A LEGAL APPRAISAL OF CIVIL AND POLITICAL RIGHTS’ VIOLATIONS DURING ELECTIONS IN NIGERIA

Abstract

Human rights violations, especially those related to civil and political rights, are common in many
African nations, including Nigeria. In a democratic setting, elections are only meaningful to the
majority of people because they allow the majority to choose the decision makers. This paper
investigates whether Nigeria satisfies its commitments by using Nigeria as a case study to
comprehend State party implementation of the civil and political rights sections of the African
Charter. Its main goal is to evaluate the legality of civil and political rights violations that occurred
during the Nigerian elections. The paper adopts the doctrinal research method wherein primary and
secondary sources of information were relied upon. The core findings of this paper revealed that
civil and political rights violations take on several forms; it ranges from procedural violations of
electoral law (that may or may not intend to distort results) to the outright use of violence against
voters. The paper consequently recommended for the re-orientation of politicians on their conducts
during elections and also committing them to taking responsibility for their actions by signing legal
documents that they must accept electoral results peacefully or take just legal actions if they are not
satisfied.