, sanctions must be applied promptly whenever there is a security breach during elections to deter potential criminals as justice delayed is justice denied.
Reference
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