impact of electoral fraud in nigeria

8/4/2019 Impact of Electoral Fraud in Nigeria

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THE IMPACT OF ELECTORAL FRAUD ON NATIONAL SECURITY]

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SULEIMAN MOHAMMED JAMIU

The Impact of

Electoral Fraud onNational Security

METHODS IN SOCIAL SCIENCE RESEARCH


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Abstract

Elections in Nigeria are widely believed to be fraudulent in various ways,

a claim some support especially by looking at voter turnout, voter

registration and in extension post-election conflicts.

Nigeria since independence fifty years on has witnessed elections of

different forms which have always been characterized by electoral

fraud as observed by both local and international analysts. These

electoral frauds have often led to one form of conflict or the other

leading to insecurity in the nation.

This study is expected to address the major causes of electoral fraud, its

effect on national security and how to curb such.


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Introduction

Background of the study

In the fifty years of Nigeria as a nation, the dominant political system has

not been democracy. Owing to various reasons and failures on the part

of all stakeholders in the Nigerian project, attempts at enthroning and

sustaining democratic political system in the country have only lasted for

short periods of time. In addressing the challenge to the survival of

democracy in Nigeria, it is pertinent to consider security issues and

problems that have affected or capable of affecting the attitude,

confidence and cooperation of all groups and segments that makes up

the Nigerian federation. It is also necessary to explore the gaps and grey

areas in the national constitution that are responsible for various

problems and crises and how these gaps can be addressed. Some of

the major security problems currently confronting the nation have been

identified to include: political and electioneering conflicts, socio-

economic agitations, ethno-religious crises, ethnic militias, boundary

disputes, cultism, criminality and organised crimes. For the better part of

the fifty years of Nigeria as a nation, the country was under military

administration resulting from military takeover of the democratic and


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constitutional structures of the state. The military takeovers are security

breaches resulting from a wide range of reasons, sometimes a

culmination of a number of security and political developments. The

security, political and sometimes socio-economic developments are

security concerns that were not addressed or managed by the existing

state structure at the time.

Electoral fraud poses a major challenge to democracy in Nigeria and

by implication, poses threat to the security of the nation.

Electoral fraud is illegal interference with the process of an election

either consciously or unconsciously. In Nigeria elections have been

characterised by one form of electoral fraud or the other which have

led to one form of conflict or the other too.


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Statement of Problem

It is no longer news that electoral fraud is ravaging democracies of

mostly third world countries. Violence erupts following electoral fraud

and people are dying every day due to this. In Africa it has become all

the more worrisome because due to poverty and illiteracy among

others the crisis continues to deepen and thus having a devastating

effect on the continent.

Looking at this, there is particularly the need to understand why

electoral fraud is becoming widespread in Nigeria especially among the

elite. In addition what effect does it have on National security? Lastly

and importantly too, is the above not a threat to the nations interest

and by extrapolation her security.


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Aims and Objectives of study

The objectives are categirised into the general and specific objectives.

The general objective is aimed at appraising the forms of electoral

frauds in Nigeria from independence, while the specific objectives are

as follows;

a.Examine the electoral fraud associated with different governmentsin Nigeria and how they came to power.

b.Provide an understanding to why electoral frauds shape thesocieties of most third world countries.

c.Evaluate the impact of post-election violence on the nationd.Appraise the impact of electoral fraud on national security.


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Significance of study

This study is particularly significant in view of the need for both

understanding and curbing of the increasing rise in electoral fraud and

violence in Nigeria and its effect on national security. The significance of

this study can also be seen as contributing to the development of

knowledge within the scholarship of strategic studies.


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Research questions

1. Why are electoral frauds common in third world countries?2. What impact would it have on national security?3. Would we say that electoral fraud is part of politics?4. Lastly and importantly, how do we put an end to electoral fraud in

Nigeria?


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Theoretical framework

While it could be stated that there are different perspectives of viewing

the electoral process, either from a group, game or power perspectives

among others. The study through the use of the classical elite theory

unfolds the machinations and manipulations of political parties by the

elites. This theory is based on two ideas:

1. Power lies in position of authority in key economic and politicalinstitutions

2. The psychological difference that sets Elites apart is that they havepersonal resources, for instance intelligence and skills, and a

vested interest in the government; while the rest are incompetent

and do not have the capabilities of governing themselves; the elite

are resourceful and will strive to make the government to work. For

in reality, the elite have the most to lose in a failed government.

