Charles Ekpo is a graduate of History and Int'l Studies, University of Calabar - Nigeria. He's currently running a Masters program at the Institute for Peace and Strategic Studies, University of Ibadan - Nigeria. His research interest is in African History, Strategic Studies, Peace and Conflict Studies and Nation-building. He has completed several researches and has published articles in both domestic and international journals. He's currently a full time M.A. student and is open for research assistantship in any establishment of related interest.
International Journals of Multi-Dimensional Research, 2018
Posterity, it could be rightly argued, has not really smiled on the Nigeria State regarding its t... more Posterity, it could be rightly argued, has not really smiled on the Nigeria State regarding its treatment of the people of the defunct Biafran Republic four decades after the civil war. Rhetorically, reconciliation was promised. Bluntly, a seeming opposite was realized. The perturbing pseudo reconciliation and indices of enduring peace have in time past bred movements such as the Movement for the Actualization of the Sovereign State of Biafra and the Indigenous People of Biafra, in a gasp to either push for a genuine reconciliation or facilitate a peaceful breakaway from the Nigerian State. With data from primary and secondary sources, this work attempts to make meaning and image from dominant phraseology in the IPOB " s lexicon. It argues that such line of phrases reflect more than they literally represent on the ideo-philosophical realms of the group posture and as well illuminate the level of virulence and grievance between the Igbo and other groups in Nigeria.
This paper discusses the application of the containment strategy in combating terrorism in North ... more This paper discusses the application of the containment strategy in combating terrorism in North East Nigeria. To achieve this aim, secondary data in the form of written texts, journal articles, newspaper reports and internet webpages are utilized. This research is pertinent for the Nigerian Armed Forces is yet to discover a befitting strategy at quelling terrorism in the north east region. Also, the retrogressing effects of the current strategy adopted by the Nigerian government makes the findings of this work a compelling alternative to the existing strategy. A detailed hypothesis on how the containment strategy can be applied in the north east region has been attempted in this work. There is, however, a necessity for further needs analysis and more specific and elaborate study by strategists and tacticians of the Nigerian armed forces to weigh the potency, strength, weakness, the opportunity cost and the threats of this idea in regard to the general and peculiar Boko Haram confli...
It is a common phenomenon in matured and burgeoning democracies across the world that candidates ... more It is a common phenomenon in matured and burgeoning democracies across the world that candidates vying for political positions emerge victorious not with pettiness but intelligence; not in desperado but good manifesto; not with profligacy but economic sagacity; not with mediocrity but meritocracy; not just by incumbency but competency and most importantly, not by “federal might”, but candidates’ capabilities. The aforementioned negations have dominated the political space and lexicon of Nigerian political discourses. This work attempts a conceptualization of the term “federal might” as it applies to Nigeria. To do this, we have conceptually eviscerated the term “federal might”, and have thematically, with qualitative cases, highlighted its etymology, its beneficiaries, the strength of the might, the nature of threat the might is utilized against, the means it is exercised and the time or period in which the might is exercised. We have also juxtaposed the term with its twin term of “...
By its virtue of not declaring any religion as State religion, the constitution of the federal re... more By its virtue of not declaring any religion as State religion, the constitution of the federal republic of Nigeria has been adjudged by many to be temporal, and Nigeria, a secular state. However, the level at which religion influences governance and vice versa has begged for the question, is Nigeria really a secular state? In this paper, we attempt an interrogation into the origins and radicalization of religiosity in Nigeria’s profanity. Adopting the Huntington’s Clash of Civilizations model as a framework, the work argues that the two preponderant religions – Islam and Christianity – have been in a serious struggle to influence the outlook, maintain status quo or exert control over the various levels of governments in Nigeria. The implication, the work has discovered, is that efforts by the government to appease these religious forces by maintaining equilibrium has culminated in institutional and structural reforms that have transformed the country’s political orientation, by acti...
International Journal of Research -GRANTHAALAYAH, 2019
This paper submits that there exist multiple dimensions through which herdsmen attack in Nigeria ... more This paper submits that there exist multiple dimensions through which herdsmen attack in Nigeria could be perceived. Though traditionally seen as violence anchored on resource conflict, the attacks inhibit acts of terror and in some instances, religious extremism. Also, the word farming was substituted for the phrase “farming communities” because victims of herdsmen attacks are all not farmers. Importantly, this paper emphasizes the word “herdsmen” in place of the popular and ethnically charged phrase “Fulani- herdsmen” because, although predominantly of Fulani stock, not all herdsmen are ethnic Fulani. There is a perception that the rising state of these attacks is nothing other than a conspiracy by some influential forces within the country, and in the opinion of others the attacks embeds acts of criminality. This paper argues that beyond the perception of resource conflict, issues of terrorism, religious extremism, conspiracies and criminality are but new perspectives with which ...
