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Prevention of Election Violence among Persons with Disabilities (PWD)

Prevention of Election Violence among Persons with Disabilities (PWD).

Introduction:

The success or failure of any election depends on the stakeholders performing their duties diligently i.e. (INEC, Political Parties, Observers, Judiciary, Media, Traditional Institutions and Security Agencies)

Elections in Nigeria have been marked by violence, putting the credibility of previous elections to doubt. This has created voters apathy and has eroded the confidence of the electorate in casting their votes at future elections, including Persons with Disabilities (PWD).

It is therefore imperative for all hands to be on deck to mitigate the harmful effects of election violence.

Background to Violence in Nigeria

Generally, armed violence in many areas of Nigeria has escalated from the take off of democracy in 1999. But the transition and subsequent democratic setting met a violent breeding atmosphere. National security of lives and properties was at the lowest ebb. This gave room for the emergence of ethno-religious militia and vigilante groups. These supposed to protect the citizens of their local communities. But almost all of them began to extort from the same people they were meant to protect. Rival gangs soon sprang all over the country, ultimately engaging in banditry and armed violence against each other and against the society. This created brushes against state security forces with civilians caught in the cross fire. This bred the infiltration and establishment of a gun culture in Nigeria. These groups abundantly acquire and recklessly use various types of Small Arms and Light Weapons (SALW) to carry out their horrendous activities. This was the fertile ground in which electoral violence easily thrives, gradually exacerbated by sophistication as more deadly weapons are used.

Locally produced guns gave way to more modern weaponry, including semi-automatic guns. AK47 assault rifles, automatic pump action shotguns, bazookas, Beretta pistols, double-barrel shotguns, general purpose machine guns and sub-machine guns etc. Many of these are illicitly imported which continue to cause havoc to Nigerians and the Nigerian nation. At the same time, traditional weapons such as machetes, spears, cutlasses and knives are also in use.

What Nigerians saw in the aftermath of Niger Delta amnesty is a fraction of the SALW in circulation in Nigeria. Nigeria is said to possess one million of the seven million SALW estimated to be in circulation in the West African sub region. Another estimate suggests that over three million illegal SALW were possessed by Nigerians in 2002. The motivating factor for the widespread possession SALW include, ethno-religious, political competition, especially electoral violence, domestic agitation for resource control, hostage taking and banditry. May be the government needs similar amnesty programmes across the nation in order to recover other weapons in circulation nationwide before the next general election. The presence of SALW, easily transform minor social, cultural, ethnic and political disputes into violent confrontations. Unfortunately, the use of SALW in Nigeria electoral process increased the scale of lethality, the degree of intensity, casualties, and the extent of livelihood destruction and wider developmental impacts with hundreds of thousands of lives and properties worth billions of naira lost. The role of security operatives constitutionally entrusted to protect civilians against armed violence, are also causative agents of the insecure and fertile atmosphere for electoral violence. The security operatives are often active collaborators in persecuting sections of the population, heightening a violent response mechanism culture in the country. Similarly, the role of the politicians, electoral officials, civil servants and other technocrats, all whom the Nigerian constitution entrusted with carrying out smooth transition and enthroning democracy, respect for human rights and good governance also triggers electoral violence.

These officials directly or indirectly help in fertilizing the breeding ground for a "culture of violence" in our electoral process meant to usher in and consolidate democracy. This means that for electoral violence to thrive in Nigeria, something is either wrong with all or one of these – democracy, respect for human rights and good governance, because, in normal circumstances, violence thrives in the absence of these. Electoral violence often occurs when an electoral process is perceived as unfair. Although, in some cases, even the electoral process that is fair and honest can as well attract violence. In either scenario, stakeholders use conflict, violence, and threat as means to determine, delay, or otherwise influence the results of the election. However, when conflict or violence occurs, it is not a result of an electoral process; it is the breakdown of an electoral process.

Elections in Nigeria has been marred by various forms of malpractices ranging from double or multiple registration, deliberate late arrival of election materials by electoral officials, stuffing/snatching of ballot boxes, destruction or hijacking of electoral materials, harassment and intimidation by armed groups, falsification of results, delay in announcing results with no satisfactory explanation etc. these practices logically results in violent conflicts and clashes.

It is imperative that we re-examine, first electoral violence, followed by Persons with Disabilities (PWD) as players and victims before considering prevention of Persons with Disabilities (PWD) in electoral violence in Nigeria, to properly understand the magnitude of the problem and also to evaluate the causes of electoral violence.

Election violence:

Election:

It is defined as a "process of actualizing representative democracy and it exposes people to the experiences of competition for power through the ballot box."

