The Electoral Process and Crisis of Legitimacy in Nigeria

Abstract

The major reason for selecting leaders through elections according to rules and regulations is to guarantee political and social stability. This submission, however, appears to have lost its value as elections in Nigeria have always ended in bitter struggles, rigging and violence. Elections, rather than reflecting the will of the people with regard to who represents them, are only conducted as merely a regular ritual by the political class to renew the allotted power of its members. Nigeria is fast derailing into one of the pseudo democracies that pervade developing countries, with little or no regard for the will of the electorate. The country's democracy has grossly been bedeviled with flawed elections at all levels of government, having more of imposed leaders than elected.  Elections are conducted as a means of alternating power among the competing political gladiators, mostly in a violent manner that reflects desperation and as such erodes the legitimizing effects of election on democracy. This essay explores some of the variables that continually seek to undermine the power of the electorate and why they seem to be helpless. It also attempts to assess the four consecutive elections that took place between 1999 (when the country emerged from uninterrupted sixteen years of military authoritarianism), and 2011 (the last date involving elections nationwide). More importantly, the overlapping interface between electoral process and legitimacy crisis is examined while some of the daunting challenges facing Nigeria's electoral process are highlighted. The general elections conducted so far, that is 1998/99, 2003, 2007 and 2011 elections, are examined below, being the scope of this essay.