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NIGERIAS DEVELOPMENT
(A CASE STUDY OF 2011 GENERAL ELECTIONS)
BY
OCTOBER, 2017
i
APPROVAL PAGE
This research work has been read certified and approved to satisfy the
requirements of the B.Sc. in Political Science, Department of Political Science,
Bayero University, Kano. In partial fulfillment for the award of B.Sc. Degree on
the aforesaid programme.
________________________ ____________________
Malama Hafsat Y. Yakasai Date
Project Supervisor
________________________ ____________________
Prof. Habu Muhammad Fagge Date
Head of Department
________________________ ____________________
External Supervisor Date
ii
DEDICATION
I dedicate this work to God Almighty who stood behind me through the
(God), for his enormous guidance and supports in this particular research
exercises.
iii
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
iv
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Title page - - - - - - - - - - i
Approval Page - - - - - - - - - ii
Dedication - - - - - - - - - - iii
Acknowledgment - - - - - - - - - iv
Table of contents - - - - - - - - - v
CHAPTER ONE
1.1 Introduction - - - - - - - - - 1
1.2 Statement of the Research Problem - - - - - 4
1.3 Research Aims and Objectives - - - - - - 7
1.4 Significance of the Study - - - - - - 7
1.5 Scope and Limitation of the Study - - - - - 8
1.6 Research Hypothesis - - - - - - - 9
1.7 Research Methodology - - - - - - - 9
1.8 Organization of Chapters - - - - - - 10
CHAPTER TWO
LITERATURE REVIEW
2.0 Introduction - - - - - - - - - 11
2.1 Conceptual Framework - - - - - - - 11
2.2 The Trend of Political Crises - - - - - - 16
2.3 Political Crises and the Electoral Process - - - - 17
2.4 Menace of Political Crises on Electoral - - - - 19
2.5 Theoretical Framework - - - - - - - 22
2.6 Conclusion - - - - - - - - - 27
v
CHAPTER THREE
3.0 Introduction - - - - - - - - 30
3.2 The Factors that are Responsible for Political Crises in Nigeria - 37
3.5 Solution - - - - - - - - - 43
3.6 Conclusion - - - - - - - - - 44
CHAPTER FOUR
DATA PRESENTATION AND ANALYSIS
4.0 Introduction - - - - - - - - 46
4.1 Data Presentation, Analysis and Interpretation - - - 46
4.2 The Sponsors of Political Crises in Nigeria - - - - 46
4.3 What are the Causes of Political Crises? - - - - 49
4.4 To What Extent Does Political Crises Affects Nigerias Development? 53
4.5 The Solution to Political Crises - - - - - - 56
4.6 Test of Hypothesis - - - - - - - - 57
4.7 Conclusion - - - - - - - - - 59
CHAPTER FIVE
SUMMARY, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS
5.0 Introduction - - - - - - - - 61
5.1 Summary of Findings - - - - - - - 62
5.2 Conclusion - - - - - - - - - 64
5.3 Recommendation - - - - - - - - 64
References - - - - - - - - - 66
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CHAPTER ONE
1.1 INTRODUCTION
development.
activities will also be looked into with a view to demonstrating the danger of
such act. The Nigerian National commission for refugee (2006) report stated
that more than three million Nigerian were internally displaced in several parts
election did not simply take place as groups of armed thugs linked to political
parties and candidate intimidated and threatened voters in order to falsify results
(Alemika, 2011). Politicians recruited, trained and empowered local secret sect
throughout history have in one form or another resorted to crises or its potential
1
use as a tactic of political action. Interestingly, politics is expected to manage
the conflict in the society, even though no political system has succeeded in
eliminating political crises. The problem with Nigeria, is that the politicians
who are suppose to manage political crises, are the ones promoting, arming and
feature of the Nigerian democratic process (Odofine and Omojuwa, 2007). The
backward state of the Nigerian development which has created a large and ready
pool of the jobless is seen as the factor promoting political crises. With this
phenomenon, one can say that Nigeria is far from being a liberal democratic
state. For example, ahead of the April, poll in 2011, the weekly Trust of April
16, reported that, at least 90 people were killed and over 204 injured. After the
different parts of the North, which led to the death of over 120 people and about
15000 others were displaced (Daily Trust April 19; Leadership, April 20, 2011).
were not enough, bomb blasts have become a common thing at political rallies
and gathering marking the peak of crises in the nation body politics.
system largely rest on the logic and practice of organized criminal enterprises
were people employ secrecy, cooptation and violence to promote and defend
2
their interest and organizations. Thus, elections have become a battle between
political crises and at all cost. Election is that process of casting votes in favour
Election in the broader sense is much more than that. Rather it is the major
study examines election and political crises in Nigeria with a view to unraveling
the causes and preferring solutions to avoiding the past mistakes in the
subsequent elections. For the purpose of clarity, the paper focuses on the
ethnic or religious grievances which affect the social relationship of the people
and nation development. Marx, (1968) posits that violence, particularly political
3
The political crises impact negatively in many forms of development such
as inability for people to interact with one another creates unhealthy child
growth. More so, during political crises a lot of people abandon their ethnic,
unproven states. This unfortunate states have plugged people into deeper crisis,
used extreme, repressive measures that have threatened the rule a law, personal
conflict, in turn, are often related to poverty, inequality and social exclusion. It
is in the light of the prevailing situation that this paper seeks to periscope on the
to Nigerias development. There is no gain saying, the fact that in past series of
elections held in Nigeria since 1999, 2003, 2007 and 2011 activities of crises
have taken centre stage thereby a feeling of resentment among members of the
public. The activities of political crises are not noticeable in only one party; all
political parties are guilty of this. The 2011 general elections in Nigeria has
come and gone but its aftermath threatens the very existence of the Nigerian
state.
