Election Malpractices and Democratic Consolidation in Nigeria: a Case Study of 2015 and 2019 Presidential Election in Nigeria

ABSTRACT This study concentrated on election malpractices and democratic consolidation in Nigeria: A case study of 2015 and 2019 presidential election in Nigeria. The study has demonstrated that the principles of democracy are universally accepted especially because it is based on the consent of the people. The observation of these principles necessarily would have led to the development of the political system and that is to say that electoral malpractice of any kind and whatever magnitude hinders and retards the process of democratic consolidation in Nigeria. The ugly tendency of electoral malpractice had made it impossible for Nigeria to develop politically as this is reflected in the freedom of the people to participate in political activities particularly to vote and to be voted for. The study was a desktop research and it is to be stated that the research work used secondary data. The 2015 and 2019 general elections are very recent therefore personal observation also served as a useful primary source of data. The secondary data for this work was generated essentially from secondary sources such as newspapers, news magazines, books, academic journals etc. The study also found that the 2015 and 2019 general elections have credibility deficit as they generated petitions and litigations. The study also discovered that the processes of conducting 2015 and 2019 general elections were characterized by harassment and oppression of persons by the political office holders to those belonging to the opposition parties or considered to be critical of their mismanagement of electoral process with the use of law enforcement agencies. There was massive deployment of police and armed forces which frightened and threatened voters. In essence, the incumbents control and manipulate the electoral system to their advantage which eroded the credibility of 2019 general elections. An equally important finding from the outcome of this study is that, the electoral malaise have implications for democratic consolidation in Nigeria as democratic stability cannot be super-imposed or predicated on a shaking, unstable and unpredictable crises-ridden social and political environment as the chances that Nigeria’s democracy with flourish are undoubtedly becoming slimmer and slimmer after each elections due to postelection violence in protests of irregularities which may not only affect the legitimacy of government but also the citizen’s affection or believe in democracy as a suitable model of government. Based on the findings, some recommendations were made.