A STUDY ON THE CONTEMPORARY DEVELOPMENT OF ELECTORAL VIOLENCE IN RIVERS AND EDO STATES, 1999-2015
CHAPTER1 – INTRODUCTION
- BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY
Ordinarily, electoral process is expected to contribute towards democratic consolidation in any given society. Through elections, the electorates are provided with the ample opportunity to vote for the candidates and parties that will represent their varying interests. However, in many African countries such as Nigeria, the electoral process has brought about unwarranted political instability. Nigeria, with a population of about 190 million and abundant mineral resources is being widely touted as one of Africa’s brightest prospects on the global stage. Despite Nigeria’s huge potential, the country has been bedeviled by series of political unrest from the first republic (1960-1966). Nigeria was thrown into a 30 month civil war (1967- 1970) that claimed the lives of millions. During the course ofNigeria’s chequered political history, different military regimes governed the country (1966-1979; 1983-1999) in her fifty eight years of independence. On May 29, 1999, Nigerians heaved a sigh of relief after the military relinquished power to the democratically elected government led by Olusegun Obasanjo, an ex-military ruler. From that time, Nigeria has enjoyed over 18 years of democratic rule albeit, with various episodes of violence ranging from the Niger Delta militancy to the Boko Haram Insurgency in some parts of Northern Nigeria. The year 2015 served as the turning point in Nigeria’s democracy as the main opposition party, the All Progressives Congress (APC) upstaged the erstwhile ruling party, People’s Democratic Party (PDP) at the general elections. The major thrust of this paper shall be geared towards analyzing both the pre-election and post-election violence at the 2015 general polls. The first section is the introduction; second focuses on the theoretical contextualization of electoral violence; the third section deals with the historical account of the trends and patterns of electoral violence in Nigeria’s fourth republic; the fourth section is premised upon the Nigerian state, electoral violence and democratic consolidation, while the fifth part is the conclusion.
CONCEPTUAL CLARIFICATION
Elections Elections form the bedrock of a genuine democratic system. Osumah and Aghemelo (2010) see election as a process through which the people choose their leaders and indicate their policies and programme preference and consequently invest a government with authority to rule. Roberts and Edwards (1991) cited in Omotola (2007) view election as a method of selecting persons to fill certain public offices through choices made by the electorate; those citizens who are qualified to vote under the laws and procedures of the electoral system. Webster’s Encyclopedic Dictionary (2006) defines election as“the act or process of organizing systematic (s) election (permitting mass participation and method of choosing a person or persons by vote for a public office position in which state authority is exercised”. Electoral Violence According to Albert (2007), electoral violence involves all forms of organized acts of threats aimed at intimidating, harming, blackmailing a political stakeholder or opponent before, during and after an election with an intention to determine, delay or influence a political process. Ogundiya and Baba (2005), see electoral violence as all sorts of riots, demonstrations, party clashes, political assassinations, looting, arson, thuggery, kidnapping spontaneous or not, which occur before, during and after elections. Fischer (2002) defines electoral violence (conflict) as any random or organized act that seeks to determine, delay, or otherwise influence an electoral process through threat, verbal intimidation, hate speech, disinformation, physical assault, forced “protection”, blackmail, destruction of property, or assassination. Similarly, Igbuzor (2010), sees electoral violence as: Any act of violence perpetuated in the course of political activities including, pre, during and post election periods, and may include any of the following acts:
thuggery, use of force to disrupt political meetings or voting at polling stations, or the use of dangerous weapons to intimidate voters and other electoral process or to cause bodily harm or injury to any person connected with electoral processes. The above definitions are the hallmarks of electoral violence in Nigeria’s fourth republic.
Electoral Security
Electoral Security is defined as “the process of protecting electoral stakeholders such as voters, candidates, poll workers, media, and observers, electoral information and campaign materials; electoral facilities such as polling stations and counting centre and electoral
REFERENCES
Abbas, I.M. (2010). Election violence in Nigeria and the problem of democratic politics. Seminar Paper presented at the Department of Political Science, ABU Zaria on February 26. Abdallah, N.M. (2010), ‘Zoning: Nwodo snubs Ciroma, Ayu, others’, Sunday Trust, 10 October. http://sundaytrust.com.ng/i ndex.php?option=com Agbambu, C. and Ajayi, A. (2011), ‘US Rates Nigeria’s Elections High, Says Country Made History with April Polls…’ Nigerian Tribune (Ibadan), 29 April.
Ake, C. (1964). ‘The Political Question’ in O. Oyediran (ed). Governance and Development in Nigeria: Essays in Honour of Professor B.J. Dudley. Ibadan. Oyediran Consult International. Albert, I.O. (2007). Reconceptualizing electoral violence in Nigeria, In I.O. Albert, D. Marco and V. Adetula (Eds). Perspectives on the 2003 Elections in Nigeria. Abuja: IDASA and SterlingHolding Publishers. Aniekwe, C.C. and Kushie, J. (2011). Electoral violence situational analysis: Identifying hotspots in the 2011 general elections in Nigeria (A Report Submitted to National Association for Peaceful Elections in Nigeria (NAPEN), Abuja, Nigeria. Animashaun, M.A. (2008). The 2007 elections and the imperative of electoral reform in Nigeria. Covenant Journal of Business and Social Sciences, 1 and 2, 123-141. Babarinsa, D. (2002). The house of war. Lagos. Tell Communication Publishers. CLEEN Foundation (2015). Electoral Violence Risks in the 2015 Gubernatorial Elections. A Policy Brief, Election Security Brief 012. Ettanibi, O.A. (2004). Elections as Organized Crime: Nigerian Experience. Paper presented at the Centre for African Studies Seminar, at the University of Cape Town, on May 12. EU EOM (2011), EU Observation Mission to Nigeria: Final Report on the 2011 General Elections: Abuja: European Union. European Union Election Observation Mission (2015). Final Report on General Elections 28 March and 11 April 2015. Fischer, J. (2002). Electoral conflict and violence IFES. Washington, D.C
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