Political violence

Political Violence

According to thee oxford advanced learner's dictionary (8th edition ,2010) violence means "violent behavior that is intended to hurt or kill somebody" Also violence is seen as a very strong feelings that is not controlled . views expressed with physical force. Fourie ( no date ) sees violence as any conflicts between rival group by forces of arms or by other means . it may be as a result of instability in the society , or breakdown of law and order , lack of physical and social amenities , excess in non-equal opportunity to social services . No doubt , definition of fourie leads to the subject matter . Violence maybe related to political or non-political aspect of human life . Thus , political violence refers to all forms of collective attack within a political regime ; the characteristic of which is to actually execute violence ( Alanamu 2005) . honderish (1989) defines political violence as a considerable use force against persons or things , a use of force prohibited by law , directed to a change in policies , personnnel ,or system of government , and also directed to changes in the existence of individual in the society and perhaps other society. 

This operational definition states that for violence to be political there is a tendency for the polity to be affected either here and now or in the future . political process according to Anifowose (1982) is considered to be a system of distribution of values carried out by specific individual within a specific institutions. He buttresses his argument further that this understanding excludes accidents and criminal actions for personal gain but includes acts of both representative of a government or dissidents. From all indications the calculus of violence entails the use of physical force, usually with the purpose of injuring or damaging the object of violence. 

In the word of Alanamu (2005) , "violence can range from flying fists and feet to club and bullets to nerve gas and nuclear missile". He opines that violence can be broadly categorized into direct and indirect violence . 

To  him direct violence is refers an act of deliberate violence resulting in a direct attack on a persons physical or psychological integrity. This category include all forma of homicide (genocide , war, crime, massacre, and terrorism ). As well as all types of coercive or brutal actions involving physical or psychological suffering ( kidnapping , torture , rape, maltreatment ). This matter of behavior corresponds in all instances to illogical act running counter to the basic of all human right , right to life . 

Indirect violence on the other hand is a category design to cover harmful , sometimes even deadly situations or actions which , though , due to human intervention. This kind of violence can be omission.

Again, Alanamu (2005) observe that political violence can be categorized by type and scale . thus, the typology of different categories and forms of political violence investigated by this study include ethno-religious uprising , public violence or riots , party clashes, violent demonstration , arson , assassination, sabotage , hijacking , bombing and domestic terrorism e.t.c at one end of the scale , violence may involved thousands of people as in demonstration and riots ; and at the other , individual isolated incident , involving a handful of people . This typological of political violence includes among others  Coup d' etat, riot and rebellion , separatist violence , revolution, war , terrorism insurgency , and guerilla warfare , sabotage , assassination , hijacking , party clashes and election violence .

Although , Dazinger (1998) asserts that , in many instance , political violence might be justified as well as an order maintaince activity. In essence , state acts as security officer to arrest and prosecute a citizen that violate a criminal law , such as by thuggery , secret cultism, assassination , murder , sabotage and terrorism. In such cases , most citizen are likely to support the states efforts to create and maintain law and order in the society.

Political violence in Nigeria today hinges on a struggle for power among various interest group within the society . This struggle for power or retention of political power brings about the avalanche of party clashes and election violence . thus , party clashes as forms of political violence usually involve the destruction of lives and property of members of , or supporters of political parties . This may involve individual or group violence against party leadership or offices, supporters and property . in a nutshell, intra and inter party clashes are prevalent in Nigeria.

The common party clashes in Nigeria is inter-party violence , that us involving two political parties . the recent party clashes between APC and PDP in Kano States .

Below listed are some of the seemingly spontaneous outbreak of electoral violence in Nigeria in 2011 - 2019

1. Suleja in April 8, 2011 which claim the lives of many Nigerians 

2. Maiduguri April 15, 2011 2people were killed and many got injured 

3. Rivers May 9, 2011 3 people were killed 

4. Gombe April 18, 2011 the resident electoral commissioner was attacked and injured 

5. Kwara April 2, 2011 3 were killed in an attack 

6. Kwara February 3, 2019 2 men was shit dead at the front of the kings palace in ojoku village 

7. Rivers February 23, 2019 many youth Corps got injured when they were attack on thier way back to inec office .

8. Kano march 20, 2019 many was killed ahead of the rerun election .

Conclusion

Violence or threat of violence is a global phenomenon . individual , groups and even states throughout history have , in one form or the other resorted zto violence . to this extent , the understanding of the nature of violence is important of issues relating to violence . this writing therefore analyzed the nature and causes of violence ; discussed the justification for violence ; and propounded both religious and moral solution to the horrendous killings in the country.