Post-Vote Tampering in Nigerian Elections and the Role of Blockchain-Enabled Electoral Systems

Post-vote tampering during the collation and transmission of election results remains a persistent challenge in Nigerian elections, enabling manipulation of already-cast votes and weakening public trust in electoral outcomes. Existing technological interventions, including biometric voter accreditation and digital result transmission systems, improve voter authentication but do not adequately secure the post-vote result collation process. This thesis proposes a blockchain-enabled framework designed to protect the integrity of election results during the collation and transmission stages. Using a Design Science Research methodology, the study develops a permissioned blockchain framework based on Hyperledger Fabric that records polling-unit results as immutable ledger entries and enables multi-stakeholder verification by electoral authorities, political parties, and observers. A prototype implementation demonstrates how aggregated results can be cryptographically linked to polling-unit inputs, enabling independent verification and tamper detection. Scenario-based evaluation shows that the framework significantly improves transparency, traceability, and accountability in election result management.