ETHNIC MILITIAS AND THE TRAVAILS OF DEMOCRACY IN POST-MILITARY NIGERIA

Abstract

Hidden and operated under fear in the era of military dictatorship are ethnic militias. At this period, ethnic activities and ethnic militancy was not pronounced. Yet they existed in the Nigerian political environment, and before now acted as surrogates and or aides of civil-military servitude. Today, ethnic militias obviously are threat to the Nigerian Nation’s stability and peaceful co-existence. Threats that arose immediately after the ushering-in of Neo-democracy. A democracy that was enthroned with wavily-arms, in a campaign championed with arms and, elections rigged with arms. The militants now armourers, a by-product of elections booties, now remembered also the past suppressions. Like if hell were let loose, ethnic violence, incredible conflict paradigm was seen being used to politicize every action and intentions of the people who were only united in absent-unity prone state. All were sought in order to actualize the basis of their self-acclaimed rights of existences. The thriving democracy not only threatened by this chauvinism, but formed a grave travails of a fleeing nascent democracy as their activities seeks to redefine the geographical entity called Nigeria in their separately avowed interest. The perspective of this piece, ‘ethnic militias and the travails of democracy in post-military Nigeria’, is considered a very important area of study, referencing the several destructive tendencies of violence in the country where everybody supposedly ought to be one. Rigging, electoral swapping and malpractices, and willful destruction using armed militias who now turned the muzzles of the gun to threatened the statehood of Nigeria ought to be a forgone venture, but this persistent phenomenon in the past decades, and even into the new millennium had raised fears and erased the hope of the Nigerian democrats is worth studying. Importantly too, this work, mindful of the essence of Neo-democracy which seek to Unite the world into a global village wished that Nigeria democracy be not truncated to the disfavour of the people, as its benefits need to be explained further. In this situation, the research examines the reoccurring decimal of violence, agitations and negative militancy as the dimensional propensities affects the inhabitants politically, economically, and socially. The implications of the increasing number of displaced people, refugee overflow and poverty in the midst of these democratic travails also need to be revisited. The work, situated on the theory of political rights examines the basis of rights’ upholdment and ethnic agitations towards advocating for the enthronement of a virile democracy, essentially, where everybody will be a co-participator to the development of the society.