American Journal of Social Sciences and Humanities, 2019
There is always a romance between the present and the past. Peace and conflict studies, as a disc... more There is always a romance between the present and the past. Peace and conflict studies, as a discipline is not immune to such covering law as its praxis of context profiling suffices in establishing the dots between an event and its cause and effect connections. Nevertheless, context profiling might be superficial and sui generis to a specific conflict of interest. The observation, therefore, is that students of peace studies often lack sufficient depth in case studies and instances in their specialization, but for autodidacts which in the observed case is a rarity. Consequently, the focus of the work is to justify the need for the introduction of courses that address specific themes of history of conflict with peculiarity to various specializations in peace studies programmes. To the Ibadan Peace and Conflict Programme, we recommend the introduction of courses as (i) historical cases of border-related conflicts (for borderland specialists) (ii) historical cases of environment-related conflicts (for environmental conflict specialists) (iii) historical cases of international conflicts (for international conflict specialists) and (iv) selected themes of conflict in the history of Nigeria (for internal conflict specialists). The descriptive research design was utilized and data was qualitatively collected and presented. Primary data was generated through direct participant observation and secondary data sourced from existing literatures. Highlights of this paper There is always a romance between the present and the past. Peace and conflict studies, as a discipline is not immune to such covering law as its praxis of context profiling suffices in establishing the dots between an event and its cause and effect connections. The descriptive research design was utilized and data was qualitatively collected and presented. Primary data was generated through direct participant observation and secondary data sourced from existing literatures.
The history of military regimes in Nigeria is synonymous with the history of suppression, repress... more The history of military regimes in Nigeria is synonymous with the history of suppression, repression, extricable use of violence, impunity and blatant trampling on fundamental human rights. Exclusive of J. T. U. Ironsi’s short six months in office, every military dictator in Nigeria had propelled himself to the rein through dubious and anti-people means. It was therefore not fortuitous that these praetorian guards, possessing the powers of ‘life and death’, trampled on, subdued, and caged the ‘bloody civilians’ whose social contract they had successfully usurped. Being the most affected, Nigerian youths had in several scenarios, occasions and events staged protests, demonstrations and marches to register their discontentment and resentment towards the military dictatorships. The reactions from the military governments were always violent, brutal, dreadful and aptly horrific. Military regimes went extra miles to enforce authority, legitimacy and acceptability. Whether through killing...
KENNETH DIKE JOURNAL OF AFRICAN STUDIES, Jan 29, 2021
The objective of this paper is to analyze government's borrowings in the purview of time ... more The objective of this paper is to analyze government's borrowings in the purview of time violence with recourse to the adverse effects that bad debts could have on succeeding generations. Using Nigeria as a case, we argue that there is a nexus between debt, its management, time violence, and sustainable development. If the purpose of debt acquisition is altruistic, and the processes of the utilization of its proceeds are transparent, it is likely to be sustainable and self-servicing. Otherwise, debt would become a menace over time and culminate in time violence to generations who neither incurred nor benefited from the debt. Consequently, debt should be conceived and analyzed as a security threat that is capable of hurting and destabilizing a country through a myriad of ways. While borrowing may be inevitable, debt must be properly securitized to foreclose its attendant violence. This study, thus, offers a security dimension to extant studies and analyses on Nigerian sovereign debt. The study is qualitative with data sourced from primary and secondary sources.
Kenneth Dike Journal of African Studies (KDJAS), 2020
The objective of this paper is to analyze government's borrowings in the purview of time violence... more The objective of this paper is to analyze government's borrowings in the purview of time violence with recourse to the adverse effects that bad debts could have on succeeding generations. Using Nigeria as a case, we argue that there is a nexus between debt, its management, time violence, and sustainable development. If the purpose of debt acquisition is altruistic, and the processes of the utilization of its proceeds are transparent, it is likely to be sustainable and self-servicing. Otherwise, debt would become a menace over time and culminate in time violence to generations who neither incurred nor benefited from the debt. Consequently, debt should be conceived and analyzed as a security threat that is capable of hurting and destabilizing a country through a myriad of ways. While borrowing may be inevitable, debt must be properly securitized to foreclose its attendant violence. This study, thus, offers a security dimension to extant studies and analyses on Nigerian sovereign debt. The study is qualitative with data sourced from primary and secondary sources.
