People’s Democratic Party’s Hegemony in Nigeria Political System; 2015 General Elections: A Benchmark of Turning Point

Abstract

This paper is to critically assess the 2015 general elections in Nigeria as a benchmark of turning point in the electoral history of Fourth Republic and to examine the circumstances that surrounded the outcome of the election results. The results of the election was differ from all the previous election conducted in Nigeria (1999-2011) where People Democratic Party (PDP) was always declared winner. The paper identified the factors that determine the outcome of the election results and the reasons for political continuity of People’s Democratic Party (PDP) for good sixteen years without any political interruption, and the benchmark of turning point in the electoral trend in 2015 in Nigeria. The paper employed purely qualitative method of sourcing data. The study found out that the election’s results were a clear departure from what it used to be in the past. This study concludes that the results of the elections indeed reflect the will of the electorates and the political behaviour or voting pattern indicated without any ambiguity that majorities of the people’s preference for “CHANGE” cannot be credibly disputed. Base on the finding, the paper recommends that the political actors should play politics with its virtues and that impunity and imposition of candidates should be
eradicated in politics.