Elections, Insecurity and Secessionist Agitations in South-Eastern Nigeria

Abstract

The essence of this paper is to interrogate effects of insecurity and secessionist agitations on electoral process in the South-Eastern Nigeria. In carrying out this research four objectives were stated and four research questions rose to guide the study. Primary sources such as archival materials and secondary sources namely books, journal articles and internet sources were utilized for data collection. Data analysis is based on case study methods. The findings indicated that the South-Eastern Nigeria remains a hotspot for secessionist agitations and insecurity. Secessionist agitations and insecurity undermines elections, leads to voting apathy, electoral manipulation and emergence of incompetence political leaders. For better electoral outings security and intelligence gathering should be the top priorities of the electoral institution conducting elections in the region. Above all, tolerance, respect for human rights and opinion is significant in quelling secessionist agitations.