SUMMARY

The non-state conflict between the Igbo and Tiv ethnic groups were set against a backdrop of violence and uncertainty in the Nigerian society. During the time period leading up to the end of the military dictatorship, in 1999, several communal and ethnic conflicts were recorded. These conflicts were often based on trivial arguments between members of different ethnicities, arguments that quickly escalated beyond control. This pattern can be identified in several conflicts in the highly polarized and ethnically diverse country.

The non-state conflict between Igbo and Tiv, two of the largest ethnic groups in Nigeria, started as a trivial argument between an Igbo girl, and a Tiv boy. The argument got out of hand, and ended with the fatal stabbing of the Tiv boy. When news of the tragedy reached the Tiv community enraged youths confronted the Igbo girl, she was severely beaten and was saved when local police intervened. The enraged sentiment in the Tiv community did however not abate; overnight an attack on the local market in the town of Gboko, the same town as the Tiv boy was stabbed to death, was planned. The scheme reached the local police who cordoned of the market effectively stopping any attempted retaliatory violence by the Tiv community. Unable to inflict any damage to the market the angry mob of Tiv youths instead turned to the residential areas targeting any Igbo settlement or house.

The violence in this conflict was spontaneous, best described as rioting, the actors were not organized to any greater extent, and did not use any specific tactics or centralized leadership.

The clashes that followed the stabbing and the retaliatory mobs lasted one week and left more than 30 people dead. The violence was concentrated to Gboko town, there were however reports of looting and general mayhem from the neighboring town Tyowanye, the home town of the murdered Tiv youth that sparked the violence. Tyowanye is located just twenty kilometers from Gboko.

The Igbo - Tiv conflict must also be viewed in the broader spectrum of the ethnic and religious non-state conflicts that have ravaged Nigeria in the past. 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 Igbo and Tiv is first included in UCDP data in 1998. In December that year, a week of clashes between the two groups resulted in over 30 battle-related deaths.