Politicization of the Security Agencies and its Implication on the Electoral Processes: 2019 General Elections in Perspective

Abstract

Since the return of democratic governance in Nigeria, elections have remained controversial and involve high levels of violence and other electoral malpractices. Hence, emphasis is placed on the need to provide adequate security in order to guarantee credible, free and fair elections. While previous studies have focused on the roles of security in the electoral processes, the implication of their roles (security agencies) have not been central to the existing debates. This paper examines the implications of politicizing the security agencies in the electoral process with special regards to the 2019 general elections. The paper employed a documentary analytical technique as our method of data collection, while qualitative descriptive method was used for the analysis. Anchoring our discuss on the structural functional theory, findings amongst others revealed that politicization of the security agencies by desperate politicians undermines the principles of credible, free and fair elections in the 2019 general elections; also the professional dispositions of some security agencies in the electoral process negates their role of maintenance of law and order which are an important tenets of the protection of lives and properties that enhances the need for credible and impartial electoral governance in Nigeria. The paper recommends amongst others that; security agencies need to be well trained on basic tenets of elections before their involvement in the electoral processes; politicians should avoid desperation and learn to play by the rules of the game; and all security agencies involved in the electoral malpractices should be punished according to the law so as to serve as deterrence to others.