Political Parties And Violence In Nigeria: Lessons From The Role Of Cpc In The 2011 Post-Election Violence

Abstract

This study on political parties and violence in Nigeria: lessons from the role of CPC in the 2011 post-election violence constitutes a serious issue of contention in our contemporary democratic governance; such contentions have led to the questions challenging the achievements of Nigeria’s democratic efforts since independence till date. The objective is to find lessons from the role of CPC in the 2011 post-election violence with the application of Frustration-Aggressiontheoretical framework as well as the adoption of ex-post facto design of political inquiry justified for its comparative techniques with secondary and primary data collection. Indeed, the study found that the Northern region leadership members of CPC used the breakdown of PDP zoning arrangement to induce their members and supporters into post-election violence in the region for their selfish interests; that the 2011 post-election violence persisted owing to the weak state capacity to checkmate the violent excesses of members of CPC. It was equally deduced that the election tribunal and the declaration of emergency rule strategies did not favour the selfish demands of CPC leadership which triggered them into violent activities; and that the whole crises were targeted at the members and supporters of PDP even the individuals, groups or government institutions suspected to have anything to do with the ruling party (PDP) were already culprits.Finally, the study recommended that political parties in Nigeria should be formed with clear and genuine political ideologies without contravention to the constitutional provisions of the Federal Republic of Nigeria to avoid infusion of strange clauses such as zoning arrangement into the political system of the Nation; Nigerian government should build a strong capacity to checkmate the violent excesses of the members of every political party to avoid breach of the constitutional provisions of the Federal Republic of Nigeria; Political party establishment and practices in Nigeria should be devoid of tribalism and sentiment to avoid winner grabs it all syndrome in the Nation’s democracy.