Money and 2019 Elections: Problems and Prospects

Literature Review

The Meaning of Politics

Politics, in its broadest sense, is the  activity through which people make, preserve and amend the general rules under which they live. David Easton (1965),  a Canadian-American political scientist of the 20th century, defined politics as an authoritative allocation of values. The Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary also defines politics as the activities involved in getting and using power in public life, and being able to influence decisions that affect a country or a society. Politics (from Greek: πολιτικά, translit. Politiká, meaning "affairs of the cities") refers to a set of activities associated with the governance of a country, or an area. 

It involves making decisions that apply to members of a group. It refers to achieving and exercising positions of governance—organized control over a human community, particularly a state.

Joyce Mitchell(1969) is of the view that politics is a collective decision-making or policy-making common to the whole society. 

Samuel Johnson(1775) dismissed politics as ‘nothing morethan a means of rising in the world.' while in the nineteenth century the US historian Henry Adams summed up politics as ‘the systematic organization of hatreds.'

David Easton (1979, 1981), who defined politics as the ‘authoritativeallocation of values’. By this, he meant that politics encompasses the various processes through which government responds to pressures from the larger society, in particular by allocating benefits, rewards or penalties. Authoritative values are therefore those that are widely accepted in society, and are considered binding by the mass of citizens. 

In this view, politics is associated with ‘policy’(see p. 352): that is, with formal or authoritative decisions that establish a  plan of action for the community.

The Concept of Politics

Aristotles ( 384-322 BC ) can be regarded as the first to introduce the word through his observations about! human politics that he called zoon politikon. With the term he wanted to clarify that the nature of political and social life is the interaction between two or more people would certainly involve political relations. Aristotle saw politics as a natural tendency of human beings and can not be avoided, for example, when he tries to determine his position in society, when he tried to achieve personal well-being, and when he attempted to persuade others to accept his view. Aristotle concluded that the ability of individuals and businesses to achieve higher forms of social life is through political interaction with other people.  Interactions that occur within an institution that is designed to solve social conflicts and establish state goals. Thus the word indicates an aspect of political life , political life is commonly understood as life aspects relating to the elements of power : the state, decision making, policy regulation and division ( distribution ) or allocation.

The concept of Politics covers a set of concepts essential to any serious reflection on political life. This set includes authority, democracy, equality, freedom, justice, power and further concepts that represent fundamental political values and principles. Indeed, dictionaries of political thought in no small part consist of entries on terms that signify such central concepts. An expanded list would comprise
conservatism, socialism, representation, the separation of powers, the welfare state, multiculturalism, public opinion and numerous other concepts in the realm of ideologies and institutions.

Meaning and Definition of Money

Money is any good that is widely used and accepted in transactions involving the transfer of goods and services from one person to another. Economists differentiate among three different types of money: commodity money, fiat money, and bank money.

• Commodity money is a good whose value serves as the value of money. Gold coins are an example of commodity money. In most countries, commodity money has been replaced with fiat money. 
• Fiat money is a good, the value of which is less than the value it represents as money. Dollar bills are an example of fiat money because their value as slips of printed paper is less than their value as money.
• Bank money consists of the book credit that banks extend to their depositors. Transactions made using checks drawn on deposits held at banks involve the use of bank money.

Functions of Money

The following are five functions money play in any society:

1. Medium of exchange: Money acts as a medium of exchange because it is generally accepted by and in the society. On the payment of money, purchase of goods and services can be made i.e. goods and services are exchanged for money. Money bifurcates buying and selling activities separately so it facilitates the exchange transactions.
2. Measure of value: Money is a common measure of value so it is possible to determine the rate of exchange between various goods and services purchased by the people. Exchange value of commodity can be expressed in terms of money.
3. Store of value: Money acts as a store of value. Money being generally acceptable and its value being more or less stable, it is ideal for use as a store of value. Being non-perishable and also comparatively stable in value, the value of other assets can be stored in the form of money. Property can be sold and its value can be held in money and converted into other assets as and when necessary.
4. Standard or Deferred payment: Money is also used as the unit in terms of which all future or deferred payments are stated. Future transactions can be carried on in terms of money. The loans, which are taken at present, can be repaid in money in the future. The value of the future payments is regulated by money.
5. Transfer of value: Value of any asset can be transferred from one person to another or to any institution or to any place by transferring money. The transfer of money can take place irrespective of places, time and circumstances. Transfer of purchasing power, which is necessary in commerce and other transactions, has become available because of money.

Elections: Meaning and Definition

The Collins English Dictionary defined election as a process in which people vote to choose a person or group of people to hold an official position. 

Election is the process where by a political group decides who takes power and influences the group in accordance to the laid down objectives and goals of such group.  It involves selecting one's choice candidate out of others. 