 

Violence:

Violence is defined as "an act against an individual or group, with the intent to cause injury or death."

 

The International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFESs) defines electoral violence as;

"any act or threat of physical or psychological harm to a person or damage to property, directed at anyone directly involved in an electoral process (voter, candidate, party officer, election worker, election monitor, journalist, etc.), which may disrupt or attempt to disrupt any aspect of the electoral process (campaign, registration, voting, counting, etc.)".

 

Electoral violence can thus be seen as any random or organized act that seeks to determine, delay, or otherwise influence an electoral process through threat, verbal intimidation, hate speech, disinformation, physical assault, blackmail, destruction of property, or assassination. The victims of electoral violence can be people, places, things or data. The acts associated with electoral violence include physical harm (e.g. homicide, sexual violence, torture, assault); threats (e.g. physical, verbal); intimidation; destruction of property (e.g. arson, damage from stones or sharp objects); and forced displacement. The objective of electoral violence is to influence the electoral process and its outcome by gaining an unfair political advantage by one individual or group of individuals over another. It is geared towards winning political competition or power through violence or subverting the ends of the electoral and democratic process through intimidation and disempowerment of political opponents. Election violence might occur at different stages of the electoral process, either before, during or after the election in the form of thuggery, use of force to disrupt political meetings or voting at polling stations, or the use of dangerous weapons to intimidate voters and other electoral processes, or to cause bodily harm or injury to any person connected with electoral processes.

Here are the common grounds on which electoral violence occurs: During registration, when both the ruling and opposing parties' attempts to hijack the voter registration to enable falsification or double registration as pre-rigging mechanism

2. During campaigns, electoral violence can occur as rivals seek to disrupt the opponents' campaigns, intimidate and threaten candidates, party officials and or supporters. This has been the most common venue of electoral violence.

3. During balloting on Election Day, threats and violence at the polling station might be use as tactics to influence participation in the voting or to steal ballot boxes.

4. Electoral outcomes, disputes over election results might trigger violence in protests

5. Winner takes all syndrome in Nigeria elections. Loser might resort to violence to disrupt, delay or influence representation to avoid been excluded in governance, despite their ‘huge investments'.

Five Common Grounds for Electoral Violence

1. During registration

2. During campaigns

3. On Election Day

4. When results are announced

5. Winner take all syndrome

 

All these form of violence are threats to our nascent democracy, and equally discourage the electorate from participating in electoral process for fear of being killed or maimed.

 

Persons with Disabilities:

Disability:

A disability is a condition or function judged to be significantly impaired relative to the usual standard of an individual or group. The term is used to refer to individual functioning, including physical impairment, sensory impairment, cognitive impairment, intellectual impairment and mental illness.

 

In Nigeria, there are various degrees of disabilities ranging from blindness, deafness, dumbness, cripple, spinal cord injury, amputees, lepers, mentally challenged etc.

These persons are qualified to vote in any election in Nigeria except for the mentally challenged.

These persons form about 10% or more of Nigeria's population. Persons with disabilities are 4 to 10 times more likely to become a victim of violence, abuse, or neglect than persons without disabilities.

This is not to say in the least that some categories of Persons with Disabilities cannot partake in electoral violence, the deaf and the dumb can actually be used by politicians, as they are physically agile to promote violence of any magnitude. But this is not our focus; we are looking at "Preventing electoral violence among Persons with Disabilities".

This category of persons suffers more from electoral violence and other related violence due to their physical and mental challenges. In Nigeria, this category of persons is relegated to the back ground due to the high rate of discrimination against them by their relatives and the society at large. During the annulment of the June 12 presidential elections in Nigeria, violent protests erupted in Lagos due to discontent, PWDs were the most affected. Security agencies were employed by government of the day to unleash mayhem on pro June 12 protesters. Houses were burnt and a lot of PWDs displaced. A lot of persons equally become disabled from that violent attack.

PWD were also violated in the post election crisis that took place in Rivers, Ekiti and Anambra States. Voting there had been minimal. Missing ballot materials or closed polling booths were a serious part of the problem, but so too was voter intimidation. Yet statewide votes were high, causing significant outrage. In this case, election violence increased rather than decreased following the elections. As Human Rights Watch observed, the Rivers state violence "was no random explosion" and, in fact, was arguably not simply a response to local events but a "widely predicted aftershock of Nigeria's rigged and violent April 2007 elections.

Jos, the capital of Plateau State, where ethnic and religious differences are compounded by the perception that some groups are indigenous to the state ("indigenes") while others are migrants ("settlers"), has been rocked by intra communal fighting for years. Election related violence can erupt from the already volatile state to in turn affect PWDs from previous crisis. This will now become a cycle of ethno religious/electoral violence. Plateau's miseries are exacerbated during periods of open political competitions, like the forth coming general elections.

