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 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, Efik – Ibibio, Ife – Modakeke, Izzi – Ukele, Okrika – Ogoni and Urhobo – Bini.
The non-state conflict between Ijaw and Urhobo was limited to one clash in March 1998. There is little written on the specific event but it is clear that the two ethnicities clashed, resulting in 30 fatalities. The cause of the clash is believed to be the control of the local government.
The Ijaw and Urhobo ethnicities have clashed on earlier occasions. In the years leading up to the inclusion of the conflict, 1997 and 1996, several people lost their lives in similar rows over local government and taxation. The incompatibility dates back as far as 1971.
The Ijaw - Urhobo 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 the Ijaw and Urhobo is first included in UCDP data in 1998. In March of that year, clashes between the two groups had resulted in more than 25 battle-related deaths.