The major proponents of this theory include Vilfredo Pareto, Gaetano

Mosca, Robert Michels, C. Wright Mills and Floyd Hunter.


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Vilfredo Pareto

Pareto emphasized the psychological and intellectual superiority that

the Elites obtained, he believed that the elites were the highest

accomplishers in any field and he discussed how there were two types

of Elites

1. governing elites2. non-governing elites

He also extended on the idea that a whole elite can be replaced by a

new one and how one can circulate from being elite to nonelite.

Gaetano Mosca

Mosca emphasized the sociological and personal characteristics of

elites. He said elites are an organized minority and that the masses are

an unorganized majority. The ruling class is composed of the ruling elite

and the sub-elites. He divides the world into two groups:

1. ruling class2. class that is ruled

Mosca asserts that elites have intellectual, moral, and material

superiority that is highly esteemed and influential.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vilfredo_Paretohttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaetano_Moscahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaetano_Moscahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vilfredo_Pareto


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Robert Michels

Sociologist Michels developed the Iron Law of Oligarchy where, he

asserts, social and political organizations are run by few individuals, and

social organization and labor division are key. He believed that all

organizations were elitist and that elites have three basic principles that

help in the bureaucratic structure of political organization:

1. Need for leaders, specialized staff and facilities2. Utilization of facilities by leaders within their organization3. The importance of the psychological attributes of the leaders

C. Wright Mills

Mills published his bookThe Power Elite in 1956, claiming a new

sociological perspective on systems of power in the United States. He

identified a triumvirate of power groups - political, economic and

military - which form a distinguishable, although not unified, power-

wielding body in the United States.

Mills proposed that this group had been generated through a process of

rationalization at work in all advanced industrial societies whereby the

mechanisms of power became concentrated, funneling overall control
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into the hands of a limited, somewhat corrupt group. This reflected a

decline in politics as an arena for debate and relegation to a merely

formal level of discourse. This macro-scale analysis sought to point out

the degradation of democracy in "advanced" societies and the fact

that power generally lies outside the boundaries of elected

representatives. A main influence for the study was Franz Leopold

Neumann's book, Behemoth: The Structure and Practice of National

Socialism, 1933-1944, a study of how Nazism came to power in the

German democratic state. It provided the tools to analyze the structure

of a political system and served as a warning of what could happen in a

modern capitalistic democracy.

Floyd Hunter

The elite theory analysis of power was also applied on the micro scale in

community power studies such as that by Floyd Hunter(1953). Hunter

examined in detail the power relationships evident in his "Regional City"

looking for the "real" holders of power rather than those in obvious

official positions. He posited a structural-functional approach which

mapped the hierarchies and webs of interconnection operating within

the citymapping relationships of power between businessmen,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franz_Leopold_Neumannhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franz_Leopold_Neumannhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Floyd_Hunter&action=edit&redlink=1http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Structural-functionalismhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Structural-functionalismhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Floyd_Hunter&action=edit&redlink=1http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franz_Leopold_Neumannhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franz_Leopold_Neumann


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politicians, clergy etc. The study was promoted to debunk current

concepts of any democracy present within urban politics and reaffirm

the arguments for a true representative democracy.

This type of analysis was also used in later, larger scale, studies such as

that carried out by M. Schwartz examining the power structures within

the sphere of the corporate elite in the USA.

G. William Domhoff

In his controversial bookWho Rules America?, G. William Domhoff

researched local and national decision making process networks in

order to illustrate the power structure in the United States. He asserts,

much like Hunter, that an elite class that owns and manages large

income-producing properties (like banks and corporations) dominate

the American power structure politically and economically.

James Burnham

Burnhamsearly work The Managerial Revolution sought to express the

movement of all functional power into the hands of managers rather

than politicians or businessmenseparating ownership and control.

Many of these ideas were adapted by paleo conservatives Samuel T.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Representative_democracyhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Who_Rules_America%3Fhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G._William_Domhoffhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Burnhamhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Burnhamhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Principal-agent_problemhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paleoconservativeshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuel_T._Francishttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuel_T._Francishttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paleoconservativeshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Principal-agent_problemhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Burnhamhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G._William_Domhoffhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Who_Rules_America%3Fhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Representative_democracy


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Francis and Paul Gottfried in their theories of the managerial state.

Burnham's thoughts on Elite Theory were elucidated more specifically in

his book The Machiavellians which discusses the thoughts of, among

others, Pareto, Mosca, and Michels; it is here that Burnham attempts a

scientific analysis of both elites and politics generally.

