Political Participation through Inclusiveness: An Exploration of Politics of Ethnic-Discrimination in Nigeria

Abstract

Political participation is characterized by ethnic-discrimination in Nigeria. Electoral processes and nomination of candidates at election often laced with ethnicity and discrimination. Selection of candidates for political offices usually follows politics of ethnicity. The constitutional provision which ensures equity often suspended whenever candidates were presented for electoral offices. This study examines causes of ethnic consideration as the basis for political participation. This study argues that recognition of every community member would enhance qualitative political participation in Nigeria. Recognition Theory, a social justice theoretical framework, was used in this study to explain concepts such as discrimination, ethnicity and participatory politics, and their centrality to democratic values in Nigeria. The theory provides explanation for the inequalities in political participation such as inaccessibility, disassociation, discrimination, prejudice and non-participation. Qualitative method of data collection was adopted in this study. Unstructured interview guide was designed to collect data from one hundred and twenty-five participants. The participants were selected from the capital of States selected for this study such as Benin, Suleja, Ilorin, Owerri, Ikeja and Osogbo. This paper found that voting patterns were influenced by factors such as ethnicity, favoritism, godfather, bribery and others. It was also found that candidates’ choice for elections is determined by godfather, ethnicity, age, religion rather that a ten-year residency dictated by the constitution. It was concluded that inclusiveness without discrimination such as ethnicity, region, godfather, state of origin and gender could galvanize equal political participation. This paper finally concluded that political participation though inclusiveness can reduce politics of ethnic-discrimination in Nigeria.