Nigeria's upcoming elections mark a pivotal juncture for democracy in Africa's most populous nation. Since its independence from Great Britain in 1960, Nigeria has been ruled mostly by military regimes and no elected leader has successfully handed over power to another democratic administration. The signs are many that its politics remains a stark scramble for power in which elites compete for domination of the state apparatus to reap the benefits of control over enormous oil revenues.

The jockeying for advantage has unfolded in arenas where ordinary Nigerians have little influence: in political party congresses where delegates represent wealthy patrons rather than poor constituents; in the battles to influence the Independent National Electoral Commission, which determines the candidates who are eligible to participate in the elections; and in the courts, where political adversaries seek judicial intervention to battle opponents through processes that remain opaque to average citizens. All of these manoeuvres by politicians contribute to the popular saying in Nigeria that democracy is a matter of "selection" rather than "election".