As a source puts it, the reason for the major rigging was to ensure that the party had an absolute majority in order to avoid the coalition and subsequent weak take-off of a new government, which was part of the crises of the transition governments of 1959 and 1979.39. List of Electoral Bodies in Nigeria since Independence Thirty-six Years of Independence in Nigeria: the Political - Jstor 2544. General Sani Abacha (19938) replaced the NEC with the National Electoral Commission of Nigeria (NECON), while General Abdusallami Abukakar, Abachas successor (19989), rechristened it the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).27 It has also been reconstituted endlessly; in 1958, twice in 1963, 1964, 1977, 1981, 1987, 1989, 1993, 1994, 1998, 2000, and 2004.28 Despite (or perhaps because of) these changes, the EMB has not been able to administer elections effectively, and its autonomy and capacity over the years have been suspect.29. Liberal Democracy and its Critics in Africa: Political dysfunction and the struggle for social progress (Codesria, Dakar, 2005). Elections are meaningfully democratic if they are free, fair, participatory, competitive, and legitimate. There has been six election management bodies in Nigeria since 1959, namely Electoral Commission of Nigeria (ECN) from1959 to 1964; Federal Electoral Commission (FEC) from 1964 . He won with a total of 18,738,154 votes (62.78 percent) over Olu Falae, who ran for the APP/AD alliance, with 11,110,287 (37.22 percent).35 The PDP extended its dominance to all other elections at the national, state, and local levels, and in executive and legislative elections. The most relevant example relates to the manipulation of party primaries to pave the way for anointed candidates of the godfathers, especially within the ruling PDP.59 Where this failed, the party hierarchy, at the instance of the presidency, resorted to elimination by substituting the names of the preferred candidates for those who actually won the primaries. The susceptibility of INEC to political manipulation was due to its lack of institutional and financial autonomy. There were pockets of protest regarding the credibility of the elections, the most notable being the litigation filed by the defeated candidate, who challenged the results of the election. Fourth Nigerian Republic - Wikipedia Search for other works by this author on: Response to the Issue of Electoral Malfeasance and INEC Performance. 1 and 23. 2007 elections [ edit] Main article: 2007 Nigerian general election The Nigerian general elections of 2007 were held on 14 April and 21 April 2007. INEC allegedly rigged the 1999 elections in favour of Obasanjo in demonstration of military solidarity,38 but, more importantly, the elections were rigged in order to avoid a coalition government and the pitfalls of the First Republic, when no party had enough seats to form the government. Two primary indicators are the appointment of people without sufficient professional and intellectual competence to lead the body. Elections in Nigeria - Wikipedia Michael Bratton, Second elections in Africa, Journal of Democracy9, 3 (1998), p. 51. Mike Unger, Panel analyses upcoming Nigerian elections, American Weekly: American Universitys News Paper, 13 February 2007, p. 1. The foregoing analysis suggests that the prospect of consolidating democracy in Nigeria through elections remains a tall order, though not impossible to deliver. In this way, the EMB can enjoy independent funding, thereby limiting the financial control the executive can exert. Student/Research Fellow, American University. Jonathan Hartlyn, Jennifer McCoy, and Thomas M. Mustillo, Electoral governance matters: explaining the quality of elections in contemporary Latin America, Comparative Political Studies41, 1 (2008), p. 75. Last updated on February 26th, 2023 at 01:45 pm Since Nigeria gained Independence in 1960, there has been an electoral body constituted by the government to organize a free and fair election. International Democracy Day: Meet chairmen of Nigerian electoral bodies The high level of instability in the country since independence in 1960 has also contributed to the weak institutionalization of INEC. 5378; Epele Alafuro, The 2003 elections and the rise of the one party state in Nigeria in Godwin Onu and Abubarkar Momoh (eds. There is an urgent need to make adequate efforts to reform electoral institutions. . Given the intense competition that surrounds elections in Nigeria, every electoral period generates fear of a possible large-scale conflict that may cause democratic breakdown or national disintegration. National Electoral Commission (NEC) | (1987-1993) | Eme Awa (1987-1989), Humphrey Nwosu (1989-1993), Okon E. Uya (June 1993- Nov. 19 1993) | June 12 Presidential elections 4. But under the fledgling Fourth Republic, Nigeria has for the first time in its post-independence experience been able to hold three consecutive elections at regular intervals (1999, 2003, and 2007). Only such an electoral body could conduct credible elections, whose outcomes will be acceptable to the majority of people, including opposition parties. Elections are also central to the institutionalization of orderly succession in a democratic setting, creating a legal-administrative framework for handling inter-elite rivalries. 