Robert D. Putnam

Putnam saw the development of technical and exclusive knowledge

among administrators and other specialist groups as a mechanism by

which power is stripped from the democratic process and slipped

sideways to the advisors and specialists influencing the decision making

process.

"If the dominant figures of the past hundred years have been the

entrepreneur, the businessman, and the industrial executive, the new

men are the scientists, the mathematicians, the economists, and the

engineers of the new intellectual technology."(Putnam, Robert D.(1976)).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuel_T._Francishttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuel_T._Francishttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuel_T._Francishttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuel_T._Francishttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuel_T._Francishttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Gottfriedhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Managerial_statehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Putnamhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democratic_processhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decision_makinghttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decision_makinghttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decision_makinghttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decision_makinghttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democratic_processhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Putnamhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Managerial_statehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Gottfriedhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuel_T._Francis


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Thomas R. Dye

Dye in his book Top Down Policymaking, argues that U.S. public policy

does not result from the "demands of the people," but rather from Elite

consensus found in Washington, D.C. based non-profit foundations, think

tanks, special-interest groups, and prominent lobbyists and law firms.

Dye's thesis is further expanded upon in his works: The Irony of

Democracy, Politics in America, Understanding Public Policy, and Who's

Running America?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_R._Dyehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_policyhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elitismhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elitismhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elitismhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elitismhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_policyhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_R._Dye


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Scope and Limitations of the study

Though this study is to appraise the 2011 general election, a lot has to be

said about previous elections in Nigeria. This study is different from other

studies because it is one of the most current events in the country and its

appraisal will continue for a long time.

Like some studies, this research is constrained by mostly time. The

information was mostly gotten from the mass media as no books or

publications have been written or published on this research yet.

However, these limitations do not adversely affect the major findings of

this research.


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Methodology

For the success of this study, only one form of data collection was used.

This form of data collection known as the secondary method includes

the use of textbooks, magazines, internet, newspapers, journals and

documents collected from Independent national electoral commission

(INEC) and other agencies.


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Theoretical overview

Electoral Fraud

Electoral fraud desecrates the sanctity of democracy and weakens its

capacity as an instrument for the mobilisation of national, human and

material resources for the development of the people and the state

(Goodluck Jonathan 2011).

Electoral fraud poses a major challenge to democracy in Nigeria and

by implication, poses threat to the security of the nation.

If the government had allowed insecurity to prevail, it will be obvious

that it will undermine the integrity and credibility of the democratic

process and make life more difficult. The anger and frustration would

attain a worsening dimension due to the absence of proper and just

means of seeking redress. People will resort to violence and the

consequences of increased violence will be proportionate with the


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events that led to the collapse of the First Republic.

Given this conceptualization, it is not surprising that scholars usually

argue that the incidence of electoral fraud, which comes in the form of

political violence, vote-buying, influence, and various forms of

procedural vote rigging (Lehoucq 2003), is the product of political

actors efforts to tilt the electoral playingfield in their direction,

thereby aiming to reduce the

indeterminacy of elections. Electoral fraud violates what Dahl (1971)

defines as the two main criteria of democratic elections, fair (i.e.,

equal rights to have votes counted equally) and free (not subject to

intimidation, bribery, etc.) For amore thorough elaboration of the myriad

of issues at stake with these two criteria (free and fair) elections,

(Thompson 2002). There are several variants of this argument. In one

view, the more competitive elections are, the more likely electoral fraud

since the electoral stakes are higher for all participants (Lehoucq and

Molina 1999, 2002). In another important account, the relationship is not

so direct although the causal logic is similar: in some instances politicians

will commit election fraud even when elections are not close to

discourage future electoral competition (Simpser 2005). Finally, a third

perspective is that the relationship between electoral competition and


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electoral fraud is mediated by electoral institutions (Birch 2007; Chang

and Golden 2007; Hicken 2007). This research has found, for example,

that electoral manipulation ismore likely in majoritarian or plural single-

member systems than in proportional systems. It is correct to argue that

partisan motivations are present in fights over the outcomes of elections.

An explanation of electoral fraud that remains silent on the structural

conditions underpinning it, as well as the precise causal pathways

leading to fraud, is incomplete. Such an account fails to address who

the perpetrators of fraud actually are, how they overcome complex

collective

action problems entailed in committing fraud, and what actions they

deploy.

