THE EFFECTIVENESS OF THE CARD READER IN ITS ADMINISTRATION DURING THE 2015 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION
CHAPTER ONE
1.1 BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY
For every democratic state there is a need to elect leaders that would guide and control the affairs of every state. Every democratic state must possess some distinctive yardsticks that differentiates them from other undemocratic states. Each democratic state elect their leaders through free and fair elections, the concepts of democracy and elections are interwoven together.
According to Osabiya (2014) he listed the preconditions of democracy which are;
(1) Universal adult suffrage,
(2) Periodic, free, competitive and fair elections,
(3) Existence of more than one party,
(4) Existence of alternative and accessible sources of information,
(5) Existence of the means of adjudication.
The definition of democracy has continued to defy all attempted propositions of common understanding. In Idike (2013) he conceived democracy as a political system in which the people in a country rule through any form of government they choose to establish. In modern democracies, supreme authority is exercised for the most part, by representatives elected by popular suffrage (Osakwe, 2011:1). Hence, democracy is rule by the people. Although the conception people have about democracy is the rule by those who are elected into office but it is essentially the rule by the people because the elected representatives bear the wishes and wills of the people.
For Awotokun (2004) he conceived democracy as a set of institutions (among them especially general elections, i.e., the right of the people to dismiss their government) which permits public control of rulers and their dismissal by the ruled, and which make it possible for the ruled to obtain reforms without using violence, even against the will of the rulers (Awotokun, 2004:131). He does not see democracy as the rule of the people or the rule of the majority.
Nigeria as a state satisfies these features of democracy, periodic elections are conducted every four years by an Independent National Electoral Commission which qualifies Nigeria to be a democratic state. Elections conducted in Nigeria have often been associated with different forms of electoral vices which has marred the electoral integrity of the Nigerian state and the electoral body; the Independent National Electoral Commission, in charge of conducting elections.
Prequel to the 2015 general elections, elections conducted from the 1999 post-independence have been associated with electoral vices such as ballot box snatching, multiplicity of ballot thumb-printing, electoral rigging, voters intimidation, vote buying, underage voting, falsification of results and some malfeasances perpetrated by the electoral officials. Election is a constitutional activity that gives opportunity for people to elect those who will represent their interests when their physical presence is avertible. It is a legitimate means through which the citizens of a country choose their representatives in conformity with the dictates of modern democracy. Elections is fundamental to political life.
Elections are ways in which citizens of a particular society measure the performance of their leaders, leaders who performs poorly during governance are voted out of power through elections.
Mackenzie (1964) opines that elections are rituals of choice and that their binding character are derived from the participation of the individual. Allan Ball (1997) describes elections as the means by which the people choose and exercise some degree of control over their representatives. R. Dowse and J. Hughes (1972) defined elections as one of the type of social mechanism, amongst others, for aggregating preferences of a particular kind.
An election is a procedure recognized by the rules of an organization, state or club where all members choose a smaller number of persons to hold an office or offices of authority within an organization. Elections could also be defined as the means by which representatives are chosen to perform specialized tasks by and on behalf of wider persons.
The 2015 general elections especially the presidential elections was assumed to be different from the previous elections conducted thus far in Nigeria.
Between 2011 and 2015, Nigeria had gone through tough times; the escalation of Boko Harm insurgency in the North, high rate of unemployment, widespread corruption, fragmentation within the major parties and the misconduct of front line politicians through hate campaigns which put the most populous black nation on the spot light both locally and internationally. There were grave concerns over the conduct and possible outcome of the elections by concerned citizens and the international community.
The 2015 election was a competitive election which witnessed a lot of reformations surrounding it. The 2015 presidential elections which was scheduled for February 14th, 2015 was however postponed by the Independent National Electoral Commission by 6 weeks to March 28, 2015 due to the challenges of inadequate circulation of the Permanent Voters Card and the disruptive menace of the ongoing Boko-Haram insurgency in certain states in the North eastern part of Nigeria.
The presidential election was contested by 14 candidates from different political parties but the candidates of the PDP and APC were the major contenders. It witnessed the merging of four political parties to form the APC. They are; ACN, CPC, ANPP, APGA. The election was won by the presidential aspirant from APC; Muhammadu Buhari, who won Dr Goodluck Jonathan with 2.5 million votes. A major difference between the 2015 presidential elections and the previous elections conducted in Nigeria was the application of technology; the use of card reader machines and the introduction of Permanent Voters’ Card which adjudged the 2015 elections as the fairest election held in Nigeria.
The Independent National Electoral Commission is the institutionalized governmental body established through the instrumentality of the law to manage the nation’s electoral process.
According to Paragraph 15 of part 1 of the 3rd schedule to the 1999 constitution (as amended); INEC is mandated to organize, undertake and supervise all elections in Nigeria, conduct the registration of persons qualified to vote, prepare, maintain and revise the registration of votes for the purpose of any election (Policy and Legal Advocacy Centre 2015). It is also expected to carry out the functions conferred upon it by the virtue of the Electoral Act; 2010 (as amended).
THE EFFECTIVENESS OF THE CARD READER IN ITS ADMINISTRATION DURING THE 2015 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION
