Elections and Electoral Violence in Nigeria

This book interrogates the nature of elections and election violence in the African countries. It traces the causes of the governance menace to multiple factors that are not limited to poverty, unemployment, and media. The book documents how election violence cripples the nation-building process across many African countries. Consequently, it reveals that states have lost their manifest destiny of national transformation in Africa because they cannot guarantee that legitimate candidates, who should win elections, due to the widespread manipulation of violence at all levels of electoral engineering.

The chapters rely on the cases and changing dynamics of elections and electoral violence in the different Nigerian states. It traces the origins of elections, the nature and patterns of a number of past elections as well as the roles of youth, judiciary, electoral umpire, social media, and gender on the changing nature of elections in Nigeria.

“This scholarly book reveals the age-long manipulation of violence by the Nigerian elite in their quest for power. It clearly documents the difficulty that Nigeria faces in the quest to develop a sustainable democratic culture.”

-Eugene Nweke, PhD, Dean, School of Post-Graduate Studies & Professor of African Politics,

Ebonyi State University, Abakaliki, Nigeria.

“Electoral violence has become deeply entrenched in the Nigerian political system and it has over the years presented a negative picture of the country’s nation building process. The chapter on social media clearly identifies the complexities that the nation faces in managing the multiple implications of elections and electoral violence in the Nigerian geo-political space. "

-Jonathan E. Aliede, PhD, Professor of Advertising and Public Relations, Department of Mass Communication, National Open University of Nigeria.

“This book presents the reality of electoral challenges and leadership struggle in Nigerian developmental history. It reveals the difficulty that the Nigerian State has faced in selecting the best brains for the countrys’ leadership craft. I therefore strongly recommend the book for the Nigerian power elite, political scholars and global political analysts.”

-Okeke-Ogbuafor Nwamaka, PhD, Development Studies, New Castle University, Upon Tyne, United Kingdom

Kelechi Johnmary Ani is a lecturer in the Department of History and Strategic Studies, Alex Ekwueme Federal University Ndufu-Alike, Ikwo, Ebonyi State, Nigeria. His areas of research include peace, conflict and African political history. He is currently a post-doctoral research fellow in the School of Public Management, Governance and Public Policy, University of Johannesburg, South Africa and was a doctoral external examiner for the Graduate School of Business and Leadership, University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. 

Victor Ojakorotu is currently Deputy Director, School of Government Studies, Mafikeng at North West University, Mafikeng, South Africa. His research interests are African Politics, Nigeria, Conflict and Peace, Environmental Politics and Security. He is widely published in internationally accredited academic journals on the vexing subject of the Niger Delta. Some of the books he has published on the Niger Delta are Contending Issues in the Niger Delta of Nigeria, Fresh Dimensions on the Niger Delta Crisis of Nigeria, Checkmating the resurgence of Oil Violence in the Niger Delta of Nigeria and Anatomy of the Niger Delta Crisis: Causes, Consequences and Opportunities for Peace.