61105. What are the functions of INEC in Nigeria? Interesting facts Quick Facts, Mercy Aigbe Gentry Daughter, Husband, Biography, Age, Best Ankara Styles, John Mikel Obi Net Worth, Salary, House, Wedding, Wife, Kids. It was Humphery Nwosu that conducted the June 12 Presidential election of 1993 adjudged by many to be free and fair. [1] [2] History Regulation and administration of elections Please check for further notifications by email. The appointment of its political head and commissioners should be insulated from politics, while its funding should be charged to the consolidated account. More importantly, INEC is saddled with the task of governing the entire electoral cycle pre-election, election, and post-election at federal and state levels. This is a list of electoral bodies in Nigeria since Independence: The Federal Electoral Commission was chaired by Mr. Eyo E. Esua. It furthers the University's objective of excellence in research, scholarship, and education by publishing worldwide, This PDF is available to Subscribers Only. Thus the PDP became the only party in town, making and unmaking public policies solely at its own discretion. However that was not possible due to the confusion that followed the annulment crisis. All reported widespread irregularities, including a miraculous 100 percent turnout of voters in Rivers State during the presidential election.36 Yet, the attendant protests were moderate as major stakeholders in the elections including political parties, candidates, and civil society decided to sheath their swords, possibly appeased by the renewed promise of democracy.37 Because the election was meant essentially to disengage the military from politics, not much attention was paid to its credibility. What makes elections free and fair?, Journal of Democracy8, 3 (1997), pp. That is not to say that all protests about the elections were peaceful. INEC represents the most important of all the institutional foundations of elections in Nigeria. The The PDP also decided not to field a candidate for the governorship election in the state, and since the electoral laws do not recognize independent candidacy, Ararume was tactically pushed out of the race.60. otherwise of electoral management bodies in the administration and conduct of elections in West Africa using Nigeria and Ghana as case studies while the specific objectives were: (i) To ascertain if the independence of an electoral administration body can engender the conduct of credible and acceptable elections in Nigeria and Ghana. On June 8 2010 President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan appointed Professor Attaihiru Muhammadu Jega to head the Independent National Electoral Commission. The administration of the elections was generally poor. Unemployment, inflation, poverty, insecurity, and violence were on the rise. The independence of Nigeria from Britain was heralded with pomp and pageantry by both foreigners and the indigenous population. Summer Dagogo-Jack conducted the March 1997 Local Government Elections but the elected officials were not inaugurated Is the sudden death of Sani Abacha aborted the process. 1478. Elections which empower ordinary citizens to choose among contestants for top political offices clearly promote rules.6. Gender power and politics in contemporary Nigeria, African Study Monographs28, 1 (April 2007), p. 42. Nigeria under Democratic Rule, 19992003, Vol. . Nevertheless, the military eventually handed over power to President Obasanjo on 29 May 1999, marking Nigerias return to civil rule. The Electoral Commission of Nigeria (ECN) was the first electoral body established in 1959 to oversee and coordinate the election of 1959 that ushered in Post-Independence democracy. (NEC) from 1987 to 1993; National Electoral Commission of Nigeria (NECON . The reports and recommendations of some of these Observers Groups have since been submitted to appropriate In Ondo and Edo states, however, declaratory judgments were given, leading to the restoration of the electoral victory of the Labour Party and AC in the respective states. Due to frequent change of governments, it has been subjected to repeated renaming and restructuring.63 The main considerations in these exercises have been political, rather than relating to the search for institutional autonomy and administrative efficiency.64 The high level of instability has not allowed for the evolution and development of electoral governance culture, routinized in design and implementation. Independent National Electoral Commission - Wikipedia Independent National Electoral Commission The INEC headquarters in Abuja, Nigeria The Independent National Electoral Commission ( INEC) is the electoral body which oversees elections in Nigeria. Admittedly, as mentioned above, there was tension across the country prior to the elections particularly in states such as Kwara, Anambra, and Borno, where the battle lines had been drawn between acclaimed godfathers and their estranged sons (incumbent governors). PDF Security Risks in The Electoral Process in Nigeria: Expereinces - Idea when the secret of the ballot is protected; when virtually all adults can vote; when procedures for organizing and counting the votes are widely known; and when there are transparent and impartial procedures for resolving election complaints and disputes.2. ESTABLISHMENTS OF ELECTORAL BODIES IN NIGERIA The Electoral Bodies In Nigeria Have Not Had Historical Consistency In The Country's Democracy, Thus, Such Bodies Had The Experience Of Dissolve And Recreation. Historically, this region has been renowned for its oppositional politics. The electoral statistics has it that there are about 70 million registered voters, 36 States and FCT, 774 Local Government Areas (LGAs), 8,776 Wards (RACs), 119, . The crisis generated considerable controversy, even among people in the highest echelons of power. Nigeria gained independence from Britain in 1960. (Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, OH, 2009). This attempt was interpreted by the south-west as a northern ethnic agenda to recapture power at all costs. With Michael Ani at the reins of the Federal Electoral Commission the Commission organized monitored and oversaw the 1979 election which ushered in the Nigeria Second Republic. In the results of the elections, INEC awarded the PDP an unimaginable landslide victory at all levels unimaginable because the last eight years of PDP leadership had not improved the living conditions of average Nigerians in any fundamental sense. These were the local government council elections of 5 December 1998, state House of Assembly and gubernatorial elections of 9 January 1999, National Assembly elections of 20 February 1999, and the presidential election of 27 February 1999. The comparative literature on democratization, particularly during Africas third wave, emphasizes the significance of elections.3 Elections have been seen as central to competitive politics. 