Democratic Governance and Human Rights Violations: A Focus on Nigeria

Abstract

For decades, the menace of human rights violations in the Nigerian democratic setting has defied all responses. Not even the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), the 1999 constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, nor the more recent ENDSARS protest of October 2020 could adequately tackle the menace of human rights violations in Nigeria. For this reason, the study specifically examined how the Nigerian democratic governance through those in position of authority and security agencies have violated the socio-economic and political rights of Nigerian citizens. The study is qualitative and employed descriptive research design. It adopted John Locke’s Natural rights theory in explaining the relationship between democratic governance and human rights violations. Having presented and analysed the data gathered through documentary evidence, the study revealed that the arbitrary use of power by the Nigerian government and the security forces have grossly violated human rights of Nigerian citizens. Therefore, the study recommended inter-alia, the need for Nigerian citizens to step up their local and international campaigns against civilian-dictatorship as well as the need for the Nigerian government to set up a new independent and impartial institution that will be responsible to treat all cases of human rights violations in the state.