Nigeria’s 2023 Presidential Election And Negations Of The 2022 Electoral Act
Ochim Fidelis Ikaade, Nebeife Chigozie Joseph, Chinwuba Michael Emeka
Keywords: Electoral Act, BVAS, IReV, INEC, democracy
Abstract
Evidences prevail to contend that electoral administration play a vital role in ensuring the fairness, transparency and legitimacy of elections in democratic societies. The high premium placed on electoral administration is due to its capacity to engender electoral integrity which is foundational to the entrenchment of a credible electoral process. In this regard, this paper examines electoral administration and the electoral process of the Nigeria’s 2023 presidential election. The paper argues that the Nigerian Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), the body saddled with the responsibility of conducting general elections, introduced the use of Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) for the 2023 elections in order to curb electoral malpractices experienced in previous elections. However, the failure of INEC to stick to its own guidelines as it failed to post the results of the 2023 presidential election from the polling units on the INEC Result Viewing Portal (IReV) tends to undermine the integrity of the electoral process in the Nigeria’s 2023 presidential election. The paper’s findings established negation of the Electoral Act by INEC in the Nigeria’s 2023 presidential election. The paper concludes that negation of the Electoral Act by INEC is a worrisome trajectory that has detrimental impacts on the quality of Nigerian electoral process. The paper recommends that there is need for increased transparency and accountability by INEC, as well as better collaboration between INEC and civil society organizations in order to ensure credible electoral process that will reflect the will of the Nigerian people.
Author Biography
Ochim, Fidelis Ikaade
Department of Political Science,
Federal University of Lafia, Nasarawa State, Nigeria
e-mail:ochimfidelis@yahoo.com
Nebeife, Chigozie Joseph
Department of Political Science,
Federal University Wukari, Taraba State
e-mail:cjnebeife@gmail.com
Chinwuba Michael Emeka
Federal university Wukari Taraba State