Vote Buying: Examining the Manifestations, Motivations, and Effects of an Emerging Dimension of Election Rigging in Nigeria (2015-2019)

Olalekan Waheed Adigun

Abstract


Elections provide the platform for the electorate to choose their leaders in modern democracies. In Nigeria, they provide the opportunity for rich corrupt politicians to perpetrate acts of vote buying against both fellow contestants and the electorate. The introduction of Smart Card Readers (SCRs) technology and the permanent voter cards (PVCs) by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) made it difficult for politicians to manipulate election results. In other to game the system, politicians began relying increasingly on vote buying as a means of compromising and influencing the outcome of elections. Hence, vote buying is a fairly new method of election rigging. This paper, therefore, intends to explore the manifestations, motivations, and effects of vote buying on elections conducted between 2015 and 2019, as well as its implications for future elections in the country. 


Keywords


Vote buying; Election rigging; Money politics; INEC

Full Text:

PDF

References


#EdoDecides: APC, PDP in vote buying, interstate travelers trapped (2016, September 28). The Whistler Available at: https://thewhistler.ng/story/edodecides-apc-pdp-in-vote-buying-interstate-travelers-trapped/ [Accessed 20 July 2018].

Adamu, A; Ocheni, D. and Ibrahim, S. (2016). Money politics and analysis of voting behaviour in Nigeria: challenges and prospects for free and fair elections. International Journal of Public Administration and Management Research, 3(3):89–99.

Adebulu, T. (2018a, August 29). INEC to SERAP: We can’t prosecute Ekiti vote buyers The Cable Available at: https://www.thecable.ng/inec-serap-cant-prosecute-ekiti-vote-buyers [Accessed on 12 March 2019]

Adebulu, T. (2018b, December 20). We observed illegal procurement of PVCs in 15 states, says YIAGA Africa. The Cable Available at: https://www.thecable.ng/we-observed-illegal-procurement-of-pvcs-in-15-states-says-yiaga-africa [Accessed on 13 March 2019]

Adeyi, C. (2018, September 23). Vote buying in Irewole. The Sun. Available at: https://www.sunnewsonline.com/vote-buying-in-irewole/ [Accessed on 13 March 2019]

Adigun, W. O. (2017). Witnessing the change: a participant observer’s story of the Nigerian 2015 presidential election E-Book. 278 pages. Smashwords, Inc. ISBN 9781370159109.

Agbu, O. (2016). Election rigging and the use of technology: the smart card reader as the joker in Nigeria’s 2015 presidential election Journal of African Elections 15(2): 90-111 DOI: 10.20940/JAE/2016/v15i2a5 Available at: https://www.eisa.org.za/pdf/JAE15.2Agbu.pdf [Accessed on 20 March 2019]

Ajani, J. (2013, June 8). Why we annulled June 12 presidential election – General Ibrahim Babangida, The Vanguard Available at: https://www.vanguardngr.com/2013/06/why-we-annuled-june-12-presidential-election-general-ibrahim-babangida/ [Accessed 8 February 2019].

Asadu, C. (2019a, March 5). VON DG: Buhari has ended era of vote-buying. The Cable Available at: https://www.thecable.ng/von-dg-buhari-has-ended-era-of-vote-buying [Accessed on 12 March 2019]

Asadu, C. (2019b, January 21). INEC: Some politicians plotting to conspire with food vendors to buy votes. (2019b, January 21). The Cable Available at: https://www.thecable.ng/some-politicians-plotting-to-conspire-with-food-vendors-to-buy-votes [Accessed on 13 March 2019]

Bengtsson, M. (2016). How to plan and perform a qualitative study using content analysis NursingPlus Open 2(1), 8-14 DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.npls.2016.01.001

Bryman, A. (2008). Social research methods, Third edition, Oxford: Oxford University Press

Collier, P. (2010). Wars, guns, and votes: Democracy in dangerous places. London: Vintage Books.