Thus, in addition to being attentive to how the strategic environment set

by elite competition and partisanship affect actors preferences, it is

crucial to highlight the societal contexts in which elite actors and

political institutions operate that may determine the capacity of elites to

carry out electoral fraud, one powerful mechanism of limiting

uncertainty over electoral outcomes (Alexander2002).

This position is attested to by recent social unrests in various African

countries that have roots in the failure of government policies to provide


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or manage the basic human needs of their citizens.

So, if electoral fraud is a serious challenge to the security of a nation, the

steps taken by President Jonathan so far are in the right direction.

Kidnapping is no longer attractive as government has continued to

match its promises with actions. In the Niger Delta and the South Eastern

part of Nigeria were the crime was prevalent, peace has returned and

everybody, whether foreign nationals or Nigerians are free to go about

their lawful duties without any form of harassment.

The crisis in Jos, Plateau State has been brought under control. The few

cases of attacks experienced these days are pockets of criminal

attacks. The ethnic dimension the crisis almost took at a time it started

has abated. There was also the spate of bomb blasts across the nation,

which most analysts attributed to those who are bent on frustrating the

good works of Jonathan. Thank God, the security agencies have since

arrested the trend. This all goes to show that the Jonathan administration

has done well, security-wise.


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Causes of Electoral Fraud

Electoral fraud which has been defined as the illegal interference with

the process of an election in order to affect the result of an election

has been an on-going thorny issue with respect to various political

campaigns for presidency and other offices in the federal and state

government thereby creating conflict in the democratic system.

Electoral fraud is not limited to political polls and can happen in any

election where the potential gain is worth the risk for the cheat; as in

elections for labour union officials, student councils, sports judging, and

the awarding of merit to books, films, music and television programmes.

Types of Electoral Fraud

The two main types of electoral fraud are: preventing eligible voters

from casting their vote freely (or voting at all) and altering the results.


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Though also called voter registration, intimidation at polls, improper vote

counting amidst several others.

These acts of fraud affect vote counts to bring about an election result,

whether by increasing the vote share of the favoured candidate,

depressing the vote share of the rival candidates or both.

Electoral fraud varies from country to country. Many kinds of voters

fraud are outlawed in electoral legislation but others are in violation of

general laws such as those banning assault, harassment or libel.

Although technically, the term electoral fraud covers only those acts

which are illegal, the term is sometimes used to describe acts which are

illegal, the term is sometimes used to describe acts which although

legal, are considered to be morally unacceptable, outside the spirit of

electoral laws or in violation of the principles of democracy. Elections, in

which only one candidate can win, are sometimes considered to be

electoral fraud although they may comply with the law.

In national elections, successful electoral fraud can have the effect of a

coup dtat or corruption of democracy because it may change the

result in favour of the losing candidate. Likewise in a narrow election, a

small amount of fraud may be enough to change the result. In a


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situation where the result is not affected it can still have a damaging

effect on the body polity because if it goes unpunished, it can reduce

voters confidence in the democratic process. Surprisingly, even the

perception of fraud can be damaging as it makes people less inclined

to accept election results, this can in turn lead to a breakdown of

democracy and the establishment of a dictatorship.

Methods of electoral fraud

Electorate manipulation

Most electoral fraud takes place during or immediately after election

campaigns, by interfering with the voting process or the counting of

votes. However it can also occur far in advance, by altering the

composition of the electorate. In many cases this is not illegal and thus

technically not electoral fraud, although it is sometimes considered to

be a violation of principles of democracy.

Gerrymandering

This is the drawing of electorate boundaries in order to produce a

particular result. Typically, electorates will be organized so that one

group of people (for example poor people or a particular ethnic or

religious group) is concentrated into a small number of electorates. This

means that parties favoured by that group will win by a large majority in


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those electorates, but lose more narrowly in a larger number of

electorates. This may result in one party gaining the most votes overall

but still losing the election. Gerrymandering is most common under

plurality voting systems, in which the winner must win the most

electorates rather than the most votes overall.

In many cases gerrymandering occurs within, or is the result of, electoral

law. However it may sometimes take the form of true electoral fraud, for

example if laws governing the drawing of electoral boundaries are

broken, or officials are bribed or otherwise coerced into altering

boundaries in a way which favours a particular group.

Manipulation of demography

In many cases it is possible for authorities to artificially control the

composition of an electorate in order to produce a foregone result. One

way of doing this is to move a large number of voters into the electorate

prior to an election, for example by temporarily assigning them land or

lodging them in flophouses. Many countries prevent this with rules

stipulating that a voter must have lived in an electorate for a minimum

period (for example, six months) in order to be eligible to vote there.

