About the Report

With Nigeria’s 2011 election cycle well within view, the country’s political elites remain locked in a tense succession negotiation after the midterm death of President Umaru Yar’Adua. In this already-troubled election season, Nigeria’s history of electoral violence raises significant additional concerns about the possibility of hostilities. Commissioned by the Center for Conflict Analysis and Prevention at the United States Institute of Peace, this report offers a brief overview of electoral violence in Nigeria, examines Nigeria’s prospects for a nonviolent political transition in 2011, and concludes with recommendations for a safer, more secure polling season. Ebere Onwudiwe, a senior faculty member in the department of behavioral sciences at Central State University in Wilberforce, Ohio, is currently a Distinguished Fellow at the Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD) in Abuja, Nigeria. Chloe Berwind-Dart, a conflict resolution consultant to CDD for the production of this report, has lived and worked in Nigeria since 2009.