4
Adeyemi (2003), express concern over the situation of politics in Nigeria,
when they observed that during the ward congress of the PDP and intra-party
affair, many politicians went to the congress venue armed with assault refles
and acid containers for possible use on opponents. These politicians employed
local secrets sect to compel innocent people to vote against their wishes. The
party agents at the polling booth are openly threatened to compromise, and
INEC officials were forced to do what they would not have done ordinarily.
Alubo (2011) asserts that the refugee problems that accompany these
disturbances also have implications for attainment of target in, and access to
childhood deaths as well as other aspects of productive health. Indeed, the mass
rape of the female population in the areas engults by crises fuels the spread of
crises have implications for national peace and security, and thereby threaten
the dissolution of Nigeria. It was reported in December 2001, that, over, eighty
major political crises have been recorded in various parts of the country in
countries in Africa, elections especially its freeness and fairness constitutes the
central factor in ensuring democratic survival. This is because the lack of free
and fair elections often tends to threaten the democratic process as a result of
5
legitimacy question. This factor no doubt has characterized the democratic
experiment of the Nigerian fourth Republic especially by the year 2011, in that
there have been persistent crises of legitimacy in government arising from poor
Joshua, (2013), the only source of war is politics because war is simply a
there can be war, it is a matter of necessity that there is conflict because conflict
prepares the gorund for war: Tarimos, (2010) also argues that ethnic groups
engage one another in contest for political power with each advocating its
interest in different ways. He concluded that people do not kill one another on
the pretext of ethnic (or group) differences; they kill each other when these
when the climate of social relationship is extended to the political and economic
political conflicts that often manifest in ferocious and very destructive violence.
dimension since the beginning of Nigerias fourth Republic on May 29, 1999.
Imobighe, (2003) avers that, within the first three years of democratic rule in
Nigeria, the country had witnessed not less than forty violent communal or
ethnic conflicts, while some old one had gained additional potency. Instances,
6
of such inter-group conflict include the Zangon Kataf in Kaduna state; Tiv-
And in the words of (Odofin and Omojuwa, 2007). The general (but typical)
were the direct cause of political crises. In the light of above statements, this
development.
undertaken by Human Rights Watch and Johns Hopkins school for Advanced
International Studies, reports stated that political crises is part and parcel of a
broader epidemic of violence that has devastated the lives of tens of thousands
7
of Nigerians since the country returns to civilian rule in 1999. A major
clear picture of Nigerian political crises, with 2011 general election as a special
reformulate policies that will empower those that are engage in political crises
Finally, the study will also contribute to the existing knowledge about
Moreover, this study will also help those interesting researchers in similar
situation.
employed to influence the value and characters of actors in political crises. This
study will be limited to the admirers of political parties in Nigeria that engage in
8
the political crises. Therefore, the study will be concentrated in explaining the
sophisticated weapons and other means against their political opponent for their
own advantages. However, the study will be limited with the case study of
violence.
This aspects deals with the procedures and methods used in the
investigation in the course of carrying out this research. Hence, the research will
facilities etc. The researcher essentially choose to adopt such method in order to
acquire adequate information relevant to this study. This is in view of the fact
that effective management and decisions in general are based on sound and
adopt such method of acquiring such information for the purpose of this study.
9
1.8 ORGANIZATION OF CHAPTERS
This research consists of five chapters for the purpose of studying how
general election.
historical background of the study which will discuss the historical background
of the political crises, factors responsible for political crises and implication of
political crises on party supporters and general society. Chapter four titled Data
Presentation and Analysis as well as the test of hypothesis. This will present the
data and also analyze the same. The chapter also test the hypothesis as raised
recommendation.
10
CHAPTER TWO
LITERATURE REVIEW
2.0 INTRODUCTION
crises and its effect on Nigerias development, for this reason therefore, there is
need to divide the chapter into different categories. The chapter deals with the
political violence and the review of relevant theories. Also the chapter gives
scholars works which defined and explain the origin of the most political crises
Nigeria is most often carried out by gangs whose members are openly recruited,
financed and sometimes armed by public officials, politicians and party officials
young men which are mobilized to attack their sponsors rivals, intimidate
members of the public, rig election and protect their patrons from similar
attacks. Often, sponsors of political violence turn time and gain to the same
agents of political violence. Those recruited are paid, often very little and
11
sometimes armed for the sole purpose of carrying out violent abuses on behalf
all contesting parties are involved in one form of electoral malpractices or other
(Joseph, 1987; Osaghae, 1999, Iwu, 2008). Where the opposing parties fail to
win elections, they create one form of political crises or the other. This includes:
process of attaining power and keeping it. The Institute for Peace and Conflict
emanates from power struggles within the political classes and often involve the
manipulation of the people, who are inevitably less informed about the essence
are carried out through physical force while others are both structural and
systematic.