Elections in Nigeria

Nigeria elects on the federal level a head of state (the President of Nigeria) and a legislature (the National Assembly). The president is elected by the people. The National Assembly has two chambers. The House of Representatives has 360 members, elected for a four-year term in single-seat constituencies. The Senatehas 109 members, elected for a four-year term: each of the 36 states are divided into 3 senatorial districts, each of which is represented by one senator; the Federal Capital Territory is represented by only one senator. 

2019 Elections

Presidential, National Assembly Elections were scheduled for 16 February 2019 while State and local government elections were scheduled for 2 March 2019. Elections were postponed by one week after INEC cited logistic challenges.The rescheduled dates were 23 February and 9 March 2019. 

There were 37 candidates who ran for the presidential election. They are: Current president Muhammadu Buhari of the all Progressive Congress (APC) who sought for a re-election after his first tenure. The primary contender was former vice president, Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples democratic party (PDP). Kingsley Moghalu of the Young Progressives Party (YPP), Yele Sowore of the African Action Congress (AAC) and Fela Durotoye of the Alliance for a New Nigeria (ANN) are other popular candidates who are all relatively young. 

Bayelsa State Elections

The 2019 governorship and state house of assembly election which was earlier scheduled for 2 March 2019, was reschedule for Saturday 9, March 2019.

For Bayelsa State,  only the presidential, senatorial, and state house of assembly elections were observed.  The governorship was said to commence later November 2019.

The Place of Money in Elections

Politics and elections in any country cannot thrive when money is completely taken out of it. 

Since the return to democracy in 1999, Nigerians have experienced at least, two decades of series of elections from the Federal to the least Local Government wings. Elections, being the processes concerned with the selection of political leaders, is correctly suspended upon the shouldered of Money(fund). Money has been and is being the invaluable factor which determines the elections processes. Without it, running elections would be totally unsuccessful. 

To quote the great political philosopher, Cyndi Lauper,  "Money changes everything." And nowhere is that proverb taken to heart than elections across the federation where billions of Naira are raised and spent upon understanding that money is a crucial determinant of whether or not a candidate will win.  

For the fact that no one ever runs an election with the sole aim of failing, every candidate makes sure he or she gets the enough fund.

The place of money in elections cannot be underlooked upon. In the 2019 general elections, money came in and out of political campaigns at a particularly furious pace. The Independent Electoral Commission (INEC)  also used a great amount of money to conduct the elections.

The Negative Side of Money in Elections 

Since the aim of every political party and candidate is to win an election,  and considering the part money plays in ensuring this basic aim, parties and candidates take to certain measures to acquiring enough fund which is relatively scarce.

Thus,  the scarcity of money to run an election is also problem.
Another problem is the issue of vote buying. Vote buying seems to have come to stay in the political sector where it is commonly believed that the candidate who buys more votes with money happens to win.

The Issue of Money Politics and Vote Buying 

Money politics can be defined as the phenomenon in electoral process whereby contenders for elective positions use money or money is used on their behalf by their agents as an inducement to sway their supports which is not based on persuading the electorate to vote according to their wish and conviction but on the use of money that has changed hands (Ovwasa, 2013:2). Vote-Buying on the other hand connote the exchange of voting right by the voters with money from the candidates in an election. It is a process whereby voter’s conscience and views are manipulated to the advantage of the political parties’ candidates in an election through the use of money or other material things to induce and appeal to the electorate directly or
indirectly.

According to Fredrick Charles and Andrea’s Schedler (2005), candidate ‘buy’ and citizens/electorate ‘sellvote’, as they buy and sell apples, shoes or television sets. The act of Vote-Buying by this view is a contract or perhaps an auction in which voters sell their votes to the highest bidder. Parties and candidates buy votes by offering particularistic materials to voters. Candidates may generally aspire to purchase political support at the ballot box in accordance with the idea of market change. Vote-buying may carry different meaning in different cultural context (Ovwasa, 2013:3).

Contemporary Nigerian society is characterized with money politics which has taken a worrisome dimension and equally the centre stage of her political activities. This ugly trend has become subject of discussion in recent time in Nigeria and this is largely due to the inability of political parties and their candidates to conduct their political activities in an orderly manner especially during electioneering campaigns. Party manifestoes and integrity of candidates contesting for political offices are no longer convincing enough to guarantee them electoral successes thus, resulting to vote-buying. The readiness of the electorate to sell their votes to the highest bidder is another disturbing issue which has become a threat to our democratic process.

A genuine election is a political competition that takes place in an environment characterised by confidence, transparency, and accountability and that provide voters
with an informed choice between distinct political alternative (Peter and Obi, 2014).
With so much resources being deployed to capture elective offices, it is not difficult to see the correlation between money politics and the potential for high level corruption. The greatest losers are the ordinary people, those voters whose faith and investments in the system are hijacked and subverted because money, not their will, is made the determining factor in elections. Can we now move from politics of money materialism to politics of idea, issues and development (Quoted in Ovwasa,2013:8). 

