Choosing Without Voting: Exploring the Roots of Political Instability in Nigeria, 2011 - 2019

Voters' participation in the electoral process and the conditions that sustain such participation remains the bulwarks of democracy.The transparency, free and fair platform, and accountability of both the electoral institution and processes, which guarantee such participation bestow credibility on the elections and their outcome, and lead to the emergence of popular candidates as winners (Osaghae, 1994).This helps to build government, make it both responsible and responsive to the needs of the people for fear of being voted out of power during elections.Through voting power, the public enforces accountability on political office holders, facilitates political recruitment, and confers moral authority on political leaders (Schlozman and Verba, 1987; Diamond et al., 1989).Thus, voting during elections becomes the only instrument used by the masses to demonstrate and execute their political judgement and political choices.It is the mechanism through which the citizens are able to exercise their interests and participate in the political process.Voting is vital to expression of choice in any election and therefore a fundamental human and civic right that is granted through the principle of Universal Adult Suffrage (Keithly, 2012).The Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria in sections and subsections 77 (2); 117 (2), 132 (5) and 178 (5) set eighteen (18) years as the Universal Adult Suffrage.This is also enshrined in the 1948 United Nations' Universal Declaration of Human Rights (University of Minnesota Human Rights centre, 2003), the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights, the Charter of the Organization of American states, the African (Banjul) Charter on Human and Peoples" Rights and several other international human rights documents.The right to vote is therefore a globalised phenomenon.In Nigeria, Ayoade (1980) observed that voting rights evolved historically through the period of vested privilege a period when the voting franchise was restricted both spatially to Lagos and Calabar and numerically to male citizens aged 21 and above by the principles of citizenship, annual income of not less than 100 pounds, and residency requirements; universally applicable voting franchise that factored in regional diversities (1950)(1951)(1952)(1953)(1954)(1955)(1956)(1957)(1958); and the period of universal franchise with the establishment of federal elections administrator without