The Implications of Vote Buying on Government Legitimacy: An Insight from the Ekiti State 2018 Gubernatorial Election
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Date
2020-06
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Department of Political Science, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, Federal University Dutse, Jigawa State, Nigeria
Abstract
Election period is a defining moment in any democratic system. It provides the platform for people's participation in politics especially during the period of
recruitment of political office holders. However, the desperate tendencies of average politicians to win electoral contest usually make electioneering periods to be tense with violence and other anti-social activities. More recently, politicians have resolved to the use of money to induce voters in their desperate bid to win election at all cost which consequently gives popularity to the concept of vote buying in Nigerian politics. This trend seems to pose a great threat to democratic survival in Nigeria. It is against this backdrop that this paper will attempts to examine the implications of vote buying on government legitimacy with insight from the recently concluded 2018 gubernatorial election in Ekiti state. The specific objective of the paper is to develop-an-early warning mechanism to neutralize the threat which vote buying can pose to government legitimacy in the wake of the forthcoming 2019 general elections. In doing these, the paper will adopt qualitative research design, with data to be gathered from secondary sources and analyzed using thematic analytical method. The paper will recommend implementable alternative solutions that could mitigate the challenges of vote buying in Nigeria's electoral politics.
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Keywords
Vote buying, money politics, moneybags, political parties, vote selling, legitimate government