Two Nigerian Ethnonationalist Movements: A Comparison of the OPC and MASSOB
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The proliferation of ethnic militia organisations in Nigeria raises questions about
the factors responsible for the development. Although reasons adduced from the
rhetoric of these organisations point to the politics of exclusion and marginalisation
in Nigeria, this form of ethnicity is a new phenomenon. The growth of these
militant formations pervading the length and breadth of the country is attributable
to the nature and character of the Nigerian state. Perceptions of marginalisation in
the distribution of power and resources, and the repressive tactics of the state to
sub-national dissent, have encouraged their growth. The Movement for the Actualization
of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB) and the Oodua Peoples
Congress (OPC) are prominent ethnic militia groups that draw membership from
major ethnic groups in southern Nigeria. Rivalry and hegemonic competition for
the control of the state among the major ethnic groups led to a civil war in the late
1960s, but wartime experiences were not harnessed for a nation-building project.
The result was the systematic perversion of the state, which has resulted in
throwing up new forms of ethnicity in Nigeria as reflected in the emergence of
these organisations
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JA Political science (General)