The political violence carried out using physical force include ballot
during the 2003, 2007 as well as 2011 general elections. At that time, the
12
electorate in many pooling boots watched helplessly as an army of political
thugs descended in many pooling boots across the country to snatch the ballot
box and other sensitive and non-sensitive election materials, which they use to
violence. The Nigerian present form of federalism has being consistently under
Ake, (1996), has observed that where the state is privatized those in
power will use violence and state repressive apparatuses to retain power. The
is license to oppress other citizens and to rob the public treasury with impunity)
will resort to violence in their quest for office. According to Ogundiya and Baba
spontaneous or not, which occur before, during and after elections. Violence
13
According to Usman (2002), political violence of the forties and fifties
had actually transformed political tension and crises and consequently wrecked
directly to economic power. Those who hold position in the power struggle
in Nigeria is the struggle for more money and this means that to get into
politics, there is always a price to pay. Since politics entails spending huge
sums of money one will have to be involved in some competition which may
precipitate political crises. Echoing in the same vain Adeyemo, (2000) maintain
the culture of Africa. Indeed he emphasized that governance and violence have
sustain power to protest its deprivation. Reno, (2002) made a remark in his
14
analysis of politics in failed states he cited. Bazenguissa Ganga, (1999) whose
benefited from official political violence, the goals of violence turn toward
battling local rivals and appropriating as much of the wealth of this political
network for themselves therefore, political crises and political thuggery are
voters but embraces within all institutional procedures, arrangement and actions
competition between rival parties, body charged with the conduct and
malpractice (Jega and Ibeanu, 2007; Ball, 1979, 92; Harris, 1982:157;
Appadorai, 1978:523).
Ake (1996), has observed that where the state is privatized, those in poor
will use political violence and state repressive apparatuses to retain power. The
people excluded from power or governance will resort to violence in their quiet
15
2.2. THE TREND OF POLITICAL CRISES
one time Inspector General of Police, Tafa A. Balogun conceded to these facts
when he said:
with a political community against the political regime, its actors including
foregoing, one can observe that there is a correlative relationship between the
various groups (group conflict theory). The sultan of Sokoto in his Ramadan
16
Politicians in an out of power must resist the
temptation of using religion as a means of
gaining acceptability, if you are playing politics
you should not involve religion. Avoid the
temptation that easily leads to problem and
violence most of the time... (Paden, 2012).
other periods of political contestation does not simply fade away once the
political battle have been decided. In many cases violence fomented for the
purpose of winning elections has taken on a life and logic of its own and
continued to generate widespread human rights abuses over the long term.
Several Nigerian state have been plagued by enduring violence after politicians
either abandon or lose control over the gangs they initially employed. As a
successive elections in Nigeria since the colonial time lacked credibility in the
eyes of the general public and therefore, fell short of meeting the essential
transparency, fairness and free play during all the elections particularly the
17
elections that were held under the current democratic dispensation (1999, 2003
and 2007). Although the elections of 2011 was judged to be the most free and
fair by some international observers, yet, it was not without its shortcoming.
But why did elections in Nigeria became tug to war any time they were
conducted. The answer is not far fetch, because of the nature of the Nigerian
revealed that the uneven playing ground makes opposition or rival group within
a ruling party more likely to use violence during political contest. Election
materials are stifled and snatched in some instances where thugs play vital role
in that direction.
sovereignty and the totality of the votes signifies the popular sovereignty and
rights and with the increasing menace of political thug which make it difficult
the values of the spoils of office, adopt various means to capture power by any
means, they buy votes, rig elections and commit other infelicities designed to
subvert peoples will to choose leaders capable of leading the state toward
18
Electoral malpractice and violence have been burning issues in both the
kidnapping, arson political association. These occur before, during and after
election with the view of altering, influencing or changing by force the voting
2007:59). Election rigging is the worst form of electoral fraud since it leads
directly to the falsification of the result of the people and empowerment of the
referred to as touts (yan-daba), resurfaced in the second and third republics but
became eminent unhealthy for the sustenance of good democratic process in the
present republic. They also bear different names such as Ecomog in Borno and
from the early stage of politicking and become intense at election periods. Most
19
patronage. Since 1999 to date, some of this youthful thugs have been sponsored
boys trained to main and kill political opponents are left help less without any
Dashee, (2008), asserts that in other instances, even their sponsors are not
spared from their act of violence as they equally attack them in public functions
like wedding, political rallies and soon, when they fail to meet their
could be attributed to their quest for power and drive toward primitive
state. This gave rise to the high level and sophisticated of political crises in the
titled How Sara-Suka held Bauchi state hostage revealed that hooligans
tagged Sara-suka from both opposing parties ANPP and PDP and others fought,
left some dead and many causalities with injuries. Similar incidents abound in
Borno state when Ali Modu Sherif won the 2003 election. Many young men
result other groups emerged with seeming divisions amongs them and persistent
clashes between the different camps mostly associated with sharing largest. On
26th April, 2008, there were intra group clashes between political thugs loyal to
the ruling ANPP and inter group with PDP an opposition party. The scenario is
not different from Banu-Israil and Yan-Shinko in Taraba and Adamawa states
20
respectively. This activities however, do not occur without the input of the two
players the politicians and their supports in which they solingly depend on the
To further justify this claim, Albert, (2005) while analyzing the political feud
between Governor Mala Kachalla and Senator Ali Modu Sheriff all Borno state,
reported that, supporters of Governor Kachalla had to fight back using political
thugs known as Ecomog..... turning Borno into a violent state. There has been
in the zone. Politicians recruit youths to serve as bodyguards and militias for the
parties. So also they are bearing names such as Area boys, Bakkassi boys, yan
21
2.5 THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK
particular phenomenon or event but also and ideal for action, therefore, the
1. Conflict theory
2. Theory of modernization
CONFLICT THEORY:
assumptions concerning the nature of the society and political violence. Marxist
situates every social action within the ambit of economic base and lays much
Conflict theory on the other hand emphasizes conflict as a hall mark of the
society (Yecho, 2005). The theory is based upon the view that the fundamental
causes of political violence are the social and economic forces that operates
within the society Conflict theorists are of the view that there are groups in the
society that have different interest. In this regard they believed that social
arrangement will tend to benefit some groups at the expense of others. Because
always present. According to this theory, some groups come to dominate others
22
power, which includes wealth and privileges in the society at the expense of the
less powerful ones. They also incriminate the activities of the less powerful
while they protect that of the powerful persons such situations according to this
theory creates violence. The theory is of the view that, the masses are not bound
to society by their shared values, but by coercion at the hands of those in power.
