Militarisation of Off-Cycle Elections and Voter’s Turnout in Nigeria: The Anambra State Experience

Abstract

Over burden with security agencies presence during elections in Nigeria is becoming a frequent issue most especially ‘off-cycle’ elections which Anambra state is not an exclusion. There are various factors that cause electoral violence in Nigeria which has been extensively established in the literature. But the militarization factor which was common in Anambra due Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) threats. This is largely due to the IPOB threatening and disrupting elections with violence, which has influenced voter turnout during the Anambra State's governorship election. Methodologically, secondary sources were used for data collection and analysis. The paper found out that the unusual deployment of over 34,000 security personnel to Anambra alone during the election was an exceptional threat to the electorate that were already in deep rooted regional ethnic struggles with the federal government. The paper concluded that low voter’s turnout across the state was due to threat of insecurity among voters who may have weighed their gains from the elections against the fear of being intimidated by IPOB and security personnel deployed for elections.

Keywords

References