Monetizing Politics in Nigeria's Democratic Fourth Republic: Delegates as a Commercialized Political Tool and a Flawed Candidate/Leadership Selection Process against the 2023 Election

Abstract

The paper seeks to examine the extent to which the Nigerian democratic Fourth Republic has been bastardized by money politics. There were widespread expectations that the arrival of democracy in Nigeria on May 29, 1999, would usher in an era of free and fair elections, tolerance, respect for human rights, and the strengthening of all democratic edifices (courts, civil society, a corrupt-free and independent judiciary, people-oriented development, and so on). Unfortunately, the fourth republic became ensnared in a web of protracted political, economic, and social maladies. One of these has been the pernicious issue of undemocratic methods of leadership selection and election, which have been rife with anomalies such as rigging, thugs, vote-buying, assassination, and so on. This has manifested itself in the current 2022 primary elections in Nigeria in preparation for the 2023 general election. The situation gets worse and more deplorable as the delegates who are vested with the constitutional powers to select those to run for the presidency in 2023 have been transformed into a political nightmare as huge amounts of foreign currency flood the entire process of the primary election. Based on this, the study interrogated the delegate system and how it aided the flourishing of flawed electoral processes for leadership selection, considering the overbearing tenets of money politics. The paper used a qualitative research methodology because the data was primarily obtained from secondary sources: textbooks, journal publications, internet materials, and magazines. Content analysis was used to analyze secondary data. The study discusses some technical and constitutional provisions concerning party formation, the place of the delegate in Nigeria's electoral processes, party primaries, and candidates who contested the primaries of the two major political parties, etc., before discussing issues of money politics and how delegates became a thorn in the country's electoral processes and candidate selection. The investment theory of politics and party competition was explored. The study discovered that the delegate system continues to be anathema to quality and visionary leadership, leading to its abolition and the adoption of a more inclusive and concessional approach.