2019 Volume 84 Issue 1 Pages 039-057
This paper discusses the influence of national politics on local practice among the Igbo of Southeastern Nigeria. I examine the rotation system and its application to the selection of local leaders. The rotation system is an electoral arrangement acquired popularity after the 1999 democratization. Based on a series of events related to the selection of traditional authority in an Igbo community, I analyze the ways people interpret their experience regarding national politics and appropriate it into their local practice to shape the fairness of political participation.
The Igbos regard the rotation system as their traditional method instead of the new system created for national elections. This helps the rotation system merge with the communities' moral intent and gives it plausibility as a system to ensure political fairness. However, as the basis for their understanding, the Igbos not only cite their tradition within the community, but also their political experience with national affairs. The people expect the rotation system to stand outside of their tradition and ensure political fairness as a system of state governance, which operates of its own accord.
