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This article theorizes the artful life of power in Nigeria. Focusing on the short call-and-response chants, the extended narrative songs, the proverbial allusions, the bald invectives, and the poetic speeches that political parties deploy within the context of elections in Nigeria, it poses and engages with questions that lie at the intersection of poetry, politics, and performance. The article asks specifically: in what ways do the verbal arts of abuse and duelling emerge outside performative spaces within which they have been traditionally studied? In what contemporary forms do they appear that transcend the often-linear approach that conceives of them as the quotidian mechanisms of resistance for 'the powerless'? This article suggests that to fully engage with these questions, we must be ready to shift our understanding of subjection and domination as well as of tradition and modernity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examined the application of Benford's Law to analyse the 2015 and 2019 presidential election data in Nigeria. Data obtained from the electoral body were analysed using frequency distribution and Spearman Rank Correlation tests at 0.05 level of significance. Findings revealed that the second digits distributions of the vote counts for the two major political parties, registered voters and total vote counts in both elections do not conform to the distributional pattern predicted by Benford's Law. The study recommends that stakeholders should aim for an electoral reform that allows the use of forensic analysis of electoral data in Nigeria. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Election violence varies significantly within countries, yet how and why are undertheorized. Although existing scholarship has shown how national-level economic, institutional, and contextual factors increase a country's risk for violence during elections, these studies cannot explain why elites organize election violence in some localities but not others. An analysis of gubernatorial elections in Nigeria reveals the conditions under which elites recruit popular social-movement actors for pre-election violence. Gubernatorial elections are intensely competitive when agreements between governors and local ruling party elites over the distribution of state patronage break down. To oust their rivals and consolidate power, elites recruit popular reformist groups for pre-election violence and voter mobilization. Conversely, when local ruling-party elites are aligned over how state patronage is to be distributed, the election outcome is agreed to well in advance. In this scenario, there is little incentive to enlist social movement actors for violence. Case studies of the Ijaw Youth Council and Boko Haram provide empirical support for the argument. The theory and evidence help explain subnational variation in election violence as well as the relationship between intraparty politics and violence during elections, and speak to broader questions about political order and violence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using the qual-dominant mixed methods approach, this study analysed the impact of the separatist threat and the militarization of elections on voter turnout during the 2017 governorship election in Anambra State, Nigeria. Findings indicate that perceived and real marginalization of the Igbo in Nigeria's state-building is largely driving the neo-Biafra separatist threat to boycott elections in Anambra State. This does not only account for the state militarization of elections in order to guarantee security; it also inadvertently engendered fear among citizens, undermined voter turnout and exacerbated political exclusion. This study concludes that inclusive political development presents an opportunity for de-escalation of separatist threats, demilitarization of elections and enhancement of voter turnout in Nigeria. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the past 10 years, the North-Eastern part of Nigeria has been engulfed by the scourge of Boko Haram attacks, leading to a high level of insecurity, severe humanitarian crisis and food insecurity within the region. To date, unceasing attacks are still recorded within the region, with the border communities suffering the most. This article discusses the efforts of various state and non-state actors (both local and international) towards addressing the security challenges facing border communities affected by Boko Haram in Nigeria's north-east region and the impact of these efforts on their continued survival. The article adopts a qualitative research model which utilises a phenomenological case study approach. Data gathered was supported by existing literature which was analysed systematically using that approach. The findings reveal that the poor security response of the Nigerian state and its inability to play a leading role in addressing security threats in the region result in uncoordinated actions between the respective government agencies and other local and international stakeholders. The authors argue that it is this negligence by government that forces international actors to withdraw their troops and support in the fight against Boko Haram. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the reasons for the failure of electoral reform in Nigeria. It argues that two key issues explain that failure, namely a wrong conception of the reform programme and the overbearing self-interest of the reformers. To make electoral reforms more effective, the article suggests a shift of emphasis from institutional to state reform. This will, argues the author, involve a change in the focus, target and drivers of reforms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An introduction is presented which discusses 2019 general elections as the elections were followed with great expectations because of the improvements recorded in the previous general elections in 2015; and presents the takeaways from the 2019 general elections.

