Vote Buying and Vote Selling in Contemporary Nigerian Elections: Implication for National Security

It is a known truth that elections are central feature of democracy. In order to express the will of the electorates, elections must be free, fair and credible, devoid of any form of inducement of voters. Regrettably, since the return of democracy in Nigeria, the endemic phenomenon of vote buying and selling has grown steadily in scale and brazenness in Nigerian electoral space. Most recently, vote buying and selling has taken a more dangerous turn, where like in a typical market place, politicians, political parties and their agents shared cash, food and other valuable items among the electorates to buy their votes and conscience.  This is evident in recent elections in Edo, Osun, Ondo and Anambra during their gubernatorial elections that held separately. This paper therefore seeks to examine the causes of vote buying, its manifestations, and consequences and proffer solutions to curbing the ugly phenomenon. The paper posited that, offering money, food, and valuable items to induce voters to vote for a particular candidate compromises the voter’s free will, throws up mediocrity and by implication limit the provision of public goods as the massive cash expended in buying votes will be recovered by the leadership. The paper was entirely based on secondary data and the method of analysis is content and descriptive. Market Model Theory of Charles Schaffer was employed as an explanatory device for a thorough analysis of the subject under discussion. The paper concluded that something urgent must be done by all lovers of Nigerian democracy and relevant authorities to tackle this ugly situation of vote buying and selling so as to save Nigeria’s budding democracy from being put up for sale. Finally, the paper recommends the making of sound legislation that criminalizes vote buying and selling during elections with severe punishment for offenders. More so, the Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC), Independent Corrupt Practices Commission (ICPC) and Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) should form a strong partnership to monitor campaign and election financing by political parties and politicians so as to prosecute those that default the guidelines.