Nine (9) Reasons for and Causes of the Electoral Malpractices in Nigeria

INTRO: One of the features of the Nigerian democracy is periodic elections which come at the intervals of four years. Hence, there were general elections in Nigeria in 1999, 2003, 2007, 2011, 2015, 2019, and 2023 as at the time of this article. There are many component elections in a general election viz.: Presidential election, gubernatorial elections (i.e. governorship elections), National Assembly elections (i.e. the elections of the members of the Houses of Representatives and Senate), and State Assembly elections (i.e. the elections of the members of Houses of Assembly of the States of the Federation). Since 1999, electoral malpractices have tainted these variegated elections in Nigeria. Electoral malpractices simply mean “illegalities committed by government, officials responsible for the conduct of elections, political parties, groups or individuals with sinister intention to influence an election in favour of a candidate(s).” (Ezeani, 2005, p. 415). These illegalities include but not limited to falsification or mutilation of election results (rigging), ballot box snatching, under-age voting, multiple voting, disenfranchisement, bribery and conspiracy, vote buying, voting by unregistered person, ballot box stuffing, etc. These are illegalities because they are forbidden by the electoral laws, and other laws of the Federation, and they could be committed before the election, during the election or after the election. Electoral malpractices pose serious challenges to democracies given the fact that election is the hallmark of democracy. Now, why, someone might ask, are there electoral malpractices in Nigeria? 

The reasons for electoral malpractices in Nigeria are as follows:

1. Corruption: Electoral malpractices thrive on corruption. The prevalence of corruption in Nigeria translates to the prevalence of electoral malpractices in the country. Corrupt officials and stakeholders in the electoral process just like every other corrupt public office holder in Nigeria use their public offices for private gains. They take bribes from desperate politicians to commit a range of illegalities such as falsification of election results and the likes, which are intended to give the politicians undue advantages at the polls. Most times, figures from the polls have been found to be worlds apart from the figures declared at the collation centres. This has resulted in many post-election litigations, and a significant number of nullifications of notable elections such as in Anambra, Bayelsa, Edo, Ekiti, Kogi, Ondo and Osun states. This is not to say anything about some 117 elections which according to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) were nullified in Nigeria since 2015 (Premium Times, 2017).
2. Loopholes in the Electoral System and Process: The electoral system and process in Nigeria is rife with loopholes which some criminal-minded politicians exploit to perpetrate electoral malpractices. For instance, personal observation during the 2023 general election revealed that people actually voted without their Permanent Voter’s Card (PVC). This is because of a loophole in the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) which unlike the Card Reader of old, needn’t have to read the card of a voter. It only required the Voter Identification Number (VIN), and the physical presence of the registered voter for accreditation. Consequently, the INEC Chairman, Prof. Yakubu was on the media insisting on “no PVC, no voting” while people without PVC were having a field day at the polls. BVAS would have been several notches above the Card Reader technology, if BVAS had been configured to read cards with sensors. This kind of loophole abound in the electoral system and process in Nigeria, and politicians are catching in on them in perpetrating electoral malpractices.
3. The factor of Ad-hoc Staffing during Elections. Due to the fact that INEC cannot muster the staff strength needed to administer elections in the vast expanse of the polity, Nigeria, it takes recourse to recruiting on ad-hoc basis, hands to man the election duties. A great deal of these ad-hoc staff are poorly trained and do not appear to own the elections. Consequently, politicians easily manipulate their ignorance in, and indifference to the election with little or more financial inducements, thereby heightening the prevalence of electoral malpractices in Nigeria.  
4. Ethnic Sentiments: This reason for the prevalence of electoral malpractices in Nigeria is mostly observed during the presidential elections, or in ethnic diverse cities in Nigeria. Some electoral officials and stakeholders give undue advantages to politicians from their ethnic extractions even without any real financial reward. In the just concluded 2023 general election, there were reports of disenfranchisement of the Igbo people on ethnic grounds, and in several locations in Lagos, videos went viral wherein some elements were barefacedly threatening fire and brimstone against anybody (especially, the Igbo people) who would vote against the All Progressives Congress (APC) with which Ahmed Bola Tinubu and Gov. Babajide Sanwo-Olu ran for Presidential and gubernatorial positions respectively. In a similar case, I observed massive ballot box stuffing in the 2011 Presidential election in Anambra State, in favour of the former President of Nigeria, Dr Goodluck Jonathan. Underage voter registrations and votings are also allowed based on ethnic sentiments of having large voting strength in an ethnic enclave.
5. There are electoral malpractices in Nigeria because of little or no interest in prosecuting electoral offences. The sad and unfortunate truth in this regard is that many people who belong to the prison yards due to their evident electoral frauds roam the streets of Nigeria freely. What is more, they flaunt their dollar windfall from their illicit election deals. This reality sends the wrong signal to others that electoral offences are not punishable after all, hence, the prevalence of the electoral malpractices in Nigeria. This should have been a different ball game if election officials who engaged in electoral crimes were prosecuted and punished accordingly. It would have indeed served as deterrence to others.
6. High Rate of Poverty in Nigeria: World Bank (2022) revealed that as many as four out of every ten persons in Nigeria live below the poverty line, and as such, Nigeria is described as the poverty capital of the world. Please, don’t take it lightly, we are talking about a report which reveals that 40% of the over 200 million persons in Nigeria don’t know where their next meal is coming from. Owing to this ugly condition, votes are easily bought with a plate of porridge. Nowadays, politicians would only need to roll out money in order to roll in votes, and merit would be thrown to the mud, and mediocrity enthroned to continue to perpetuate the same poverty.
7. Widespread Illiteracy and Ignorance: The cost of illiteracy and ignorance is enormous. "My people," according to Hosea Chapter Four, Verse Six, "perish because of lack of knowledge." Many voters don’t know what constitute an electoral offence, and as such, they left electoral malpractices to be committed under their noses. In the 2019 general election, in some parts of Anambra State, I observed that some voters out of ignorance, surrendered their PVCs to a politician, ostensibly for electoral fraud. Given that the ignorance of the some voters are manipulated in variegated ways by some politicians for the purpose of electoral malpractices, the problem is further worsened.   
8. Desperation for Power. In their quest for power acquisition or consolidation, some politicians engage in many electoral frauds. They buy votes, engage thugs, bribe officials, stuff ballot boxes, and falsify results, etc. The desperation for power is fiercer when an incumbent power is faced with a formidable challenger. This is because the survivalist instinct of the incumbent power would be activated, and all the socio-economic and political weight of the office of the incumbent power would be thrown behind the course for success, either by hook or crook.
9. Political Apathy: In that piece of writing, the indifference to politics by the middle class was mentioned as a threat to Nigerian democracy. Here, we also argue that it is a recipe for electoral malpractices. Generally speaking, political apathy guarantees electoral malpractices to go unchallenged at the polls and beyond, more so, when the middle class, with their education, are out of the political scene.