Ethno-Religious Factor and the Menace of Election Violence in Nigeria

Jibrin Ubale Yahaya ,Musa Mohammed Bello

doi:10.7176/jcsd/59-04

Abstract

Elections in Nigeria have been characterized by high scale of electoral malpractices, money politics, electoral violence and the use of ethno-religious divide strategy by political elite in order to influence the majority votes, claimed and announced as authentic election winners, these phenomenon’s has dominate Nigerian electoral process since the return of democracy in Nigeria during 1999, 2003, 2007, 2011 and 2015 elections. Electoral violence is one of the strategies employed by Nigerian politicians during electioneering period to win election by illegal and dubious means. Desperate challenges of democratic governance operations and poor attitude of our leaders in Nigeria whose fails to meet the public demand of protecting lives and property as well as citizens welfare provision, the power drunk politicians often sponsor unemployed youths and stark illiterates to carry out assaults on their perceived political opponents with a view to manipulating election results to their own advantage. Therefore, this paper discusses electoral violence in the context of religion and its implication for sustainable development. Since electoral violence has been the bane of political stability and development in Nigeria. The researcher has uses secondary source of data to reviewed various literature on the subject matter to investigate the problem of election violence connecting it with religious or ethnic factor differences and used Karl Marx’s dialectical materialism theory on the discussion of the problems of election violence in Nigeria. This paper has made an in-depth analysis of electoral violence in Nigeria with particular focus on the Fourth Republic. The paper was of the view that right application of religious teaching, moral values is considered to be a veritable tool for ensuring violence free elections, which will guaranteed development of democracy in Nigeria. Keywords: Electoral Violence, Electoral Security, Religious and Ethnic Difference DOI: 10.7176/JCSD/59-04 Publication date: May 31 st 2020

Highlights

Electoral process is expected to contribute towards democratic consolidation in any given society
Igbuzor (2010), sees electoral violence as: Any act of violence perpetuated in the course of political activities including, pre, during and post election periods, and may include any of the following acts: thuggery, use of force to disrupt political meetings or voting at polling stations, or the use of dangerous weapons to intimidate voters and other electoral process or to cause bodily harm or injury to any person connected with electoral processes
If the value of peace is imbibed by all participants in the electoral process, those who have religious inclination, religion will be a veritable tool for achieving free, fair and credible elections, which have continued to be a mirage in the political history of Nigeria

Summary

Introduction

Electoral process is expected to contribute towards democratic consolidation in any given society. Since the 1950s, electoral violence has been a major problem in Nigerian politics (Albert, 2007:132). This ugly development has led to several deaths and colossal loss of properties, both private and public, in different parts of the country. Considering the socio-ethical relevance of religion, the application of religious moral values during elections is expected to stem the tide of violence (Dzurgba, 2009:29). This becomes imperative given the fact that religion is usually a strong factor in the electoral process (Familusi, 2012:66).

Research Objectives

CROSS RIVER

Findings

Conclusion