SUMMARY
NDV (Niger Delta Vigilantes; also commonly referred to as Icelanders, Germans, and Ateke Boys) was a mainly Ijaw militant group active in Rivers and Bayelsa States of Nigeria. The leader of the group, Ateke Tom, had previously been a member of the Bush Boys, one of the smaller armed groups commonly referred to as cult groups, which was based in the town Okrika, in the oil-rich Niger Delta. After a fallout with the Bush Boys, Ateke Tom began setting up his own armed group. This was done in a chaotic context. At the time there was intense intra-Okrika (an Ijaw sub-clan) competition, resulting from the death of the last Amayanabo of Okrika, king sir, S. P. U. Organ. The royal family was split on who should succeed him, and this split came to permeate all spheres of Okrika society. The two factions each had a military wing, and Ateke Tom came to lead one of them. This inra-Okrika conflict was, in turn, closely tied to the political sphere, as the two factions were allied with the main political parties, ANPP (All Nigeria People’s Party) and PDP (People’s Democratic Party). PDP politicians such as Peter Odili and Abiye Precious Sekibo played an important role in arming and helping create Ateke Tom’s group.
The formation of NDV was also closely tied to the phenomenon of university confraternities. The first confraternity, the Pyrates, was formed in 1952 and soon others appeared. Initially respectable social groups with objectives such as promoting social awareness and fighting social injustices, the confraternities eventually turned into belligerent gangs that competed for spheres of influence by violent means; a transformation that many argue reflected a wider breakdown of traditional values in society. In 1984 the SVC (Supreme Viking Confraternity) was formed in Harcourt and in the 1990s the group set up two allied street gangs. This was part of a broad trend of campus-based confraternities extending its influence by creating street and creek wings (‘cults’). Ateke Tom was a member of SVC, and NDV – at the time called Icelanders – was one of the cults established.
During most the 2000s it seems clear that NDV continued to be supported local PDP politicians. According to human rights organizations, the former Secretary to the State Government, Abiye Sekibo, provided logistical support and political protection to Ateke Tom from 2001 on. Atekes profitable drug and bunkering activities were covertly condoned in exchange for his groups help in driving away and intimidating opposition supporters during the 2003 elections. While Tom denied to have received any support from the government, there are many indications that it continued during NDVs non-state conflict against the rival Ijaw group NDPVF (Niger Delta Peoples Volunteer Force) in 2004. As a member of NDPVF claimed, forces of MOPOL, the Nigerian Mobile Police, sided with NDV in the non-state conflict and shot at NDPVF troops. A junior NDV fighter confirmed that NDV "worked with MOPOL" in an effort to push back the NDPVF from the village Tombia in February 2004.
Ateke Tom also admitted that a local chief from his hometown Okrika village had supplied the NDV with weapons. Furthermore, according to the state government, many of the over 100 smaller armed cult groups in the Niger Delta were for some years either allied with NDV or its rival NDPVF. Alliances in the delta were notoriously unstable, however, and it was not uncommon that groups switched sides.
NDV was loosely organised and mainly composed of young Ijaw men from Port Harcourt and nearby villages and reportedly had its logistical base in Okrika. Among the members of the group were many unemployed university graduates who were frustrated with poverty, underdevelopment and the lack of job opportunities.
In 2009 Ateke Tom willingly surrendered to President YarAdua at the Government House in Abuja. This happened three days before the closing of the government amnesty program ended. After Tom’s amnesty, NDV weakened and began to disintegrate. However, factions of it remained, continuing to deal in drugs and fight for control of different parts of primarily Port Harcourt.
NDV has been involved in the non-state category of UCDP organised violence.
