NJOMACS

The primary focus of this study is to dissect the Change begins with me campaign vis á vis the vote trading dilemma in the electoral process of Nigeria. It relied on existing literature systematically reviewed to arrive at the discussion points. The study established that the Nigerian electoral process is plagued by several dilemmas and negative issues; such as vote trading, electoral malpractice, violence (before, during and after elections), vote suppression, and various other acts that disenfranchise the voters are rife in the country. A major act of electoral malpractice is vote trading; an act that involves selling one's vote for financial or material gains – often offered by the political parties and candidates standing for an elective position. Concerted efforts at ensuring credibility for electoral process in Nigeria seem to be failing. One of such is the campaign for attitude change launched by the government to curb all form of vices by the Nigerian populace. As part of efforts to get all Nigerians exposed to the contents of the initiative, different media forms were used; radio, television, and even the social media. Prescriptive, persuasive messages were mainly used as means to cause attitudinal change in the Nigerian society. However, through the systematic review of literature, this study found that the "Change begins with me" campaigns did not achieve the desired objectives in respect of a change of attitude towards vote trading. The study concludes that no evidence exist of a total change of attitude to vices such as vote trading during elections in Nigeria as citizens were seen in recent elections getting involved in same acts. Among several others, the study recommends that the electoral umpire INEC should collaborate with other stakeholders to champion voter education and reorientation on the needs to shun such actions capable of undermining the outcomes of elections.