Of more recent alarm has been a surge in religious extremist violence in parts of northern Nigeria, particularly Borno state. World media was briefly captivated in late 2009 when reports of a group popularly known as Boko Haram— meaning that Western education is prohibited clashed with local authorities in what became a vicious cycle of attack and counterattack. By the end of the fighting, security personnel and dozens of Boko Haram's members and associates had been displaced, maimed and killed, including PWDs, some of who were even openly executed. In February 2011, the reconstituted group struck again. Boko Haram militants gunned down an ANPP gubernatorial aspirant in Borno State—and later attacked a police station near Maiduguri. These groups attract membership by defining themselves against the corruption and profligacy of religious elites and politicians. These bold violent attacks do not argue well for the forth coming elections, especially in a region now rife with small arms and other weaponry because PWDs form the bulk of Internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Nigeria.

Till this moment, many drivers of election violence remain unaddressed and will be exacerbated if tensions around the 2011 polls escalate further and PWDs will suffer more from election/election related violence.

Causes of Election Violence:

In Nigeria, electoral violence can be both intra and inter party and cuts across religion and sections, though they might transform into ethno-religion without initially aiming at that. There are many reasons behind the constant recurrence of electoral violence.

1. Financial Inducement

More often than not political violence is paid for, used as a tool by prominent Nigerians to bolster their own political and financial positions. Virtually, the bulk of the causes of electoral violence in Nigeria are financial. Every active participant of electoral violence, aim to gain one thing or the other, here are five (5) causes under financial inducement.

a. The Plum of Office

Political offices in Nigeria are too attractive. The ostentation lifestyle of political officeholders is a great stimulus for those outside to go to any length to win election including using electoral violence. While those in power also try to maintain their seats by hook or crook. This excessive display of authority and the paraphernalia of office made those in government seem to be untouchable tin gods. Their impunity from the harsh realities those outside government face is one the greatest attraction of going to every length including electoral violence to maintain and cling to power.

b. Selfishness and Greed

Selfish desire and lack of accountability and transparency as a short cut to becoming wealthy once elected into government is a major catalyst of indulging into electoral violence. Thus politicians see government as big business where they invest little and reap huge profit after winning elections.

In an attempt to win elective offices, politicians and their agents often induce electoral officials, law enforcement agents and other influential stakeholders in the system with financial and material gifts, all in the bid to subvert the process

for their personal advantage. It is also greed that lull electoral officials into selling their honor and public trust to do the bidding of politicians. Mostly, financial promises, promotions in places of work and fresh juicy appointment are the baits. For perpetrators, it is normally just a token that lead to the mayhem they unleashed on fellow citizens. With just a small amount for drugs, meeting unrealistic demands to satisfy the feeling of belonging and to settle some personal scores, these youth sell their soles to perpetrate electoral violence. Unfortunately, the outcome of greed always ends into electoral violence.

c. Illiteracy, Ignorance and Poverty

The lack of adequate knowledge or information on politics, particularly electoral processes, coupled with low level of education, the high level of deprivation and impoverishments of the Nigerian youths, force many to take the readily available ‘job opportunity'. These conditions easily play the gullible youths into the hands of unscrupulous politicians, who manipulate them by dangling irresistible baits for the youths to undertake electoral violence, despite the attendant aftermath of violence. The aftermath could be denial of education and other capacity development training for the youths, a vicious circle that also causes another round of electoral violence. The worst is that over 99% of promises made to the youths by the politicians are never fulfilled. Yet, these youth go back to the same politicians again and again over paltry sum and electoral violence continues.

d. Monetization of Elective Offices and Godfatherism

Elective offices in Nigeria have become mere commodities to be purchased by the highest bidder. Thus, those who ‘invest' in them, use all the means at their disposal to secure winning the election as an avenue to recoup and make profits. Potential aspirants therefore, monetize whichever office they intend to contest. The godfather then steps in and finances the candidate. The sole aim for both the aspirant and the godfather is to win by all means that is where electoral violence comes into play. In this case, no amount is too much to use in instigating electoral violence, even expending the lives of opponents and valueless youths.

e. Sit-tight Syndrome

Having enjoyed the plum and paraphernalia of office, as well as the impunity attached to their positions, incumbents use state resources and machinery at their disposal to maintain power. Everybody is either seen as a resource or an enemy. All the election management bodies, EMBs are influenced and maneuvered to rig election in favor of the government of the day. Security operatives as the most effective instrument of coercion in accomplishing this selfish ambition is brazenly implored or bribed. They are deployed to harass, intimidate, arrest and physically terrorize opponents. For other reasons too, the opposition do not take this laying down. Thus, clashes results into electoral violence.