Groups and individuals advance their own interest, struggling over control of
society resources. Those with the most resources exercise power over others
with inequality and power struggles resulting. There is great attention paid to
class, race, and gender in this perspective because they are seen as the grounds
of the most pertinent and enduring struggles in society which often lead to
basic right of citizens as the various institutions of society such as the legal and
political system are instruments of ruling class domination and serve to further
Consequently upon this ugly menace politicians in Nigeria used to create many
social problems to the society especially when the masses attempt to fight back,
for instance the election held in 2011 was preceded by widespread intra-party
and inter-party violence that continued on the polling days (Human Rights
Watch, 2004). This further indicated that the both Nigerias federal and state
23
elections in 2011 and local government elections were marred by serious
incidents of crises, which left scores dead and many others injured at least so
THEORY OF MODERNIZATION
Political crises and other election problems in Nigeria where there have
modernization (Shils, 1963; Apter, 1968; Almond and Verba, 1966). The theory
scholars who use the economically advanced and political stable societies as
to explain why constitutional democracy declines, the role that political attitude
and individual behaviour played in the nation building processes, and how
economic backwardness affect the nature of politics (Verba, 1980). The concept
measured the ability of the new states to cope with intricacies and of sustaining
24
western institutions brought by colonialism. Thus, modernization was seen as
process based upon the rational utilization of resources and armed at the
political crises, Robert Melson and Howard Wolpe argued that analysis of the
time, both reinforces communal conflict and create the conditions for the
formation of entirely new communal groups (Melson and Wolpe, (eds) 1971).
They also argued that, the Nigerian case in a particularly appropriate illustration
that Nigerians economic and social congress sowed the seeds of the nations
perspectives.
a. Politics
b. Crises
c. Thugs
d. Development
began his famous work, politics with the observation that man is by
25
existence is politics and that two or more men interacting with one
politics as they try to define their positions in society, as they struggle for
scarce resources and as they try to convince others to accept their point of
view.
allocation of values, or who gets what, when and how, the quest for
b. Crisis: In the word of Audu, (2010) argues that conflict is very fluid and
notes that crisis occurs when parties disagree about the distribution of
groups. This could be because those groups are pursuing what appears to
be in compatible goals.
26
robbed). In other way according to Oxford Advanced Learners
sociology, August Conte et al., (in the 19th century). Conte saw
solidarity (modern stage). The basic concern and central message as they
2.6 CONCLUSION
violence has now taken another dimension fiercer than before because
the foregoing discussions, it is apparent that the Nigerian state is beset by the
the entire polity and the democratic project. As a matter of fact, the realities that
spelt doom for the past republics are still endemic and prevalent in Nigeria.
27
abductions, religious bigotry to mention a few are still conspicuous in Nigerias
tell ourselves the truth. The truth is that all politicians are guilty of electoral
thugs at their disposal. The current security threat, in country may not be
unconnected with the activities of politicians who supply arms to their agents
with aim of winning elections even if it may involve the elimination of their
(SSS), was quoted by a Newspaper (Vanguard, Nov. 12, 2012), to have sated in
a court that a PDP Senator gave the phone number of the Minister of Justice to
the political thug members all in a bid to influence the outcome of the Borno
state gubernatorial election in favour of PDP. The marks one of the highest
forms of betrayal to the nation by the politician. The rising wave of militancy
all over the country is therefore the repercussions of political crises. Even the
judiciary which has been acclaimed as the last hope of the common man has in
recent time more often comprised its independent through the series of
unpleasant judgement that are mostly one sided, which is in favour to the ruling
party. And also even the so-called political institutions such as Independent
political crises through their actions and inactions, especially the state INEC
28
were forced by the governors to declare a winner in favour of their own
political party. Until Nigeria is ready to change all that, we cannot just dream of
taken to control this ugly phenomenon, despite the long history of political
violence dating back to colonial period, Nigeria still needs to take far reaching
decisions to curb the menace and rid itself of violence democratic system.
29
CHAPTER THREE
3.0 INTRODUCTION
Political crises has been part of human history present in the history of all
humanity for ages. It is an endemic feature of the most of the developing world
wealth (Tamuno, 1972). It was Nigerias pride that she achieved her
operation wete, were recorded from 1964 to 1965 following both federal and
regional election as well as rift between Awolowo and Akintola. There were
parties mainly the Northern Elements Progressive Union (NEPU) and action
post- election violence following the declared landslide victory of the National
the Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN). Several persons lost their lives and larges
30
scales destruction of property was recorded (Alemika, 2011). This trend of
violent activities which begins since 1960s lead to the current democratic
struggle and violence killings. Available statistics show that over 10,000 lives
were lose to violent clashes between 1999 to June 2002 (Adelek, 2012). More
so the Nigerian Red Cross, was involved in the resettlement of over 250,000
individual and 32,000 families as a result of various acts of political crises in the
supporters led political violence, one has pay attention to the family background
of Nigerian youth the overall socio-economic crises in the country and the
Political crises refers to the use or threat of force against an opponent within
the context of competition for state power particularly during elections. This
(1964, 1965, 1979, 1983, 1993, 1999, 2007 and 2011) have been marked by
sharp division and distrust and a zero sum attitude which manifest in electoral
fraud, serious disputes and high level of violence Odofin and Omojuwa, 2007).
