2011 POST-ELECTORAL VIOLENCE IN NIGERIA: LESSON FOR 2015 GENERAL ELECTION

Abstract

Nigeria is a heterogeneous country with diverse and overlapping religious and ethnic divisions. Nigerian culture is as diverse as its population, which is estimated to be around 150 million. With the regaining of political process in 1999 after over thirty (30) years of military rule, Nigeria looked set for a return to stability and the regaining of its position in the commity of nations particularly in Africa. Wrongly so, this was not to be. Since the 1999 to the 2011 General elections, the Nigeria electoral and political landscape has fallen from par to below par and has moved from violence to greater violence. The level and magnitude of electoral and political violence has risen and the political elites have often converted poverty ridden unemployed Nigerian youths into readymade machinery for the perpetration of electoral violence. This is linked to the political system and institution that in theory has failed to political participation and in practice has seen the political elites forming bulk of the sponsors and perpetrators of electoral violence. This paper therefore, painstakingly analyzed the electoral malpractices and fraud that have characterized elections in Nigeria since 1960 till 2011 general elections in chronological order. In the final analysis, it was discovered that virtually all the electoral malpractices and fraud associated with elections including violence and crises are carried out by youths, who are paid and hired by politicians as party thugs to threatened the electorate and thereby disrupts the smooth democratic process. Necessary recommendations were given to promote and sustain credible, free and fair elections in Nigeria.