History of democratic elections in Nigeria
Free and fair elections that would be acceptable by all had always been a problem in the country. The electoral bodies had changed since 1983 from Federal Electoral Commission (FEDECO) to National Electoral Commission (NEC) to INEC. In spite of appointing eminent jurists and supposedly credible people as heads of these bodies, the elections most of the time had been flawed. But that is not to say that there had not been free, fair and peacefully conducted elections in Nigeria. They were those held in 1959, 1979, 1993 and 1999, while the most chaotic, violent and disputed were those in 1964 and 1983.

According to Dr. Festus Iyayi, in a paper delivered at the Nigerian Bar Association conference held in Abuja in 2004: "The reason for this is that the first three were 'transition' elections, in which the regimes in power and responsible for organising the elections had to hand over power to a democratic civilian administration.

“In contrast, the other elections can be viewed as potential 'consolidation' elections, in which an elected civilian government was responsible for organising elections to hand over power to a successor administration.”

Unfortunately, as successful as these elections were, they led the country back from democratic governance to military dictatorship.

"The failure of these elections to consolidate democracy (each led in fact to disruption and eventually a return to military rule) was due to the reluctance of the incumbent administration to allow a level playing field, in case they lost their grip on power," Dr. Iyayi stated further.

Disturbing report
The 2003 election did not fare better. All commentaries on the 2003 and 2004 elections, except those from the PDP government in power are unanimous in their verdict that all aspects of the elections were fraudulent.

The report by the Transition Monitoring Group captured the very essence of the problems associated with that election.

“Twenty-nine of the registered political parties that either contested or did not contest the elections have variously rejected the results as announced by the INEC declaring the results as fraudulent. Both domestic and international election observers documented massive irregularities that characterised the elections and refused to endorse the elections as free and fair. Some political parties and their candidates decided to challenge some of the results before the various election petition tribunals and have gone ahead to do so while others declared “mass action” to pressure a government without popular mandate to abdicate power.”

Henry Bellingham, Member of the British Parliament and the United Kingdom's Minister for Africa, in a letter released by the British High Commission in Nigeria, voiced the expectations of the rest of the world concerning the 2011 elections.

"There are encouraging signs that Nigeria will grasp the chance to be at the forefront of democracy on African soil. Renewing the systems, and building public confidence in them, in order to hold a democratic election within a short time-frame is no small task. But it is one that Professor Attahiru Jega and the Independent National Electoral Commission are going about with dedication, diligence and perception.