2. Election Management Bodies (EMBs) Breach of Trust

Election Management Bodies (EMBs) are the electoral umpires. In the case of Nigeria, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), security forces, political parties, the media, civil society organizations and judicial officials are all EMBs. The EMBs are responsible for providing election security. Election security is the process of protecting electoral stakeholders such as voters, candidates, poll workers, media and observers; electoral information such as vote results, registration data and campaign material; electoral facilities such as polling stations and counting centres; and electoral events such as campaign rallies against death, damage or disruption. In all ramifications – the rule of law, respect for human rights, democracy, good governance and morality, the EMBs should discharge their duties and responsibilities honestly, transparently, fairly and impartially to all electoral stakeholders without fear or favor. Unfortunately, this is not always the case, almost all the EMBs are found short in the discharge of the constitutional and civic responsibilities. Their brazen approach to electoral matters is a significant cause of electoral violence.

a. Electoral Body

When electoral officials, as collaborators allow themselves to be influenced or manipulated by politicians, definitely the opposing camps react spontaneously. Sadly the common language known as a reaction is electoral violence. Impartial electoral body could be a source of electoral conflict in any nation. No matter the financial independence enjoyed by the electoral body, when it is seen not to be neutral or impartial in the way it conducts its activities in Nigeria, it is bound to create a lot of dissatisfaction that may subsequently lead to crisis.

b. Law Enforcement Agencies

Past elections in Nigeria had clearly shown the bias position of some security agencies, who are supposed to be absolutely neutral and impartial in supervising the system to ensure fair play and security of life and properties. But they are obviously found to be active collaborators in subverting the process. In most cases, they succumb to government influence, collect bribe to harass and intimidate voters. More so, they provide cover for electoral officials and politicians to destroy electoral materials, intimidate voters, or fully engage in electoral violence just to rig elections. These actions give rise to protests and subsequent violence by aggrieved individuals and parties.

c. Judiciary and Election Tribunals

Civilization provides an avenue to seek redress in the event of electoral disputes. This implies that even in normal circumstances, genuine electoral disputes might occur. The law provides that if people feel dissatisfied with the electoral process, as law abiding citizens, they are expected to follow legitimate means of seeking redress through election tribunals. In Nigeria, the judiciary is the main organ saddled with the responsibilities of resolving election disputes. The judiciary is therefore the last hope for resolving any electoral disputes. For this reason, the way and manner electoral tribunals handle electoral disputes contribute in stemming or aggravating electoral violence. So when the judiciary fails to deliver judgment in accordance to the law and the electorate feels that the ruling was not fair and biased, the aftermath could be electoral violence.

d. The Media

The role of the media also as an unbiased and impartial umpire goes a long way in preventing or triggering electoral violence. So the media might become a source of conflict generation when they succumb to influence of selfish politicians who would want to use their outfits as propaganda launch pad. The media is a causative instrument for electoral violence if they indulge in campaign of calumny, mudslinging, defamation or slanderous attack on other political actors. This is a sure cause of electoral violence.

3. Religious and Ethnic Sentiment

Religion and ethnicity are two very sensitive issues that unpatriotic elements effectively use to their selfish purposes. Either one or both religious or ethnic cards are used, depending on the one that favors the instigator. The bait for the simpleton youths is that the worst candidate of your like is better than the best candidate outside your religion or tribe. Sometimes places of worships are turned into campaign grounds for candidates. The support of religious and community leaders are sought, once that is achieved, their followers fall in place like a pack of cards. These practices greatly threaten the very fabric of our national unity and integration. Qualities of merit like competency, honesty, integrity, trust and credibility would not be put into cognizance. Such a candidate on merit would not win as such he has to resort to acts of electoral violence. No sooner would they ascend the throne would they turn against the same youths that supported them through electoral violence, yet during another election they go back to the same people with the same story.

Prevention of Election violence among Persons with Disabilities:

If the fight to prevent election related violence from impacting negatively on persons with disabilities in particular and the entire electorate in general, practical and proactive steps must be taken;

1. Nigeria must invest and reinvest in government led initiatives for peace and conflict management at federal and state levels.
2. Nigeria security forces require additional training toward managing electoral and other related violence.
3. Provision of adequate security at polling units:

Security personal such as the Police, Civil Defense etc. drafted to election venues, should be mandated to give special protection to Persons with Disabilities at election venues.

