Elections and Electoral Tribunal in Nigeria

Abstract

This paper examines the Nigeria’s electoral process and the recent decisions
by the electoral tribunals. The Study adopts content analysis as its
methodology. The major thrust of the paper is to investigate the extent to
which the abysmal failure of the country’s electoral system has affected
democracy in Nigeria, as well as the efforts of the electoral tribunals to
remedy the situation. The paper argues that Nigeria’s electoral process has
been characterized by agitation, consternation and fiasco which has coerced
many observers to querry if Nigeria will ever succeed in conducting credible
elections in future. It further argues that the members of the electoral
tribunals that were expected to be the last hope of the common man
compromised at various times in the discharge of their duties, particularly in
the 2007 general elections. This ugly trend therefore raises yet another
question in the country’s preparedness to correct her past electoral woes.
The paper however concludes that, it is only when the stakeholders are
determined to shun acts capable of truncating the electoral process and the
quest for consolidation of democracy that Nigeria would achieve the desired
socio-economic development.