Political Violence and Insecurity in Nigerian: Past and Present Experiences

Abstract

Political violence is a major impediment to national security in Nigeria. The paper examined the political violence and insecurity in the past and present periods of Nigerian politics. It also assessed the causes and effects of political violence and insecurity challenges that confronting Nigeria society today, which emanated as a result of class struggle among the rich and the poor which epitomized to murder and assassinations, bombing of houses, cars, also kidnapping, armed attacks and many forms of crimes. The paper adopted the descriptive analytical approach. The secondary data collected were classified and analysed in a manner that ensured effective interrogation and presentation of the interests driving the debate on the subject matter to ensure adequate comprehension. The frustration aggression theory was used to explain the cause of political violence in Nigeria. The findings revealed that the causes of political violence were attributed to political leadership failure in the state but not poverty or unemployment. This paper will therefore examine the root causes of violence vis-à-vis insecurity, its effects and proffer strategies that will make the foreign investors and people to have a safe place to live in Nigeria.