From history, it is easy to find reports on early Nigerian elections which reflected some high degree of crudity which were enough to convince everyone that even those declared as winners were themselves not persuaded that they went through what looked like an election. In those days, politicians won elections by pouring acid into the ballot boxes of their opponents because at that time everyone had his own ballot box. At other times, some candidates were returned unopposed because their thugs had kidnapped all available opponents that were released only after winners had been declared. It was therefore not surprising that many Nigerians did not believe in their country’s elections. We had imagined that with time, such weird incidents would naturally disappear to make it possible for the country to conduct credible elections. But then, faith in our elections till today has remained weak.
The belief that the main problem of Nigeria’s election is located within its successive electoral bodies was also popular for long but it is also becoming clear that the belief is simplistic. This is because many other elections organized by ordinary groups and associations have also failed. During the administration of President Goodluck Jonathan, a rift ensued within the powerful Nigerian Governors’ Forum NGF which had 36 members only. The government of the day sided with one of the two groups that wanted to lead the NGF. At the end of the election, one candidate had 16 votes and the other had 19 while one member declined to vote. The government openly recognised the faction that had 16 votes establishing beyond reasonable doubt that even at the level of government, belief in elections was not a straight forward business. It was not about who scored the majority of votes, it was instead about whom the government preferred and was willing to relate with.
