1.1 Introduction
The democratic system's brain and nerve is the election. It is a tool and process for liberal leadership selection in which voters are free to exercise their rights while political leaders vie for control (Smith, 2015). Since democratic administration currently predominates in the world, elections have become crucial events in nation-states (Buttorff, 2019). Essentially, elections provide as a platform for political actors and organisations to express their beliefs, philosophies, policies, and desires regarding who should govern and who should not (Cole, 2017).
As a prelude to other parts of this study, this chapter will discuss the background upon which this study was initiated, the statement of problems that led to this study, the Aim and Objectives of the study. Others are Significance of the study, Scope of work, Research hypothesis and questions, Limitation of the study and Definition of terms.
1.2 Background of Study
Elections were first organized and conducted in Nigeria in 1922 by the British colonial government in response to the pressures of the nationalists who were agitating for greater participation in the colonial administration (Enojo, 2010). Following the elections, Nigerians were offered the first opportunity to occupy certain political offices. Though the franchise was restricted and representation limited, it was nonetheless an achievement for the nationalists who were struggling for the enthronement of democratic order as a pre-requisite for greater participation of the people in the process of governance. After 1922, several other elections were conducted in different parts of the country to elect leaders at national, regional and local levels. However, it was the 1959 General Elections that paved way for the emergence of Nigeria as an independent state. Since then, various elections have been held either in transition from one civilian government to another or in transition from military regimes to civilian administration.
Nigeria is Africa's most populous country with over 153million people (FGN, 2006). It is home to one-sixth of the world's black population (Chukwuemeka, 2009:405). A country naturally abundantly bless with human and natural resources. As at 2004 The International Monetary Fund reported that the country has an estimated crude oil reserve of 24 billion barrels (USAID, 2007:1), with over N 29.8 trillion in revenue from sake of crude oil only (Tell, 2008).
Paradoxically, over 70% of its people are impoverished (Sanusi, 2011). According to the UNDP, it is among the 141 poorest countries in the world based on the Human Development Index. All empirically provable facts point to the purposeful production of poverty in Nigeria by the country's political elite, which impedes the country's transition to a genuine people's democracy. Since over "95% of the country wealth is controlled by about 0.01 percent of population," state poverty in Nigeria is exacerbated by the growing political and economic class polarisation (Oshewolo 2010:267). Beginning in 1998, Nigeria underwent a transition to its present democratic system, known as the Fourth Republic.
This was evident in the enthusiasm and pomp which the transition was received. Sooner than expected, there emerged a post honeymoon effect of the entire process; which “effect” is premised on the failure of the democratic government to deliver on its promised democratic (goods) dividends. It was the hope of the people that democracy not only provides liberty, but it also improves social and economic condition of the people. These are the motivating factors of democratic participation. Rather than improving the socio-economic well-being of the people, Nigeria's democracy has turned a burden on the poor. But rather than providing democratic good, poverty is further created and corruption almost institutionalized, the net result being the receding of the euphoria that earlier accompanied the country's democratization and a sharp decline in democratic participation.
Mass poverty is a mechanization of the political class to exclude the majority of the people from the political process and shrink the political space for their selfish interest. Doubt therefore remains about how firm democracy's root can become entrenched in a country where over 70 percent of the population are poverty personified. It is our position that mass poverty poses a threat to democratic participation and democratic consolidation than all other variables put together. While there is a seemingly general consensus that mass poverty undermine democratic participation, the ‘how' is not much less clear. This is the task of this undertaking. Poverty is a social problem that leads to other social, economic and political disturbances. Poverty is a global phenomenon but it is more common among developing countries, Nigeria inclusive. Nigeria is the Africa's most populous country.
As contended by Mukhtar, Mukhtar & Mukhtar (2015:3), apart from being oil rich, “the country also has large landmark and a lot of mineral resources which if used wisely, the country will achieve rapid political and socio-economic development”. But the reverse is the case in the country because large scale corruption, poor economic policies and bad governance have rendered majority of the country's population poor. Three months after assuming his office, the Nigerian Vice President, Osinbajo (in the Vanguard, August 20th 2015), expressed concern that over 110 million Nigerians lived below poverty line. The consequences of poverty are many and notable among the effects of poverty is violence.
