Other Articles in this Volume:ixx No 2

ABUBAKAR UMAR ALHAJI; ABDULKADIR AHMED; DR. AHMED WALI

Published in 2018; Volume:ixx No: 2 Article Number: 9

Electoral violence is the illegitimate and unauthorized use of force related to electoral processes. It is characterized by intimidation, harassment, assassination, blackmail, kidnappings, killings and destruction of properties. The study used descriptive research design of survey type. A total number of 650 respondents were drawn from Gombe metropolis that formed the sample of the study. Data were analyzed using mean and standard deviation which inferentially used t-test statistics with the aid of SPSS. The results revealed that political thuggery, desperation among politicians to win elections by all means, poor attitude of the electorate towards elections, high level of unemployment,godfatherism and illiteracy are the major causes of electoral violence during the 2015 General Elections in Gombe metropolis. The findings further revealed that the use of card reader, effective voter education, absence of military officers at the voting points and the humility by staff at the voting points are the contributory factors of achieving violence-free election during the 2015 General Election in Gombe metropolis. Therefore,an effective public enlightenment and recruitment of competent staff are part of recommendations.

Violence, Election, Metropolis, Thuggery, Card Reader