For the highest bidder: the dollarisation of Nigeria’s 2022 presidential primary elections

This article examines the monetisation of the 2022 presidential primaries of the two major political parties in Nigeria, namely the APC and PDP. Data is drawn from key informant interviews and documented evidence from the conduct of the primary elections. The key informants were party executives and members who voted as delegates in the presidential primaries of these parties. Two delegates were selected from each geo-political zone of the country, giving a total of 12 key informants. The study is situated within the theoretical framework of electoral clientelism. The collection of primary data involved 14 months of intermittent and extensive field work, which was carried out from July 2022 to September 2023. The findings reveal that the leading contestants engaged in aggressive vote-buying by using vast amounts of dollars. In addition, a direct candidate selection method may have aided the vote-buying strategies of both parties. The article concludes that such disregard for the rules of the game in selecting candidates hinders the institutionalisation of internal party democracy and engenders clientelism and patronage. As argued by previous researchers, these practices largely determine who secures which elective post – and how.