Centre for Peace & Strategic Studies

This article attempts an agential explanation of the raison d’eˆ tre for Jama’atu Ahlis
Sunna Lidda’awati wal Jihad, also known as Boko Haram (meaning Western
education is forbidden), an Islamist sect that came to public consciousness in
2009 after the extra-judicial killing of its leader. Conceptualising Nigeria as a weak
state, the article identifies the failed prebendal relationship between politicians in
northern Nigeria and members of Boko Haram, and the extra-judicial killing on
30 July 2009 of Mohammed Yusuf, as agential causations of the current wave of
radical Islamism. The article argues for the need to transcend the orthodox
interpretation of the current wave of Islamist terrorism being demonstrated by the
Nigerian state to a more nuanced approach that pays attention to the essentialist,
psychological, political and economic perspectives of Islamist terrorism at the
structural and individual levels.

The protracted crisis in Plateau State keeps worsening in terms of casualties and tenor. This is despite the continued intervention of the Nigerian State through measures such as military deployment and constitution of commissions of inquiry; which constitute Track-One approaches. Although, not without a history, recent manifestations of the conflict since 1999 when the fourth-republic commenced have been characterised by the use of more lethal weapons, poisoning of wells in the rural areas, mob attacks, reprisal attacks in and around Jos, bombings of religious gatherings and centres, house-to-house attacks, ambush laying for vehicles during which commuters are ordered down for identification as indigenes and settlers before getting mauled; demarcation of areas along ethno-religious lines; all of these point to erupting contours of fault lines while portending a rehash of the genocide in Rwanda in 1994. These happenings indicate a worsening of the conflict which calls to question the efficacy of the approaches so far adopted by both the federal and state governments in effectively managing the crisis thereby necessitating an urgent change in approaches. In particular, the continued presence of the military seems not to be yielding the desired effects. Sequel to this, this paper proposes the combination of Tracks 1 (state) and Track 2 (NGOs and Professionals) of the Multi-Track-Diplomacy concept as a step forward. Based on secondary data, this article envisages that the provision of militaristic and non-militaristic infrastructure for peace by a combination of Track 1 and Track 2 in the conflict-ridden has potentials for sustainable peace and security.

Godfatherism based on a patron-client relationship has emerged as a phenomenon hindering participation, political security and peace as it torpedoes the consolidation of democracy since Nigeria’s fourth republic commenced in 1999. Widespread political violence created insecurity whenever the godsons failed to fulfil pledges made to their godfathers especially on the allotment of appointments and sometimes sharing of state resources amongst others in many states of the country. It made politics violent and extractive rather than being peaceful and productive. In Oyo-State, Chief Lamidi Adedibu, an Ibadan based octogenarian was the godfather of politics in the State because of his ability to ensure victory for many seekers of elective offices in the State. From 2003 to 2007, violence and political insecurity pervaded the political space especially in Ibadan consequent upon the broken relationship between Chief Adedibu and Senator Rashidi Ladoja after the latter reneged on promises made to his godfather on becoming the governor of Oyo State in 2003. This paper examines Chief Adedibu as political godfather and the variables that sustained him within the context of the theory of economy of affection espoused by Goran Hyden. The study was carried out in three out of the five Local Governhment Areas in Ibadan metropolis using mainly qualitative methods of indepth interviews with purposively selected respondents considered germane to the objectives of the study including late Chief Lamidi Adedibu. This paper concludes that Adedibu’s patronage system of politics was pyramidal with him on the top; while the poor, lumpens and thugs, members of the transport union and local politicians constituted the core of his dependants and vectors of violence.

The deployment of the military for internal security operations (post)conflict comes with its own peculiar challenges which are often locale-specific. One of such are the accounts of victims of alleged excesses of the military in Maiduguri metropolis in northeastern Nigeria as contained in accounts of primary and secondary sources. This article posits that the type of peace resulting from prolonged military occupation in Maiduguri reflects the victor's peace based on accounts of human rights abuses and extrajudicial killings leveled against members of the military force by the civilians as it strives to enforce its Mandate of Right to Protect (R2P) in the city. The article canvasses for the conception of military deployment to (post)conflict spots as a means towards an end-positive peace instead of being an end in itself in order to make post-conflict peace positive.

