WEAPONIZING NIGERIA'S ELECTIONS: INTERROGATING THE 2023 GENERAL ELECTIONS IN KANO STATE

Abstract

Over the years, the phenomenon of electoral violence has been a reoccurring issue in Nigeria especially states like Kano that have long history of political diversity. Prior to the 2023 general elections in Kano state, electoral violence is perpetrated with the use of locally fabricated weapons such as gariyo, fafale, fate-fate, sticks, matches and so on. The 2023 general election brought in a new dimension to this as fire arms were introduced into the business of electoral violence before, during and after the elections. The article which utilized both primary and secondary data submits that, despite efforts by security operatives under the Inter-Agency Consultative Committee on Election Security (ICCES) and other stakeholders under the Kano Peace Committee (KPC), scores of incidences were recorded during the 2023 electioneering process especially clashes between supporters of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and the opposition New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) on the one hand and the Action Democratic Party (ADP) on the other. It recommends that politicians and their followers should be closely monitored during build up to elections, while those that are found wanting should be brought to justice no matter how highly-placed they may be.