Politics and the Thugs of War

As political campaigns and support mobilisations for the 2019 general elections gather momentum, the incidence of thuggery has become widespread across Nigeria’s political landscape. On the 13th of December 2018, a group of armed thugs attacked and inflicted injuries on some All Progressives Congress chieftains in Ebonyi State. Similarly, in the recently concluded party primaries, gun-toting thugs were on the rampage in a number of states in Nigeria. Employed and deployed by politicians as guards, thugs are often used to harass, kidnap, or even assassinate political opponents. Besides killings, political thuggery has wide-ranging implications for democratic consolidation in Nigeria as well as on the image of the country in the international circle. While Boko Haram, Niger Delta, and farmer-herder conflicts have attracted the attention of government, policymakers and non-governmental organisations, dangers posed by thuggery has received scant interest from stakeholders. Following these developments, this edition of Nextier SPD Weekly examines the challenges posed by political thuggery in Nigeria and makes recommendations.

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