However, such laws can themselves be used for demographic

manipulation as they tend to disenfranchise those with no fixed address,


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such as the homeless, travellers, students (studying full time away from

home) and some casual workers.

Another strategy is to permanently move people into an electorate,

usually through public housing. If people eligible for public housing are

likely to vote for a particular party, then they can either be

concentrated into one electorate, thus making their votes count for less,

or moved into marginal electorates, where they may tip the balance

towards their preferred party. One notable example of this occurred in

the City of Westminster under Shirley Porter. In this case the electoral

fraud relied on gaming the United Kingdom's first past the post electoral

system, as in such a system it does not matter how much a party wins or

loses by. The fraudsters calculated which wards they had no hope of

winning, which they were sure of winning and which wards were

marginal. By manipulating Westminster Council's public housing stock

the fraudsters were able to move voters more likely to vote for their

electoral enemies from marginal wards to the wards that they were

going to lose anyway. In the ensuing elections the opposition could only

win their safe seats with the small Conservative leads in the marginal

wards being enough for them to win these wards, and therefore

maintain their majority position and control of the council. In her


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defence Porter raised the history of the provision of public housing in

London and the context of Herbert Morrison's boast to "...build the

Conservatives out of London" by building new public housing in

marginal Conservative seats.

Immigration law may also be used to manipulate electoral

demography. An example of this happened in Malaysia when

immigrants from neighbouring Philippines and Indonesia were given

citizenship together with voting rights in order for a political party to

"dominate" the state of Sabah in a controversial process referred to as

Project IC.

A method of manipulating primary contests and other elections of party

leaders is related to this. People who support one party may temporarily

join another party in order to help elect a weak candidate for that

party's leadership, in the hope that they will be defeated by the leader

of the party that they secretly support.

Disenfranchisement

The composition of an electorate may also be altered by

disenfranchising some types of people, rendering them unable to vote.

In some cases this may be done at a legislative level, for example by

passing a law banning convicted felons, recent immigrants or members


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of a particular ethnic or religious group from voting, or by instituting a

literacy or other test which members of some groups are more likely to

fail. Since this is done by lawmakers, it cannot be election fraud, but

may subvert the purposes of democracy. This is especially so if members

of the disenfranchised group were particularly likely to vote a certain

way.

In some cases voters may be invalidly disenfranchised, which is true

electoral fraud. For example a legitimate voter may be 'accidentally'

removed from the electoral roll, making it difficult or impossible for them

to vote. Corrupt election officials may misuse voting regulations such as

a literacy test or requirement for proof of identity or address in such a

way as to make it difficult or impossible for their targets to cast a vote.

Groups may also be disenfranchised by rules which make it impractical

or impossible for them to cast a vote. For example, requiring people to

vote within their electorate may disenfranchise serving military

personnel, prison inmates, students, hospital patients or anyone else who

cannot return to their homes. Polling can be set for inconvenient days

such as midweek or on Holy Days (example: Sabbath or other holy days

of a religious group whose teachings determine that voting is a

prohibited on such a day) in order to make voting difficult for those


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studying or working away from home. Communities may also be

effectively disenfranchised if polling places are not provided within

reasonable proximity (rural communities are especially vulnerable to

this) or situated in areas perceived by some voters as unsafe.

Intimidation

Voter intimidation involves putting undue pressure on a voter or group of

voters so that they will vote a particular way, or not at all. Absentee and

other remote voting can be more open to some forms of intimidation as

the voter does not have the protection and privacy of the polling

location. Intimidation can take a range of forms.

Violence or the threat of violence: In its simplest form, voters from a

particular demographic or known to support a particular party or

candidate are directly threatened by supporters of another party or

candidate or those hired by them. In other cases supporters of a

particular party make it known that if a particular village or

neighbourhood is found to have voted the 'wrong' way, reprisals will be

made against that community. Another method is to make a general

threat of violence, for example a bomb threat in Niger state which has


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the effect of closing a particular polling place, thus making it difficult for

people in that area to vote.

Attacks on polling places: Polling places in an area known to support a

particular party or candidate may be targeted for vandalism,

destruction or threats, thus making it difficult or impossible for people in

that area to vote.

Legal threats: In this case voters will be made to believe, accurately or

otherwise, that they are not legally entitled to vote, or that they are

legally obliged to vote a particular way. Voters who are not confident

about their entitlement to vote may also be intimidated by real or

implied authority figures who suggest that those who vote when they

are not entitled to will be imprisoned, deported or otherwise punished.

