ELECTORAL VIOLENCE AND POLITICAL APATHY IN NIGERIA (A CASE STUDY OF KEBBE LOCAL GOVERNMENT SOKOTO STATE)
ABSTRACT
For several decades, Nigeria has been regarded as a model of African democracy. Ironically, every path towards such a democratic process/experience has been tainted by electoral violence since colonial times. With the rebirth of African liberalism and the wave of democratic consolidation that swept across the globe/world in the 1990s, electoral violence returned in a more terrifying dimension in the majority of African states.
As a result, this study examined the challenges of electoral violence in Nigeria, with a particular focus on Sokoto state from 2009 to 2011.
Methodologically, the study used a quantitative method with both primary and secondary data sauces. Thus, a questionnaire was used as a data collection tool, while data collected from secondary sources (such as newspapers, official documents, and journals) were analyzed.
In this study, the elite theory was used as a theoretical framework. The framework appears to connect the political elite and how they gain and maintain power in society. In addition, the theory demonstrates how the elite perpetuate electoral violence in their own self-interest.
The framework’s relevance is highlighted by the fact that in most African countries, the various conflicts that usually develop during the democratic process are mostly of the elite kind, which in Nigeria are essentially organized around competing materialistic interests of various sections of society that soon after, the political environment was hostile to development and internal struggle for power was the absolute focus, leading to electoral violence.
As a result of the study, it was discovered that cross materialism, the weakness of democracy’s economic foundation, and the value placed on politics by political elites all play a significant role in explaining the occurrence of this violence.
also the use of violence to achieve selfish goals, usually by enlisting the help of unemployed youths and thugs In this regard, the study found that electoral violence has continued to jeopardize the democratic experience in Sokoto state and Nigeria as a whole.
This has resulted in serious loss of life and property, as well as political apathy in the democratic process, resulting in legitimacy crises and hampering the government’s ability to deliver on its promises of democracy, which can neither be sustained nor consolidated.
INTRODUCTION
1.1 BACKGROUNDS OF THE STUDY
Democracy is the most widely accepted form of government, and it has been adopted by the majority of the world’s countries. This is because democracy, as a form of government, involves both the ruler and the ruled in the decision-making process.
This is evident due to the fact that the growing and complexities of societies made it impossible for direct participation, which is said to be a thing of the past as practiced in ancient Greece, and this system has been replaced with representative democracy, which is a situation in which people are elected to represent the interests of their citizens in decision making or in the process of government.
Elections have become the most widely accepted means of changing governments in the modern world, with the goal of improving democracy and democratic processes in Nigeria. Elections must be free, fair, and periodic in order to be accepted, as stipulated in the 1999 constitution.
As a result, election is a democratic process that allows citizens to actively participate in selecting their leaders, as well as a means of communication between leaders and their immediate surroundings. The struggle to organize free, fair, and periodic elections has been a major issue in democratic practice in Nigeria and around the world. Although history has shown that it is often difficult to hold free and fair elections in Nigeria or around the world in general.
The 2011 Nigerian elections were marred by rigging, ballot stuffing, and electoral violence, resulting in the loss of lives and property, as well as several lawsuits filed in various courts and tribunals across the country.
Democratic consolidation is thus a process by which a new democracy matures in such a way that it is unlikely to revert to authoritarianism in the absence of an external shock.
The consolidation of democracy in Nigeria has remained a topic of discussion among academics and even casual observers. It has been nearly 55 years since the establishment of Nigeria’s First Republic, and many Nigerians appear dissatisfied with the government’s policies and programs.
Central to ordinary Nigerians’ concerns about the consolidation of democracy is the unprecedented rise in political violence, which includes increased armed robbery, political assassination, intra-ethnic crisis, harsh and punitive nature of the economy, and the collapse of social services, to name a few.
The preceding scenario was replicated in the majority of Nigeria’s federation states. Since the 1999 elections, the electoral and political landscape in Sokoto State, for example, has shifted from par to below-par and from violence to greater violence.
The level and magnitude of electoral violence in Sokoto State has increased, and the state’s political elites have converted poverty-stricken unemployed youths into ready-made machinery for electoral violence. Against this backdrop, there is electoral violence and democratic consolidation, with a particular focus on the 2011 elections in Sokoto State.
Do You Have New or Fresh Topic? Send Us Your Topic
ELECTORAL VIOLENCE AND POLITICAL APATHY IN NIGERIA (A CASE STUDY OF KEBBE LOCAL GOVERNMENT SOKOTO STATE)
INSTRUCTIONS AFTER PAYMENT
- 1.Your Full name
- 2. Your Active Email Address
- 3. Your Phone Number
- 4. Amount Paid
- 5. Project Topic
- 6. Location you made payment from