3254. 145. Some of the findings of the study include: (1) local government election in Nigeria is not given premium position by many state governments in the political landscape of their state because of the . The article focuses primarily on electoral governance by the electoral management body (EMB), in this case the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), with partial reference to other core institutional actors in the democratization process. Indeed, local and international observers were unanimous in their outright condemnation of the elections.55, That massive irregularities marred the elections is supported by some verifiable indices. The collapse of the First (19606) and Second (197983) republics, and the abortion of the Third Republic through the criminal annulment of the 12 June 1993 presidential election, are clear indicators of the failure of previous attempts at democratization. Adigun Agbaje and Said Adejumobi, Do votes count? 10523; Alade W. Fawole, Voting without choosing: interrogating the crisis of electoral democracy in Nigeria in Lumumba-Kasongo (ed. 13951. Said Adejomobi, When votes do not count: the 2007 general elections in Nigeria, News from Nordic African Institute, 2, (May 2007), pp. This is partly a result of certain landmark judgements delivered by the judiciary in recent times, especially as the race to the 2007 elections intensified. How these institutions are organized, managed, funded, and motivated is crucially important. 4. Define Electoral body. What are their attitudes to democracy and the rule of law? The article engages these questions and argues that the democratic qualities of Nigerian elections under the Fourth Republic (19992007) have been shallow because of ineffective governance. PDF Electoral Bodies in Nigerian 2. 3. 4. - Fct Emis Again this was due to the PDPs power of incumbency, but also to the attempt by the House of Representatives to impeach Obasanjo in August 2002, shortly before the elections. Identify functions of Electoral body Highlight problems of Electoral body in Nigeria Meaning: An electoral body is an agency charged with the responsibilities of organizing and conducting free and fair elections in a country. The legal framework for elections in Nigeria has undergone a number of reforms since 1999. round of elections in the coming year. The emerging scenarios suggest that, despite its troubled electoral history, Nigerias fiftieth independence anniversary offers hope of an alternative future built on institutional engineering and reinforced by behavioural and attitudinal change. Before 1958, regional laws and government regulated and conducted elections. The problems of democratic transition in Nigeria, as in several other African countries, are deep-rooted and well-known.33 Elections represent a core component of these problems. Nevertheless, allegations of electoral corruption, with the active connivance of INEC and probably the transitional military regime, challenged the administration of the election and raise basic questions regarding INECs independence, impartiality, and accountability. Nigeria gained independence from Britain in 1960. Staffan Lindberg, Democracy and Elections in Africa (Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, OH, 2006); Staffan Lindberg (ed. Here are the various electoral bodies the country has had after independence: Electoral Commission of Nigeria (ECN): Electoral Commission of Nigeria (ECN) was inaugurated in 1958 to conduct the 1959 federal elections. E. Remi Aiyede, Electoral laws and the 2007 elections in Nigeria, Journal of African Elections6, 2 (2007), p. 50. This dominance was so emphatic that the PDP started behaving like a mini-army under a garrison commander, driving the country towards a one-party state.48 The high-handedness of the PDP was partly a reflection of its dictatorial leadership and centrist organizational structure, where dissenting voices are seldom allowed a hearing. PDF CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION 1.1 BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY - University of Lagos Emmanuel Adebayor Bio, Net Worth, Cars, House, Wife, Salary, Current Club, Majid Michel Biography, Wife, Family, Is He Dead? Staffan Lindberg, The surprising significance of African elections, Journal of Democracy16, 1 (2006) pp. This was due in large part to the weak institutionalization of the primary agencies of electoral administration, particularly the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and the political parties. ), Money, Politics and Corruption in Nigeria (International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES), Abuja, 2006), pp. The Carter Center, for example, reported widespread ballot box stuffing, inflated voter turnout, altered results, voter disenfranchisement, and inconsistent application of INECs procedures across the country. 