'Lai Olurode and Attahiru Jega in political participation. The cost of entry of women into the political arena is too high. She therefore believes INEC must make spirited efforts to promote gender equality in the political system starting by instituting gender balance equality in the political system starting by instituting itself. Her second argument is on the internal battle for gender equality in politics among women themselves. She says she had numerous statements by women that they have an obligation to vote according to the dictates of their husbands. She believes this is an unfortunate situation and women should be conscientised to take autonomous political decisions. Chapter six by'Lai Olurode is on Incumbency Factors: Appropriation of State Security Resources and Electoral Governance in Nigeria.” The author identifies incumbency as a factor that has allowed members of executive branch of government to impede the participation of citizens in electoral activities. They are able to use these resources to produce outcomes that do not reflect choices by the voters. He points out that some of these incumbents even develop a siege mentality, in which they see the people as rebels refusing to do what they should do, that is why they use the security agents to brutalise the people. The people instead of being the decision makers in the electoral process become victims who are punished by security agents acting on behalf of incumbents. An adequate response to the security challenge Nigeria faces during elections will therefore require addressing this problem of the abuse of incumbency powers. 138 ELECTION SECURITY IN NIGERIA: MATTERS ARISING Security Challenges of Election Management in Nigeria Chapter seven is authored by Etannibi Alemika and is on the theme:“Privatization of Security, Arms Proliferation and Electoral Violence in Nigeria”. He identifies electoral violence as an obstacle to the conduct of free and fair elections in Nigeria; it's a threat to democracy, because it influences electoral outcomes. Electoral violence is widespread because the stakes in politics are so high. Politics is the pathway to “unrestricted means of illegal acquisition of wealth”(p.124). It is therefore not surprising that we have so many cases of the assassination of political opponents, disruption of registration and voting processes by thugs and armed bandits. He points out that the level of violence in the 2003 and 2007 elections were particularly high. The core problem, according to the author, is that some politicians are able to appropriate public security and law enforcement for their personal purposes. Secondly, they are also able to pay for private security to do their bidding. This process is fuelled by the massive circulation of illegal arms. He proposed a number of policy measures that could be adopted to address the problems posed. Chapter eight is written by Lancelot Anyanya and is entitled: Security Challenges of Election management: Nature and management of Rivalry between State Security Forces for Effective Electoral Management in Nigeria”. He points out that given the growth of the Boko Haram insurgency and growing communal clashes in other parts of the country, the threat profile for the 2011 elections was worsening. Secondly, the response architecture was weakened by rivalry between the security agencies themselves. He therefore calls for careful plans by INEC to carry them along on the basis of a coherent ELECTION SECURITY IN NIGERIA: MATTERS ARISING 139