A Historicism of INEC and the Conduct of Elections in Nigeria: The First two Decades of the Fourth Republic (1999-2019) in Focus

International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science (IJRISS) | Volume IV, Issue V, May 2020 | ISSN 2454–6186

A Historicism of INEC and the Conduct of Elections in Nigeria: The First two Decades of the Fourth Republic (1999-2019) in Focus

Ezeogueri-Oyewole, Anne Nnenna Ph.D¹, Mahmud Mohammed Momoh^2
1,2Kogi State University Anyigba, Nigeria

Abstract:-The origin of electoral conduct in Nigeria stretches backward to 1959. Before the dawn of the 4th Republic which marked the current political dispensation of the country, the nation has witnessed a spate of intermittent rise and fall of a number of electoral bodies beginning with the Electoral Commission of Nigeria (ECN)-enacted in 1958. But surprisingly, the ECN demised in January 1966 following the coup of that year subsequent introduction of military rule that same year. Like the ECN, other electoral bodies that came after, i.e. Federal Electoral Commission (FEDECO) 1979-1983, and the National Electoral Commission (NEC) 1990-1993, all died still-births, as they did not live to stand the test of their times. The establishment of INEC in 1998 was one singular index that heralded the birth of the Fourth Republic which kick-started on 29th May, 1999. Though, INEC has succeeded in concluding six elections since 1999-2019, but many believed its conduct left much to be desired. These opprobrium included claims that INEC is complicit with some political party agents and aspirant in sabotaging tendencies towards credible elections and even its former chairman professor Attairu Jega was quite equivocal on this, when he was quoted as saying in 2015 that; “INEC officials receive bribe to influence electoral outcomes”. From 2003 through 2011 INEC was confronted with plethora of problems such as delay in the preparation of voters election manual, failure to get voters’ pictures on registration cards, under-funding, poor infrastructure and poorly trained staff. From 2015, INEC introduced the smart card reader and the permanent voters card (PVC) to check cases of electoral rigging. Though these two innovations are believed to have enhanced the credibility of elections, but claims about the viability of the smart-card reader and purported incidences of INEC server hacking after the 2019 general election results has once again raised some ominous dust.

Key Words: INEC, Conduct, Election, Nigeria, Fourth Republic.

I. INTRODUCTION

In traditional African societies, traditional rulers held offices for life and the stool was not open to all but restricted to a segment called the ruling class. The history of modern elections in Nigeria is dated back to the colonial period. This was so because in traditional African society, the liberal or direct form of election was nearly if not, completely absent. At best, what existed was something close to a collegiate model of modern democracy as common among the Yoruba Oyomesi, the Igalamela among the Igala or the Uzama among the Benin. But unlike in modern Africa, where emphasis is placed on a permanent institution for the conduct of election, in these pre-colonial centralized Nigerian societies, elections are conducted by these bodies, with their members voting on such subjects as choice of king, land allocation, on other important decisions, etc. In modern through post-modern (from 1945 onwards) societies of the Nigerian groups that were amalgamated by the British colonists, with attendant democratic system, the preparation for periodic and regular elections has become part and parcel of the process of expanding and deepening the democratic space. To ensure this, bodies are properly and necessarily constituted and charged with the duty of prosecuting the many dimensions of the responsibility, which is considered to be very crucial to any democratization process.

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