Rising Incidence of Post-Electoral Dispute in Nigeria: Implications for its Democracy

Detalhes bibliográficos
Autor(a) principal: Ifejika, Solomon
Data de Publicação: 2023
Tipo de documento: Artigo
Idioma: eng
Título da fonte: Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)
Texto Completo: https://doi.org/10.21814/perspectivas.3674
Resumo: Since Nigeria’s return to democratic rule in 1999, the country has continued to witness high rates of election petitions filed at election petitions tribunals across the country after each election period, in a bid to resolve electoral disputes. All the elections the country has conducted - 2003, 2011, 2015 as well as the most recent 2019 general elections, have produced large numbers of post-election petitions. In the opinion of this study, the major factor responsible for this unfavorable situation is the weakness of the country’s electoral process and institutions, which persistently paves the way for massive irregularities that render elections results incredible and unacceptable, thereby leading to disputes and filing of petitions at tribunals by aggrieved candidates and their political parties. The study argues that the prevailing high incidence of election petitions being witnessed in Nigeria in the Fourth Republic is unwholesome and inimical to the country’s democratic practice. In view of this, the study emphasizes that Nigeria needs to take urgent necessary measures to address the situation. Accordingly, the study suggests that Nigeria should strengthen her electoral process and institutions to attain highly credible, transparent, free and fair and acceptable elections in future times. This, in the views of the study, will help to reduce the spate of elections-related petitions to the barest minimum and avert the negative effects of the phenomenon on the country’s democracy. The study adopts the documentary methods of data collection and data analysis which enabled adequate achievement of the objective of the study.
id RCAP_520fc70350233fa24e9a88caa46d9fc8
oai_identifier_str oai:journals.uminho.pt:article/3674
network_acronym_str RCAP
network_name_str Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)
repository_id_str 7160
spelling Rising Incidence of Post-Electoral Dispute in Nigeria: Implications for its DemocracyArticlesSince Nigeria’s return to democratic rule in 1999, the country has continued to witness high rates of election petitions filed at election petitions tribunals across the country after each election period, in a bid to resolve electoral disputes. All the elections the country has conducted - 2003, 2011, 2015 as well as the most recent 2019 general elections, have produced large numbers of post-election petitions. In the opinion of this study, the major factor responsible for this unfavorable situation is the weakness of the country’s electoral process and institutions, which persistently paves the way for massive irregularities that render elections results incredible and unacceptable, thereby leading to disputes and filing of petitions at tribunals by aggrieved candidates and their political parties. The study argues that the prevailing high incidence of election petitions being witnessed in Nigeria in the Fourth Republic is unwholesome and inimical to the country’s democratic practice. In view of this, the study emphasizes that Nigeria needs to take urgent necessary measures to address the situation. Accordingly, the study suggests that Nigeria should strengthen her electoral process and institutions to attain highly credible, transparent, free and fair and acceptable elections in future times. This, in the views of the study, will help to reduce the spate of elections-related petitions to the barest minimum and avert the negative effects of the phenomenon on the country’s democracy. The study adopts the documentary methods of data collection and data analysis which enabled adequate achievement of the objective of the study.Research Center in Political Science (University of Minho and University of Évora, Portugal)2023-10-27info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersioninfo:eu-repo/semantics/articlehttps://doi.org/10.21814/perspectivas.3674eng2184-39021646-2157Ifejika, Solomoninfo:eu-repo/semantics/openAccessreponame:Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)instname:Agência para a Sociedade do Conhecimento (UMIC) - FCT - Sociedade da Informaçãoinstacron:RCAAP2023-11-03T16:30:20Zoai:journals.uminho.pt:article/3674Portal AgregadorONGhttps://www.rcaap.pt/oai/openaireopendoar:71602024-03-19T21:26:37.282392Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos) - Agência para a Sociedade do Conhecimento (UMIC) - FCT - Sociedade da Informaçãofalse
dc.title.none.fl_str_mv Rising Incidence of Post-Electoral Dispute in Nigeria: Implications for its Democracy
title Rising Incidence of Post-Electoral Dispute in Nigeria: Implications for its Democracy
spellingShingle Rising Incidence of Post-Electoral Dispute in Nigeria: Implications for its Democracy
Ifejika, Solomon
Articles
title_short Rising Incidence of Post-Electoral Dispute in Nigeria: Implications for its Democracy
title_full Rising Incidence of Post-Electoral Dispute in Nigeria: Implications for its Democracy
title_fullStr Rising Incidence of Post-Electoral Dispute in Nigeria: Implications for its Democracy
title_full_unstemmed Rising Incidence of Post-Electoral Dispute in Nigeria: Implications for its Democracy
title_sort Rising Incidence of Post-Electoral Dispute in Nigeria: Implications for its Democracy
author Ifejika, Solomon
author_facet Ifejika, Solomon
author_role author
dc.contributor.author.fl_str_mv Ifejika, Solomon
dc.subject.por.fl_str_mv Articles
topic Articles
description Since Nigeria’s return to democratic rule in 1999, the country has continued to witness high rates of election petitions filed at election petitions tribunals across the country after each election period, in a bid to resolve electoral disputes. All the elections the country has conducted - 2003, 2011, 2015 as well as the most recent 2019 general elections, have produced large numbers of post-election petitions. In the opinion of this study, the major factor responsible for this unfavorable situation is the weakness of the country’s electoral process and institutions, which persistently paves the way for massive irregularities that render elections results incredible and unacceptable, thereby leading to disputes and filing of petitions at tribunals by aggrieved candidates and their political parties. The study argues that the prevailing high incidence of election petitions being witnessed in Nigeria in the Fourth Republic is unwholesome and inimical to the country’s democratic practice. In view of this, the study emphasizes that Nigeria needs to take urgent necessary measures to address the situation. Accordingly, the study suggests that Nigeria should strengthen her electoral process and institutions to attain highly credible, transparent, free and fair and acceptable elections in future times. This, in the views of the study, will help to reduce the spate of elections-related petitions to the barest minimum and avert the negative effects of the phenomenon on the country’s democracy. The study adopts the documentary methods of data collection and data analysis which enabled adequate achievement of the objective of the study.
publishDate 2023
dc.date.none.fl_str_mv 2023-10-27
dc.type.status.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion
dc.type.driver.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/article
format article
status_str publishedVersion
dc.identifier.uri.fl_str_mv https://doi.org/10.21814/perspectivas.3674
url https://doi.org/10.21814/perspectivas.3674
dc.language.iso.fl_str_mv eng
language eng
dc.relation.none.fl_str_mv 2184-3902
1646-2157
dc.rights.driver.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
eu_rights_str_mv openAccess
dc.publisher.none.fl_str_mv Research Center in Political Science (University of Minho and University of Évora, Portugal)
publisher.none.fl_str_mv Research Center in Political Science (University of Minho and University of Évora, Portugal)
dc.source.none.fl_str_mv reponame:Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)
instname:Agência para a Sociedade do Conhecimento (UMIC) - FCT - Sociedade da Informação
instacron:RCAAP
instname_str Agência para a Sociedade do Conhecimento (UMIC) - FCT - Sociedade da Informação
instacron_str RCAAP
institution RCAAP
reponame_str Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)
collection Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)
repository.name.fl_str_mv Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos) - Agência para a Sociedade do Conhecimento (UMIC) - FCT - Sociedade da Informação
repository.mail.fl_str_mv
_version_ 1817553639157268480