VOTERS INDUCEMENT TECHNIQUES AND THE ELECTORAL PROCESS IN NIGERIA: A CASE OF THE 2017 OSUN WEST SENATORIAL BYE-ELECTION

It is regarded that elections are the litmus test for a true democratic political system, since in democracies, the government derives its legitimacy from the people, and going by this democracy means nothing if the people's will are bought or manoeuvred by inducement. It is an undeniable fact that elections in the country amongst other factors determine on who gets what, when and how, as the political office seekers in the process tend to adopt techniques and strategies to gain the heart of voters. Using primary and secondary data, the paper was anchored on the social exchange theory to examine the nature and the extent of inducement strategies on the outcome of the Osun West senatorial bye election. The study reveals that the nature of inducement took the form of vote-buying and the sharing of other material incentives which influenced the outcome of the bye-election. The paper concluded that voters inducement has been a reoccurring decimal in Nigeria politics and thus suggested that there is the need for some ethical codes to be enacted for all elected officials and political office seekers to prohibit them from exhibiting stupendous wealth which gives negative signal to the people that election to public office gives one the rare opportunity to amass wealth and that political education should be given to the masses so as to bring about attitudinal change on the part of the electorates.