In Nigeria, corporate law and practice are still evolving. Consequently, there is scant literature on some major aspects of corporate law. The focus of this study is on one such area covering dividends and other forms of corporate distribution. In addition to the lack of constructive legal literature on company dividends and other forms of corporate distribution in Nigeria, most of Nigeria's corporate participants and policymakers are still largely uninformed of the fundamental rules and principles on company dividends. Motivated by the foregoing, this research critically examines the theoretical rationale and extant legal principles on company dividends. Its main objectives are to close the gap in the literature and to provoke scholarly discourse that may further enrich policy reform measures in the area of company dividends in Nigeria. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Anecdotal evidence suggests that sexual violence varies significantly across cases of election violence and communal conflicts but systematic research is scarce. Post-election violence is particularly likely if electoral mobilization further polarizes longstanding communal conflicts and political elites do not instruct security forces to intervene decisively. I comparatively analyse two prominent cases of post-election violence in Kenya (2007/8) and Nigeria (2008) that exhibit stark variation in sexual violence. Patrimonial networks and norms of violent masculinity that increase the probability of (gang) rape were present in both cases and do not explain variation. Civil war research has identified three explanations for the variation in sexual violence: situational constraints; ordered sexual violence or restraint; and bottom-up dynamics of sexual violence or restraint. I examine these for the context of post-election violence. I argue that the type of communal conflict triggered by electoral mobilization explains variation in sexual violence. In Kenya, pogroms of a majority group against a minority allowed for the time and space to perpetrate widespread sexual violence while in Nigeria, dyadic clashes between similarly strong groups offered less opportunity but produced a significantly higher death toll. These findings have important implications for preventing election violence. They demonstrate that civilian vulnerability is gendered and that high levels of sexual violence do not necessarily correspond to high levels of lethal violence. Ignoring sexual violence means underestimating the real intensity of conflict and its impact on the political process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines efforts to counter Boko Haram's campaign of terrorism in Northern Nigeria from a deterrence–backlash perspective. Drawing from previous research, the authors develop hypothetical expectations for deterrence and backlash effects when counterterrorism policies are conducted at governmental and community levels. Using parametric survival analysis, the authors conclude that government policies designed to curb Boko Haram attacks resulted in backlash. Conversely, community-based efforts resulted in deterrence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Why do fraudulent elections encourage protesting? Scholars suggest that information about fraud shapes individuals' beliefs and propensity to protest. Yet these accounts neglect the complexity of opinion formation and have not been tested at the individual level. We distinguish between the mobilizing effects of actual incidents of election fraud and individuals' subjective perceptions of fraud. While rational updating models would imply that both measures similarly affect mobilization, we argue that subjective fraud perceptions are more consistent predictors of protesting, also being shaped by attitudes, information, and community networks. Our empirical analysis uses geo-referenced individual-level data on fraud events, fraud perception, and protesting from the 2007 Nigerian elections. Our analysis yields two main findings: proximity to reported fraud has no effect on protesting and citizens perceiving elections as fraudulent are consistently more likely to protest, and more so if embedded in community networks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is increasingly recognized in public administration that the relationship between trust and transparency is not straightforward. Recently, right‐wing populists have risen to power, rejecting transparency requirements based on documents while claiming that they "hide nothing." Clearly, existing scholarly conceptualizations are insufficient for understanding how transparency operates as a value in real‐world political contestation. An analysis of state‐ and national‐level politics in Nigeria reveals that, while always retaining a core informational component, there are multiple competing conceptions of transparency. Popular demands for transparency express a belief that not only should data be made transparent, but also the social networks in which politicians are embedded. "Transparency in people" can clash with more traditional, technocratic transparency practices centered on data. By rethinking who or what should be made transparent—data, things, or people—this article offers fresh theoretical insights on the complex politics of transparency and trust. