Political Campaign and Human Rights Violation in Rivers State, Nigeria, 2013-2021

Human Rights Abuses ranging from torture and kidnap to disappearance of persons and political assassinations, among others, have become a recurring decimal in Rivers State politics in recent times. These, in most cases, are perpetrated by the Law Enforcement Agents deployed to the campaign grounds as well as unknown uniform gunmen who exploit the proclivities of the Law Enforcement Agencies to inflict harm on the citizens on campaign and off campaign grounds. Extant literature shows that while scholars have examined how variables like warring cult groups, unknown factions from the both conflicting parties, etc, have engendered Human Rights Abuses in Rivers State, there has not been any systematic scholarly effort directed at exploring the nexus between the dynamics of political campaigns and Human Rights Abuses in the State within the period of 2013 to 2021. This study, therefore, undertakes to interrogate this linkage. The paper utilized the Social Conflict Theory as a framework of analysis, while also adopting the Ex-post facto research design. The Documentary method and content analysis were deployed for data collection and data analysis, respectively. The study found that the militarization of political campaigns and the excessive use of other Security Agents undermined Human Rights by exacerbating their Abuses in Rivers State, Nigeria. Appropriate punishment of officers and politicians who sponsor election-related violence is therefore recommended.