Economic threats: In company towns in which one company employs

most of the working population, the company may threaten workers

with disciplinary action if they do not vote the way their employer

dictates. One method of doing this is the 'shoe polish method'. This

method entails coating the voting machine's lever or button of the

opposing candidate(s) with shoe polish. This method works when an

employee of a company that orders him to vote a certain way votes

contrary to those orders. After the voter exits the voting booth, a


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conspirator to the fraud (a precinct captain or other local person in

collusion with the employee's management) handshakes the voter. The

conspirator, then, subtly checks the voter's hands for any shoe polish or

notes. If the conspirator finds shoe polish or notes in the voter's hands,

then that unfortunate voter gets fired or faces other unpleasant

consequences.

Vote buying

The most famous episodes of vote buying came in 18th century

England, when two or more rich aristocrats spent whatever money it

took to win. The notorious "Spendthrift election" came in

Northamptonshire in 1768, when three earls spent over100,000 each to

win a seat.

Voters may be given money or other rewards for voting in a particular

way, or not voting. In some jurisdictions, the offer or giving of other

rewards is referred to as "electoral treating". In Mexico, Queensland and

several other places, voters willing to sell their vote are asked to take a

picture of their ballot with a cell phone camera to validate their

payment. Vote buying may also be done indirectly, for example by

paying clergymen to tell their parishioners to vote for a particular party

or candidate. Vote buying is generally avoided by not providing a


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"receipt" for the counted vote, even if it's technically possible to do so.

Considering the level of poverty in the country, vote buying was

prominent in Nigeria where people were willing to sell their voting rights

for money. With the advent of closed ballot system though, voters are

now free to collect money from Mr A and eventually vote for Mr B.

Misinformation

People may distribute false or misleading information in order to affect

the outcome of the election. Most commonly, smear campaigns (the

circulation of false rumours) are made against a particular candidate or

party. An example was the rumours spread via text messages by

opposition that Rochas Okorocha of APGA was disqualified from voting

by INEC. Smear campaigns are not necessarily illegal and can therefore

not always be considered election fraud. However in some countries

smear campaigns may violate libel or slander laws and in others, as the

Philippines, such campaigns are specifically illegal.

Another way in which misinformation can be used in voter fraud is to

give voters incorrect information about the time or place of polling, thus

causing them to miss their chance to vote.

Misleading or confusing ballot papers


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Ballot papers may be used to discourage votes for a particular party or

candidate, using design or other features which confuse voters into

voting for a different candidate. For example, in the United States

presidential election, 2000, Florida's butterfly ballot paper was criticised

as confusing some voters into giving their vote to the wrong candidate.

Ironically, however, the ballot was designed by a Democrat, the party

most harmed by this design. Poor or misleading design is not usually

illegal and therefore not technically election fraud, but can subvert the

principles of democracy.

Another method of confusing people into voting for the wrong

candidate is to run candidates or create political parties with similar

names or symbols as an existing candidate or party. The aim is that

enough voters will be misled into voting for the false candidate or party

to influence the results. Such tactics may be particularly effective when

a large proportion of voters have limited literacy in the language used

on the ballot paper. Again, such tactics are usually not illegal but often

work against the principles of democracy.

Ballot stuffing

Ballot stuffing is the most common form of electoral fraud used in

Nigeria, it occurs when a person casts more votes than they are entitled


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to. In its simplest form, ballot stuffing literally involves 'stuffing' multiple

ballot papers into the ballot box. Another method is for voters to cast

votes at multiple booths, on each occasion claiming that it is their only

vote. In some countries such as Nigeria, India, El Salvador, Namibia or

Afghanistan voters get a finger marked with election ink to prevent

multiple votes. In Afghanistan's elections of 2005, this method failed as

the ink used could easily be removed.

A more subtle technique is personation, in which a person pretends to

be someone else. The person whose vote is being used may be

legitimately enrolled but absent, a real but deceased person, or entirely

fictitious. A particularly unsubtle form of ballot stuffing, known as booth

capturing occurs in Nigeria. In these cases a gang of thugs will 'capture'

a polling place and cast votes in the names of legitimate voters, who

are prevented from voting themselves.

In jurisdictions with absentee balloting, an individual or a campaign may

fill in and forge a signature on an absentee ballot intended for a voter in

that jurisdiction, thus passing off the ballot as having been filled out by

that voter. Such cases of voter fraud have resulted in criminal charges in

the past.

