MONEY POLITICS AND VOTE BUYING IN NIGERIA’S FOURTH REPUBLIC A STUDY OF THE 2023 GENERAL ELECTION IN FUNTUA LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA OF KATSINA STATE

ABSTRACT The topic of the research Is Voting Behavior and Political Representation in Nigerian Fourth Republic: A study of 2023 General Election in Funtua Local Government Area of Katsina State. The research attempt to examine the voting behavior and possible factors that influenced the voter’s behavior during the 2023 general election in Funtua Local Government, and also attempt to examine the impact of such influence on both the voters and political representation in Funtua Local Government. Voting Behavior can be seen as an aspect of political behavior that seeks to determine the key variable factor that motivate voters to vote the way they vote or not to vote. The research work reviewed literature that are related to the topic. The research work has been adopted the rational choice theory in order to analyze the factors that influenced voters behavior during the 2023 general election. The study also adopted cluster sampling whereby six (6) electoral wards were selected out of the eleven (11) wards that are in the Local Government. These six wards were: Maska ward, Unguwar Ibrahim ward, Dandutse ward, Nasarawa ward, Maigamji ward. Across all these six (6) wards, 120 questionnaires were distributed, that is twenty (20) questionnaires to each ward. Eighty (80) out of one hundred and twenty (120) were returned which formed the basis of the data that was presented and analyzed. The finding of the research shows that there were many factors that influenced voters during the 2015 general election. These factors include party manifesto and personality of the candidate, financial inducement, and desire for change, religion affiliation and among others.