By its virtue of not declaring any religion as state religion, the Constitution of the federal re... more By its virtue of not declaring any religion as state religion, the Constitution of the federal republic of Nigeria has been adjudged by many to be temporal, and Nigeria, a secular state. However, the level at which religion influences govern-ance and vice versa has begged for the question, is Nigeria really a secular state? In this paper, we attempt an interrogation into the origins and radicalization of religiosity in Nigeria's profanity. Adopting the Huntington's Clash of Civilizations model as a framework, the work argues that the two preponderant religions-Islam and Christianity-have been in a serious struggle to influence the outlook, maintain status quo or exert control over the various levels of governments in Ni-geria. The implication, the work has discovered, is that efforts by the government to appease these religious forces by maintaining equilibrium has culminated in institutional and structural reforms that have transformed the country's political orientation, by action, to a theocratic diarchy amidst the aura of secularism. There is, therefore, a need for nomenclature revision.
Since the inception of Nigeria’s fourth republic, there have been well over five secessionist mo... more Since the inception of Nigeria’s fourth republic, there have been well over five secessionist movements from south east Nigeria with momentum potent enough to attract the attention of the Nigerian state. Such movements are always assessed from the realist context of power politics which accrues no justification for challenge against state sovereignty with underlying interest covered in hardened positions and allowed free progress to the crisis stage. In this work, attempt is made to analyse the potency of secessionists’ group radicalisation and a possible adoption of terror strategy against the Nigerian state in the near future. Content was qualitatively generated from secondary and primary sources. The theories of Relative Deprivation and Horizontal Inequality were adopted as frameworks in analysing the marginalisation ‘question’ of south east Nigerians while the Staircase Radicalisation theory was used in evaluating the progressive scale of secessionist activities with a view to establishing the present threshold and/or the possibility of crossing the redline. It is discovered that the “Igbo marginalisation” cliché, which is the livewire of secessionist impulse, is gaining more validation among the south easterners and that secessionists’ activities are getting more brazen, daring, audacious and extreme with time. There is, therefore a need, for the Nigerian government to wade in and advance a superior argument, through action, to foreclose the chances of another unconventional warfare against a radical group – this time, from the east.
The Cross River region is a vast socio-cultural mosaic which accommodates peoples of distinct eth... more The Cross River region is a vast socio-cultural mosaic which accommodates peoples of distinct ethnic, religious, social, economic and political inclinations. Its northern half is infact, the birth place of the Bantu group who are known to speak over 200 related languages. Amidst this plurality in culture, a traditional institution played a crucial role in the amalgamation of political structures which, if not for colonial intervention, could have engineered a nation out of these different socio-cultural groups; that traditional institution was the Ekpe institution. Literature on the proliferation and indeed imperium of Ekpe abounds. Yet, none explicitly explain the confederation which the Ekpe was at the process of engineering in the Cross River region before colonialism interrupted such progress. This work examines the unsung attempt by the Ekpe traditional institution to forge a confederation across the segmented peoples of the Cross River region. Utilizing primary and secondary evidences, it has been shown in the work that such efforts at nation-building were yielding results and would have maturated into a formidable central political unit but for colonial truncation.
African Journal of Social Science and Humanities Research (AJSSHR), 2019
The North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) is the strongest and most successful political cum ... more The North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) is the strongest and most successful political cum military alliance the world has ever known to date. Founded in 1949, the transatlantic alliance served as a bulwark for Western Europe countries from the expansion of the Soviet Union, its ideology-communism and, nuclear warheads during the Cold War. In the year 1991, the gigantic Soviet Union collapsed which marked the end of the Cold War. As the Soviet Union no longer posed a threat to NATO members, the Alliance took on new missions from conflict management in the Balkans and Maghreb, counterterrorism operations in South Asia and the Middle East, to anti-piracy missions off the Horn of Africa. At this juncture the question arising is this: is NATO a relic of the Cold War or an indispensable alliance in the 21 st century? This paper recounts the eventful history of NATO from 1949 to 2019. It also answers the question, is NATO an obsolete or relevant alliance in the 21 st century? and most importantly, it discusses at length the accomplishments and problems the Alliance faces in the post-Cold War era. These research objectives were successfully carried out using the historical approach with the qualitative method of secondary data collection. Concerning the findings in this research paper, it was discovered that NATO's achievements are being overshadowed by the plethora of challenges bedeviling it, the biggest of which is defence spending shortfall.
