Abstract
This paper titled Political Violence and The Sustainability of Nigerian Democracy seeks to establish the causes of political violence in Nigerian democratic experiment and possibly suggest how to surmount the pathologies with a view to ensuring the survival of the nations fledgling democracy. The study adopted elite theory as a theoretical framework of analysis. The study established that greed, struggle for supremacy between godfathers and godsons have often led to political violence in the countrys party system. The implication of the study is that if the above factors are not assuaged, the polity will continue to elect and nominate mediocre to occupy positions of responsibilities. Similarly, the country polity will keep witnessing wanton destruction of lives and properties. The study therefore recommended that the existing sentiments and parochial cleavages such as ethnicity and religion should not be a pre-requisite when it comes to attracting the suitable qualified candidates for public and political offices.
Highlights
Political violence and insurgence in Nigerian democracy have became intractable because of ethnicism, party and political interest which have become a modern day parlance in public governance and the Nigeria democracy, while godfatherism which is a famous concept in the teachings and religion of the Roman Catholic Church may have found it’s root in the political sphere of the Nigerian politics arising from the inability of most contestants in an election to stand on their own and contest elections (Ibeogu: 2014)
In the political setting today, both concepts though parochial, are ideologies championed on the belief that certain individuals possess considerable means to unilaterally determine who gets a party ticket to run for election, who wins in the electoral contest and who is to be appointed to occupy juicy positions in government
Apart from the role of governments, all hands should be on deck to eliminate the monster, insecurity, insurgency, criminal acts kidnapping and violence, and most importantly all should be committed to the growth, development, and transformation of our father land by being honest and eschewing politics of acrimony in Nigerian politics
Summary
Political violence and insurgence in Nigerian democracy have became intractable because of ethnicism, party and political interest which have become a modern day parlance in public governance and the Nigeria democracy, while godfatherism which is a famous concept in the teachings and religion of the Roman Catholic Church may have found it’s root in the political sphere of the Nigerian politics arising from the inability of most contestants in an election to stand on their own and contest elections (Ibeogu: 2014). Since society is paramount in everyday life, insecurity and violence which has become a topical issue in today’s Nigeria democratic exercise implies the inability to cope with shock or misfortune, increase in violence and insecurity results in pervasive anxiety and fear and so becomes detrimental to the survival of the nation’s fledgling democracy. Against this backdrop, this study ventured into the nature, character and dimensions of political violence in Nigerian democracy with a view to finding lasting solution that would enthrone sustainable democracy in the country
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