TRACING THE PATH OF ELECTORAL VIOLENCE AND FRAUD IN NIGERIA: MUSINGS FROM THE NOVELTY OF 2003 GENERAL ELECTIONS

Abstract

21stcentury Nigeria has inherited a terrible and unimaginable all-round structured failure system in the spheres of economy, politics, governance and social sectors1. Democracy devoid of veritable election process is simply diagnosed of faulty physiognomy. It is sad that elections have remained a force and a farce in Nigeria. Violating the peaceful conduct of elections in Nigeria and the militarization of this process could comfortably be traced back to the 1963 ‘Operation Harmony’, the 1964 elections which threatened national unity and a host of other electoral exercises preceding and following the 2003 general elections. The absurdities, electoral fraudulence and manipulations that became visibly apparent when General Obasanjo refused to step aside after his first tenure relatively gave vent to the litany of enigmatic political assassinations, violence and the introduction of intriguing new variables within the national political space in order to encage the opposition’s clout. Massively rigged in other to maintain the presidents’ and Peoples Democratic Party’s grip on power, Nigeria got sucked into a vortex of violence triggered off by diverse claims, resulting in the loss of over 10,000 lives in the various crises – Odi, ZakiBiam and Plateau state, taking their toll on peoples’ confidence in Democracy2. Within developed climes, fair elections and electoral processes not only legitimizes democracy, but remain its focal software. Certified as the first ‘successful’ transition from a civilian to another civilian government in Nigeria without military intervention, this paper submits that in presenting an electoral failure system that has continued to haunt Nigeria’s electoral process even into the 2020s, a monumental mistake was made when practically no positive steps were taken by both the political class and the nations leadership towards deserved reforms. Intriguing as they may be, periscoping these egregious developments through the ambit of factual historical analysis not only enables eviden-based objectivity, but elicits an orderly political culture driven by the rule of law.