‘DO NOT COME OUT TO VOTE’ - GANGS, ELECTIONS, POLITICAL VIOLENCE AND CRIMINALITY IN

Violence perpetrated in pursuit of electoral victory has widespread consequences: the destruction of lives and property, the displacement of people, undermining the credibility of the electoral process, and the erosion of public trust in democratic institutions.1 In countries throughout Africa, including Nigeria, Kenya, Mozambique, Zimbabwe and Sierra Leone, gangs play a pivotal role in political. [...] The long history of election violence, coupled with the incidents of attacks and clashes leading up to and during the 2023 elections, had a major impact on voter turnout, the voting process and, consequently, the outcome of the elections in these areas. [...] 9 TIMELINE OF THE EMERGENCE AND EVOLUTION OF POLITICAL GANGS IN KANO 1950 The first gangs systematically involved in the political landscape emerge, including the Yanbanga and later, in the 1970s, the Yandaba. [...] A serving House of Representatives member, who An unidentified armed group, suspected of being is also a member of the APC, is arraigned for his affiliated with the APC, attacks supporters of the alleged involvement in an attack that resulted in 2020 NNPP at the vote collation centre in Takai LGA, the burning of the NNPP secretariat and the loss killing one. [...] 13 TYPOLOGIES OF POLITICAL VIOLENCE IN THE 2023 ELECTIONS IN KANO AND RIVERS The indications that gangs would play bigger roles in the February 2023 elections started manifesting in 2022 and persisted in the pre-electoral period.