ABSTRACT
Political violence has been an enduring characteristic of the Nigerian state, even before independence. This chapter discusses the co-option of violent student fraternities in the electoral politics of Nigeria's Fourth Republic. It examines the embedded relationship between politicians and members of student fraternities at an institution given the pseudonym University of the South and discusses its implications for the development of a democratic political culture in Nigeria. The chapter demonstrates that student fraternities have been incorporated into the country's ruling relations, binding them with the increasingly corrupt and inept national political class. Nigerian political office holders are probably among the highest paid in the world and exert vast political influence with more offices enjoying immunity from prosecution than in many places in the world. The chapter concludes that the symbiotic relationship between Nigerian politicians and violent fraternities undermines the development of a democratic political culture in the country.