In Nigeria, elections have always been hotly contested under party politics that
31
different as the two presidential candidates-Goodluck Jonathan of the Peoples
Democratic Party (PDP) and General Muhammad Buhari Rtd of the Congress
for Progressive Change (CPC) sloughed it out to the apex, Court in Nigeria, the
Supreme court. But before that, the announcement of the results of 2011
for Progressive Change (CPC), burst into violent uprising unleashing terror
destroying properties worth millions of naira. The house of the Vice President,
Nnamdi Sambo was looted and raised and places of prominent traditional rulers
Corps were killed in Mayhem Bauchi, Gombe among others. (EU, EOM, 2011).
The general opinion on the original meaning of thug activities originated from
the Hausa word Daba connotes a group who may share similar trade, age,
to do certain things. The term Daba now has pejoratively assumed a deviant
meaning because it is associated with urban gang youth groups that are engaged
the relationship between the two groups the criminal activities reached an
epidemic level, during the second republic in 1978-1983; also it was clear that
in the first republic at the turn of 1960s there were some traces of criminal
32
activities through the use of Yan Daba. Thus the actual conduct of the
elections brought some welcome surprises as there were few deaths during the
12th April National Assembly elections and the presidential and gubernatorial
races a week later. There was abundant evidence of large scale rigging fraud
In more extreme cases, a political crisis ensues such as: bombing, kidnapping,
political assassination and youth restiveness. Nweke (2006:41) wrote that the
as well as the foundation for perpetual violence that has grown from one form to
another in the Nigerian political history. Ani and Nwanaju (2011:2) wrote that
at the independence, political conflicts took over the centre stage of nation
building in Nigeria and its multiplier effect gave birth to the factors that led to
The Transition Monitoring Group (TMG) that monitored the 2003 election
33
Twenty nine of the registered political parties that either contested or did
not contest the elections have variously rejected the results as announced
by the INEC declaring the results as fraudulent. Both Domestic and
International Election Observers documented massive irregularities that
characterized the elections and refused to endorse the elections as free
and fair. Some political parties and their candidates decided to challenge
some of the results before the various Election Petition tribunals and have
gone ahead to do so while others declared mass action to pressurize a
government without popular mandate to abdicate power (Iyayi,2005:11).
order. However, as the 2007 election drew near, President Obasanjo told the
surprised Nigerians, other Africans and the world at large that the 2007
when it actually came were most deadly and frightening in nature. Thus in
Rivers state, a police station was attacked and burnt by unknown assailants a
night before the Election day. In Anambra and Rivers states, voters were faced
with violence and intimidation. The INEC offices in Onitsha North, and South,
Nnewi south and a Local Government office in Akwa North, Anambra were
burnt in protest. In the same vein, violence marred election in other parts of the
nation. The 2007 election therefore was generally perceived as the worst in the
commented that:
34
The 2007 states and federal elections have fallen short of basic
international and regional standards for democratic elections. They were
marred by poor organisation, lack of essential transparency, widespread
procedural irregularities, significant evidence fraud, particularly during
result collation process, voter disenfranchisement at different stages of
the process, lack of the equal condition for contestants and numerous
incidents of violence. As a result, the elections have not lived up to the
hopes and expectations of the Nigerian people and the process cannot be
considered to have been credible (Adebayo and Omotola, 2007:207).
For several scores of years and irrespective of what happened in the past,
Nigerians had for long developed a deeper love for democracy. This love had
been demonstrated in the time past whenever there is a need for this. Thus in
spite of the ills that followed the 1999, 2003 and 2007 elections, Nigerians still
showed their willingness to elect their leaders even in the 2011 election. Such
started with a time table which was set and adjusted later for convenience
kilometres has a distance of 1,120 kilometres from west to east and a distance of
1,040 kilometres from South to North (Afigbo, 1991:14) is divided into six geo
a. South-West comprising Oyo, Lagos, Ogun, Ekiti, Osun and Ondo state.
35
d. North-Central having Benue, Kogi, Kwara, Nassarawa, Niger and Plateau
states
states.
violence before during and after the 2011 general election which resulted
A clear testimony about political crises associated with election in Nigeria was
PDP in the presence of military and police personnel or by the military and
police themselves. He went further and declared that there were instances of
some violence in all the 14 states which elections were questioned in this
numerous, he added that the most tragic and disturbing aspect of the incidents is
that these incidents either happened in the presence of policemen and soldiers or
36
out. He conclude that the scenario created from the various incidents was that
same of politic, licensed to destroy lives and property. Its a serious dent on our
during and after the April elections. Dozens of people were reported killed and
Unlike before, Nigerians have become highly politicised. In fact, the demand to
to a very high completion among the participants who are prone to take the most
b. Ethic politics:
This has become highly pronounced in Nigerian politics. The colonialists who
ruled us in the past poisoned the minds of Nigerian against Nigerian. Thus in
after the election that brought Good luck Jonathan in, some disgruntled
elements rose up in the North chanting Ba muso meaning they do not like the
37
c. Unemployment:
people who are jobless enter politics with the intents and purpose of causing
confusion. It commonly known that most of the party supporters who readily
wallowing in poverty. The dirty jobs this party supporters engage in are not kind
d. Monetization of politics
In the time past, political offices did not attract money as it is today. The
government had made politics more financially attractive that nobody wants to
engage in any other profession than politics. Thus as it is now, the 109 senators
per annum (Audu, 2010: Iand 7). Seeing these gargantuan benefits Nigerians
one view it. Hence, it range from constituting a major threat to national security,
in stills fear and causes low turnout or participation by eligible voters, flowing
from that, it thus casts doubt on the credibility of the supported elected leaders
38
before the eyes of the local and international community; similarly it could
affect the respect from the governed and this could further affect the general
mandate from the voters diminishes good governance and makes the peoples
hopes and expectations dashed and finally, it hinders or does away with public
accountability by the so called elective officers. The implication of all these are
that illegal arms get into the hands of unauthorized persons who used them for
caused by these hoodlums. Worse still the economic community are (sic) put on
the edge and many investors are scare (d) away by the apparent lack of security
for their investment. These implications are certainly not exhaustive. They are
Political unrest and spate of insecurity which have invaded parts of the Northern
2011. For the umpteenth time, it shown that politics of tolerance and
country. The most dreaded insurgency of the Fourth Republic has come to be
that of the Boko Haram (Dearn, 2011). As Dearn, (2011) noted, Boko Haram
39
was a little understood, dangerous but parochial Islamic sect believed to be in
decline after a purge by Nigeria Security Forces in 2009. Now with 8 years
drawing to a close it is clear that Boko Haram remains little understood and has
evolved into Nigerians most serious security threat, one which shows no sign
problem. The Boko Haram has carried out horrendous attacks on various
targets including the police Headquarters, the U.N. Buding. It has also carried
Borno, Kano Plateau, Gombe, Kaduna, Taraba, Sokoto and the FCT (Saidu
Alabi and Suka (2012). Lately the Boko Haram has spread its targets to include
a. The law relating to political violence in Nigeria: to this extent, the already
Electoral act 2010 will be examined. Section 95 (5) provides that no political
party or member of a political party shall retain, organized, train or equip any
for the use or display physical force or coercion in promoting any political
40
50,000.00 or imprisonment of six month and N 250, 000.00 fine for political
parties.
