Election, Insecurity and the Crises of Development and Underdevelopment in Nigeria’s Imo State, since 2019

Abstract

Election-induced insecurity has become the greatest challenge confronting Imo State presently. Since 2018 governorship primaries of the All Progressive Congress (APC) and the general election in March, 2019, the results have plunged the State into violence. Several literatures have highlighted elections and the challenges but current research investigated the poor management of the election processes which generated insecurity. Zero-sum game and frustration-aggression theories guided the study. 420 respondents were interviewed using the Likert scale questionnaire for quantitative technique while 14 key informants were interviewed foe qualitative data collection. Quantitative were analyzed using statistical mean while qualitative data were content analyzed. [confrontation with perceived enemies triggered off insecurity. The atmosphere in Imo State was characterized by attacks from unknown gunmen; kidnapping and the activities of IPOB. The outcomes of these criminal activities were threats to lives and property, citizens no longer have confidence in the electoral process and the socio-economic stagnation in the State. The study recommended free, fair and transparent elections and the introduction of Peace-building measures to restore security in the State.