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Wednesday, 18 October 2017

IMPACT OF ETHNIC MILITANCY ON NIGERIA NATIONAL SECURITY, 1999-2015




CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION

1.1     Background to the Study
Nigeria is a large multi-ethnic country where intra-ethnic cleavages remain a critical problem and ethnic militancy has erupted periodically. Ethnic militancy in Nigeria have its roots in ethnic violence which included: Ife-Modakeke Crisis in Osun State in 1834; Yoruba-Hausa Clashes in Sagamu in 1999, Ogun State; Eleme-Okrika Conflict in Rivers State in 2012; Zango-Kataf in Kaduna State in 1992; Tiv-Jukun in  Wukari, Taraba State in 1989; Ogoni-Adoni in 1993-1994 in Rivers State; Chamba-Kuteb in Taraba State in 1991;  Itsekiri-Ijaw/Urhobo in Delta State in 1997; Aguleri-Umuleri in Anambra State in 1995; Ijaw-Ilaje  conflict in Ondo State in 1998; Basa-Egbura in Nassarawa State in 1998; Hausa/Fulani-Sawaya in Bauchi in 1948, 1959, 1977, 1991, 1995, 2001, 2005, 2010, 2011 and 2012 among others. These conflicts have provided a pattern that makes scholars to attribute their causes to greed, power and wealth distribution (Akinyele, 2003).

By 1999, various groups felt marginalised and formed militia bodies that fought along ethnic lines.The Odua People’s Congress (OPC) was put in place by the Yoruba in the south-western part of the country to fight for the protection and defence of Yoruba in Nigeria.

 In the eastern part was the Movement for the Actualization of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB), fighting for secession of the Igbo ethnic tribe from the Nigeria.

In the north, the Arewa Peoples’ Congress was formed to defend the northerners and propagate Sharia law across the northern states. In the end, Nigeria became a hot-bet of militancy which challenged established national security of the country (Albert, 2004).   Thousands of militants, grouped under different names such as The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND), the Ijaw Youth Council (lYC) and Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP), and recently Niger Delta Avengers, etc, have over the years carried out multiple attacks on strategic oil and gas installations in the Niger Delta region. Niger Delta transverses nine of the thirty six states of Nigeria, namely: Abia, AkwaIbom, Bayelsa, Delta, Edo, Imo, Ondo, and Rivers (Obi, 2005). Most of the oil exploration so far had been at the core Niger Delta states of Beyelsa, Delta and Rivers. These three states had witnessed the major crises in the region. Thus, Warri city has one of the highest rate of militant attacks in Delta State due to the refinery and pipelines in the city (Imobighe, 2002).

Patterns of militant attacks on oil installations, hostage taking and direct confrontations with Nigerian security agencies have drawn both local and international attention to their deplorable situation through their restiveness.


The Niger Delta People’s Volunteer Force (NDPVF), founded by Alhaji Mujahid Asari-Dokubo, and the Niger Delta Vigilante (NDV), created by Ateke Tom, led more than 100 other smaller armed groups to violently engage the Federal Government and multinational oil companies in a ‘war of attrition’(Ojakorotu & Olawale, 2009).
Asari’s NDPVF launched a series of attacks on oil wells and installations, disrupting oil production. The militant groups also attempted to control oil resources through oil bunkering, an exercise that involves tapping pipelines. All of these have had damaging effects on oil production in the region and eventually led to shutting down of the Warri refineries several times (Akpabio & Akpan, 2010).
Clearly, no militant group has ever emerged in a vacuum; there are dynamic  contexts—political,  social,  economic,  temporal,  spatial,  even religious—that must be taken into account. Thus, a considerable amount of emphasis is placed on identifying the array of environmental conditions and grievances among members of the local population that facilitated opportunities for internal militancy in Nigeria to muster support and orchestrate acts of political violence. The government of Nigeria has struggled to deal effectively with these grievances and sources of tension throughout the country, and there is a pervasive belief particularly among northern Nigerians that the government continually fails to address critical needs of those who aspire for a better future.



While resources are surely constrained, it is the inequitable distribution of those resources, and the widely acknowledged levels of corruption among elites, that detract government’s effectiveness. In turn, patronage and corruption fuels a general perception that government officials (to include law enforcement) cannot be trusted, and this further undermines the government’s ability to influence the behavior of local community members in positive directions, away from the lure of radical extremist ideologies like that of Boko Haram (Jega, 2002).