security the immediate measure which commonly comes to mind is the legal
the society as a result of the activities resultant criminality arising from the
wide circulation of weapons in the hands of criminals which were used for
violence during election. Which becomes difficult to have control over the
Under the Act, any person who at an election acts or incites others to act in a
d. Money politics: this may not be unconnected with the high level of poverty
point sought to be made therefore is that when such huge monies are spent
41
(invested) anything standing in the way of such an investor getting to where
he will eventually recover his investment and much more will be done away
It is the state that prosecutes criminal offenses which are usually offenses
against the state. Therefore what of the attitude of the state in the prosecution of
cases of political violence in Nigeria? The critical point of emphasis is that the
one of the reluctant because of the vested interests of the ruling parties. The
very phenomenon, it has greatly affected the public confidence especially in the
In the days, the general impression is that the court judge are easily
impartially judge.
The most successful thugs acting for the ruling party enjoy the protection
of the state. The result is that even where they are apprehended by the security
operatives, because the state has interest gradually, investigation just end that
will lead to the closure of the matter. Hence in the trail of Boyelayefa
42
of arming and paying thugs to intimidate opponents the court rezoned that it is
a reasonable course of action (sic) to protect the lives of the witnesses. It must
Debekeme found himself out of favour with new Governor in Bayelsa State and
The case of political violence in North-Eastern Region can best be equated with
the case in Jamaica where the weapons and the unemployed men were harness
reported that; nine competitive elections have been held in Jamaica since
1962.... but violence and fraud have accompanied most campaigns. Politicians
have also use their patronage to buy votes in key constituencies, and have
3.5 SOLUTION
The unity and security of this country is paramount and ranks first and foremost.
Double standards must be done away with. The rebranding Nigeria project must
take into consideration and seriously tackle these areas if we must take our pride
43
result. Leadership at the highest echelon must be targeted. Their attitude to
the society where there is wide spread of poverty and unemployment which are
such matters, provide education and employment opportunities for its citizens.
This comes with a total orientation of the elected leaders to see themselves as of
coming to serve and touch on the lives of people. With good governmence,
most of these vices will not find a placed thrive. We must also put an end to
pervasive influence to money. Any politician who induce electorate with money
or engage thugs and hoodlum to win elections should be arrested prosecuted and
banned from contesting elective office in the future. So also campaign should be
more of issue based. There is need to do away with money politics where
money is used for campaigns in which people are not told any reasonable
things, that will be done on ground which will lead to development. One sure
education and it can be achieve through the media and civil society
organization.
3.6 CONCLUSION
The problem of lives and properties destruction in the nation as a result of the
activities of political crises have had far reaching effects for the practice and
44
development as such should not be mistaken for instrument of
the area. The seemingly inability of the Nigeria state to shift from competitive
attained. Hence fairness, equity and justice should be the guiding principle at
public, individual and political levels. The Nigerian state has fallen short of true
democracy; a play ground where frivolous factors such as poverty, greed and
aforementioned factors are taken care of, so will the sustenance of democratic
process unattainable and the people in the various zones continue to suffer in
assassination of political rivals among other things. The inability to conduct free
and fair election has continued smooth transition and good governance, and in
the words of Omotosho, (2008) ....... has made the country, the buff of bad
45
CHAPTER FOUR
4.0 INTRODUCTION
collected. The chapter will also test the hypothesis as proposed earlier in the
previous chapter. Therefore, the chapter presents and analyzes a number of data
for the purpose of examining the political crises and its effect on Nigerias
The data to be presented and analyzed here are: the sponsors of political crises,
factors of political crises, the extent to which political crises affects Nigerias
To speak from the words of Etannabi (2004), who noted that Nigeria
electoral process and governance system largely employ secrecy, cooptation and
matter of life and death struggle and was determined to capture or retain power
by all means and at all costs. Interestingly, politics is expected manage the
eliminating political violence. The problem with Nigeria, is that the politicians
46
who are suppose to manage political conflicts are the ones promoting, arming
normally do takes place as groups of armed thugs linked to political parties and
more than three million Nigerians were internally displaced in several parts of
the country and many were killed and injured as a result of political crises.
through the stuffing of ballots snatching and destruction of ballot boxes and
(P10).
i. Delimination of Constituencies
47
iii. Campaigns and rallies
v. Polling
It has been observed that election violence erupted at different stages in the
results. Other are partially and corruptions by electoral and security officials,
government seeking re-election often used its power to manipulate the security
under the guise of not security approval or the likely hood of breach of public
peace.