Godfatherism based on a patron-client relationship has emerged as a phenomenon hindering participation, political security and peace as it torpedoes the consolidation of democracy since Nigeria's fourth republic commenced in 1999. Widespread political violence created insecurity whenever the godsons failed to fulfil pledges made to their godfathers especially on the allotment of appointments and sometimes sharing of state resources amongst others in many states of the country. It made politics violent and extractive rather than being peaceful and productive. In Oyo-State, Chief Lamidi Adedibu, an Ibadan based octogenarian was the godfather of politics in the State because of his ability to ensure victory for many seekers of elective offices in the State. From 2003 to 2007, violence and political insecurity pervaded the political space especially in Ibadan consequent upon the broken relationship between Chief Adedibu and Senator Rashidi Ladoja after the latter reneged on promises made to his godfather on becoming the governor of Oyo State in 2003. This paper examines Chief Adedibu as political godfather and the variables that sustained him within the context of the theory of economy of affection espoused by Goran Hyden. The study was carried out in three out of the five Local Governhment Areas in Ibadan metropolis using mainly qualitative methods of indepth interviews with purposively selected respondents considered germane to the objectives of the study including late Chief Lamidi Adedibu. This paper concludes that Adedibu's patronage system of politics was pyramidal with him on the top; while the poor, lumpens and thugs, members of the transport union and local politicians constituted the core of his dependants and vectors of violence.

Watch is a database project that has monitored fatal incidents and human security in Nigeria since 1 June 2006. The database compiles violent deaths on a daily basis, including fatalities resulting from accidents. It relies on a thorough reading of the Nigerian press (15 dailies & weeklies) and reports from human rights organisations. The two main objectives are to identify dangerous areas and assess the evolution of violence in the country. However, violence is not always reported by the media, especially in remote rural areas that are difficult to access. Hence, in the last 8 years, Nigeria Watch has not recorded any report of fatal incidents in some of the 774 Local Government Areas (LGAs) of the Nigerian Federation. There are two possibilities: either these places were very peaceful, or they were not covered by the media. This series of surveys thus investigates 'invisible' violence.

Godfatherism based on a patron-client relationship has emerged as a phenomenon hindering participation, political security and peace as it torpedoes the consolidation of democracy since Nigeria's fourth republic commenced in 1999. Widespread political violence created insecurity whenever the godsons failed to fulfil pledges made to their godfathers especially on the allotment of appointments and sometimes sharing of state resources amongst others in many states of the country. It made politics violent and extractive rather than being peaceful and productive. In Oyo-State, Chief Lamidi Adedibu, an Ibadan based octogenarian was the godfather of politics in the State because of his ability to ensure victory for many seekers of elective offices in the State. From 2003 to 2007, violence and political insecurity pervaded the political space especially in Ibadan consequent upon the broken relationship between Chief Adedibu and Senator Rashidi Ladoja after the latter reneged on promises made to his godfather on becoming the governor of Oyo State in 2003. This paper examines Chief Adedibu as political godfather and the variables that sustained him within the context of the theory of economy of affection espoused by Goran Hyden. The study was carried out in three out of the five Local Governhment Areas in Ibadan metropolis using mainly qualitative methods of indepth interviews with purposively selected respondents considered germane to the objectives of the study including late Chief Lamidi Adedibu. This paper concludes that Adedibu's patronage system of politics was pyramidal with him on the top; while the poor, lumpens and thugs, members of the transport union and local politicians constituted the core of his dependants and vectors of violence.

Watch is a database project that has monitored fatal incidents and human security in Nigeria since 1 June 2006. The database compiles violent deaths on a daily basis, including fatalities resulting from accidents. It relies on a thorough reading of the Nigerian press (15 dailies & weeklies) and reports from human rights organisations. The two main objectives are to identify dangerous areas and assess the evolution of violence in the country. However, violence is not always reported by the media, especially in remote rural areas that are difficult to access. Hence, in the last 8 years, Nigeria Watch has not recorded any report of fatal incidents in some of the 774 Local Government Areas (LGAs) of the Nigerian Federation. There are two possibilities: either these places were very peaceful, or they were not covered by the media. This series of surveys thus investigates 'invisible' violence.