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Upon inception, the President Muhammadu Buhari-led government identified corruption as the bane of Nigeria's socio-economic development and vowed to nip it in the bud. The federal government, in its newly found zeal and determination to confront the menace of corruption headlong, adopted a new and largely effective strategy to aid its effort. This essay contributes to a growing effort to understand the effectiveness, mechanisms and hazards associated with the whistle blower policy, particularly in a country globally known for its corruption toga. The Federal Government's anti-corruption drive in that last two years essentially remains the focus of this essay as it emphasizes a novel set of posers capable of probing into the motive and agenda behind the whistle-blower strategy. It also explores the anti-corruption mechanisms/policies put in place by successive administrations in the country with a view to properly locating the gap, that is, why corruption has remained endemic in spite of them. While the discourse on how to dismantle the monster through legal and institutional frameworks - that will make it impossible for corruption to thrive- has always met a brick wall in the rapacious elite, the whistle blower strategy can become one of the most effective tools to be possessed by the Buhari-led administration in its anti-corruption war. A compelling step however, as advocated in this study, is to complement the whistle-blower policy by establishing the special courts needed to expedite corrupt cases while necessary legislations put in place to protect whistle blowers, as a matter of necessity, should be methodically enforced, and not be hindered by the Nigerian factor. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nigeria has recently joined the many states which have established de-radicalisation programmes. The article engages with debates on how the success of de-radicalisation can be ascertained given the substantial flaws of using individual-oriented recidivism rates as a measure. Many studies on de-radicalisation emphasise the need to consider the programme's context to facilitate success, yet 'context' has been under-conceptualised and approached statically. The paper provides greater agency to 'the context' in distinguishing between the type of milieus former combatants are re-integrated into and how these emergent social relations shape the scope of de-radicalisation programmes, beyond the traditional over-emphasis on programme participant outcomes as measures of success. The Nigerian de-radicalisation programme has a broader function insofar as it provides former combatants with 'scripts' of disengagement and function as a brand, signalling to communities that former combatants have repented and are 'better citizens, imbued with genuine nationalism' that resonate with local communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The role of the police in the conduct of elections in Nigeria has received considerable attention in the literature. While the police have continued to be blamed for some infractions in the electoral process, little attention has been paid to the constitutional power of security agencies in the electoral cycle. This study examines the role of the police in the electoral process in Nigeria. Data were obtained from official publication, textbooks, journals and newspapers. It identifies the police as the lead internal security agency charged with the responsibility of enforcing laws and maintaining order for the proper functioning of the electoral process. Provisions in the Electoral Act(Amendment),2015, specifically, sections 29 (3), 94 (4) and (5) were however identified as assigning vital security decisions to the Independent National Electoral Commission thereby undermining the effectiveness of the Nigeria Police Force in carrying out their responsibilities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Two decades after the ‘third wave of democratization’, extensive violence continues to follow elections in sub-Saharan Africa. Whereas national processes connected to pre-election violence have received increased scholarly attention, little is known of local dynamics of violence after elections. This article examines the 2011 Nigerian post-election violence with regard to the ways in which national electoral processes interweave with local social and political disputes. The most affected state, Kaduna State, has a history of violent local relations connected to which group should control politics and the state. It is argued that electoral polarisation aggravated national ethno-religious divisions that corresponded to the dividing line of the conflict in Kaduna. A rapid escalation of violence was facilitated by local social networks nurtured by ethno-religious grievances. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The 2016 resumption of hostilities in the oil-rich Niger Delta region that is the mainstay of Nigeria’s economy, in a dwindling international oil price, has become a subject of controversy. This analysis, which is based on empirical evidence from primary and secondary sources, shows a group of militants—the Niger Delta Avengers (NDA), selective anti-corruption crusade, the clamp down on federal government structure in the Niger Delta, amnesty time limit to Niger Delta ex-militants, self–determination and the attempt to single out former President Goodluck Jonathan from Niger Delta, among other former presidents for prosecution, as the core drivers of insecurity in the oil-rich region. It is suggested that the Nigerian government should embrace the power of dialogue that has brought relative peace in the Niger Delta region from 2009 to 2015, as a veritable tool to stop the ongoing hostilities. