SUMMARY
The southern region of Nigeria, and especially the delta area, is where the crude oil that constitutes a substantial amount of the Nigerian revenues is located. The fact that the oil and the subsequent incomes that can be extracted from it are concentrated in this area has led to several violent episodes between ethnic groups contesting the ownership of land in and around the oil-rich delta area. The issue was further complicated since the inception of the civilian government in 1999. This led to several new actors and possibilities of organizing in order to enhance their political power. The fragile political system with weak institutions and a high level of corruption created a situation where political power became the easiest means of capital accumulation. Given these conditions, several groups mobilized and formed interest groups speaking on behalf of the ethnic group. This polarized the already fragile relations in the southern parts of Nigeria and led to a situation where contested ownership of land, taxation of land, or even number of employees at the oil facilities were all potential conflict issues.
The other dyads that belong to the same Southern land ownership cluster of non-state conflicts are; Adoni – Ogoni, Aguleri – Umuleri, Ijaw – Ilaje, Ogoni – Ndoki, Okrika – Eleme, Okrika – Ogoni”, Urhobo, Ijaw – Itsekiri and Ijaw – Itsekiri.
The outbreak of the non-state conflict between the two Ijaw groups NDV (Niger Delta Peoples Volunteer Force) and NDV (Niger Delta Vigilantes) was precipitated by an argument between the leader of the former group, Mujahid Dokubo-Asari, and local governor Peter Odili in the context of the elections in April 2003. Allegedly Odili had earlier supported Asari, but when Asari publicly criticized the conduct of the elections, Odili withdrew his support. According to Asari, Odili then initiated a violent campaign against him, primarily through NDV. In contrast, the leader of NDV, Ateke Tom, claimed that the struggle in Okrika - his home town in Rivers State and the scene for clashes between the two groups - was for equity, justice, and freedom.
Researchers argue that the armed conflict between the two groups originated in a dispute over the control of areas needed to obtain illegal oil revenues, such as bunkering routs. The two groups allegedly also fought over tribal chieftaincy titles in the villages of Buguma and Okrika, southwest of Port Harcourt, and other positions with access to government and company oil revenues.
NDV and NDV mostly engaged in shootouts concentrated in riverine villages southwest of Port Harcourt and within Port Harcourt itself. According to members of NDV several villages were attacked either to eliminate specific members of NDV or to kill members of his group more generally.
The NDV - NDV conflict must also be viewed in the broader spectrum of the ethnic and religious non-state conflicts that have ravaged Nigeria in the past and intensified with the end of military rule, from 1999 and onwards. The conflicts throughout Nigeria have ethnic, political, economic, and religious components, which have become inextricably linked over time, pitting various groups and alliances of groups against each other along different dividing lines.
The non-state conflict between NDPVF and NDV is first included in UCDP data in 2004. In August of that year, more than 25 people were killed when NDPVF troops invaded the town Njemanze near Port Harcourt in pursuit of NDV members.