Dada, P. (2016, November 26). Vote buying allegations trail Ondo election, The Punch Available at: http://www.punchng.com/vote-buying-allegations-trail-ondo-election/ [Accessed 3 February 2018].

Dollar rain at Port Harcourt PDP presidential primaries (2018, October 7). The Vanguard. https://www.vanguardngr.com/2018/10/dollar-rains-at-port-harcourt-pdp-presidential-primaries-2018/ (Accessed on 2 February 2019)

Egbo, O; Nwakoby, I; Onwumere, J and Uche, C. (2012). Security votes in Nigeria: disguising stealing from the public purse, African Affairs, 111(445): 597–614.

Ejembi, R. (2019, January 29). 2019: Voting buying, leading risk factor – CLEEN Foundation The Sun Available at: https://www.sunnewsonline.com/2019-voting-buying-leading-risk-factor-cleen-foundation/ [Accessed on 12 March 2019]

Etzioni-Halevy, E. (1989). Exchange material benefits for political support: A comparative analysis. In Heidenheimer, A., Johnston, M., & LeVine, V. T. (Eds.), Political corruption: A handbook (pp. 287-304). New Jersey: Transaction Publishers.

Gbadamosi, H. (2019, March 9). Large turnout, votes buying, snatching of electoral materials in Ondo House of Assembly election, Tribune Available at: https://www.tribuneonlineng.com/195217/ [Accessed on 22 March 2019]

How “vote buying” is new rigging method – Observer group (2018a, August 1). News Agency of Nigeria. Available at https://www.nan.ng/news/how-vote-buying-is-new-rigging-method-observer-group/ [Accessed on 3 March 2019]

International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (2017). The global state of democracy 2017 exploring democracy’s resilience Stockholm, Sweden. Available at: https://www.idea.int/gsod/files/IDEA-GSOD-2017-CHAPTER-5-EN.pdf [Accessed on 3 March 2019]

Kazeem, Y. (2018, June 25). Nigeria has become the poverty capital of the world Quartz Africa Available at: https://qz.com/africa/1313380/nigerias-has-the-highest-rate-of-extreme-poverty-globally/ [Accessed on 19 March 2019]

Matenga, G. (2016). Cash for votes: political legitimacy in Nigeria. Available at: https://www.opendemocracy.net/gram-matenga/cash-for-votes-political-legitimacy-in-nigeria [Accessed 14 July 2018]

Nwankwo, C. F. (2018). Vote buying in the 2018 governorship election in Ekiti State, Nigeria. Open Political Science, 1(1), 93-97.

Nwankwo, C. F., Okafor, P. U., & Asuoha, G. C. (2017). Principal component analysis of factors determining voter abstention in south eastern Nigeria. Journal of Pan African Studies, 10(3), 249-273.

Ojo, E. O. (2008). Vote buying in Nigeria. Money and politics in Nigeria. Abuja: IFES-Nigeria, 109-122.

Osauzo, T. (2018, September 14). 2019: Lamido charges PDP members not to give in to APC ‘antics’. The Sun. Available at: https://www.sunnewsonline.com/%e2%80%8e-2019-lamido-charges-pdp-members-not-to-give-in-to-apc-antics/ [Accessed on 13 March 2019]

Osuyi, P. (2018, October 4). My opponent induced delegates with $800,000, rice and chicken – Mrakpor. The Sun Available at: https://www.sunnewsonline.com/mrakpor-opponent-induced-delegates-with-800000-rice-chicken/ [Accessed on 13 March 2019]

Page, M. (2018). Camouflaged cash: how ‘security votes’ fuel corruption in Nigeria. London: Transparency International.

Schaffer, F. C. (2002). What is vote buying? Paper prepared for presentation at International Conference on “Trading political rights: the comparative politics of vote buying,” Centre for International Studies, MIT, Cambridge.

Schaffer, F. C. (2007). Elections for sale: the causes and consequences of vote buying. London: Lynne Rienner.

