Credible Election and Democracy in Nigeria. A Case Study of Kebbi State Independent Electoral Commission
CHAPTER ONE
OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY
The objective of the study are;
- To examine whether kebbi state independent electoral commission conduct credible election.
- To ascertain the causes of violence during electioneering in kebbi state
- To ascertain the relationship between credible election and democracy in Nigeria
CHAPTER TWO
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. 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 reflect the choice of the people.
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