AN ASSESSMENT OF THE ROLE OF CITIZENS' PARTICIPATION IN ELECTORAL PROCESS IN NIGERIA: A STUDY OF 2016 GOVERNORSHIP ELECTION IN EDO STATE

Abstract

This paper did an assessment of the role of citizens' participation in the electoral process in
Nigeria with specific focus on the 2016 governorship election in Edo State. It demonstrated
the application of content analysis as a methodological tool especially in data collection in
social research. Three assumptions were formulated while a number of variables isolated to
give direction to the data collection for the study. Data were collected from four Nigerian
newspapers. The data were quantitatively analyzed by percentaging. Among our major
findings are citizens' trust in political parties; provision of adequate security during elections;
and power of incumbency as being prominent among the factors that influenced citizens'
participation in the process of the 2016 governorship election in Edo State. It was
recommended among other things that political parties should build trust in the electorate;
parties should use their incumbency to implement people-friendly policies and programmes;
and adequate security should be provided during election similar to what was experienced in
the 2016 governorship election in Edo State.