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This article interrogates the management of the internal displacement caused by the activities of Boko Haram in Nigeria. The study utilizes qualitative methods to explicate the lived realities of internally displaced persons (IDPs) at three IDP camps. It accentuates the invention of criminogenic patterns that have fostered several state crimes in the management of the displacement situation. A series of cyclical patterns is highlighted: these patterns are constituted by and constitutive of the social conditions of the IDPs. The operations of a constellation of institutional and non-institutional actors in the displacement situation has led to (1) hoarding, diversion and theft of relief materials, (2) embezzlement of funds meant for IDPs, (3) use of ghost IDPs, (4) sexual and gender-based violence and (5) human trafficking and other forms of violence. The article concludes that this situation portends grave risks for state efforts to combat Boko Haram, as it may result in renewed grievances against the government. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This article draws on in-depth fieldwork in Lagos, Nigeria, to explain the changing role of motor-park touts (agberos) in urban transport. Situating the emergence of agberos within the insecurity and radical uncertainty caused by the structural adjustment programme of the 1980s, this article explains the transformation of agberos in the light of their tacit incorporation into the National Union of Road Transport Workers, which politicized and altered their role in urban transport. It further argues that current efforts to rid motor-parks of agberos is inspired by the post-1999 urban renewal project of the Lagos State Government to transform Lagos into a 'world class' megacity. Yet, the embedded role of 'big politics' (i.e. the strategic alliance between the union and the state) helps to explain the difficulty of doing away with agberos in Lagos. By focusing on their changing role in Lagos, this article foregrounds the critical and mediating role of agberos in the day-to-day management of urban public transport, while illuminating the politics of violent patronage and extortion rackets in which they are popularly implicated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

How do local politics shape national political competition in Africa? This article explores opposition party formation in Nigeria, where citizens voted out the People's Democratic Party in 2015 after 16 years in power. Existing analyses attribute the victory of the All Progressives Congress to issues such as corruption, terrorism, and declining economic performance. Drawing upon field research in Abuja and Rivers, a key opposition state, this article argues that the institutional environment also played a role. Federalism provided the nascent All Progressives Congress with a partisan basis for subnational interest coordination. Rivers' governor leveraged his authority over local governments to challenge the federal government, linking local struggles to broader states' rights. The People's Democratic Party unsuccessfully attempted to deter defections and subvert subnational challenges through court cases and other means. More than just a mechanism for resource distribution, representation, or conflict mediation, Nigeria's federalism has emerged as an instrument of party organizing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The overthrow of the Colonel Muamar Ghaddafi regime in Libya in 2011, undoubtedly paved the way for increased Islamist activities in most of the countries in North Africa and the Maghreb region. Gradually, the countries of the Sahel West Africa not only fell within the orbit of resurgent radical Islam but also began to experience an uptick in its violence. Nigeria and Mali are two states within the Sahel West African that have experienced the virulent campaign of Islamist militancy. However, although within the same West African sub-region, the two countries had different European colonial experiences; while Nigeria was colonized by the British, Mali was colonized by France. The two countries have approached the problem in specific ways and so far adopted different strategies in the bid to contain the Islamist militancy within their respective domains. Despite common membership of the regional Economic Communities of West African States, (ECOWAS), those responses reflect essentially the different colonial experiences of the two countries and their power status within the sub-region as they underline also the state of their respective economies within the general framework of their peripheral status in the international political economy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper focuses on the need for a framework to strengthen the oversight functions of the National Assembly. These functions are notably enshrined in the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria for purposes of ensuring that public policy are implemented in accordance with the legislative intent of good governance and public accountability. Against the backdrop of this provision, prevails persistent cases of poor administration, under performance, corruption, fiscal indiscipline, lack of accountability and arbitrariness in government MDAs (ministries, departments and agencies). The consequences are public disillusionment and less confidence in the National Assembly. As representatives of the people, the legislators are expected to check and address such issues relating to inefficiency in the delivery of public goods and curtailing executive excesses. Using qualitative research methodology with focus on descriptive analysis, this paper reviews existing oversight mechanisms of the National Assembly since Nigeria's democratic transition (1999-2016). The findings of the paper show low oversight instruments and capacity of legislators to carry out oversight functions. However, to strengthen