A Critical Appraisal of Election Laws in Nigeria

ABSTRACT

The electoral process is a fundamental and thus indispensable structure in any democratic setting. The smoothness and transparency of its operation define political maternity of key players and stakeholders. The pattern of growth of electoral activities from 1922 to the fourth Republic is a reflection of development from obscurity to prominence from a pristine system to an advanced mechanism of securing participatory governance and confidence building in public policy formulation and implementation. It is trite law that the concept of “election” denotes a process constituting accreditation, voting, collation, recording on all relevant official electoral forms and declaration of results. Election is the cornerstone of democracy, it represents the reservoir of resources political, economic, cultural and social to complement and when necessary to check the power of the state. Nigeria claims to be democratic and seeks to prove that under the banner of representation and multi-party political system. Elections are used as a means by which representatives and policies are decided. The choice between political parties or individual candidate is made through elections. This paper is going to examine the development of several election laws that has been developed and the progression of the laws.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Cover page i

Title page ii

Declaration iii

Certification iv

Dedication v

Acknowledgment vi

Table of Cases viii

Table of Statutes ix

Abbreviations x

Abstract xi

Table of contents xii

CHAPTER ONE – INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background of the Study 1

1.2 Statement of the Problem 2

1.3 Objective/Purpose of the Study 3

1.4 Scope of the Study 4

1.5 Significance of the Study 6

1.6 Research Methodology 7

CHAPTER TWO – LITERATURE REVIEW AND HISTORY OF CONCEPTS 

2.1  Introduction             8

2.2  Literature Review           9

2.3  History of Concepts          13

2.3.1  The post Independence Political Setting   13

2.3.2  The First Republic           17

2.3.3  The Second Republic – Fourth Republic   19

2.4  Progression of Post Colonial Electoral Laws  22

2.5  Conclusion              31 

CHAPTER THREE – ELECTORAL OFFENCES 

3.1  Introduction             32

3.2  Electoral Offences           35

3.3  Proof of Electoral Offences         54

3.4  Conclusion              56 

CHAPTER FOUR – ELECTORAL LAW REFORM 

4.1  Introduction              57

4.2  Events that led to the Reform        60 

 xiii 4.3  The Electoral Reform Committee       62

4.4  Amendment of the Electoral Act, 2010    67

4.5  Observation               72

4.6  Conclusion              73 

CHAPTER FIVE –CONCLUSION

5.1  Summary               75

5.2  Conclusion               76   

5.3  Recommendation                     77 Bibliography              83