Ethnicity, Democracy, and Political Instability in Nigeria: An Appraisal

Abstract

The article examined how ethnocentrism is used to further the interest of petty bourgeoisie leading to political instability in Nigeria. The establishment of elective principle midwifed liberal democratic party system in 1922. The Nigerian National Democratic Party in Nigeria was the first party to be birthed. The electoral requirements for candidates and electorates provided opportunities for the educated elite to hijack the process. The partitioning of the country into three regions-east, north and west in 1945 led to the formation of ethnic based political parties- National Congress Nigeria and Cameroon (east), Northern People Congress(north), and Action Group (west), which gave rise to fierce ethnic competition among the political elite. The political elites fell back to the region to consolidate their power base. The contention for space-dominance became more pronounced. However, over decades, this politics of ethnic acrimony has continued and increased the degree of political instability to the extent that almost all the general elections conducted in the post-independence era have been bedeviled with electoral violence leading to destruction of lives and properties. The study adopted clientelist theory and culture of violence theory in its theoretical underpinning. The study explored qualitative method of data gathering technique. The study unraveled that the competition for political position predicated on primitive accumulation of natural resources promotes ethnic cleavage. The study recommends amongst others that politicians indicted for electoral violence in past and present should be tried in the content court of jurisdiction to discourage political violence in Nigeria.