CREDIBLE ELECTORAL JUSTICE SYSTEM AND DEMOCRATIC CONSOLIDATION IN NIGERIA

The overarching goal of this paper is to explore and situate the role of a credible electoral justice system in midwifing and consolidating democracy in Nigeria. Underscoring the importance of elections to democracy, the paper provided a brief conceptual framework on electoral justice and its centrality in building and nurturing democratic ethos and practices in the country. In the main, it discussed the extant electoral justice framework of the country, in terms of the laws and institutions that play key role in the electoral process – the Constitution, the Electoral Act and other regulations made thereunder, as well as the role of INEC and other election management bodies (EMBs). The paper dwelled on the role of the judiciary and legal practitioners in ensuring the attainment of electoral justice through sound, competent and just advocacy, and adjudication. The paper adopted the doctrinal research methodology by relying on primary and secondary data obtained from books, the internet, and such other similar source materials. In conclusion the work recommended, firstly, that the courts should be bold and courageous in handling preelection, election and post-election disputes in a manner that serves to restore confidence in the democratic process. This, according to the paper, can only be done if the much-need competence and integrity are injected in the judiciary and the legal practitioners that handle such cases. Additionally, the paper recommended that INEC must live up to the expectation of the public by being an impartial umpire, and that those who commit electoral offences must be punished to serve as a deterrent to wouldbe electoral offenders.