ELECTORAL OFFENCES AND ENFORCEMENT OF ATTENDANT SANCTIONS IN NIGERIA

Abstract

DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.17045256 

There are various acts of commission or omissions criminalized under the Nigerian electoral laws. These acts of omission and commission are often-times, if not all time, suffer effort fatigue in the process of enforcement as well as incidental sanctions imposed against offenders. The constitutional guarantee of democracy in Nigeria as a state is somewhat intrinsically dependent on the electoral process. The electoral regime is critical to the development of the country’s democracy. However, the maintenance of the integrity of the electoral regime is often undermined by the prevalence of electoral offenses. It is against this backdrop, that the authors argued the need to unearth the crucial facets of electoral offenses and the attendant mechanism for enforcing sanctions. The paper therefore maintained that the nation’s legal framework has evolved various legislations to combat electoral offenses, particularly through the express criminalization of electoral misconducts as provided under the Electoral Act. Furthermore, it should be noted that the efficacious enforcement of imposed penal sanctions for the offenses has been weak, and often resulting in offenders’ escape from the law. The authors therefore concluded that illumination to the dynamics of electoral offenses require the will to identify the dire need for a more effective mechanism to fortify Nigeria’s electoral integrity.