Election Malpractice And Democratization In Nigeria’s Fourth Republic

The conduct of free and fair elections has become the yardstick for measuring the strength and credibility of a country’s democracy. The absence of free and fair elections has become an almost insurmountable obstacle to democratization in most African countries, especially in Nigeria. The history of the conduct of elections in the country is predominated with the prevalence of electoral misconducts and malpractices which has weakened the nerves of democratization and the country’s prospects for consolidation of her democratic institutions. In Nigeria’s fourth republic, the crisis of democratiz…