Poverty And Electoral Violence In Nigeria

CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
Background of the study
Human beings must be made citizens before they can be made men, but in order that they be made citizens government must give liberty under the law, must provide for material welfare and remove gross inequality in distribution of wealth. (Rousseau, 1762 cited in Alan & Conway 1998 : 143). 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 (See USAID, 2007:1), with over N 29.8 trillion in revenue from sake of cruse oil only (Tell,2008). Paradoxically, over 70% of its population lives in abject poverty (Sanusi, 2011). It is classified by UNDP as 141 poorest nations on the Human Development Index. Poverty in Nigeria from all empirically verifiable fact is a deliberate creation of the Nigeria’s political class; it acts as a clog in the wheel of the country movement to a true, people’s democracy. Thus state poverty in Nigeria is compounded by the widening class polarization politically and economically, where over “95% of the country wealth is controlled by about 0.01 percent of population” (Oshewolo 2010:267). Transition to the Nigeria’s current democratic dispensation referred to as the Fourth Republic began in 1998. This transition to what could properly be described as civil rule evoked and was facilitated by the massive mobilization of “the rich” and “the poor”. 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. That is why Nigeria has been experiencing many security challenges in forms of criminal activities, violence and conflicts over the years (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 palpable, so pervasive and so devastating to many Nigerians (Nwosu, 2002). It is even more disturbing to find that, the country’s political leaders are using joblessness and poor living conditions of the youths to employ them as political thugs. This manner in which members of our political class in Nigeria engage the services of jobless youths as thugs for the purpose of intimidating political opponents and their supporters during elections is growing. These youths, who are mainly uneducated or semi-literate, are often encouraged to unleash violence, cause electoral violence, break the law at will, in which virtually nothing can be done to stop them once they have made up their mind to unleash these havocs on their intended targets (Usman, 2010). Violence has become so common in the Nigerian society; at domestic, community and national levels and it has the tendency for causing national instability. For example, when there is insecurity in a nation, such as those emanating from the Boko Haram and the Niger-Delta Avengers, the prospect of democratization is threatened, as the leaders will shift attention from welfare services and dispensation of democratic dividend to resolving the violence emanating from the activities of these groups, even if it will affect the wellbeing of the citizens. Hence, the ban of okada rides, curfews, and too much check points are authority’s reaction to the. 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.