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 Efik – Ibibio, Ife – Modakeke, Ijaw – Urhobo, Okrika – Ogoni and Urhobo – Bini.

The conflict between Hausa and Sayawa dates back to the late 1940s and its central point has concerned political power and land ownership in Tafawa Balewa Local Government Area of Bauchi state. The Sayawa have long campaigned for the creation of a Sayawa chiefdom in the area, while Hausa and other non-Sayawa groups have opposed such a development. While the Sayawa have claimed to be the original inhabitants and rightful rulers of the area, other ethnic groups residing in the area have accused them of trying to acquire rights to farmland currently inhabited by other groups. The conflict has resulted in violence in the area on several occasions, and according to reports hundreds of people have been killed since the late 1940s.

The Hausa - Sayawa conflict must also be viewed in the broader spectrum of the ethnic and religious non-state conflicts that began to ravage Nigeria primarily 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. In this atmosphere of latent conflicts, clashes between Sayawa and Hausa have often been sparked by rather minor incidents that are followed by a violent escalation.

The non-state conflict between Hausa and Sayawa is first included in UCDP data in 2011. In January that year, clashes broke out in Tafawa Balewa, triggered by a row over a game of billiards. The clashes resulted in more than 35 battle-related deaths.