31 CLEAR AND PRESENT DANGER TO THE CREDIBILITY AND SUCCESS OF THE 2011 GENERAL ELECTIONS IN NIGERIA

1. Systematic buying of voters’ card by politicians.
2. Multiple voter registrations.
3. Faulty direct data capturing machines.
4. Replacement of candidates who won the primaries with those selected by the party.
5. Manipulation of religion: use of churches to campaign against Muslim candidates and the use of mosques to campaign against Christian candidates.
6. Using ‘security reasons’ excuses to deny campaign permit and venue to opposition candidates.
7. Lack of transparency in campaign finance and fund raising of the candidates.
8. Boko Haram armed insurgency in some parts of northern states.
9. Kidnapping of candidates in the South Eastern states.
10. Bombing of campaign offices and venues of candidates.
11. Politically motivated assassination of candidates.
12. Unfavorable publicity advantage given to ruling parties in state owned media houses.
13. Use of urban development control government agencies to pull down billboards of opposition candidates.
14. Arrest and detention of supporters of the opposition in some states on the ground of disturbance of public peace.
15. Threat and blackmailing of civil servants in the states to vote for the ruling party.
16. Impending litigations against the Independent National Electoral Commission INEC by candidates and parties.
17. The continued Jos ethno religious crisis.
18. The non implementation of the new minimum wage and the threat by the Nigerian Labor Congress to boycott the elections for that.
19. State governors’ formation and control of ‘joint security task force’.
20. Meddling and domineering influence of political Godfathers.
21. Removal of elected local government chairmen and their replacement with appointees to be used as campaign coordinators for incumbent governors.
22. Apparent public use of anti-corruption agencies against political opponents.
23. Unprofessional conduct of some private media houses.
24. Proliferation of arms
25. Inciting utterance by Niger-Delta elders and Northern elders.
26. Recruitment and use of rented crowd for political campaigns.
27. Unsolved militancy in the Niger-Delta.
28. Hisbah support for incumbent governors in Sharia implementing states.
29. Diversion and use of public funds by state governors for political campaigns.
30. Complacency and docility of state and federal legislatures.
31. Do or Die politics.