Shibayan, D. (2018a, January 10). Saraki: We must block politicians from buying PVCs ahead of polls The Cable. Available at: https://www.thecable.ng/saraki-we-must-block-politicians-from-buying-pvcs-ahead-of-polls [Accessed on 13 March 2019]

Shibayan, D. (2018b, December 10). Dogara describes FG’s cash disbursement as highest form of corruption. The Cable Available at: https://www.thecable.ng/dogara-describes-fgs-cash-disbursement-as-highest-form-of-corruption [Accessed on 14 March 2019]

Shibayan, D. (2018c, November 10). ‘You’re attacking petty traders’ — Laolu Akande responds to TraderMoni criticism. The Cable. Available at: https://www.thecable.ng/tradermoni-nigerians-not-for-sale-says-laolu-akande-on-claim-of-bribing-voters [Accessed on 13 March 2019]

Shibayan, D. (2019, January 9). Buhari: We won’t share money from treasury to voters. The Cable. Available at: https://www.thecable.ng/buhari-we-wont-share-money-from-treasury-to-voters [Accessed on 13 March 2019]

The Electoral Act 2010 (as amended), Available at: https://nass.gov.ng/document/download/5804 [Accessed 4 January 2019].

Tuface, MI, Chidinma release song against vote-buying (2019, February 1). News Agency of Nigeria. Available at: https://www.nan.ng/politics/tuface-mi-chidinma-release-song-against-vote-buying/ [Accessed on 13 March 2019]

Ugbede, L. (2018, September 7). OsunDecides: INEC vows to tackle vote buying Premium Times Available at: https://www.premiumtimesng.com/news/top-news/282867-osundecides-inec-vows-to-tackle-vote-buying.html [Accessed on 12 March 2019]

Vote Buying: Buhari raises alarm over huge dollars in circulation (2019, February 21). Premium Times. Available at: https://www.premiumtimesng.com/news/top-news/314392-vote-buying-buhari-raises-alarm-over-huge-dollars-in-circulation.html [Accessed on 3 March 2019]

Vote buying: Police arrest 2 PDP agents with cash (2018b, September 22). News Agency of Nigeria. Available at: https://www.nan.ng/news/vote-buying-police-arrest-2-pdp-agents-with-cash/ [Accessed on 13 March 2019]

Vote-buying threat to democracy – ANRP (2019, February 21). PM News Available at: https://www.pmnewsnigeria.com/2018/07/16/vote-buying-threat-to-democracy-anrp/ [Retrieved 16 July 2018].

World Poverty Clock (2018). The percentage of Nigerians living in extreme poverty could increase by 2030. Available at: https://worldpoverty.io/blog/index.php?r=12 [Accessed on 22 March 2019]




DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3968/11392

Refbacks

  • There are currently no refbacks.


Copyright (c) 2019 Canadian Social Science

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Reminder

  • How to do online submission to another Journal?
  • If you have already registered in Journal A, then how can you submit another article to Journal B? It takes two steps to make it happen:

1. Register yourself in Journal B as an Author

  • Find the journal you want to submit to in CATEGORIES, click on “VIEW JOURNAL”, “Online Submissions”, “GO TO LOGIN” and “Edit My Profile”. Check “Author” on the “Edit Profile” page, then “Save”.

2. Submission

Online Submission: http://cscanada.org/index.php/css/submission/wizard

  • Go to “User Home”, and click on “Author” under the name of Journal B. You may start a New Submission by clicking on “CLICK HERE”.
  • We only use four mailboxes as follows to deal with issues about paper acceptance, payment and submission of electronic versions of our journals to databases: caooc@hotmail.com; office@cscanada.net; ccc@cscanada.net; ccc@cscanada.org

 Articles published in Canadian Social Science are licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 (CC-BY).

 

Canadian Social Science Editorial Office

Address: 1020 Bouvier Street, Suite 400, Quebec City, Quebec, G2K 0K9, Canada.
Telephone: 1-514-558 6138 
Website: Http://www.cscanada.net; Http://www.cscanada.org 
E-mail:caooc@hotmail.com; office@cscanada.net

Copyright © Canadian Academy of Oriental and Occidental Culture