Democracy, governance and electoral violence in Nigeria: the 2019 Rivers state example

Abstract

The main objective of this study is to examine governance in a democratic society and its interface with electoral violence. Of late, governance has come to mean democracy that depends on the provision of basic needs for the people such as security, shelter, etc. However, this system of democracy has been intercepted by illegitimate governance, and thus, raised debates among scholars and policy makers. The paper therefore postulates that the electoral body and polarization of the body could be blamed for the illegalities to conduct free and fair elections. The work adopted a historical approach to the research and used qualitative sources of information. The study also applied frustration Aggression theory which anchored on the assumption that aggression is always the consequence of frustration and constant struggle for political power in a democratic environment. The study found out that the illegitimate method to win election has led to bad governance which on occasions, exacerbate agitation of even - development in modern democracy. The paper concludes that a policy should be formulated and implemented to make the electoral body such as the independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) truly Independent that is free from executive manipulation. The study recommends that once the electoral violence is minimized in a manner acceptable by the populace, governance has the capacity to jump start human development.