CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background to the Study
Conducting a credible election in Nigeria is increasingly becoming a very difficult task, and this has adversely affected the socio-political and economic well-being of the nation and its citizenry. Encyclopedia Britannica defined an election as a formal decision-making process by which a population chooses an individual to hold public office. Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative democracy has operated since the 17th century. Elections may fill offices in the legislature, sometimes in the executive and judiciary, and for regional and local government. This process is also used in many other private and business organizations, from clubs to voluntary associations and corporations.