Misrecording of votes


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These people, unknown to the voter, then cast the vote for the party of

their choice. This trick relies on elderly care home residents typically

being absent-minded, or suffering from dementia. In the United

Kingdom, this is known as 'granny farming' and has been restricted in

recent years by a change in the law which prevents a single voter

acting as a proxy for more than two non-family members therefore

requiring more people to be involved in any fraud.

Destruction or invalidation of ballots

One of the simplest methods of electoral fraud is to simply destroy

ballots for the 'wrong' candidate or party. This is unusual in functioning

democracies as it is difficult to do without attracting attention. However

in a very close election it might be possible to destroy a very small

number of ballot papers without detection, thereby changing the

overall result. Blatant destruction of ballot papers can render an election

invalid and force it to be re-run. If a party can improve its vote on the re-

run election, it can benefit from such destruction as long as it is not

linked to it.

A more subtle, and easily achieved, method is to make it appear that

the voter has spoiled their ballot thus rendering it invalid. Typically this

would be done by adding an additional mark to the paper, making it


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appear that the voter has voted for more candidates than they were

entitled to. It would be difficult to do this to a large number of papers

without detection, but in a close election may prove decisive.

National security

There is a single universally accepted definition of "National Security". A

typical dictionary definition, in this case from Farlex dictionary, defines

national security as the following:

"The requirement to maintain the survival of the nation-state through the

use of economic, military and political power and the exercise of

diplomacy."

However, a variety of definitions provide an overview of the many

usages of this concept. The concept still remains ambiguous, having

originated from simpler definitions which initially emphasised the

freedom from military threat and political coercion to later increase in

sophistication and include other forms of non-military security as suited

the circumstances of the time.


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Walter Lippmann gave one of the early definitions in 1943 in terms of a

nation and war:

"A nation has national security when it does not have to resort to war, or

the threat of war, to preserve its legitimate interests."

A later definition by Harold Lasswell, a political scientist, in 1950, looks at

national security from almost the same aspect, that of external

coercion:

"The distinctive meaning of national security means freedom from

foreign dictation."

Arnold Wolfers (1960), while recognising the need to segregate the

subjectivity of the conceptual idea from the objectivity, talks of threats

to acquired values:

"An ambiguous symbol meaning different things to different people.

National security objectively means the absence of threats to acquired

values and subjectively, the absence of fear that such values will be

attacked."

Harold Brown, U.S. Secretary of Defense from 1977 to 1981 in the Carter

administration, defined national security in his 1983 book Thinking about
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walter_Lippmannhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harold_Lasswellhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coercionhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harold_Brown_(Secretary_of_Defense)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Secretary_of_Defensehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Presidency_of_Jimmy_Carterhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Presidency_of_Jimmy_Carterhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Presidency_of_Jimmy_Carterhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Presidency_of_Jimmy_Carterhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Secretary_of_Defensehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harold_Brown_(Secretary_of_Defense)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coercionhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harold_Lasswellhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walter_Lippmann


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national security:defense and foreign policy in a dangerous world. The

definition includes elements such as economic security and

environmental security.

"National security then is the ability to preserve the nation's physical

integrity and territory; to maintain its economic relations with the rest of

the world on reasonable terms; to preserve its nature, institution, and

governance from disruption from outside; and to control its borders."

In Harvard history professor Charles Maier's definition of 1990, national

security is defined through the lens of national power:

"National security... is best described as a capacity to control those

domestic and foreign conditions that the public opinion of a given

community believes necessary to enjoy its own self-determination or

autonomy, prosperity and wellbeing."

The United States Armed Forces defines national security (of the United

States) in the following manner:

National securityA collective term encompassing both national

defense and foreign relations of the United States. Specifically, the

condition provided by:
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be gravely affected since no investor puts his/her money in an

environment of crisis. More so, the citizens can only exert their best

potentials in the right peaceful environment (Ibrahim Sodandi 2010).

National security is the requirement to maintain the survival of the state

through the use of economic, military and political powerand the

exercise of diplomacy. The concept developed mostly in the United

States of America afterWorld War II. Initially focusing on military might, it

now encompasses a broad range of facets, all of which impinge on the

military or economic security of the nation and the values espoused by

the national society. Accordingly, in order to possess national security, a

nation needs to possess economic security, energy security,

environmental security, etc. Security threats involve not only

conventional foes such as othernation-states but also non-state actors

such as violent non-state actors, narcotic cartels, multinational

corporations and non-governmental organisations; some authorities

include natural disasters and events causing severe environmental

damage in this category.

