Electoral Malpractice: A Threat To Nigeria’s Democracy -By Osagu Chinwe Praise

If elections are not free and fair, then democracy is just noise. That’s the truth in Nigeria right now. We vote, but a lot of people already believe their vote will not count. Why? Because of electoral malpractice. I’m talking about vote buying, ballot box snatching, violence, and people changing results .When all that is happening, election becomes like football match where the referee has been paid before kickoff. The people don’t choose.Money, thugs, and fraud choose. And the end result is what we see everywhere: bad roads, no light, no jobs, and citizens who don’t trust government again.Electoral malpractice is destroying Nigeria’s democracy by killing representation, making people lose faith, and bringing in leaders who only care about staying in power.

So what exactly is electoral malpractice? it’s any illegal thing done to stop people from voting freely. It’s not new. Since 1999 when we returned to civilian rule, it has been there. But the style has changed. Before, it was mostly ballot box snatching. Now, vote buying is almost normal. On election day you’ll see party agents with cash, noodles, and wrappers. “Collect and vote for us.” Rigging has also become smarter. Violence too is used to scare people away from polling units, especially in areas where the other party is strong. When that happens, the person who wins is not the most loved. It’s the one who cheated best. And that’s not democracy. Democracy is supposed to be government of the people, by the people, for the people. Not government of the highest bidder.

The 2023 election showed us all of this live. Tinubu, Obi, Atiku. It was tight, everyone was watching. But there were problems everywhere. The EU observers said there was violence and intimidation in Lagos, and they mentioned Surulere specifically where masked men took ballot boxes. INEC itself said about 24 people died during the election nationwide. Then there was the BVAS issue. In many places the machine did not work. And IReV was slow to upload results. Many people waited for results online . In the South, it was worse. Even if you say those things did not change who won, they changed how people felt. Once you see video of thugs and then see delays online, you just conclude that something is wrong.

INEC has tried though. I’ll give them that. BVAS came to stop people voting twice or using fake names. IReV was meant to make things open so we can check polling unit results ourselves. The Electoral Act has also been reviewed several times. Those are good steps. But let’s be honest, technology cannot stop a determined politician. If there’s no network in a rural area, BVAS will fail. If IReV is delayed, people will say INEC is hiding something, even if it’s just logistics. And court cases? They can take 6 months, 1 year. By the time judgment comes, the person is already in office. So the tools are better, but the reason to cheat is still there.

The damage does not end on election day. First, people stop coming out to vote. If you believe the result is already written, why will you leave your house and stand in the sun? Low turnout is not always laziness. Sometimes it’s just common sense. Second, we get bad representation. A man who bought his way in does not owe you anything. He owes the people who funded him, the boys who chased voters away. Not the teacher, not the nurse, not the market woman. Third, governance suffers. When your main job was to protect your seat, you won’t fix roads or hospitals. You’ll fix your security and your pocket. Over time, the country moves backward. And youths feel it most. We are the biggest group, but we get the least from the system.

But we are not helpless. The first thing is to say no. Don’t sell your vote for 2k or a bag of rice. The second is to be watchful. Record, take pictures, report to INEC, police, or groups like Yiaga Africa. The third is to stay involved, not just every four years. Register, collect your PVC, join a party if you want, educate your area. Posting on X is good, but it’s not enough. Our population is an advantage only if we turn it into votes and accountability.

To conclude, electoral malpractice is still a big problem in Nigeria. Vote buying, rigging, violence, they all make elections look like a joke. BVAS and IReV have helped, but until politicians stop interfering and until INEC works better, the trust gap will remain. The result is simple: people lose confidence, fewer people vote, and governance gets worse. Nigeria can be better if elections are truly free and fair. That means INEC must be clean, security and courts must do their job, and we citizens must reject vote selling and hold our leaders accountable. Election is not a game. It decides who will control our future, our money, and our lives.