Political Violence and Terrorism: Insight Into Niger Delta Militancy and Boko Haram

Yıl 2016, Cilt: 2 Sayı: 2, 123 - 145, 01.06.2016

Özüm Sezin Uzun Yusuf Saheed Adegboyega

Öz

The aim of this article is to examine the nexus between the following: 1) the political violence and terrorism practiced by Niger Delta militants and Boko Haram insurgents in Nigeria, and 2) the governance of Nigeria. The article focuses on the historical trend of political violence since the amalgamation of the country and the impacts of terrorism. Before Nigerian independence, the country was organized by colonial powers under a protectorate system of both Northern and Southern regions, with people of different tribes and cultures living under different patterns of administrative governance. In 1914, colonial powers amalgamated the regions into one state, aiming for an easier administrative system. After amalgamation, a movement for selfgovernance emerged among the peoples of the newly united regions, though the only thing that both protectorates shared peacefully was the name of the country: Nigeria. The subsequent struggle for ethnic supremacy and the incidence of regional disparity, among other factors, In retrospect, it can be said that this long-standing struggle for political leadership has transformed in the last decade into a national act of terrorism in the forms of militancy in the Niger Delta and the Boko Haram insurgency. This article aims to examine the roots and impacts of the Niger Delta militancy and the Boko Haram insurgency through the context of historical developments in Nigeria, focusing on socioeconomic, religious, cultural, and ethnic factors

Anahtar Kelimeler

Political Violence, Niger Delta, Boko Haram, Terrorism, Nigeria

Kaynakça

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