oversight functions and improve outcome, the paper recommends an oversight evaluation framework to achieve effective and efficient implementation of public policies and programmes and in serving as vital component of good governance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines and analyzes the performance of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Nigeria's major electoral machine in the Fourth Republic. In its eighteen years of operation, since its first major exercise was conducted in 1999, INEC's performance has generally been abysmal. Its ineffectiveness is manifested so sharply in its failure till date to win a convincing applaud, in terms of the integrity level of most of the elections it conducted. The paper draws data from the author's close observations of elections between 1999 and 2016, informal interviews and events analyses as well as from contemporary documentary secondary sources, which include published works in form of books, journals and official results from INEC. The role theory is adopted, in combination with the structural theory on the nature of the state in Nigeria, to analyze the inefficient electoral governance in the country. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Adopting a historical and content analytical method of inquiry, this study interrogates the evolution and geneses of the Boko-Haram (BH) insurgency. It claims Nigeria's inability to comprehend and accurately define the nature and precepts of the war combined with hybrid tactics of warfare employed by the sect, de-motivated security outlets and inequitable fire power among other contextual challenges made it almost impossible to contain the excesses of the sect. The study further classified the insurgency into three phases and argued, while Nigeria may have triumphed and reduced the activities of the sect, the inability to unravel the sponsors of the group in terms of manpower training in guerrilla warfare tactics, supply of moderns and sophisticated weapons, access to healthcare in Sambisa and other logistics that aided the operation of the sect, may result in the emergence of Neo-BH or other parallel structures, owing to the fact that while the insurgency may have been arrested, the socio-economic and other political issues that breed frustration and aggression in the Nigerian political landscape largely remains unaddressed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Ezza people from the pre-colonial times have exhibited extra-ordinary artistry in the act of warfare. Due to that artistry, they were often invited by many pre-colonial Igbo societies as mercenaries during the outbreak of inter-communal conflicts. The history of conflicts that they prosecuted reveals that the Ezza warriors were often given a parcel of land between the invitees and the enemies. They settle in such =buffer-zone' to wage the =war'. It was one of such invitations from Ezillo to fight their Ngbo neighbours that led to the rise of Ezza cluster in Ezillo. The increase in Ezza population that followed and their encroachment into more portion of Ezillo land, led to the intermittent conflicts between the two groups. This paper, which adopted a hybridized research method, reveals that the conflict has been recurrent in the twentieth and twenty first century. It also showed that the conflicts have led to loss of properties and harvest of deaths from Ezza and Ezillo in particular as well as different parts of the country. The Enugu-Abakaliki highway was often boycotted as passengers met their untimely death there. Finally, it showed how the Ebonyi State Government =militarized' the area and called for multi-dimensional peace approach that will prevent future reoccurrence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses issues related to oil conflict in Nigeria, citing strategies for peace-building in the region. It states that resurgence of militancy in the oil region has demonstrated existence of a crux of the conflict, despite implementation of the amnesty program, and mentions that structural violence created in these oil communities generated many different forms of violence. It notes role of the Nigerian State in bringing peace.

An issue that influences political discussions on Nigerian nationhood is the reality of the ethno-religious identities that make up that country. The stakeholders in Nigerian politics have tried to find ways of consolidating the unity of their country amid signs of failure evident in the emergence of dissident and oftentimes violent groups calling for self-determination. The recent Boko Haram crisis is a case in point, which has seen a call for an Islamic state in the north. The resurgence of MASSOB and IPOB in the southeast, with their protests and rallies advocating for Biafra, is also a sign of deep-seated desire of certain ethnic groups for self-determination. It is argued that the core problem with Nigeria will be found in the reality of diversity and oftentimes incompatibility of the entities that make it up. Discord and a lack of consensus are apparent among the political elites and ethno-religious groups, on what the Nigerian nation is and should be. Building on extant literature, this article problematizes the resurgence of ethnic consciousness in Nigeria and presents a way forward out of the quagmire the nation finds itself in. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An introduction is presented in which the editor discusses various articles in the issue on topics including activities of Al-Shabab and Boko Haram Movements; nature of examination malpractice in a tertiary institution in Nigeria; and concern over the perceived nature of women's entrepreneurship.