1. Sensitization of Persons with Disabilities: Civil Society Organizations should partner relevant government agencies in sensitizing Persons with Disabilities on the dangers of election violence.
2. Assistance for Persons with Disabilities:

Persons with Disabilities must be mandated to come with a relative to election venues, to assist them in times of crisis.

1. Since violence mostly occurs towards the end of voting, Persons with Disabilities should leave election venues immediately casting their votes.
2. Persons with Disabilities should be provided with separate voting units, as this will encourage them to have a sense of belonging in the polity.
3. Electoral offenders should be charged and punished to serve as deterrent to others.
4. INEC as an umpire should be non partisan in elections. To stem violence at election venues.
5. The media and CSOs should sensitize the public on the impact of election violence on Persons with Disabilities.
6. A cue should be borrowed from the Etsako-Central Constituency election into Edo State House of Assembly, "Some top members of one of the political parties attempted to snatch ballot materials in a primary school in Ogbonna (home town of State chairman of PDP Mr. Dan Orbih) but voters and security agents stopped them."- Guardian 24/1/10 page 6. This averted what would have turned out to be violent protest.

 

Conclusion:

To solve any problem, there is always the need to understand the root cause of the problem.

The nature, extent and magnitude of violence associated with elections in this country are posing a serious threat to the national quest for stable democratic transition, as well as the attainment of the long term goal of consolidating democracy. Electoral violence has grown and assumed monstrous cyclical proportions, indeed a vicious circle.

Electoral violence is connected to historical and social factors such as the arms culture in Nigeria. The consequence of this is often reproduced and intensified structural violence throughout the country. The crisis reflected deep-seated grievances, including underlying political tensions between specific leaders and parties and weak state institutions, particularly the security and judicial sectors. Key actors rapidly mobilized around ethno-religious and political identities, which intensified latent divisions within and between communities.

The indispensability of PWDs in the electoral process and nation building cannot be over emphasized. Certainly, our nascent democracy would be consolidated if the government is firmly committed to the propagation and promotion of the principles of peaceful, free and fair elections in Nigeria. Everyone will agree with me that PWDs have significant role to play towards nation building.

In other words, it is important for INEC to ensure an even playing ground, with all sense of neutrality. The law enforcement agents saddled with the responsibility of enforcing the law need to be impartial in policing the process, the media must be objective in reporting the happenings. In addition, religious/traditional leaders must not succumb to the appeals for ethnic or religious sentiments. Those in government, civil society, and the international community should discharge their duties and responsibilities credibly. Above all, politicians who are the main instigators and perpetrators of electoral violence must realize the need to salvage, protect and safeguard our democracy which has become a cynosure in the eyes of the world. The clarion call to the youth is that any effort whatsoever to lull them into electoral violence in order to subvert or undermine the electoral process must be met with staunch resistance from all quarters within the ambience of the law. Every person(s) must place national interest above any individual or party of individuals.

It is hoped that accurate data on electoral violence, in the future, would be of great assistance in broader violence tracking, with explicit violence monitoring, violence levels, geography and methods of violence, gender and age by observers throughout the election process.  This would go a long way in improving our understanding of election violence patterns and would as well serve to inform and enhanced violence prevention and mitigation measures.

According to Donald Norman, Also note that invariably when we design something that can be used by those with disabilities, we often make it better for everyone.

Thank you and god bless.

 

 

 

 

REFERENCES:

1. Persons with Disabilities e-bulletin.  (www.pwd.org.au)
2. www.papermasters.com
3. www.modernghana.com
4. Nigeria: electoral violence & national security. (www.worldpulse.com)
5. Enforcement of Electoral Law & Combating Electoral Violence in Nigeria. Mohammed Tawfiq Ladan.
6. Violence & Abuse against people with disabilities.

Laurie E. Powers

Mary Oschwald

1. Strategies for Curbing Election-Related Political violence in Nigeria's North-West Zone.
2. Causes and Consequences of Youth Involvement in Electoral Violence. Sule Michika Usman.
3. Breaking the Cycle of electoral violence in Nigeria.

United States Institute of Peace  (USIP).

1. Electoral Violence in Nigeria: Issues and Perspectives.

Friedrich E. Stiftung.

1. Campaign against Electoral Violence in Nigeria Project

Action Aid International, Nigeria (2007).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

About the Author

How long does Beretta take to fix a pistol?

I sent in a 9mm of mine 2 months ago and haven't heard a peep. Any thoughts on how long it will take to repair and return from Beretta. USA?

I normally have a three week turn around on items sent to Beretta. I have had a couple take six weeks because of warranty issues, I would be on the phone and find out what's going on. If it's shipped you'll need the tracking number and you know that routine. Good luck!

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