EXAMINATION OF THE LEGAL FRAMEWORK FOR INTER-AGENCY COLLABORATION BETWEEN SECURITY AGENCIES IN THE ELECTORAL PROCESS IN NIGERIA

The Nigeria electoral cycle comes up every four years. During this period, Nigerians elects leaders at the levels of the executive and legislation. Over times in Nigeria, the election process has witnessed disruptions, violence and protests. In Nigeria, security agencies are deployed in the electoral process, but, the general security operations by the security agencies have been marred by rivalry, lack of collaboration and intelligence sharing. This comes with dare consequences not only on the general security situation in the country but also for election security. This paper adopting content analysis and expository methodology finds that the framework for inter-agency collaboration and synergy in Nigeria presents the problem of legal and practical application. This paper recommends that the Code of Conduct to guide all members of the Inter-agency Consultative Committee on Election Security (ICCES) be incorporated into the Electoral and given primacy in Nigeria election security architecture.