One of the most important roles in counterinsurgency (COIN) is to maintain adequate security presence to protect lives and properties of the affected population and restore law and order in the society. Accordingly, the state of affairs in Nigeria's COIN theater has been affected by the quantity and quality of security presence, most especially the ability of the operatives to gather timely and relevant information and mobilize for prompt response. Although the roles of the ground operatives have dominated public attention, the local air force and the complementary air powers have affected the security situations with the level of their presence or absence in the sky for intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance; firepower; and transportation in the theater. This study examines the relevance of security presence to achieve the objective of COIN and the prospects of air power in this arrangement in Nigeria and the Lake Chad region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

New media are increasingly providing spaces and opportunities for media houses and activist groups engaged in socio-political reform in Africa. In Nigeria, social media are becoming platforms for communicating messages of resistance against oppressive political and exploitative economic power structures. This study analyzed Ogas at the top (OATT), an online puppetry series by Buni TV, as a way of examining new platforms and message content in Nigeria’s rapidly changing media sphere. Relying on semiotics and critical discourse analysis perspectives, the study analyzed select episodes of the series, to gauge how producers constructed powerful visual and linguistic messages to boldly satirize social injustices perpetrated by Nigeria’s political elites. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Boko Haram insurgency has caused the death and displacement of thousands of Nigerians. Its means of terror has evolved from the use of crude weapons to bombs, kidnappings and the use of children as suicide bombers. Its reach has expanded beyond Nigeria into neighbouring West African countries and it has pledged allegiance to Al-Qaida and Islamic State. To address this security concern, its cause should first be ascertained. This paper argues that to do this, Boko Haram should be located in northern Nigerian historical context/environment. This paper reviews economic greed and grievance, extreme religious ideology and political opportunity in historic insurgencies in northern Nigeria. It finds that while the interplay of different factors shaped these insurgencies; it was political opportunity that ignited their onsets. Finally, the article submits that as long as these factors remain the same, military quelling of Boko Haram will not prevent a re-emergence of its likes. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The lack of transparency and accountability in governance in Nigeria pose a big problem to National Security, Peace and Sustainable economic development as a result of serial bombing, armed robbery, hostage taking, ethno-religious conflicts, cold-blooded, killings traceable to militant groups with conflicting ideological, political and religious agenda. Poor governance, political instability and a cyclical legitimacy crisis become the order of the day as Nigeria state is seen as a victim of high-level corruption. Consequently, the preponderance of terrorist activities especially those conducted daily over a decade by both the Niger Delta and Boko Haram has been an insidious act and has become a nationwide concern in Nigeria especially in Jonathan's administration of 2011-2015. Specifically evaluating the $2.1 Billion arms procurement fraud or scandal carried out by the nation's National Security adviser and his political cohort or gladiators during the period under review. This paper argues that the lack of transparency and accountability in governance during the period under review 2011-2015 is responsible for the incapacitation of the Nigeria military in combating the menace of Boko Haram Sect and the Niger Delta militant, National Insecurity challenges and the lack of Sustainable economic development. This paper adopted secondary data sources of information. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The practice of liberal democracy in Nigeria is overshadowed by the clamours for political zoning and other power-sharing arrangements as mechanisms for ethno-regional balancing. A few scholarly commentaries have alluded to the capacity of such informalities for conflict mitigation and consensus formation in plural societies. Drawing motivation from a traditional paradigm of power rotation among the Ilaje of Ondo state, Nigeria, this article based on a qualitative study, examines how ideas and practices of zoning and rotational access to political power intersect with identity politics, corruption, and the ideals of liberal democracy in Nigeria. The article affirms that the prevalence of zoning and power rotation as forms of political practices across Nigeria, and the discourse built around the two, point toward a national and local appropriation and accommodation of the concepts. It argues that though the practices have the capacity for maintaining peaceful political order, they have occurred more as an elites’ strategy to negotiate continued participation in the political process and access to the national wealth. The article, therefore, concludes that political turn-taking exemplifies ‘a social mechanism of corruption’ and a perverted form of liberal democracy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The complexity of the problems plaguing the Nigerian nation is beyond what is imagined. Contrary to the claims of the