Abstract
Elections are the hallmarks of democracy; they also serve the
purpose of peaceful change in government and confer political legitimacy on the
government. Viewed from this prism, elections represent the expression of the
sovereign will of the people. However, the conduct of elections in a plural
society like Nigeria is often fraught with animosities and violence. Failing is
the process to satisfy the test of popular participation and legitimacy. At the
core of this bitter contest is the struggle for power by factional elite groups
perceived as representing ethno religious and regional interest. Electoral
seasons more than anytime else reveals the fragility and soft underbelly of the
Nigerian state. The country’s electoral history is replete with narratives of
flawed and disputed elections that have turned violent, resulting in numerous
fatalities and reversing previous attempts at democratic consolidation. The
2015 general election was unprecedented in the annals of the country because
for the first time an entrenched and incumbent party was defeated at the polls,
and the country witnessed a peaceful alternation of power between contending
political parties thereby fulfilling one of the preconditions for democratic
consolidation. A tensed pre-election political atmosphere occasioned by the
activities of the terrorist group, Boko Haram, that then controlled a large
swath of Nigeria’s territory and a fragmented elite divided along
ethno-religious and regional lines foreshadowed the election. Shuttle diplomacy
by the United States secretary of state and the constitution of body called
‘National Peace Committee’ comprised of Kofi Anan, the immediate past secretary
general of the United Nations, past presidents of Nigeria and leading clergymen
and the postponement of the election date by six weeks before the electoral
management body could deliver an election whose outcome was accepted by the
contending political parties and averting the prediction of an apocalyptic
endgame. This study seeks to engage the factors that make conduct of elections
in Nigeria to be violent prone and undermine attempts at institutionalising a
democratic tradition. The methodology is qualitative in approach, relying on
secondary data from books, journal articles and newspaper commentaries.
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background of the Study
One of the main attributes of liberal Democracy is the periodic and
regular competition for political power with the governed as free agents
exercising their free and unfettered choice among competing platforms.
Elections are therefore a significant and crucial pillar in the Democratic
process since they underscore the principles of political participation,
accountability and legitimacy. Democratic transitions in Africa are
historically more complex than in other parts of the world. The intersection of
politics with geography, ethnicity, religion and other identity markers are
perhaps major factors in this regard. Nowhere did this dramatically and
delicately play out than in Nigeria, particularly in the run up to the 2015
general election. Nigeria’s history is replete with narratives of how its
electoral process has been marred by massive rigging of elections, violence and
the subversion of the will of the people.
While electoral violence has been a constant theme in Nigeria’s
history since independence, contributing to the collapse of previous attempts
at entrenching democratic system of governance, the scale and intensity of
election-related violence since the return to democracy in 1999 seems to dwarf
what the country experience in the past. As the country prepared for the 2015
general elections, the spectre of violence associated with election elicited a
sense of deja’vu as to the survivability of the democratisation project in
Nigeria (ICG Report on the 2015 elections).
The Nigerian elites due to the long reign of authoritarian rule
have been socialised into a martial culture with its nauseas and ethos. One
area where they exhibit this militaristic culture is in their campaign speeches
and advertorials, which are often couched in intemperate language making
politics akin to warfare.
It is not uncommon for instance to hear party bigwigs boast of
their intension to capture a particular prized State during electioneering
campaigns. The current democratic dispensation has also been dominated by
ex-service men, democratisation thus carry with it a high dose of military
flavour.
A case in point is a former chairman of the hitherto ruling party,
a retired military officer who once described a controversial godfather as ‘the
garrison commander of the western region’ and advised the then Governor of the
State to go and settle his rift with the said godfather.
With the militarisation of the psyche of the elites, the
monetisation and valorisation of politics are added, and the rise of several
political thugs and gangs is ready to unleash violence on supporters of rival
camps or perpetrate heinous crimes all in the name politics (Adekanye, 1999;
Danjibo & Olajide, 2007; Omotola, 2007). In the addition to the above
scenario are the electoral systems that prescribe minimum procedural threshold
for attaining power.
