The Effects of Electoral violence on Human Rights violation: An overview of the 2015 General elections in Nigeria

Abstract

Violence and human right violation are a phenomenon in every society and every sphere of social life. It is not restricted to the political sphere alone. Nigeria is violent-prone and undermines attempts at institutionalizing a democratic tradition. It cuts across every aspect of human existence. This means that political violence is just a subset of violence. One of the main attributes of liberal Democracy is the periodic and regular competition for political power with the governed as free agents exercising their free and unfettered choice among competing platforms. Elections are therefore a significant and crucial pillar in the Democratic process since they underscore the principles of political participation, accountability, and legitimacy. The people in this circumstance are the Legislature. A survey design was employed in this study where the response of the respondents from questionnaires administered to them was used. In addition to that, the average mean score was calculated. Having administered the questionnaires among politicians, party chieftains, INEC officials, and members of the electorate in three, it has been discovered that the 2015 general election was characterized by violent activities which no doubt marred the electoral process. Indeed, the 2015 general elections re-ignited the hopes of many Nigerians who believe in the enormous potential of the country as a leader in Africa. This will serve as deterrence to the financiers and foot soldiers that use violence to promote their political objectives. Secondly, Nigeria must improve on its existing security apparatuses in order to combat the dynamic and sophisticated 21st-century security challenges. Recruitment of security personnel ought to be based on merit. It is however recommended that the current electronic register needs to be updated due to the fact that some of the voters on the register are dead; many permanent voters’ cards are yet to be collected while issues of multiple registrations have not been fully resolved. Trying to clean the register further may be very expensive and may not eventually yield the desired results.