SUMMARY
The issue of political control of certain towns, districts, or states is volatile in the Nigerian society. The political system in Nigeria is young and is still not fully developed in terms of judiciary capacities. This has had a profound impact on issues of land ownership and subsequent taxations matters. The pattern is in some aspects related to the question of which group was the original inhabitants of the area, this has however been hard to verify, and in some cases the period under British rule drastically altered the power-relationships between different ethnicities. It is hence an infected matter without any clear solution. This situation has led to several recorded conflicts regarding taxation and access to local markets.
The other dyads that belong to the same Political/Land taxation cluster of non-state conflicts are; Hausa – Yoruba, Izzi – Ukele, Ife – Modakeke, Ijaw – Urhobo, Okrika – Ogoni and Urhobo – Bini.
The conflict between the ethnic groups Efik and Ibibio originated from a land dispute. The cause of the fighting, which claimed at least ninety lives in Cross River and Akwa Ibom states in 2000, was the selling of and anticipated revenues from, a local newsprint factory.
Efik and Ibibio are often referred to as one ethnicity, or more precisely, one umbrella organization of what are really six ethnicities. Based on their periodic belonging to the same overarching ethnicity, the histories of these two groups are intertwined. They live in southern Nigeria and are mostly subsistence farmers, although some make their living as fishermen. Efik and Ibibio have a long history of interaction with Europeans, in particular slave traders to whom they offered their services as middle-men in the slave trade. Ibibio has lived on their present lands for a long time. Efik, who are, as mentioned above, ethnically related to Ibibio, have not been represented in the area for as long.
Reporting on the violence in this conflict was scarce; the few media outlets that picked up on the story were brief and vague in their reports. Apart from the occasional newswire little attention was paid to this conflict.
Due to the scarce reporting there is little to be said on tactics used by the actors, other than the fact that it is described by news media as ethnic clashes.
The Ibibio - Efik 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 Efik and Ibibio is first included in UCDP data in 2000. In May of that year ethnic clashes resulted in more than 25 battle-related deaths.