There is no universally agreed definition of militancy. At best, we have a “most universally accepted” definition of militancy, which is the following: militancy is the use of violence to create fear (i.e., terror, psychic fear) for (1) political, (2) religious, or (3) ideological reasons (ideologies are systems of belief derived from worldviews that frame human social and political conditions). The terror is intentionally aimed at noncombatant targets (i.e., civilians or iconic symbols), and the objective is to achieve the greatest attainable publicity for a group, cause, or individual. The meaning of militancy is socially constructed (Barnett, & Amy, 2009).


Militancy is different from murder, assault, arson, demolition of property, or the threat of the same; the reason is that the impact of militant violence and damage reaches more than the immediate target victims (e.g., government or military).



It is also directed at targets consisting of a larger spectrum of society (e.g., civilians or even society as a whole). Militancy is distinct from regular crime because of its powerful objectives. The change is desired so desperately that the inability to achieve change is perceived as a worse consequence than the deaths of civilians. Militant acts are both mala prohibita acts and mala in se acts. Mala prohibita acts are “crimes that are made illegal by legislation”; mala in se acts are crimes “that are immoral or wrong in themselves.” (Peter & Bruce, 2006).


On the contrary, a militant is a person who believes in armed aggression for a societal liberation. However, patterns of attacks carried out by Niger Delta militants have made them to be labelled as militants. For instance, On October 1, 2010, two vehicle-improvised explosive devices were detonated near Abuja’s Eagle Square, venue of the parade, marking the country’s 50th anniversary of independence (BBC, 2010).  While the ceremonies were in progress, MEND gave a notice of intent through an emailed threat that bombs were to be detonated in clearly identified spots and time. It warned all “invited guests, dignitaries and attendees [that] "several explosive devices have been successfully planted in and around the venue by our operatives working inside the government security services…In evacuating the area, keep a safe distance from vehicles and trash bins” (Sahara Reporters, 2010).




After about an hour after the threat, vehicle borne improvised explosive devices were detonated causing substantial damage and fatal casualties. 12 people were confirmed dead and 17 injured in the blasts (Reuters, 2010). The very idea of the bomb blasts at all rather than the number of fatal casualties (though both), were meant to send a message that the militants have the full capacity to launch militant attacks outside of the creeks.


With well trained fighters and equipped with sophisticated weaponry, it boasts a membership that is well over 5, 0000 fighters (CNN, 11 December, 2008). Over time, their tactics have evolved from crude kidnapping-for-ransom operations into more sophisticated and effective methods that combine hostage-taking and bombings (National Consortium for the Study of Militancy and Responses to Militancy (START), 2008).  Indeed, the Niger Delta Technical Committee Report acknowledged that the “militants have grown from rag-tag opportunistic group into very well-armed and well organised combat forces” (Report of the Technical Committee on the Niger Delta, 2008).

The kidnapping of four foreign oil workers from a Shell flow station in Bayelsa on January 11, 2006 brought its existence into national and international consciousness.



On 19th April, 2006, a military barracks in Port Harcourt, witnessed a car bomb explosion where two people were killed and six seriously injured. On 29 April, 2006, MEND claimed responsibility for another bomb explosion that destroyed fuel tankers and other properties at Effurun, the outskirts of Warri, Delta State. Thus, inferences from these attacks shaped the choice of topic on internal militancy rather than just internal militancy. As such, the study is aimed at assessing the impact of ethnic militancy on Nigeria's national security.


1.2     Statement of the Problem
Ethnic militancy has a long history in Nigeria. Both the southern and northern parts of the country have experienced acts of militancy or in some cases terrorism.  Some of the groups that posed the greatest challenge to Nigeria’s security between 1999 and 2015 include Movement for Emancipation of Niger Delta (MEND), Oodua People’s Congress (OPC), Bakassi Boys, Boko Haram, among others.  These groups adopted various strategies which included arson,  kidnapping,  extra-judicial  killings,  looting,  unlawful  detention, disappearances, and at worst, suicide bombing.

While some of these groups receive considerable support from the local people, the fact is that their tactics sometimes constitute terrorism and pose a special challenge to the Nigerian military.



Since  the  return  to  civil  rule  in  1999,  Nigeria  has  been  battling  with  series  of  violent agitations from various geo-political zones in the country. These violent agitations which have taken  terror  dimensions  have  contributed  to  national  security  threat  that  is  capable  of disintegrating  the  country.  Terrorists’  attacks  have  resulted  in  the  killings  of  over 30,000 people and displaced 2.3 million people (Jonathan, 2004).
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