This paper opines ab-initio that there is a nexus between the first agitation for secession by the Biafrans which led to a 'political jihad' and/or civil war that lasted for more than thirty months, the Movement for the Actualization of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB), and the recent movement by a group known as the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB). The root cause on one hand is the forced marriage of people of different cultural and historical pasts while the immediate causes on the other hand are bad governance, perceived inequality in the sharing formula of available resources, and poor or bad leadership styles demonstrated at the national level. However, this increases the degree at which the region wishes to divorce itself from the unmeritorious marriage that has little or nothing to offer it apart from regression and stagnation. The perceived polarization within the leadership of these groups shows that the movement for secession within the region is riddled with cacophonous voices. The government escalates the crisis by employing the carrot-and-stick approach with the apprehension of some of the ringleaders and the denial of their constitutional rights in the court. This paper inter-alia argues that there is need for both conflicting parties to make a volte-face in their approach toward the crisis; it then examines the use of preventive diplomacy to de-escalate the current crisis and avoid escalation of such in the nearest future. It also suggests the use of Multi-Track Diplomacy as a tool in resolving the conflict.

The growing global economy which was fastened mostly by international trade and technology has no doubt crated a global dual phenomenon where regions continued to experience  economic development at the expense of others. This paper argued that though third world countries of Africa are fully incorporated into global capitalist economy, the benefit of this inescapable global phenomenon is not evenly distributed.  Secondary sources of data were used as essential methodology for this work. With the help of Marxist theory of political economy and review of literature, the paper further posited that Nigeria economy in the current wind of globalization remains the clienteleeconomy in the competitive global market. The country remained an exporter of raw materials and importer of finished products thus, making the country potential market for foreign investors. The work therefore recommended economic diversification and control of activities of Multi-national Corporation to checkmate thei...

This paper examined the contributions of the Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) towards transparent and violence-free elections in African countries with speci ic focus on Nigeria, which is the largest democracy in the continent. Many countries have witnessed violent electoral contests, arising from the inability of the electoral umpire to conduct free and fair elections, hence the introduction of ICTs to correct the lapses. The objectives of this paper were to identify major ICTs gadgets for the conduct of elections in Nigeria and evaluate the extent to which the devices have curtailed electoral violence. The paper adopted an interpretive case study as its research methodology. The interpretive method is based on analogical deductions and re-analysis of relevant existing literature from secondary sources to generate new indings. Findings from the paper were that the ICTs have added tremendous values to the credibility of electoral process in Nigeria by securing elections from intense manipulation and violence through the use of electronic gadgets, including the use of Direct Data Capturing Machine (DDCM), Automated Finger Prints Identi ication System (AFIS) and the Smart Card Reader (SCR). However, it is concluded that the use of ICTs has improved electoral credibility but has not substantially reduced electoral violence in Nigeria as the electronic gadgets have relocated such electoral debacle from physical to electronic violence, and from manual to digital electoral manipulation. Digitalized electoral process in Nigeria is also faced with machine failure, system hacking and poor logistic supports. It is recommended that the usage of ICTs in the conduct of elections in Nigeria should be sustained as a complement, rather than supplement, to the traditional manual voting system in Nigeria. This recommendation is premised on the fact that Nigeria is not yet ripe for sole

This paper appraises Sulh (Reconciliation) as an alternative mechanism for resolving marital dispute in Ilorin, Kwara state of Nigeria. Cases of marital conflict among Muslim couples are very rampant in the city, leading to a significant rise in the spate of divorce, separation, single parenthood and domestic violence. This paper identifies the sources and effects of marital dispute on the family in Ilorin and discusses the simulative methods of using Sulh for resolving such dispute. The study relies on secondary data by analyzing existing works on the subject matter. The paper finds that the primary sources of conflict among Muslim couples in Ilorin include incompatible marital vision, unmet expectations, financial difficulty, job loss and bareness. The use of Sulh by Muslim mediators in Ilorin follows the Shari'ah (Islamic law) method of mediation that includes solicited or unsolicited intervention of external mediator, identification of conflict issues and resolution of conflict through pleas and soft bargaining. It is concluded that the application of Sulh in Ilorin, though with its limitations, is a credible alternative dispute resolution mechanism with promising outcomes. The Kwara state government should introduce Sulh to decongest the conventional courts and improve the alternative justice system in Ilorin.