From the above data based as discussed in this investigation, it appears rightly
clear that in Nigeria, there are certain sponsors of political violence. The most
common among them includes, politicians, the partial and erupt electoral and
security officials, through the activist of religion, regional and other primordial
However, politicians are the most critical element in the employment of thugs.
48
Politicians from different parties play a vital role in the rise of political crises in
Nigeria. In the words of Umar (2003; 210): Politicians are the major elements
that orchestrated and employ violence in the pursuit of personal interest. They
are not only ready to recruit and work the political thugs but come to accept
And he asserts that there is hardly any political party in the country that
does not have thugs at least one person who has ties to attack, maim or
political interest.
considered harmful to Nigerias democracy. The factors are many that abound
to explain the causes of political crises. Prominent amongst these are two
state and economic factors. The rest can be tied to either two of the above.
49
1999 that permits democratic competition but bedeviled by fraud and abuse
of state apparatus which enables those with machinery of the state apparatus
to suppress opposition groups or party. This groupings result more often than
resulting from abuse of office and fraud often emasculate electoral process.
c. Checks and balance: lacking of checks and balances on part of the three arms
d. Illiteracy: This is also a factor that leads to political crises, some studies
revealed that most of those that engage or used by politicians are mostly
do or die affairs. Even if the mandate denied them as expressed in the voting
where there is any, they steal it through act of violence. The Governor of the
50
Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) cried out that the National Assembly in the
19.87% and in 2008, it was 14.19%. He pointed out that if the federal budget
Statics has also shown that a Nigerian Senator earns more in salary than Donald
Trump as the president of United State of America (U.S.A). Also the role of
security agent during, before and after elections in the state have been at all
materials time to ensure that security of lives and property is guaranteed and
that there is peace and order in the society. By the antecedents of the previous
general elections in the country particularly the 2003 and 2007 general elections
whether, security agents (in some place made up of police, military, civil
defence etc) dispatch at election polling both were to ensure peaceful conduct of
the election or the help perpetuate official violence so as to rig the election.
Report are replete both in the National dailies and reports of election observers
safeguarding the voter of the electorates especially given their complicity in the
violence process as exemplified in the 2003 and 2007 general election in the
parts.
51
Related findings in available data in the conduct of the 2007 general election
equally show the prevalence of the activities of violence and how in some cases
either clearly over power of the security operatives who were on duty on
election, days or simply, got the cooperation of those same security operatives
to perpetrate their activities in the 2007 general election held in April, the
personnel in each of the six (6) geographical zones involving eighteen states of
the federation and the federal capital territory. In the main, the report indicated
offences like multiple voting, under age, voting, impersonation and snatching of
ballot boxes.
Detailed part of the report relevant to this work for present purpose shows that
in the North Central Zones comprising plateau state, Benue and Niger, it was
observed that there was disruption of voting by militant armed youths at the
In Benue state, violence over powered security agents and electoral officials at
the government house polling station and snatched away ballot boxes.
In the North West Zone covering Kano, Katsina and Sokoto to monitored cases
52
South-South Zone also monitored covered, Edo, Bayelsa and River state. The
story is not different from what was observed in the South-West Zones where
Lagos, Ogun and Oyo were monitored. In the South-Wast zone were Anambra,
Enugu and Abia were monitored. It was observed that cases result abound. It is
reported that in one of the polling unit in Anambra state, one Festus Eze of the
Nigerian Police Force was seen thump-printing ballot papers in favour of one of
From the above incidents based on the report gathared and explained, it
can be deduce that political crises do not just occurred, they are caused by so
many identified factors which are not unconnected to the authoritarian nature of
the Nigerian state as well as the economic factors that further classified into
politics as a life or death struggle were the direct cause of the problems. The
NIGERIAS DEVELOPMENT?
Political crises has apparently affected every facet of Nigerian society at large.
The assumption here is that the unemployed men that were hired by the
53
politicians during campaign period were left with no job or any means of
sustenance after the election. They therefore had to seek for alternative means of
Moser and Clark, (2001) asserted that, it is in the public domain where political
violence interviewed with economic and social violence, takes place. Political
violence take place not just at election time, but in period leading to election
during the election themselves and in the period immediately following election
such as during the counting of ballots. Most devastating of all the effect of
citizens of the state. Babajide, (2011) reported that 30 people were killed and 60
houses burnt in the political crises that erupted at Ugba Benue state in October,
2011, Duru (2012), reported that 10 people were killed 120,000 people were
displaced and property worth millions of Naira were destroyed in the crises
of struggle for power. He further opined that, the employment of violence in the
struggle for power has some negative implication for the realization of the
political violence has become highly disruptive to social life, thereby causing
elections.
