Browsing: Recovering from the 2023 Elections Trauma

The 2023 general election has taken its pride of place in the long line of elections that have traumatized Nigerians due to the extremely high levels of ethno-regional and religious bigotry that marked them. The 1964 elections might have been the most acrimonious following the census controversy that following the rejection of the 1962 census and divergent attitudes to the 1963 census, the creation of the Midwest and operation wetie in Western Nigeria. In short, all the key ingredients about the survival of the Nigerian State were on the table in that election. The result was complete breakdown of public trust and the civil war. The learning from the 1964 elections was that the abuse of powers of incumbency to impose the will of a section of the political class was a threat to the survival of the state itself. The outcome was that the First Republic fell.