Is Democracy Deepening in Nigeria? Interrogating the Nexus between Nigerian Local Elections and De-Democratisation (1999-2019)

Abstract

This paper attempts to explain de-democratisation as an outcome of the prevalence of dubious local elections. Ordinarily, chronicling political practices in local elections based on the Nigerian account between 1999 and 2019 is bound to generate several hypothetical conjectures regarding outcomes related to de-democratisation as the case is of the country. As a matter of fact, plethora of questionable and incredulous local elections likely will indicate more of outcomes associated with de-democratisation. Based on a conceptual framework labelled de-democratisation from bottom-up, the paper argues that the deepening of undemocratic deeds and ultimately de-democratisation in Nigeria derives from multiplicity of state government-administered local elections that often contravene key principles of the theory of electoral democracy. Thus, the paper draws insight from works of literature on electoral democracy to postulate how Nigeria’s local elections during the understudied period reinforces the country’s de-democratisation. It also highlights how the legal-constitutional groundings for local polls in Nigeria during the studied period accentuates de-democratisation of the country. By coming to terms with Nigeria’s de-democratisation on the throes of incredulous cum disputed local elections, the paper sketches the reason why the nation’s democracy is not deepening. It establishes that the local election governance laws as defined in the operating 1999 Constitution instigates de-democratisation rather than democratisation. Accordingly, the paper proposes amendment of the constitutionally codified rules governing local election organisation, administration, management and governance in Nigeria to galvanize local elections to support the deepening of Nigeria’s democracy viz democratisation and not de-democratisation.