ILLIBERAL DEMOCRACY AND CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE IN NIGERIA
THE RESURGENCE OF CIVIL PROTEST IN NIGERIA, 2020-2025
Keywords:
Illiberal democracy, Resurgence of Civil protest, Civil disobedience theory, #EndSARS and #EndbadgovernmentAbstract
Despite extensive literature on illiberal democracy and civil disobedience, research has largely overlooked the rise of civic protests in Nigeria between 2020 and 2025. This paper directly argues that the resurgence of civic protests in Nigeria is primarily a response to the distinctive features of illiberal democratic governance, which have driven citizens to reclaim democratic space through civil disobedience. Using John Rawls's (1999) theory as its analytical lens, an ex post facto research design, and mixed-methods, the study analyzes survey and documentary data using central tendency and content analysis. The findings show that movements such as #EndSARS and #EndBadGovernance reflect diminished public trust in state institutions and represent a shift from earlier forms of resistance toward protests motivated by concrete experiences of deprivation and marginalization. The paper concludes that the very
dynamics of illiberal democracy in Nigeria have been crucial in triggering and shaping this renewed wave of civil disobedience.