International Journal of Research - GRANTHAALAYAH, 2019
This paper submits that there exist multiple dimensions through which herdsmen attack in Nigeria ... more This paper submits that there exist multiple dimensions through which herdsmen attack in Nigeria could be perceived. Though traditionally seen as violence anchored on resource conflict, the attacks inhibit acts of terror and in some instances, religious extremism. Also, the word farming was substituted for the phrase “farming communities” because victims of herdsmen attacks are all not farmers. Importantly, this paper emphasizes the word “herdsmen” in place of the popular and ethnically charged phrase “Fulani- herdsmen” because, although predominantly of Fulani stock, not all herdsmen are ethnic Fulani. There is a perception that the rising state of these attacks is nothing other than a conspiracy by some influential forces within the country, and in the opinion of others the attacks embeds acts of criminality. This paper argues that beyond the perception of resource conflict, issues of terrorism, religious extremism, conspiracies and criminality are but new perspectives with which herdsmen attacks in Nigeria could be understood; and within these perspectives lie various security challenges that require multiple strategic solutions. The researchers consulted several secondary and tertiary sources, especially newspaper reports.
American Journal of Social Sciences and Humanities , 2019
There is always a romance between the present and the past. Peace and conflict studies, as a disc... more There is always a romance between the present and the past. Peace and conflict studies, as a discipline is not immune to such covering law as its praxis of context profiling suffices in establishing the dots between an event and its cause and effect connections. Nevertheless, context profiling might be superficial and sui generis to a specific conflict of interest. The observation, therefore, is that students of peace studies often lack sufficient depth in case studies and instances in their specialization, but for autodidacts which in the observed case is a rarity. Consequently, the focus of the work is to justify the need for the introduction of courses that address specific themes of history of conflict with peculiarity to various specializations in peace studies programmes. To the Ibadan Peace and Conflict Programme, we recommend the introduction of courses as (i) historical cases of border-related conflicts (for borderland specialists) (ii) historical cases of environment-related conflicts (for environmental conflict specialists) (iii) historical cases of international conflicts (for international conflict specialists) and (iv) selected themes of conflict in the history of Nigeria (for internal conflict specialists). The descriptive research design was utilized and data was qualitatively collected and presented. Primary data was generated through direct participant observation and secondary data sourced from existing literatures. Highlights of this paper There is always a romance between the present and the past. Peace and conflict studies, as a discipline is not immune to such covering law as its praxis of context profiling suffices in establishing the dots between an event and its cause and effect connections. The descriptive research design was utilized and data was qualitatively collected and presented. Primary data was generated through direct participant observation and secondary data sourced from existing literatures.
International Journal of Applied Science and Research , 2019
From January 15, 1966 when the overzealous demarche of the hotheaded Majors ushered in a watershe... more From January 15, 1966 when the overzealous demarche of the hotheaded Majors ushered in a watershed in the contours of the Nigerian political environment, the military has aggressively cleaved onto power with a plethora of sanctimonious justifications. Since the first putsch, the immaculate praetorians have overtly "guarded" with a well engineered structure which has culminated in them engendering three realms (1979-1983; 1993; 1999-present) of either outright military "guardianship" or control through a coterie of "retired" military politicians, recently punned as "repentant democrats". This work focuses on the elements of military influences and control over the central government in the Fourth Republic. Utilizing secondary data, the work argues that the military, through its veteran club, has not just exercised overwhelming influence on the post-1999 Nigeria, but has also become a receptacle of the "philosopher kings" who either rule or decide who "rules". The work concludes that the malicious process that characterized the 1999 transition to civilian rule was crafted to entrench the pontifications of the military veterans and their perpetual relevance, but, at the expense of genuine democratization, good governance, and active youth participation and assertiveness in politics. The work therefore calls for the dismantling of the "civilian-military estates" and its analog and insidious structures which have over the years, bred under-governance while impeding altruistic and innovative political culture.