Nigeria has therefore faced several security difficulties throughout the years, including criminal activity, violence, and wars (Omotor, 2009; Adenrele, 2012; Afegbua, 2010; Onuoha, 2014; Mukhtar, Isyaku, & Sani, 2016). The formation of youth violent groups like the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) and the Niger Delta Avengers in the south-south, Bakassi Boys, in the south-east, Yandaba in the north-west, Yan-kalare and Yan-sara-suka in north-east, as well as the most notorious terrorist group, known as Boko Haram, also in the north-east (Mukhtar, et al. 2016) are all but manifestations of high rate of unemployment among teeming youths and poverty incidences in the country. While the major cause for the formation of the above violent groups in various parts of Nigeria is either poverty or unemployment among the youth population, these violent groups have many serious implications on the fate of the democratic governance in the country. Violence has taken a severe toll on Nigerian economy, its peoples' political, social, and even spiritual lives.
Crime and violence are so visible, so ubiquitous and so damaging to many Nigerians (Nwosu, 2002). Even more alarming is the revelation that the political elite of the nation is leveraging the youth's terrible living conditions and unemployment to turn them into political goons. In Nigeria, it is becoming more common for members of our political elite to hire unemployed youngsters as thugs in order to intimidate rival candidates and their followers during elections. The majority of these youths is just barely literate and has never had any formal schooling. When they decide to wreak havoc on their chosen victims, there is virtually little that can be done to stop them. They are often incited to use violence, interfere with elections, and defy the law without penalty. (Usman, 2010).
Nigerian society has made violence so commonplace on a family, community, and national level that it has the potential to destabilise the country. For instance, when a country faces threats from groups like Boko Haram and the Niger-Delta Avengers, such as instability, the possibility of democratisation is jeopardised because the leaders will direct their focus from providing welfare services and the democratic dividend to ending the violence resulting from these groups' actions, even if it means sacrificing the welfare of the populace. Curfews, an excessive number of checkpoints, and the prohibition of Okada rides are hence the response of the authorities. In addition, election processes have been suspended in places like Gombe State and political administrations in Yobe State, Borno State, and Adamawa State, have suffered setback in the towards the end of the year 2015. Therefore, in Nigeria where the research was carried out, the activities that was conducted is to know the effect of poverty and electoral violence.
1.3 Statement of Problems
Elections are the central processes of democratic representative government because in any democracy the authority of government derives solely from the consent of the governed. The principal mechanism for translating the consent into governmental authority ideally is by holding free and fair elections. Nigeria‘s fourth republic appears to be very chaotic, incessant violent conflict ranges from religious, identity to communal.
Elaigwu (2005a) identified 17 major violent conflicts in Nigeria from May 1985 to May 1st 1999. However, from May 31, 1999 to June 2005 he identified at least 121 cases of conflicts in Nigeria. He attributed sudden increase in violent conflict in the country to:a strong central government; popular agitation for decentralised structure; dissatisfaction with the distribution of available resources; communal conflicts and demands by some sub-national groups for greater self-determination (Eliagwu, 2005b).
He continued that the years of military rule suppressed these issues from exploding into uncontrollable conflagration. He likened the Nigerian polity as a bottle of wine, properly corked and airtight. With the dawn of democracy and the opening of the bottle, the wine explosively popped up (Eliagwu, 2005b). It appears the dawn of democracy provided the atmosphere to ventilate bottled-up frustrations, grievances and fears generously and often times recklessly (Adebanwi, 2004).
Though there are several works on conflicts in Nigeria, few appear to link violent conflict in Nigeria to democracy with particular focus on the fourth republic. For example, Haliru (2012), focused on ethnicity, Onapajo (2012), focused on religion and political violence, Saheed (2012) emphasised economic dimension of social conflicts in Nigeria. In Nigeria, elections have become an avenue for legitimization of bad governance.
