Electoral Violence and Its Implication on Development of Democracy and Good Governance in Nigeria

Abstract

This paper is on electoral violence and its implication on development of democracy and good governance in Nigeria. The paper centered on critical challenges facing free, fair, credible and peaceful elections in Nigeria and the need to seek solutions to these challenges. The paper drew evidences from scholarly papers and commentaries as well as empirical essays on the subject matter. Using conflict theory, the paper discussed the implication of electoral violence on free, fair credible and peaceful election with emphasis on Jos-North LGA of Plateau state. The paper implicated ethnicity, religion, electoral fraud as well as ignoble role of electoral umpires in electoral violence. Based on these, the paper recommended among others, public sensitization, criminisation of electoral violence, and prosecution of INEC officials who compromised electoral laws.