Abstract
Vote-buying involves the exchange of private material benefits for political support. This arrangement provides voters with incentives to reciprocate by voting for the provider or the candidate. It represents the trading of political rights for material gains. This work contends that vote-buying hinders and undermines free, fair, and credible elections, preventing the polls from accurately reflecting the wishes of the electorate. Given the role of vote-buying in Nigeria’s electoral process, this work asserts that the phenomenon is detrimental to the very concept of democracy. The paper presents normative and prescriptive insights emerging from the relationship between democracy and vote-buying in Nigeria.