Election in Nigeria 2011

Election in Nigeria (case study of 2011 election)

In the Quest of finding a leader who was to be chosen by the people he or she is going to rule, some countries may have arrived at a perfect democratic nation while others are still in search of a democratic nation. Nigeria as we know has had a very long and painful search for democracy. To have a democratic nation there has to be an electoral body to conduct the election, in the case of Nigeria INEC (Independent National Electoral Commission) is the electoral body. Election in Nigeria for a long time has been mess. Before I go into the recent election in Nigeria which took place on 12th June, I would like to give a little bit of history of election or let’s say politics in Nigeria.

Nigeria gained her Independence in 1960 and in 1963 became a republic with an appointed prime minster. In 1966 a military coup took place took the life of the prime minster and the government was over thrown. This brought about tension in the ethnic groups in Nigeria which later lead to the civil war that ended in 1970. After this there were series of military coup that took place and so the military were in charge of the country for that long period of time. In 1993 the first election ever to be held in Nigeria took place and a winner emerged but because of complications I can’t explain here the military remained in charge until 1998 when the head of state died and that was the beginning of democracy in Nigeria. But things have not gone smoothly according to plan. Since the election in 1999 there has been election violence, false result announcement, untimely distribution of election materials which have lead to stealing of ballot box and ballot paper and others.

As we have seen the long and painful road that Nigeria has been in to find democracy I hold the 2011 election to be the most free and fair election ever to be conducted in Nigeria. Though some people may disagree with this saying that the 1993 election which was the first election in Nigeria was the best. Though I was barely 6 months old by time of the election in 1993, I would safely stand by my judgment that 2011 election was better than any other election held in Nigeria. I believe this to be true because of all the modifications made on the electoral process and the qualification of the man that lead INEC to the election.

Speaking of modifications made to our electoral process, it was there for everybody to see. The new INEC was inaugurated on the 30th of June 2011. The INEC commenced work with commitment to obey the rules and impartiality, non-partisanship, creation of a level playing field for all political parties /contestants and openness/accessibility. The new electoral body opted to change the old voters register they inherited. A credible voter’s register is a necessary requirement for credible election. INEC opted to use a biometric data capture using laptop based DDCM.