Abstract: Corruption has become a pervasive issue in Nigeria, particularly in the electoral system, which has had the most significant impact on recent Nigerian elections. With the introduction of a new technology into the electoral system, known as the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) machine. Following the 2022 Electoral Act as amended. The BVAS automatically became a major factor in the new guidelines for decision-making in Nigerian elections. This is because it is the only accepted means of accreditation, verification, and voting. This means that the proposed new Nigerian agenda is possible, as our voting automatically should count without the interference of corrupt practices. But the reverse was the case during the presidential election, where election results could not be uploaded to the INEC result viewing center (IREV) for credibility, as proposed by the Independent National Electoral Commission. This research work is aimed at assessing the impacts of corruption on Nigeria's electoral processes with a focus on the 2023 Nigerian presidential and national assembly elections. The researcher adopted the historical research design. Secondary and primary type of data was used; secondary data was sourced from media print, newspapers, and internet print. Primary data was sourced from key informant interviews. This paper adopted the realist theory as propounded by Niccolò Machiavelli et al., as a framework to understand corruption and the quest for power in the Nigerian electoral processes, especially the 2023 presidential and national assembly elections. A major finding of this research is that the BVAS machine, during the 2023 Nigerian elections, was only used for accreditation and verification of voters, but not used to transmit the election results emanating from the polling units. This led to voter apathy during the governorship and state assembly elections that followed, as the will of the masses did not reflect in the election results. This research therefore recommends that Nigeria should split its presidential and national assembly election timetable into six weeks of voting, capturing all six geopolitical zones for convenience, credibility, and transparency. Also, there should be a strict adherence to electronic automated voting and immediate transmission of results from the polling units into the INEC result viewing center (IREV), which is devoid of manual or human manipulation, for the sake of democracy and the sanctity of the ballot box. Keywords: Corruption, Election process, Technology, BVAS, Nigeria. Title: Corruption in Electoral Process and the Quest for Good Governance: An appraisal of the BVAS Machine in the 2023 Nigerian Presidential Election Author: ANUKA, Anthony Onyebuchi, NLEMEDIM-ONYEBUCHI, Jennifer Iruoghene International Journal of Novel Research in Humanity and Social Sciences ISSN 2394-9694 Vol. 13, Issue 2, March 2026 - April 2026 Page No: 27-37 Novelty Journals Website: www.noveltyjournals.com Published Date: 23-April-2026 DOI: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.19706945 Paper Download Link (Source) https://www.noveltyjournals.com/upload/paper/Corruption%20in%20Electoral%20Process%20and%20the%20Quest-23042026-5.pdf
Anuka et al. (Thu,) studied this question.