International Journal of Quantitative and Qualitative Research Methods , 2019
The value of “good name” in politics and political movements is highly invaluable and... more The value of “good name” in politics and political movements is highly invaluable and is most appreciated when confronted by agents of demonization. Cases abound where angels are presented as demons and fugitives packaged as saints; thus, while a sparkling reputation can enhance political demagogues and even parachute political victory, “bad name” is deleterious to the state, the agents of the state and forces against the state and provides justification for the utilization of extra-legal means in solving “perceived grave” problems. This work evaluates the attempt by the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu, to demonize President Muhammadu Buhari’s personality and present him to the Nigerian audience as an impostor and a security threat from Sudan. Content was generated from secondary sources which comprised mostly online media publications and published and unpublished literatures. Using the securitization model, we have subjected the demonization to several levels and units of securitization analysis and have concluded that the IPOB’s securitization was not successful in the sense that it dominated the agenda over a period of time and even captured the interest of a reasonable proportion of the Nigerian political audience but faded away without successfully demeaning the president as a threat, albeit, to the majority of the citizenry.
Nigeria has been in a seeming state of frenzy, following the escalation of the acti... more Nigeria has been in a seeming state of frenzy, following the escalation of the activities of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) from the second half of 2015. The security challenge engendered by the separatists group was brought to bear with a naked clampdown which was punctured by a military declaration of the group as a terrorist organization and subsequent court order to give legal credence to the former’s declaration. This work weighs and analyses the legality of the IPOB proscription and declaration as a terrorist group. The work argues that the excitement brought by legal proscription of IPOB was just a veneer to achieve the necessary – an end to the IPOB security threat on the territorial integrity of the Nigerian State. Primary and secondary sources are qualitatively utilized.
International Journals of Multi-Dimensional Research, 2018
Posterity, it could be rightly argued, has not really smiled on the Nigeria State regarding its t... more Posterity, it could be rightly argued, has not really smiled on the Nigeria State regarding its treatment of the people of the defunct Biafran Republic four decades after the civil war. Rhetorically, reconciliation was promised. Bluntly, a seeming opposite was realized. The perturbing pseudo reconciliation and indices of enduring peace have in time past bred movements such as the Movement for the Actualization of the Sovereign State of Biafra and the Indigenous People of Biafra, in a gasp to either push for a genuine reconciliation or facilitate a peaceful breakaway from the Nigerian State. With data from primary and secondary sources, this work attempts to make meaning and image from dominant phraseology in the IPOB " s lexicon. It argues that such line of phrases reflect more than they literally represent on the ideo-philosophical realms of the group posture and as well illuminate the level of virulence and grievance between the Igbo and other groups in Nigeria.
This paper discusses the application of the containment strategy in combating terrorism in North ... more This paper discusses the application of the containment strategy in combating terrorism in North East Nigeria. To achieve this aim, secondary data in the form of written texts, journal articles, newspaper reports and internet webpages are utilized. This research is pertinent for the Nigerian Armed Forces is yet to discover a befitting strategy at quelling terrorism in the north east region. Also, the retrogressing effects of the current strategy adopted by the Nigerian government makes the findings of this work a compelling alternative to the existing strategy. A detailed hypothesis on how the containment strategy can be applied in the north east region has been attempted in this work. There is, however, a necessity for further needs analysis and more specific and elaborate study by strategists and tacticians of the Nigerian armed forces to weigh the potency, strength, weakness, the opportunity cost and the threats of this idea in regard to the general and peculiar Boko Haram confli...
It is a common phenomenon in matured and burgeoning democracies across the world that candidates ... more It is a common phenomenon in matured and burgeoning democracies across the world that candidates vying for political positions emerge victorious not with pettiness but intelligence; not in desperado but good manifesto; not with profligacy but economic sagacity; not with mediocrity but meritocracy; not just by incumbency but competency and most importantly, not by “federal might”, but candidates’ capabilities. The aforementioned negations have dominated the political space and lexicon of Nigerian political discourses. This work attempts a conceptualization of the term “federal might” as it applies to Nigeria. To do this, we have conceptually eviscerated the term “federal might”, and have thematically, with qualitative cases, highlighted its etymology, its beneficiaries, the strength of the might, the nature of threat the might is utilized against, the means it is exercised and the time or period in which the might is exercised. We have also juxtaposed the term with its twin term of “...
By its virtue of not declaring any religion as State religion, the constitution of the federal re... more By its virtue of not declaring any religion as State religion, the constitution of the federal republic of Nigeria has been adjudged by many to be temporal, and Nigeria, a secular state. However, the level at which religion influences governance and vice versa has begged for the question, is Nigeria really a secular state? In this paper, we attempt an interrogation into the origins and radicalization of religiosity in Nigeria’s profanity. Adopting the Huntington’s Clash of Civilizations model as a framework, the work argues that the two preponderant religions – Islam and Christianity – have been in a serious struggle to influence the outlook, maintain status quo or exert control over the various levels of governments in Nigeria. The implication, the work has discovered, is that efforts by the government to appease these religious forces by maintaining equilibrium has culminated in institutional and structural reforms that have transformed the country’s political orientation, by acti...
