THE CONTESTATION OF ELECTION OUTCOMES IN NIGERIA AND RESPONSE BY THE NIGERIAN STATE: A FOCUS ON THE FOURTH REPUBLIC

There is no gainsaying that electoral legitimacy, being a product of free and fair elections is one of the pillars of liberal democracy, hence the premium being placed on regular competitive elections by several modern states. Interestingly, most of the elections conducted in Nigeria over the years have generated intense controversy as could be seen from the avalanche of protests and contestations of election outcomes which trail every election result declared by the election body. At the centre of these protestations are allegations and counter allegations of election rigging, manipulations, ballot snatching, ballot stuffing, over-voting, vote buying and the like. Not surprisingly, the nation’s election managers began to fashion out new and more reliable methods of election management by taking measures which encouraged a shift from the existing stereotyped, fixated, and rigid modus operandi to more flexible, scientific, and innovative methods aimed at producing fool-proof election results. But then, the contestation of election outcomes persisted and even increased. The reasons and push factors behind this resilience needed to be investigated and unveiled. A study was carried out based on historical/descriptive  research method with the use of  secondary sources of data gathering and content analysis. The investigation revealed that a number of technical and human errors/manipulations indeed conspired to continuously rob the nation of free, fair and credible elections. To escape from this jigsaw process, it is recommended that the election laws be further amended and strengthened to involve anti-graft agencies like EFCC to monitor compliance and enforce heavy sanctions on culprits including imprisonment without option of fine.  Other suggested measures include regular maintenance and testing of electronic equipment like the BIVAS and ensuring against cyber crime, adoption of electronic voting methods and/or ensuring 24 hour functioning of the INEC Server and real time transmission of election results and thereby eliminating the so-called hitches and glitches.