Executive Summary
Nigeria held the 2023 general elections for presidential and National Assembly elections as
well as Governorships and State Houses of Assembly to mark 24 years of uninterrupted
democracy—the longest span in Nigeria’s history. This served as a critical transfer of power
by President Muhammadu Buhari who have served two mandates and is ineligible to seek
another four-year term.
Election is one of the most key elements of democracy; conducting free, fair and credible
elections has remained a big challenge to democratic process of governance, since the return
of Democracy in 1999. In the same democratic process, Nigeria has continued to experienced
imposition of candidates, rigging, violence, malpractice, bribing and other form of illegality
in the electoral system. Some stakeholders hold mixed opinions on the conduct of elections
by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC); whether it had conducted free,
fair, inclusive, and credible elections since the return of Democracy in Nigeria.
This project entailed the conduct of a Focus Group Discussion (FGD) on citizens’ perception
and understanding of INEC’s Mandate and the conduct of the 2023 general elections. The
project focus on selected states across the 6 geopolitical of the country, using 2 states per
geopolitical zone plus the FCT namely: FCT, Kogi and Plateau (North Central), Kaduna and
Sokoto (North West), Taraba and Gombe (North East), Anambra and Enugu (South East),
Osun and Oyo (South West), Delta and Edo (South-South). The objective was to evaluate
citizens perception, including understanding on the functions and mandates of INEC. This
was achieved through in-depth discussions among participants representing various
stakeholder groups across the country. The study was designed to bring together diverse
respondents bordering across stakeholders including CSOs, Youths, Observers, INEC Adhoc
staff, law enforcement officers, women representatives, religious leaders, and politicians to a
round table to discuss the performance of INEC during the general elections.
CLICK BELOW TO VIEW FULL REPORT