3. Most notably, President Obasanjo changed the order of the elections through the 2001 Electoral Bill. One notable example was the Supreme Court judgements that stopped INEC from disqualifying Atiku barely a few days before the election. obstacles-and-opportunities/comment-page-1/#comment-178 on scholarly blog Elections and democratic transition in Nigeria under the Fourth Agbaje and Adejumobi, Do votes count?, p. 30. [11] The presidential election had eight, the gubernatorial 105, the Senate 150, the House of Representatives 331, and the state Houses of Assembly 656.56 With a few exceptions, especially the gubernatorial elections in Osun and Ekiti states, most of these cases have been decided in the final appellate court. Kew aptly demonstrated the various forms of rigging perpetuated by INEC staff during the 1999 elections. 735; Tunji Olagunju, Adele L. Jinadu, and Samuel Oyovbare, Transition to Democracy in Nigeria, 19851993 (Safari and Spectrum Books, Ibadan, 1993); J. Shola Omotola, From importer to exporter: the changing role of Nigeria in promoting democratic values in Africa in Joelien Pretorius (ed. The legal environment for the 2011 Electoral Bodies - ClassNotes.ng Larry Diamond, The Spirit of Democracy: The struggle to build free societies throughout the world (Times Books, New York, NY, 2008), p. 25. These shortcomings cast ominous shadows on the elections and the prospects of democratic consolidation. He retired from office in June 2015. . 1. See Browne Onuoha, The electoral machine: the bureaucracy and the electoral process in the making of Nigerias Fourth Republic in Lai Olurode and Remi Anifowose (eds. Nigerian Election Management Bodies and their Associated Election Electoral bodies have been set up at different times in the course of Nigerias history after Independence in 1960. 18M+ of FBS traders made money work for them. This body was responsible for conducting the federal and regional elections of 1964 and 1965 respectively. The oversight role expected of the legislature in the screening of presidential nominees for INEC positions is rendered impotent by the fact that the Presidents party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), has a legislative majority sufficient to secure its wishes in Parliament. Unlike in Ghana, where the chair of the Electoral Commission and the two deputies have security of tenure (they enjoy the same terms and conditions of service as Justices of the Court of Appeal and cannot be removed arbitrarily until retirement at age 70),30 Nigerian electoral officers statutorily occupy office for five years, renewable for another term. If nothing else, the convening of scheduled multi-party elections serves the minimal function of marking democracys survival.11, Staffan Lindberg adds weight to this thinking, especially in the African context, when he speaks about the surprising significance of African elections.12 Lindberg observes that the positive effects of holding repetitive elections are perhaps not restricted to free and fair elections, at least not in the early stages of democratization.13 He argues, for instance, that electoral problems such as inflated voters registries, political violence during the campaign and polling day, outright fraudulent voting and collation of votes, intimidation of voters and political opponents . The founding election of 1999: The first election under the current democratization process in Nigeria took place in 1999. The recent rise of the Save Nigeria Group (SNG) a coalition of several civil society organizations, along with pro-democracy and human rights activists, to champion the cause of sustainable electoral reform and good governance has added weight to the pressure for reform. Since 1999, it has governed the country according to the fourth republican constitution. To be sure, between 1959 and 1999 the EMB was renamed six times. The presidency wields overbearing influence on INEC, making it impossible for it to exercise independence and provide a level playing field to all political actors. For instance, the review of voters exercise it conducted was fraught with irregularities, particularly non-registration of eligible voters and withholding and sale of voters cards.45, The actual conduct of the elections left more to be desired. Your comment will be reviewed and published at the journal's discretion. The Federal Electoral Commission was chaired by Mr. Eyo E. Esua. And after his dramatic resignation, Lord Goldsmith has spoken out . It was until 1976 after the electoral committee set up the General Olusegun Obasanjo military administration that Michael Ani was appointed to monitor the polls that would usher the Nigerian Second Republic. There were instances where INEC decided to disqualify candidates on the eve of the elections, contrary to court orders. Moreover, Obasanjo had accorded the south-west some reasonably high levels of patronage between 1999 and 2003. In Nigeria -Africa's largest democracy project, the election administration process since the country gained political independence from the British has always resulted in controversy and crisis . 195221. ), Liberal Democracy and its Critics in Africa, p. 160. Elections can also be used to disguise authoritarian rule, what Andreas Schedler called electoral authoritarianism.7 Under such circumstances, elections are only held as a transitional ritual where the people have little or no choice, as has been the case in many African countries.8 This compromises the democratization process by preventing elections from playing their crucial role.9 It is, perhaps, with this in mind that Michael Bratton writes that while elections do not, in and of themselves, constitute a consolidated democracy, they remain fundamental, not only for installing democratic governments, but as a requisite for broader democratic consolidation.10 The relationship between elections and democratic transition, in other words, is not a given, but is contingent upon a number of forces, chief among which is the administration of the election.