THE POLITICS OF ELECTION TRIBUNALS AND DEMOCRATIC CONSOLIDATION IN NIGERIA AN APPRAISAL OF EBONYI STATE 2011 GUBERNATORIAL ELECTION TRIBUNAL

Abstract

The politics of election tribunals had held democracy in Nigeria on the jugular. This study that focused 011 the 2011 Ebonyi State Gubernatorial Election Tribunal sought to inquire, among others, into how our democracy and democratic institutions could be sustained and transferred from one regime to another, and the role of the judiciary therein. Without doubt, democratic practice in Nigeria since her independence had remained unstable, most often due to perceived or actual election irregularities which frequently resulted in election litigations. That had as many times shifted the security and strengthening of our democracy to the doorstep of the courts. We applied the system and elite theories, and, as a simple survey research, relied solely on secondary materials which were content analyzed to prove our hypothesis that election tribunals did not significantly contribute to democratic consolidation. Thus, it was found, among others, that the integrity of election tribunals in Nigeria, as shown in most of their judgments, portend danger for the country and her democracy unless they bestir to uphold popular and
proper values. We recommended, inter alia, for real independence of the judiciary from the clog of other arms of government, especially the executive, adequate public enlightenment and effective political party competition that could constrain the electoral body from being biased.