Public Administration

Politics and Violence in Nigeria’s Democracy: A Review of 2020 Edo State Gubernatorial Elections

Politics and Violence in Nigeria’s Democracy: A Review of 2020 Edo State Gubernatorial Elections

Authors: Rosenje Musharafa Olapeju, ADENIYI Oluwatobi Peter

Abstract

Elections form the bedrock of a genuine democratic system and have become the commonly accepted means of legitimising government around the world. The conduct of elections in Nigeria came with violent character of its own such as kidnappings, political killings, political clashes, rising youth restiveness, political thuggery and ballot snatching. This paper examined the relationship between politics and violence in Nigeria’s democracy with a review of the 2020 gubernatorial election in Edo State. A descriptive method was adopted while secondary sources of data were used in writing the paper, and dialectical materialism theory and causal drivers’ framework were adopted as the expounding framework. This paper argued that politics within electoral processes creates violence in Nigeria because such factors like godfatherism, highly inflammatory statements during campaigns, proliferation of small arms and light weapons, lack of party internal democracy coupled with absence of political impunity, among others aided electoral violence. This paper further argued that high incidences of violence in Nigeria’s politics as exemplified in Edo state obstruct the path to democratic consolidation because violence frights patriotic citizens away from politics. In addition, efforts made by stakeholders have not significantly achieved much. The paper thus recommended among others that government should ensure the amendment of the Electoral Act; political parties at all levels should ensure internal democracy in the conduct of party primaries while government should also strengthen the security apparatus to be able to perform effectively and efficientl

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