Abdulhamid Buba At times, GSM handsets are used to capture the voter's choice as evidence before payment. These are true revelations of what transpired in States like Yobe, Borno and Jigawa States during the 2011 general elections. This is a gross violation of the secrecy of ballot which totally disregards the use of voting cubicles to pave way for such fraud. (ii) Outright purchase of voters cards prior to elections in the areas where the opposition party has large followership. This is a device to disenfranchise some voters perceived to be sympathetic towards an opposition Party,this robs the opposing party of votes in its area of strength. The sale of voters' cards could be due to poverty, disillusionment with the performance of elected political leaders, lack of dividends of democracy, glaring show of corruption and ostentatious life styles, these lead to political and voter apathy. (iii) Complacency/docility of security agencies to deal with on-the-spot breach of electoral process; the security agents at polling stations adopt a sit-down­and-look attitude. The inaction of the security agents to a clear breach of procedures at polling stations may not be unconnected with inducement by political parties for them to turn a blind eye to the glaring electoral malpractices. 124 ELECTION SECURITY IN NIGERIA: MATTERS ARISING New Security challenges of Election Management in Nigeria: Towards 2015 (iv) Inadequacy of security agents at polling stations particularly during general elections. The operational order may be okay theoretically but on ground, you may find many polling stations especially in the rural areas without security agents. The Police are only able to provide security at the polling stations in the major towns, particularly the capital cities when they are overstretched numerically. They have often shown inability to protect voters and electoral materials or undertake effective crowd control. (v) The misplaced priorities of some members of the Joint Task Force or special security forces posted to volatile states to curtail security infractions have sadly become security problems to the process. Their allowances/remuneration and logistics are augmented by the various State Governments or top politicians, hence, they switch their allegiance to them as opposed to their statutory role of protecting the State and its citizenry. At times, they even protect unscrupulous politicians at the polling stations even when they breach extant electoral laws. Clear examples of manipulation of such security forces were noticed in some states in the 2011 elections. Some incumbent Governors manipulated the military to intimidate and harass political opponents in those States. (vi) Compromise by the security agents to aid and abet electoral fraud. The security agents particularly, ELECTION SECURITY IN NIGERIA: MATTERS ARISING 125