Nigerian government, these issues are not exaggerated. The vices discussed in this article are deep-rooted and traverse all segments of society. Laws are disregarded to the extent that they seem a mere fulfilment of the requirement for statehood. Every basis of identity, political, communal, ethnic, and religious is also a unit of conflict. Virtually all institutions – educational, legislative, judicial, executive, and security – of government are entrapped in the race for the ‘balkanization of the country's “national cake”’. The nature of functions determines the character of corruption in government agencies. The pervasiveness of these issues is owed to an environment that has created a culture of impunity. The weakness of state structures, along authority and capacity dimensions of fragility, explains the sustenance of a culture of impunity despite huge resources devoted to the campaign against it. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The author discusses the inability of Nigerian government to free the Chibok schoolgirls who were abducted by Islamist group Boko Haram, and its inadequate crisis management strategy. Topics include the military offensive of the government against the insurgents, the leadership of the group as international terrorist, and the effort of the government to rescue the schoolgirls.

This paper examines the rhetoric of power resistance of the opposition party in Southwestern Nigeria against the ruling party at the federal level, drawing upon the 26th November 2010 inaugural speech of Governor Rauf Aregbesola of Osun State. Applying the tools of Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) expounded in Fairclough's (1992) social theory of discourse, the paper examines how the rhetor configures the nullity of the suppressive 'instruments of federal power' on the political will, culture and structure of the Southwest (the then acclaimed political enclave of the opposition in Nigeria's party politics). The paper further examines the rhetor's configuration of the ruling party as being 'reactionary' in contrast to the 'progressive' orientation of the opposition party. In doing so, the resistance discourse celebrates the philosophy of 'Awoism' - the social and political teachings of Obafemi Awolowo about good governance - on which the acclaimed progressive principles of the opposition are anchored. The study reveals that contest for the acquisition and retention of power by the ruling party and the opposition still largely dominates the trajectory of rhetoric in contemporary Nigerian politics as opposed to the increase of rhetoric of social and political commitment whereby enduring ideological formations and sound policy issues define the development of coveted democratic ideals in Africa's political landscape. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article appraises Ben Obumselu's examination of Christopher Okigbo's conception of his poetry as music as particularly insightful. Okigbo's intent to make a music of words, evident in his denunciation of poetry of denotative statements, and reverent invocation of his favorite impressionist composers, and of Stephane Mallarme as models or even Muses notwithstanding, Obumselu discerns an underlying reference in every poem to events of Okigbo's life and even to contemporary Nigerian/African politics. This article extends the examination of Okigbo's poetics by investigating his exploration of funeral African drum music as an absorbing idiom of abstraction consistent with surrealism. Discussing the African elegiac tradition, it privileges in the pivotal drumming event a conflation of lamentation with a rousing heroic tradition that illuminates Okigbo's practice in "Lament of the Drums" and "Lament of the Masks" and links many of the last poems in Path of Thunder together in significant unity. Moreover, the interpretation of the poems offered here is linked to the trajectory of the Okigbo narrative and the poet's heroic temper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nigeria cannot defeat Boko Haram by itself; it needs the help of its neighbours. But the regional fight will not be easy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As Nigeria marked its centennial in 2014, violent sectarianism pried open a historical debate about whether ‘amalgamation’ of the country's two former regions by British authorities in 1914 was a ‘mistake’. Even before independence, however, self-interested nationalism restrained self-interested regionalism, sustaining unification. I argue that a ‘parallel institutionalism’ has ever since mediated the nation's heterogeneity through two different visions of representation. A long pause in state creation, a reduction in the Effective Number of Parties, and declining relevance of a pact that facilitated the 1999 democratic transition have revealed latent tensions in the status of multicultural institutionalism and strengthened liberal institutionalism. I then analyse how demographic, economic, and migratory trends are slowly transforming the structure of representation, placing dilemmas of parallel institutionalism at the centre of future nationhood. Additional research could explore a natural experiment between the northeast, which is facing an Islamic insurgency, and the northwest, which is not. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The article examines the role of the Nigerian government to strengthen the country's health system as of April 2018. Topics include the failure of politicians to deliver their campaign pledges of better health care, the decreasing budget allocation for health care, and the establishment of the Legislative Network for Universal Health Coverage to strengthen engagement.

