DEMOCRATIC CONSOLIDATION AND THE EMERGENCY CHALLENGES OF INCONCLUSIVE ELECTIONS IN NIGERIA

1.1 Introduction

Election is the nerve and brain of democratic system. It is the instrument and a procedure for choice of leadership in a liberal manner where the political leaders compete for power while the voters are allowed to exercise their rights (Smith, 2015). The world is contemporarily dominated by democratic governance and this has made an election a pivotal activity in nation-states (Buttorff, 2019). In essence, election is a determinant factor in which political institutions and political actors display their choices, policy preferences, ideology, liberty, freedom and desire of who wants to rule and who is wanted to rule (Cole, 2017).

As a prelude to other parts of this study, this chapter will discuss the background upon which this study was initiated, the statement of problems that led to this study, the Aim and Objectives of the study. Others are Significance of the study, Scope of work, Limitations of the Study and Definition of technical terms.

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1.2 Background of Study

Inconclusive election has been a hydra-monster on Nigeria electoral process this is so due to many factors which attribute to the origination of the word inconclusive election. Prior to 2015 general election, the term inconclusive election was not a popular slogan in Nigeria. The word inconclusive election became popular during the tenure of Professor Yakubu who is the current Chairman Independent National Electoral Commission National (INEC). At this point it is pertinent to understand the meaning of election. Election is a formal decision making process by which a population chooses an individual to hold public office. It has also been described as a celebration of democracy whereby the electorates are given the opportunity to elect leaders who will take charge of governance within a given period of time (Saminu, 2016).

Indeed, because it is a process and not an event, election management bodies worldwide deploy human and material resources in a bid to enhance free, fair and credible process; this, perhaps, underscores why the electoral cycle stipulates pre-election, election and post-election activities. In recent times in Nigeria, however, the process has assumed a new but dangerous dimension, with its history becoming replete with inconclusive polls. The Independent National Electoral Commission says it will not be ready to conclude the legislative rerun elections in Rivers State until October this year.

However; the electoral commission was still undecided about a specific date for the long-awaited rerun polls, which were first aborted on 19th of March. This abortion was due to the fact that the election was marred with violence, thuggery and kidnapping and snatching of ballot boxes, these actions by the two political parties led to INEC declaring the election inconclusive. This political battle in the opinion of the writer was a battle of supremacy between Barr. Nyesome Wike the incumbent Governor of Rivers State and Rt. Hon Rotimi Amaechi, the Minister of Transportation.

INEC National Commissioner, Amina Zakari gave this indication during a meeting with political stakeholders in Rivers State. This is no surprise when INEC declared the River state legislative election inconclusive. Saminu, (2016) stated that “we need to understand that elections are not just get up and go. It is not like going to the race track. In fact even a race track, the athletes have to prepare. So we must prepare and that is the reason why we cannot just come back to Rivers without ensuring that we are prepared and you are prepared because the election is for you”. The electorates are your electorates these are the words of the electoral commissioner.

Legislative Re-Run Elections in March 2016 in the build-up to the re-run elections there was palpable fear and tensions across the state as a result of increasing incidents of gang violence and politically motivated killings. On February 11, 2016, a former State House of Assembly member was shot dead in Obia-Akpor. On February 22, 2016, the state liaison office of one of the senatorial candidates was reportedly razed by suspected political thugs in Khana. Separately, a party ward chairman in Ogba/ Egbema / Ndoni was murdered along with his wife and 18-year old son, and a political party supporter in Asari Toru LGA was burnt to death two weeks prior to the election. While some observers attributed these killings to cult-related violence, others have suggested that these killings are related to violent politicking in the run-up to the elections (Aniedi, 2016). The tensions created by the rising incidents violence were further fuelled by the inflammatory rhetoric from major election contenders. A week out from the elections, the immediate past governor of the state who is the current Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, relocated to the state to lead the APC campaign. Amaechi, along with the incumbent governor and the PDP leader in the state Nyesom Wike, were reportedly engaged in verbal warfare where both pledged to resist any attempt to rig the elections against any of their party candidates. In an effort to ensure violence-free elections, the Federal Government, through the Inspector General of Police and the Chief of Army Staff, deployed over 6,000 policemen, 14 units of Mobile Policemen (MOPOL), and military personnel to strategic locations and hotspots of violence across the state. Despite these deployments, many violent incidents, including killings, were reported a few days before the elections (Baregu, 2009).

Therefore, in Nigeria where the research was carried out, the activities that was conducted is to know the Democratic Consolidation and the Emergency Challenges of Inconclusive Elections.

