Ethnic Militias and Democratic Governance in Nigeria

International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science (IJRISS) | Volume V, Issue IX, September 2021 | ISSN 2454–6186

Ethnic Militias and Democratic Governance in Nigeria

N. H Iwu, PhD, B. O Ajisafe
Political Science and Public Administration Department, Adekunle Ajasin University, Akungba-Akoko, Nigeria

Abstract: Uneven space that characterized the political space during the decades of military rule opened up at the triumph of democracy in 1999 offering minority ethnic groups initially emasculated under dominant ethnic group(s) opportunities to agitate for inclusion and prominence in Nigerian politics. Saturating the political space and contesting ferociously against one another, the Nigerian state is enmeshed in an almost state of nature where the institutional mechanism for dialogue and administration has plummeted. While the agitators find justification on the principle of democracy that creates for equity, fairness, open competition for political offices, the assurance of such remains illusory, thereby offering anchor for the emergence of ethnic militias to contest the closed space against minority groups. Certain questions emerge: why are ethnic militias used as an instrument of bargaining in Nigeria? What type of demands do they make? What are their implications on democratic governance in Nigeria? Drawing from secondary data and theory of state fragility the papers argues that responding to demands from ethnic militias creates more problems as it spurs a circle of agitations that weakens institutions of governance. Therefore, the paper advocates for robust civil societies to contain the state’s drift towards unaccountable governance that breeds sub-groups agitations.

Keywords: ethnic militias, good governance, democratization, insecurity, electoral democracy

I.INTRODUCTION

Nigerian society is a sociological aggregate consisting of distinct cultural groups and institutions which interact and make claims on the resources of the state (Onwuejeogwu 1972, Otite, 2000). Promises of open competition and equality offered in democracy create justifiable reasons for engaging the state that fails to meet its basic obligations. The republican liberalists assume that liberal democracies would be more peaceful (Kant 1992). While the assumption may be confirmed in international relations, ethnic militias are heating the national politics that adversely affect global peace. Groups anchoring on their diverse cultures struggle in contestation to break the monopoly of power by one cultural group (Smith, 1965). The emergence of the Igbo state union, Ogoja state union, Egbe Omo Oduduwa, and Arewa peoples’ Congress (APC) as a response to challenging disparity witnessed under the colonial government in Nigeria (Coleman 1986, Osaghae, 1994, Otite, 2000). Postcolonial Nigeria has seen more ethnic unions which have taken on the part of militancy often rationalized as characteristic of civil society competing for space in a closed environment engineered by few privileged groups (Lijphart 1977, Nnoli 1978, 1998, Varshney 2002, Osaghae 1998, Sesay et al 2003, Bob 2011, Gowon and Effiong 2001, Isumonah and Gaskia 2001,).

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