Electoral Violence in Nigeria.
Reasons for violence in Nigeria most especially during the period of elections.
Violence is an act or tension of a conflicts between two or more persons.
In Nigeria as a nation-state, conflict as becomes the order of the day most especially election periods which most of the politicians makes uses of the masses to achieve their personal interest.
Below are the causes of electoral violence in Nigeria.
Poverty and unemployment.
Poverty is the state of being extremely poor. it is a situation whereby one can meet his or her needs. Such persons are likely to participate in violence than a rich person in line with his relative deprivation.
When a situation is compounded by joblessness, it accrue to violence increases.
Demography and environmental factors led to the future crumbling of a nation-state. This assertion aptly captures the situation in Nigeria, where millions of unemployed youths are instrument in the hands of politicians.
Ineffective Security Operations and Culture of Impunity.
The ineffective security outfits, especially the police, is another factors that encourage violence in Nigeria.
During the pre-election stages, numbers of politicians are murdered of which the police perhaps could not get the roots of the killing. This failure seems be creating a culture which often reoccurs without proper investigation from the police.
It could also be seen that the centralized control of the police force by federal government contribute to the laissez-faire attitude of the police. This is because federal government are inconsistent and seems to tolerate inefficiency from the police.
Weak Penalties.
Penalties or punishment are intended to achieve corrections, deterrence and retribution.
In Nigeria, there is specific legislations against certain electoral offenses, only for associated acts like treason, assault and murder.
The law for example have no provisions for the snatching of ballot boxes from polling booths. However penalties associated with electoral violence like assault and treason are very weak, a few punishment at most which contribute to cultural impunity and violence during election.
Poor Governance and Corruption.
Poor Governance and structure, contribute and layer a solid foundation in electoral violence, which enable individual who lives in poverty than to carry out specific instructions in order to earn money for survival.
Corruption is politically entwined with political violence in Nigeria. for instance, public funds are not only stolen, but are used to pay for services and often used as a weapon for electoral violence.
Small Arms Proliferation
Another contributory factor to electoral violence is the Proliferation of small arms in the country. There were over one million illegal small arms reportedly in circulation in Nigeria as at 2004. These weapons perpetuate violent conflict and create new cycle of violence and crime. The weapon also undermine the work of humanitarian and relief organizations and militates against sustainable development.
Electoral violence has also linked to the Proliferation of these arms.
In conclusion, the issues of electoral violence in Nigeria are occasioned by a number of various factors which includes poverty and unemployment, ineffectiveness of the operations of the security forces, weak penalties, bad governance and corruption and Proliferation of arms.
These ways are took be looked on for better Administration most especially in Nigeria.
