POLITICS OF REVENGE AND PERSECUTION IN NIGERIA: IMPLICATIONS FOR DEMOCRATIC RULE

Felix Chukwudi Onyemachi

Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies, Federal University Lokoja, Kogi State, Nigeria

Email: felix.onyemachi@fulokoja.edu.ng

Abstract

This paper aims at exposing the technique of counter-revolution of political persecution and its implications for Nigeria’s democratic system. To achieve this, the paper briefly makes a conceptual clarification of politics, political persecution, and democracy with its principles. It evaluates the spate of persecution and revenge in Nigeria’s political space and detects that Nigeria’s politics is no longer in tune with the preferred democratic system of governance as political bullying that manifests in different forms is meted against the perceived enemies of the political actors on the saddle of leadership. Through some glaring pointers to political persecutions and revenge in Nigeria, the paper observes that this cancerous menace has not only questioned Nigeria’s democratic dispensation but, also, affected the nation in economic, social, political and developmental growths. The paper without equivocation argues that if this cankerworm is sustained and left unchecked, it will not only weaken and undermine democratic institutions, but also render the process of nation-building in Nigeria difficult, if not impossible. To reverse this ugly situation, the paper recommends that Nigeria needs to strengthen its democratic institutions by ensuring their independence, accountability and impartiality; implement and promote electoral reforms to prevent violence, promote fairness and ensure transparency; respect as well as protect human rights to include freedom of expression, assembly and association. The paper employs the analytic, critical, expository and speculative methods of philosophical research.

Keywords: Politics, Democracy, Democratic Principles, Political Persecution, Nigerian State