NJIKO: A Multi-Disciplinary Journal of Humanities, Law, Education and Social Sciences

Unarguably the subject of elections and electoral practices are so crucial in the 21th Century political discourse in Nigeria. This is because, to a very large extent, elections and electoral practices shape the fate of the modern nation state, this reason is not difficult to establish. Elections provide the medium, by which the different interest groups within the modern nation state can stake and resolve their claims to power through peaceful means. Elections therefore determine the manner and methods by which changes in the social order maybe brought about; where this methods fails, individuals and groups may be left to their own dubious means-including assassinations, coup d'états, revolutions, insurgency and bush wars- to press their claims to power. Examples abound all over the world where such dubious means and all illegal actions have been utilised to cling to power, and Nigeria is not an exception. Therefore, one will not be wrong to state that our electoral voting system needs to be restructured, following the current and rising menace and decay to electoral and voting act, of which vote buying and financial inducement are so predominant in such discourse: and this therefore hamper national growth and development. This paper is a critique on the present-day electoral voting system, the financial inducement of voters, unaccountability of leaders, and its implications/effects to the Nigerian state. The Nigerian electoral system is in urgent need for restructuring because it has a great role to play in the democracy, security, economic and socio-political growth of the nation. More so, secondary sources of data were largely used with emphasis on narrative and descriptive analysis of data. Furthermore, suggestions on how to enhance, promote and sustain a good electoral system for the actualization of national growth and development were adduced in the study.

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