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1.3 Statement of the Problem

The problem associated with inconclusive election is enormous ranging from financial burden, security, awareness and mass education. Inconclusive election brings more burden to the federal, state and local government, this also contribute to lack of reliability in the electoral process, this can be seen during the December 10th legislative re-run election in rivers state as the PDP were accusing INEC and APC of collaboration, the PDP believed that the APC were using the power of incumbency to manipulate the electoral commission to their favor, while the APC were accusing the government of River state of trying to bribe the electoral commission as published in the media. All these accusation and counter accusation does not augur well with Nigeria democracy as international community and independent observers are watching. Therefore, this study stresses the need to find out the causes and effect of inconclusive election in Rivers State.

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1.4 Aim and Objectives of the Study

The aim of the study is to examine the Democratic Consolidation and the Emergency Challenges of Inconclusive Elections in Nigeria. In achieving this aim, the following specific objectives were laid out as follows:

1. To ascertain the causes of inconclusive election in Nigeria,
2. To evaluate the effect of inconclusive election in the democratic process,
3. To ascertain the role of INEC towards eliminating inconclusive elections in Nigeria,
4. To determine challenges facing INEC towards conducting credible elections in Nigeria.

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1.5 Research Questions

The study came up with research questions so as to be able to ascertain the above stated objectives. The specific research questions for the study are stated below as follows:

• What are the causes of inconclusive election in Nigeria?
• What is the effect of inconclusive election in the democratic process?
• What role does INEC play towards eliminating inconclusive elections in Nigeria?
• What are the challenges faced by INEC towards conducting credible elections in Nigeria?

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1.6 Research Hypothesis

In order to pursue the objective of this study, the following generalized statements have been designed to guide and aids in obtaining the result for the experiment to be conducted. For this work, the null hypothesis will be represented with H0 while the alternative hypothesis will be represented with hypothesis H1.

Hypothesis One

• H0: INEC does not play any significant role towards eliminating inconclusive elections in Nigeria.
• H1: INEC play a significant role towards eliminating inconclusive elections in Nigeria.

Hypothesis Two

• H0: There are no emergency challenges facing INEC towards conducting credible elections in Nigeria.
• H1: There are emergency challenges facing INEC towards conducting credible elections in Nigeria.

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1.7 Significance of Study

The findings will be beneficial to the electoral commission (INEC) in their bid to conduct an itch free election; the study will also be of great benefit to the political parties who are the major players in the electoral process.

The study will also be of great benefit to the electorate in educating them on the nemesis of election violence.

Finally the findings of this study will also be immense benefit to government, academia, scholars, researchers and the general public.

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1.8 Scope of Study

The study focuses on the Democratic Consolidation and the Emergency Challenges of Inconclusive Elections in Nigeria.

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1.9 Limitations of the Study

During the course of this study, many things militated against its completion, some of which are:

1. Time Constraint: The time frame given to accomplish this project was very short due to school academic calendar and it was carried out under pressure which made the researcher not to implement some necessary features.
2. Research material: availability of research material is a major setback to the scope of the study.
3. Frequent power failure: This made the researcher append more money on fuel to ensure sustainable power.
4. Financial Constraint: Insufficient fund tends to impede the efficiency of the researcher in sourcing for the relevant materials, literature or information and in the process of data collection (internet, questionnaire and interview).

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1.10 Methodology

The researcher adopts a multi-dimensional approach in her efforts to get at the substance of this work. The researcher made use of both primary and secondary sources of obtaining pieces of information. Books, journal articles, encyclopedia, dictionaries, magazines, unpublished project works etc were consulted as secondary source materials. Questionnaire schedule was designed as a primary source of obtaining oral information from the respondents. Both structured and unstructured questionnaire items were designed for eliciting information out of these respondents. People from the age of twenty were considered qualified as respondents. In interpretation of the data collected, the researcher made use of descriptive and analytical approaches.

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1.11 Definition of Terms

Election: Election is a formal decision- making process by which a population chooses an individual to hold public office. It has also been described as a celebration of democracy whereby the electorates are given the opportunity to elect leaders who will take charge of governance within a given period of time.

Nomination: Nomination is part of the process of selecting a candidate for either election to an office by a political party, or the bestowing of an honor or award.

Political Party: A political party is a group of people who come together to contest elections and hold power in the government. The party agrees on some proposed policies and programmes, with a view to promoting the collective good or furthering their supporters’ interests.