INDEPENDENT NATIONAL ELECTORAL COMMISSION AS INSTRUMENT OF DEMOCRATIC CONSOLIDATION IN NIGERIA

Abstract

This article examines the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) as instrument of Democratic Consolidation in Nigeria. The main objective is to examine INEC role in democratic consolidation in Nigeria. Data were collected from secondary source. the article is anchored on the institutionalization theory. It was discovered that some of the challenges INEC faces in its effort to consolidate democracy in Nigeria includes: the activities of anti-democratic elements in Nigeria political space, vote buying and election violence, and frivolous court injunctions. The paper recommends among other things that Nigeria’s political elites’ value orientation needs to change for democracy to be strengthened in the nation. Political parties' ideological foundations, which encourage political decamping must be changed. and democratic values must not only be ingrained but also reinforced. The piece concluded that Nigerians recognized and welcomed democracy because it has the potential to guarantee political stability and advancement