ABSTRACT

This study investigates the role of civil society organization particularly, the Civil Liberties Organization (CLO) in election monitoring with emphasis in Enugu State during the 2007 general elections. The study became imperative following the deteriorating democratic process in Nigeria. We focused our empirical verification on two key areas viz: Whether the presence of civil society organizations and other observer missions mitigate or reduce the incidence of tension, intimidation, fraud, violence and rigging during the elections. We also sought to investigate whether the presence of these observer groups strengthen voters confidence in the election as well as whether the areas duly observed or monitored by the civil liberties organization differ significantly from fraud, rigging and other electoral vices when viewed from the areas not observed. We adopted the Marxist theory of the state. We also relied on observation method of data collection and descriptive qualitative method of data analysis. From our findings, we found out that though the presence of these observer missions does not mitigate or reduce the above incidence associated with the elections and that even the areas where the presence of Civil Liberties Organization was noticed, there seem to be no striking difference witnessed. The researcher recommends among other things that the presence of these observer missions be strengthened for wider coverage of our subsequent elections.

TABLE OF CONTENTS PAGES TITLE PAGE ————————————————————– i APPROVAL PAGE ——————————————————- ii DEDICATION ———————————————————— iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ———————————————– iv TABLE OF CONTENTS ———————————————— v ABSTRACT ————————————————————— vi CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION 1.1 Background of Study ———————————————— 1 1.2 Statement of Problem ———————————————– 6 1.3 Objective of Study ————————————————— 8 1.4 Significance of the Study ——————————————- 8 1.5 Literature Review —————————————————- 9 1.6 Theoretical Framework ———————————————– 38 1.7 Hypotheses ————————————————————- 41 1.8 Method of Data Collection —————————————— 41 1.9 Method of Data Analysis ——————————————– 45 CHAPTER TWO: AN OVERVIEW OF ELECTION MONITORING IN NIGERIA 2.1 Civil Society Organization and Election Monitoring/Observation 46 2.2 Code of Conduct for Accredited Observers ——————— 49 2.3 Election observation and its Politics —————————— 52 2.4 Impartial Observation of the Conduct of Elections ————- 55 2.5 The Nigerian Electoral Context and prospects for Democratic Consolidation ————————————– 58 CHAPTER THREE: THE PRESENCE OF CIVIL SOCIETY ORGANIZATION AND THE INCIDENCE OF FRAUDS AND VIOLENCE DURING THE 2007 GUBERNATORIAL ELECTIONS IN ENUGU STATE 3.1 Independent National Electoral Commission ——————- 60 3.2 Making the Votes Not Count in Nigeria ————————– 68 3.3 Violations of Electoral Laws ————————————– 78 3.4 Nigerian’s Elections and Election Management Trends and Analysis ————————————————————— 83 CHAPTER FOUR: CIVIL LIBERTIES ORGANIZATION AND DETERRENCE OF ELECTORAL FRAUDS FROM AREAS OBSERVED 4.1 State Institutions and the Electoral Process: Perceptions of Partiality ————————————————————– 88 4.2 Attacks Against Opposition Candidate ————————– 93 4.3 Election Administration: Crisis of public confidence and candidates Disqualification. —————————————- 94 4.4 Perceptions of Impunity and Police Bias ————————- 97 4.5 Fraud, Violence and other Irregularities Across the States —— 99 CHAPTER FIVE: SUMMARY, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION 5.1 Summary ————————————————————– 101 5.2 Conclusion ———————————————————— 102 5.3 Recommendations —————————————————- 106 Bibliography ———————————————————- 113