This assertion hinges on the fact that incumbent government holds on to power at all cost while opposition parties in a bid to capture state power, resort to all manner of irregularities. The result of this is usually violence of one sort or the other. Events which unfolded in Plateau State during the last election show that the most contentious issues about the election have to do with electoral violence which hitherto, is unheard of in Plateau State politics.
The political atmosphere in the state became unusually tensed while many interest groups emerged with the intent to capture power. The result of these was a bitter warfare that ensued between these factions, leading to allegations, killings, kidnappings, etc that were politically motivated, In fact a gubernatorial candidate, Jesse Aruku, of the Action Congress was assassinated on July 2nd 2006. It is in view of the above that the researcher intend to investigate the effect of poverty and electoral violence in Nigeria with emphasis on Donga local government area.
1.4 Aim and Objectives of Study
The aim of the study is to ascertain the effect of poverty and electoral violence in Nigeria with emphasis on Donga Local Government Area. In achieving this aim, the following specific objectives were laid out as follows:
- To examine the effect of electoral violence on the democratic process of Nigeria;
- To examine the impact of poverty as a catalyst to electoral violence in Nigeria;
- To examine the role of poverty in instigating electoral violence; and
- To ascertain if there is any significant relationship between poverty and electoral violence in Donga local government area.
1.5 Research Questions
The study came up with research questions so as to be able to ascertain the above stated objectives. The specific research questions for the study are stated below as follows:
- Is there any significant relationship between poverty and electoral violence in Donga local government area?
- What are the roles of poverty in instigating electoral violence?
- What is the impact of poverty as a catalyst to electoral violence in Nigeria?
- What is the effect of electoral violence on the democratic process of Nigeria?
1.6 Research Hypothesis
In order to pursue the objective of this study, the following generalized statements have been designed to guide and aids in obtaining the result for the experiment to be conducted. For this work, the null hypothesis will be represented with H0 while the alternative hypothesis will be represented with hypothesis H1.
Hypothesis One
- H0: There is no significant relationship between poverty and electoral violence in Donga Local Government Area of Taraba State.
- H1: There is significant relationship between poverty and electoral violence in Donga Local Government Area of Taraba State.
Hypothesis Two
- H0: Poverty is not a catalyst to electoral violence in Donga local government area of Taraba State Nigeria
- H1: Poverty is a catalyst to electoral violence in Donga local government area of Taraba State Nigeria
1.7 Significance of Study
It is believed that at the completion of the study, the findings of this study will be of great benefit in ameliorating the menace of electoral violence in Donga local government area of Taraba State by proffering effective recommendation on the need to implement poverty alleviation programs in Nigeria.
The study will be of great importance to the care givers and parents on the need to educate their children on the nemesis of electoral violence. It will also be of great importance to the department of political science as the findings of this study will contribute to the pool of existing literature in the subject matter.
1.8 Scope of Study
The scope of the research is focused on the Effect of Poverty and Electoral Violence in Nigeria using Donga Local Government Area of Taraba State as a case study.
1.9 Limitations of the Study
During the course of this study, there were some problems encountered which stood as limitations to the research work. Some of the limitations include:
- Time Constraint: The time frame given to accomplish this project was very short due to school academic calendar and it was carried out under pressure which made the researcher not to implement some necessary features.
- Research Material: availability of research material is a major setback to the scope of the study.
- Financial Constraint: Insufficient fund tends to impede the efficiency of the researcher in sourcing for the relevant materials, literature or information and in the process of data collection (internet, questionnaire and interview).
1.10 Definition of Terms
Election:
It is a formal decision- making process by which a population chooses an individual to hold public office. It has also been described as a celebration of democracy whereby the electorates are given the opportunity to elect leaders who will take charge of governance within a given period of time.
Nomination:
It is part of the process of selecting a candidate for either election to an office by a political party, or the bestowing of an honor or award.
Political Party:
It is a group of people who come together to contest elections and hold power in the government. The party agrees on some proposed policies and programmes, with a view to promoting the collective good or furthering their supporters’ interests.