Why do some protest movements erupt into rebellion, whereas others protest peacefully under similar circumstances? Addressing this question, this paper investigates the cases of Boko Haram (rebellion) and MASSOB (non-violent protest) in contemporary Nigeria. Conventional explanations of rebellion focusing on opportunity, inequality, and repression cannot explain why these movements have pursued different protest strategies. This paper tries to explain this puzzle by investigating the signifying work and meaning construction of both movements drawing on the framing approach from social movement studies. The framing analysis shows that the different protest behavior largely results from the differing cultural context of both movements, from the agency of the framers, and from successful frame alignment, which results in frame resonance and, thereby, the successful mobilization for collective action. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Nigerian state has had a turbulent history and even more worrisome present. Its sovereignty has been flagrantly challenged and its territorial integrity undermined by domestic non-state actors. The contemporary security challenges and indeed the incapacity of the security apparatuses to contain them contrast sharply with their past records, especially in peace enforcement abroad. Thus, this paper seeks to account for the apparent gulf between past strengths and current weaknesses of the Nigerian security machinery. It explores the country’s involvement in external peace support operations and domestic counter-insurgency efforts. The author identifies the politicisation of and corruption within the military establishment as plausible explanations for the disconnect between the recorded past (victories) and the inadequacies of today. From the standpoint of this author, to address these issues there is the need for a holistic security sector reform in Nigeria. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The article presents an outlook for the democratization of Nigeria following the successful presidential election that was held on March 28, 2015. It cites an improvement in the country's foreign direct investment inflows, as well as the negative impact of terrorism, particularly Boko Haram, on the country. The article also examines several challenges being faced by the new administration of President Muhammadu Buhari and evaluates the administration of former President Goodluck Jonathan.

Ethnicity has been constructively attacked from the perspective of conflict management and constitutional engineering within several countries in Africa. African leaders have recognized the problem of ethnicity and have sought to address it through many and varied schemes. This paper analyses some of these devices that address democratic ethnic competition and conflicts. The transformation of ethnicity in Nigeria has been enhanced by a variety of ethnic management constitutional devices. Several options (de jure or de facto) to operate multi-ethnic democracy have been tried in Nigeria. Among which includes federalism, tenure limit, geo-political zoning and rotation of power, constitutionally prescribed party systems and electoral systems. The finding is that these practices have been efficacious in mitigating the intense ethnic conflict that has dominated Nigerian politics since independence. They permit the expression of ethnic differences in constructive ways, thus making Nigeria, a good example in the management of democratic ethnic competition and conflicts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The extant perspectives on vote-buying have produced three central arguments around its causes, which are the factors of poverty, the electoral/voting system, and the nature of politics in the state. Going beyond these perspectives, this study presents the argument that vote-buying can also be explained by considering the nature of the political economy of a state, especially when the state is oil-dependent. The Nigerian case study demonstrates this argument. We employ the "oil-impedes-democracy" framework, which is a strand of the resource curse theory, to argue that the incidence of vote-buying in Nigeria's contemporary elections is prevalent because of the oil wealth associated with politics and elections in the state. This is because abundant oil wealth intensifies elite competition, which explains the use of all strategies to win elections including vote-buying. This is also facilitated by the fact that the political elite, especially the incumbent, have adequate access to oil wealth and spend it to "buy" elections and hold on power. Voters, on their part, also prefer to sell their votes during elections to have a share of the "national cake" given their perception of the wealth associated with politics in Nigeria and the poor service delivery by politicians after assuming state offices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]