1.2 Statement of Problem
The First-Past-The-Post electoral system adopted by the country
makes it possible most times for elected officials to emerge without popular
support cutting across diverse and broad spectrum of groups, making such
electoral victories pyrrhic in reality because of the attendant violence that
often ensues. When electoral outcome produce ethnic exclusion, ethnic
mobilisation for violence become the inevitable consequence especially when alternation
in power between or among contending ethno religious groups masks as political
parties is less likely (Adolfo et al., 2012). At the signing of an accord for
peaceful elections by the presidential aspirants for the 2015 general election,
former President Jonathan seems to corroborate the above assertion when he was
quoted as saying:
The winner takes all is the problem. Based on our laws, we should
come up with a concept that will work. We should make it that when a party wins
at the state or national level, in forming the cabinet, parties that performed
very well should by law and not by privilege, be made part of that government.
If politicians know they will still be part of the government, when they are
campaigning, they will be mindful of their utterances. (Osuntokun, 2015).
As a result of the highly
charged and combustible political atmosphere occasioned by the unbridled and
inordinate quest to win elections at all cost, the political gladiators deploy
violence as a necessary tool in the electoral contest, but this often comes
with its attendant fatalities. In its report and advisory on election-related
violence, the National Human Right Commission of Nigeria noted the significant
rise of hate speeches on the eve of the election and fifty eight (58) recorded
fatalities between December 2014 and February 2015 (Olupohunda, 2015).
The motivation for this study is borne out of the pathologies of
electoral conduct briefly sketched above. The article investigated reasons why
the conduct of elections in Nigeria tends to tip the State over the precipice
into conflagration and violence. To achieve this objective, the article
interrogated the character of the Nigerian elite and their extractive and
prebendalist dependence on the State for patronage. It is the persistent of
prebendal practices, pandemic corruption, leadership deficit and a lopsided
federal arrangement that serves as key drivers and catalysts for violence
during elections. Strategies and policy options for exorcising the ghost and
spectre of violence from the electoral process are also suggested.
1.3 Research Questions
i. How has electoral
violence affected democratic processes in Nigeria overtime?
ii. What are the roles political elites play in electoral violence
in Nigeria?
iii. How can electoral violence be curbed in Nigeria to promote
democratic consolidation?
1.4 Research Objectives
The main aim of this study is to investigate the effect of
electoral violence on democratic process in Nigeria. The specific objectives
are to:
i.
investigate how
has electoral violence affected democratic processes in Nigeria overtime;
ii.
examine the
roles political elites play in electoral violence in Nigeria; and
iii.
ascertain how
can electoral violence be curbed in Nigeria to promote democratic consolidation.
1.5 Significance of the Study
This study will contribute to the body of knowledge on the effect
of electoral violence on democratic process in Nigeria. The findings of this study would reveal how
has electoral violence affected democratic processes in Nigeria overtime. The
result would also relate the roles political elites play in electoral violence
in Nigeria.
The findings of this study would be useful for references for
future studies. The study findings would also be helpful for political leaders
in making electoral policies.
1.6 Methodology
The study adopted a qualitative method of data collection was
adopted in this study. Because
of this, data were generated from secondary source materials. Qualitative
research emphasizes words, rather than quantification in the collection and
analysis of data. Furthermore, it predominantly emphasizes a deductive approach
to the relationship between theory and research; in which the emphasis is
placed on capturing inferences from a general field into particular situations.
Also, qualitative research entails a perspective of social concepts as an
increasingly shifting sphere based on individual contributions. Data were
sourced through relevant text materials and historical documents. This includes texts, journals, online
articles, Magazines, Archives and the likes.
Data will be analyzed using content analysis.
1. 7 Limitation of the
Study
In the
cause of the study, there were some factors which limited the scope of the
study:
– Availability
of research material: The research material available to the
researcher is insufficient thereby limiting the study.
– Time
Constraints: The
researcher was involved in other departmental activities like seminars,
attendance of lectures et.c which limited her time for the research but the
researcher was able to meet up with the time assigned for the completion of the
research work.
– Financial
Constraints: The
researcher was with limited funds, he cannot visit all the areas to get
responses from respondents but she was able to get good information concerning
the research topic.