Measures taken to ensure national security include:

using diplomacy to rally allies and isolate threats
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/State_(polity)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economic_powerhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Power_projectionhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Political_powerhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diplomacyhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_of_Americahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_of_Americahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_IIhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economic_securityhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Energy_securityhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Environmental_securityhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nation-statehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Violent_non-state_actorhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multinational_corporationhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multinational_corporationhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Non-governmental_organisationhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural_disasterhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diplomacyhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diplomacyhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural_disasterhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Non-governmental_organisationhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multinational_corporationhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multinational_corporationhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Violent_non-state_actorhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nation-statehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Environmental_securityhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Energy_securityhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economic_securityhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_IIhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_of_Americahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_of_Americahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diplomacyhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Political_powerhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Power_projectionhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economic_powerhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/State_(polity)


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marshalling economic power to facilitate or compel cooperation

maintaining effective armed forces

implementing civil defense and emergency preparedness measures

(including anti-terrorism legislation)

ensuring the resilience and redundancy of critical infrastructure

using intelligence services to detect and defeat or avoid threats and

espionage, and to protect classified information

using counterintelligence services orsecret police to protect the

nation from internal threats

Under military rule in Nigeria, international investors and even tourists

were scarce and most governments, especially that of United States of

America and United Kingdom always warned their citizens of the

imminent danger in investing in Nigeria or even visiting.

All these, however, have changed with the advent of democracy, and

recently more traffic of investors and tourists are flooding Nigeria. This is a

big testimony to the effective national security policy of this

government.

When votes count, then, security risk and electoral violence will

gradually decline. This is the case even though Nigeria witnessed

increasing security problems and developments that constituted threats
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and problems that have affected or capable of affecting the attitude,

confidence and cooperation of all groups and segments that make up

the Nigerian federation. Thus, there is need to explore and address the

grey areas in the constitution that are responsible for various problems.

The Jonathan administration and General Owoeye Azazi at the apex of

the security agencies have identified the issues to include: political and

electioneering conflicts, socio-economic agitations, ethno-religious

crises, ethnic militias, boundary disputes, cultism, criminality and

organised crimes. These problems constitute threats to the peace,

security and development of the country and do have implications for

the continuity and survival of democracy. It is a welcome development

now that democracy is being deliberately constructed as a positive

response to these problems.


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Conclusion

Time and again, attempts to defraud voters, candidates and political

parties of the proper results of a genuine election are unearthed.

Unfortunately, the federal government today is generally ill-prepared to

overcome the fraud challenge. The single most important omission is the

electoral fraud control plan. The sooner federal government is willing to

recognize that their own systems can also be exposed to electoral

fraud, and develop and implement such a plan, the sooner they can

ensure that the outcomes of their elections express the will of the

electorate.

Technical assistance provided must strengthen their abilities to match

this new focus on combating electoral fraud. Electoral fraud experts


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should be available and training programs for officials on electoral fraud

should be developed, especially on how to conduct fraud assessments

and develop electoral fraud control plans.

Political parties and domestic and international observer missions all

perform important anti-fraud functions. However, this has shown that

they currently do not excel in their tasks to detect and deter electoral

fraud. Only by improving how they operate and becoming more

professional will they fulfill these important functions.

Donors need to upgrade the fight against electoral fraud to the

strategic-level in their democracy and governance portfolios by

introducing anti-fraud activities among their aid program indicators.

Such a decision would send a strong and clear message to all actors on

the electoral scene that fraud is no longer acceptable.

Nigeria since independence fifty years on has witnessed elections of

different forms which have always been characterized by electoral

fraud as observed by both local and international analysts. These

electoral frauds have often led to one form of conflict or the other

leading to insecurity in the nation.


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THE IMPACT OF ELECTORAL FRAUD ON NATIONAL SECURITY]Prentice Hall.

Schwartz, M. (ed.) (1987). The Structure of Power in America: The Corporate Elite as a

Ruling Class. New York: Holmes & Meier.

Taylor, Gen Maxwell (1974). "The Legitimate Claims of National Security". Foreign

Affairs (Council on Foreign Relations, Inc.) (Essay of 1974).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maxwell_Taylorhttp://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/24508/maxwell-d-taylor/the-legitimate-claims-of-national-securityhttp://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/24508/maxwell-d-taylor/the-legitimate-claims-of-national-securityhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maxwell_Taylor

impact of electoral fraud in nigeria

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