SUMMARY
The conflict between the Greenlanders and NDV was played out in the larger context of the so-called cult rivalries in the Niger Delta. These cult or street gang rivalries can be traced back to the phenomenon of confraternities at Nigerian universities. The first confraternity, the Pyrates, was formed in 1952 and soon others appeared. Initially respectable social groups with objectives such as promoting social awareness and fighting social injustices, the confraternities eventually turned into belligerent gangs that fiercely struggled for supremacy; a transformation that many argue reflected a wider breakdown of traditional values in society. In the 1990s many of the confraternities began setting up business offshoots or street cults, especially in and around the major cities. Being the location of all of Nigeria's oil findings, the Bayelsa, Delta, and Rivers states or southern Nigeria has suffered the fate of receiving very little of the benefits from the oil, while at the same time suffering from the environmental degradation that has come in its wake. In this context, where unemployment and poverty are ripe, and large squatter/slum settlements spring up with no or little government presence, there are pools of vulnerable young men willing to join urban cults and gangs, and the phenomenon quickly spread.
The street gangs soon became involved in petty crime, local kidnappings and drug trafficking, and the region started seeing violent struggles for supremacy. This was also the most common reason behind fighting between the Greenlanders and NDV. Another reason was personal rivalries, with a prime example being NDV leader Ateke Tom beheading Julius Oruitemeka just a few months after he together with some others broke away from NDV and created the Greenlanders. It was common with escalating tit-for-tat killings between the groups.
The non-state conflict between the Greenlanders and NDV is first included in UCDP data in 2012. In November of that year, clashes between the two groups had resulted in more than 25 battle-related deaths.