FACTORS RESPONSIBLE FOR MONEY POLITICS AND VOTE-BUYING

Factors that are responsible for money politics and vote buying are but not limited to the following identified by Davies (2006):

1. The inability of many political parties and contestants to put in place comprehensive and comprehensible manifestoes for scrutiny by voters, instead of clear-cut manifestoes that could enable electorate to make a rational political choice, meaningless slogans, demagogic and rabblerousing speeches are made. Such speeches either over-estimate or underestimate the political perception of the voters, but are rarely educative and convincing. Many voters seem to be unimpressed by all the tricks the parties and the candidates employ, hence the need to bribe them for their votes.
2. Political cynicism on the part of the voters who believe that political office holders are incurably corrupt, self-seeking and incompetent, that politics is a dirty and dishonourable enterprise, that the whole political process is a fraud and betrayal of public trust. This cynical view of politics is further accentuated by unfulfilled promises made by the winners of past elections. Thus, asking for pay-off, another way by which people receive their own share of national cake. On the other hand, the candidate who gave money to voters probably believes that they are investing against electoral future.
3. Focusing on personalities rather than on issues. By the mode of their campaigns, most candidates draw the attention of the electorate away from the political parties to themselves. The consequence of this is that, the political parties and their messages become less important to the electorate. The candidates then take the centre stage and therefore, need to spend more money than their party could afford in order to mobilize support for themselves.
4. The peoples’ perception greatly reinforced by obscene display of opulence by public office holders and ostentatious living of many politicians that every elected or appointed public officer is amassing wealth from the public treasury. This seems to have strengthened by the resolve of many voters to sell their votes to the highest bidder.
5. The penchant of politicians to strive to win elections, even at the primary level at all cost, makes desperate contestants to engage in all short of malpractices including offering of financial and material inducement to voters. Working on the poverty of the people, Nigerian politicians have been known to distribute food stuffs and other consumable material to voters shortly before the elections and sometimes, on the election days, contrary to the provision of the extant electoral law that prohibits such practice. Instances abound too, where candidate threw some money into the air during campaign rallies, making people to scramble for it and getting injured in the process.
6. The noticeable weakness in a party whip, characteristics of party politics in presidential system, when elected members exercise considerable degree of freedom when voting on legislative proposals. Such freedom makes legislators to be more susceptible to receive gratifications from the private interest groups. The interest groups employ what shank calls legalized bribery. They make large donations to some spurious private gift to the legislators or sponsor their overseas travel, etc, all in the name of public relations to secure votes of the legislators in the legislature.
7. The absence of any legislation that put any ceiling on financial contributions to political parties and candidates by group of individual (Davies, 2006).

Furthermore,  these factors also include in other words as ignorance on the parts of the electorates, apathy, poverty, inadequate information or lack of awareness and inadequate sensitization, willingness on the part of the voters and deceit by the politicians. There is also attitudinal problem on the side
of the people involved in both buying and selling. Our attitude toward politics is not good because most politicians view it as a call to investment from which huge benefits is expected and not a call to serve humanity. Electorate on their parts sees politics especially during elections as an opportunity to sell their vote to represent their own share of national cake since they do not have access to where the national cake is being shared (Ovwasa, 2013).

SOLUTIONS TO THE PROBLEMS OF MONEY IN POLITICS AND ELECTIONS 

Below are some of the solutions to reduce the increasing trend of money politics, vote-buying and other kinds of problems associated with money and politics.

1. Governmental and Non-Governmental Organisations should expand the scope of their responsibilities to carry out elaborate sensitization and voter education of the masses about the importance of their conscience in the voting process in elections. 
2. The use of food stuffs and emotional appeals on the personal attack at the campaign rallies by our modern politicians without workable legal prohibitions has greatly affected the psychological stability of the voters. Adequate and definite means of preventing such malaise should be put in place by relevant authorities that help to check-mate the excess of politicians in the way they abuse peoples’ rights.
3. Politicians and stakeholders in the Nigerian project need attitudinal change because official and legal sanction alone does not prevent the trend. Considered Ovi-Whisky cited in Alabi, (2008) said; “If the individuals can have self-examination and determine to be honest at elections, come what may, there will be free and fair elections. What we need is a deep sense of patriotism and a devoted sense of selfless to the acquisition of wealth by unjust means and refuse to be brought at election time or to commit any electoral offence or other kind of evil during elections and if we refuse to make ourselves marketable commodities, the elections will be free and fair. Further, if we behave like decent persons and law abiding in the absence of the uniformed police officers or soldiers, the election will be free and fair”. 

Reference
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