54
From the above readings it is indicated that, the current of political
Nigeria. For instance, many people are not willing to stay in the Southern part
of the country, especially in the South-East where such violence has become
volatile. This trend has created a divisible life among the people. The condition
Nigerians. Furthermore, victims and those that are not victims of it appear to be
religions, ethnic and communal clashes that Nigeria is facing today. For
example in Places like Abia, Borno, Kano, Taraba, Yobe, Kaduna, Makurdi
states among others human being are targeted on basis of religion, ethnic or
political crises. The act negatively impacted on the supporters as they do not
have future plan in their own development. Most of the unemployed men
interest. When the election is over, those unemployed men (supporters) that are
trained to main and kill political opponents are left helpless without any
concrete sustainable means (Weekly Trust, May 10th 2008). The wanton
activities have had for reaching effect for the practice and sustenance of
55
4.5 THE SOLUTION TO POLITICAL CRISES
Ortest and Ada (2000) rightly observed that political crises are some of
the effect of unemployment. Since the government cannot fully employ the
teaming youths who are seeking for jobs, effort should be made to organize
An attempt in making effort should be done in order to boost and to extend the
institutions. The authors are of the believed that whenever the government
Programme (YEP), many of the unemployed men will have job opportunity
either will become employers of labour rather than waiting for a white collar
job. According to them, with this welcome development the menace of political
56
In light of the above the Independent Corrupt Practices Commission
with the actigites of thugs; this can be done through deemphasizing the
checked and strengthened through provision of adequate fund and resources for
such exercise and personnel trained and made available when called upon.
crises and violence. Scholarship fund should be made available for less
Solution
politics of winner -takes it- all. Obviously, this is one of the reasons why
57
politicians view politic as a do -or -die affair. Experience has shown that once
policy to have definite plans for aspirant when failed elections either to be
We are of the opinion that when this is done, the use of force to win election
will be reduced and the need for thugs will equally be unnecessary. This is a
advocate for a total War against Unemployment (WAE). The popular maxim
that an idle mind is the devils workshops, come to play in the case it has been
observed that many youths who have graduated from schools are roaming about
(2010: 33) observed from the exact of statistics obtained from the National
Manpower Board and Federal Bureau of Statistics showed that Nigeria has
youth population of eighty (80) million representing the 60% of the total
Sixty four (64) million of them are unemployed while one million six hundred
From the above analysis, it can be proved that unemployment has been
the major problem bedeviling the liver of Nigerian youth causing frustration;
conflict and dependency of one group open another for selfish and political
goals of their masters. The high rate of unemployment among the youth in
58
Nigeria has the refroze contributed to high rate of poverty and social vices like
including political office holders as well as party members. Through this means,
clamoring for. It will afford counselors the privilege of inculcating some sound
virtues such as honesty, dedication, tolerance, respect for one another etc on all
to develop the consciousness of team work and play the game of politics in the
4.7 CONCLUSION
The research work has established the fact that the political crisis is one
of the most serious security challenges in Nigeria. Its antecedent causes and
effect on the security and Nigerias development has been discussed. All hand
must be on deck to ensure that this trend is discontinued so that the problem of
interventions have been put forward in the research, and it is hoped that the
59
More so, elections are the most important part of representative
democracy individuals and groups have to compete in an open contest for the
peoples votes where this is done fairly and creditably, the wishes of the people
in Nigeria. Electoral violence has now taken other dimension fiercer than before
60
CHAPTER FIVE
5.0 INTRODUCTION
The research was under-taken to study the political crises and its effect on
work. The objectives has been essentially correct the perceived situations of the
divided into five (5) chapters. Chapter one, which is the background of the
study which contains the introduction, the statement of the research problem,
the research hypothesis, which were formulated in harmony with the objectives
of the study, the significance of the study, the methodology of the study in
which the documents were reviewed and the scope and limitation of the study.
Chapter two part of the research is made up of literature review that is the
causes of political violence. So also different theories were used that guided to
the understanding of the nature, causes and the pattern of the political crises.
Chapter three contains the historical background of the study, the factors that
are responsible for political crises, the effect of the acts on both the unemployed
61
Chapter four contains the presentation, analysis and interpretation of data.
This research found out that, in Nigeria, there are key group of persons that
common among this sponsors are the politicians, the partial and corrupt
investigation shows that there is hardly any political party in the country that
Also, the findings reveals that political crises are cause by number of factors.
The research also found out that, political crises has seriously affect Nigerias
authority and functions of the state. The young men who undergoes training to
maim and kill political rivals are left without and meaningful way of
62
sustenance. The findings also indicated that political violence continues to be
negatively on the future of Nigerian youth that involved in it. It was also
discovered that the solutions of political crises are many. Some of it which
activities.
63
5.2 CONCLUSION
Political crises in Nigeria based on the data gathered and analyzed exists among
political party supporters. As the above finding indicates that many of the
violence is very high. In regards to the supporting their candidate, the research
also identified what motivated them to give a support to a candidate. The work
was established the facts that political crises is one of the most dangerous that
associated with the issue of parties supporters. All hands must be on deck so as
to ensure that the trend is discontinued so that the challenges posses by the act
can be curtailed. On this basis, some counseling interventions have been put
forward in the research, and it is hoped that the acceptance and implementation
of the recommendation will bring about a reduction in the rate of this act and
5.3 RECOMMENDATION
In the light of the above findings the research provides some recommendations
that will be put into consideration in order to ensure that, the phenomenon of
political crises in this nation are well address. These include the following:
1. The pontifical counseling: Parents should be able to proceed with the role
they are playing, also include monitoring the movement of their own child as
64
2. The government should be able to provide their needs particularly education
largely because of the exceedingly lucrative nature of the offices. The pecks
of political offices are to be reduced and made less attractive or at least in-
engage thugs to win election should be arrested prosecuted and banned from
contesting any elective in the future. There is need to move away with ethnic
politics where ethnicity is used for campaign, people are not told any
measures and ensuring insurgent group do not endanger the safety of lives
and properties in the society, in light of the above, the National Assembly
should be able to sign a bill concerning the Special Criminal Courts Acts
65
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