POLITICAL LEADERSHIP AND ELECTORAL VIOLENCE THAT OCCURRED IN THE SECOND REPUBLIC
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POLITICAL LEADERSHIP AND ELECTORAL VIOLENCE THAT OCCURRED IN THE SECOND REPUBLIC
CHAPITRE ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY
This project will look at the political leadership and electoral violence that characterised the second republic.
It will investigate the origins, manifestations, and detrimental debilitating effects of electoral violence in succeeding political contests in other preceding republics, as well as potential solutions to control this threat in the polity.
In an attempt to discuss the problems encountered during democratic transitions as a result of the roles played by political leaders, which in most cases result in electoral violence,
I will employ some theories and postulations by scholars in an attempt to draw a correlation between the two dominant concepts of political leadership and electoral violence, which will serve as the focal point of this research.
Furthermore, a critical examination of specific occurrences of electoral violence as documented in the Second Republic will be carried out, from which analysis will be carried out.
We will also emphasise the poetical party structure and the extent to which variables such as ethnicity and others played a significant role in the second republic, outside the domain of political leadership.
We will explore institutional and organisational roles in the second republic’s electoral processes, such as the Federal Electoral Commission (FEDECO), the judiciary, and the extent to which state authority was used in the political and electoral processes.
1.2 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM
This project’s core problem is to try a critique, which prompts us to pose the following questions:
To what extent did political leadership in the second republic contribute to election violence?
The question arises because political leadership in the second republic may not have lived up to voters’ expectations in terms of promoting unity, justice, free, fair, and unbiased elections.
1.3 OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY
The following are the study objectives for this research:
To investigate the essential functions of political leaders and their impact in the second republic, which may have resulted in electoral violence.
Identifying the elements linked to the violence observed during the Second Republic
To investigate the characteristics that characterise following republics in terms of political violence.
To make recommendations for reducing electoral violence in Nigeria.
RESEARCH HYPOTHESES
This project’s research hypotheses will be
The greater the level or intensity of the struggle for political office, the more likely electoral contests will be violent.
THE RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
The analysis in this study will be qualitative in character.
Due to the historical character of the project, it will be conducted qualitatively, and the report will be largely descriptive, narrative, and predictive.
Based on this, the researcher will employ both primary and secondary material that will be gathered extensively from the works of writers on the subject.
Primary and secondary data sources will comprise both published and unpublished items such as textbooks, articles, newspapers, theses, academic papers, speeches, and so on.
1.6 THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY
The study is justified by the following reasons:
It will make a significant contribution to accurately situating the issue and development that led to the fall of the second republic.
The study will also highlight the importance of raising awareness about the hazards of irresponsible and insensitive leadership.
It will go a long way towards informing, enlightening, and educating political science and history students about the deleteriousimpact of bad leadership on the polity.
It will eventually act as a reference material for any researcher whose research connects to the concerns discussed here.
1.7 THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK
Obasi (1999) defines theoretical framework as “a devise for adopting or applying the assumption, postulation, and principles for the research problem.” It entails connecting the problem under research to the theory’s assumptions, postulations, and principles.
The Radical Political Economy Approach will be the appropriate theoretical foundation for this endeavour.
Studies have revealed the importance of economic concerns in Nigerian politics, as well as the recurrent pattern of electoral conflict.
In terms of electoral politics, the question is, why has it been so violent, and what elements have contributed to this?
While attempting to provide an appropriate explanation for the above question, the nation’s political economy is crucial in this regard.
Political economy is basically the study of the relationship between economic concerns and their impact on political results.
According to this study, the pursuit of immediate and future political gains, benefits, and patronage greatly influenced political participation of leaders and supporters in the second republic,
where material gains in the form of contracts, import licences, and appointment into key governmental positions were the logical outcome of participation.
According to Ken Post and Michael Vickers (1973), “politics is the receipt of the greatest possible benefit (wealth) in the shortest possible time.”
And, because the state is the most important source of wealth accumulation, there is a fierce drive to control state authority because it is the primary path to state resources and chances for class formation.
Diamond (1988) adds, “as long as the state looms large in the country’s economic and social life, the people will cheat, bribe, intimidate, and even kill to gain and maintain control of the state.”
It is said that the political elite saw politics and the attainment of state power as a means of accumulating wealth.
When analysing the political behaviours and voting patterns in the 1983 presidential and gubernatorial election outcomes, the power of political economics on political events becomes more apparent.
The preceding exposition clearly posts the politics of the second republic, in which the political elites saw politics as the acquisition of state power for wealth accumulation, and control of state power, which is equated with the allocation of state resources, becomes the rationale for the second republic’s out-of-the-box competition.
Justifying the Radical Political Economy’s applicability Approaching this study, it becomes evident that it explains the intra-party struggle and political disagreements among the republic’s elites on the necessity for them to obtain power in the public sphere and utilise it as an avenue to manage and administer state resources and collect riches.
Karl Marx, Claude Ake, Galvin Williams, Larry Diamond, Post, and Vickers are among the scholars linked with the theory.
DEFINITION OF TERMS
In this context, the following terms must be grasped.
Electoral Contest: This refers to the competition for public office in a democratically scheduled election with multiparty participation.
Electoral Violence: Refers to the use of irregular methods or unconstitutional schemes by political elites in their quest for power, and includes rioting, looting, kidnapping, arson, trench digging, political assassination, intimation of voters by supporters of opposing parties, burning of perceived opponents, and others.
Political leadership is identical with political elites and refers to individuals in positions of command, control, and direction within the political system.
Political Offices: Any office of a political leader that has tasks such as resource allocation, command, coordination, and control.
Political officers elected and appointed within the party and in the government domain shall be included.
Struggle for Power: The pursuit of political leadership through elections or appointment, using both institutional and illegal measures to achieve power.
vi Second Republic: A period in Nigerian political history that lasted from October 1, 1979 to December 31, 1983.
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