International Journal of Research -GRANTHAALAYAH, 2019
This paper submits that there exist multiple dimensions through which herdsmen attack in Nigeria ... more This paper submits that there exist multiple dimensions through which herdsmen attack in Nigeria could be perceived. Though traditionally seen as violence anchored on resource conflict, the attacks inhibit acts of terror and in some instances, religious extremism. Also, the word farming was substituted for the phrase “farming communities” because victims of herdsmen attacks are all not farmers. Importantly, this paper emphasizes the word “herdsmen” in place of the popular and ethnically charged phrase “Fulani- herdsmen” because, although predominantly of Fulani stock, not all herdsmen are ethnic Fulani. There is a perception that the rising state of these attacks is nothing other than a conspiracy by some influential forces within the country, and in the opinion of others the attacks embeds acts of criminality. This paper argues that beyond the perception of resource conflict, issues of terrorism, religious extremism, conspiracies and criminality are but new perspectives with which ...
American Journal of Social Sciences and Humanities, 2019
There is always a romance between the present and the past. Peace and conflict studies, as a disc... more There is always a romance between the present and the past. Peace and conflict studies, as a discipline is not immune to such covering law as its praxis of context profiling suffices in establishing the dots between an event and its cause and effect connections. Nevertheless, context profiling might be superficial and sui generis to a specific conflict of interest. The observation, therefore, is that students of peace studies often lack sufficient depth in case studies and instances in their specialization, but for autodidacts which in the observed case is a rarity. Consequently, the focus of the work is to justify the need for the introduction of courses that address specific themes of history of conflict with peculiarity to various specializations in peace studies programmes. To the Ibadan Peace and Conflict Programme, we recommend the introduction of courses as (i) historical cases of border-related conflicts (for borderland specialists) (ii) historical cases of environment-related conflicts (for environmental conflict specialists) (iii) historical cases of international conflicts (for international conflict specialists) and (iv) selected themes of conflict in the history of Nigeria (for internal conflict specialists). The descriptive research design was utilized and data was qualitatively collected and presented. Primary data was generated through direct participant observation and secondary data sourced from existing literatures. Highlights of this paper There is always a romance between the present and the past. Peace and conflict studies, as a discipline is not immune to such covering law as its praxis of context profiling suffices in establishing the dots between an event and its cause and effect connections. The descriptive research design was utilized and data was qualitatively collected and presented. Primary data was generated through direct participant observation and secondary data sourced from existing literatures.
The history of military regimes in Nigeria is synonymous with the history of suppression, repress... more The history of military regimes in Nigeria is synonymous with the history of suppression, repression, extricable use of violence, impunity and blatant trampling on fundamental human rights. Exclusive of J. T. U. Ironsi’s short six months in office, every military dictator in Nigeria had propelled himself to the rein through dubious and anti-people means. It was therefore not fortuitous that these praetorian guards, possessing the powers of ‘life and death’, trampled on, subdued, and caged the ‘bloody civilians’ whose social contract they had successfully usurped. Being the most affected, Nigerian youths had in several scenarios, occasions and events staged protests, demonstrations and marches to register their discontentment and resentment towards the military dictatorships. The reactions from the military governments were always violent, brutal, dreadful and aptly horrific. Military regimes went extra miles to enforce authority, legitimacy and acceptability. Whether through killing...
KENNETH DIKE JOURNAL OF AFRICAN STUDIES, Jan 29, 2021
The objective of this paper is to analyze government's borrowings in the purview of time ... more The objective of this paper is to analyze government's borrowings in the purview of time violence with recourse to the adverse effects that bad debts could have on succeeding generations. Using Nigeria as a case, we argue that there is a nexus between debt, its management, time violence, and sustainable development. If the purpose of debt acquisition is altruistic, and the processes of the utilization of its proceeds are transparent, it is likely to be sustainable and self-servicing. Otherwise, debt would become a menace over time and culminate in time violence to generations who neither incurred nor benefited from the debt. Consequently, debt should be conceived and analyzed as a security threat that is capable of hurting and destabilizing a country through a myriad of ways. While borrowing may be inevitable, debt must be properly securitized to foreclose its attendant violence. This study, thus, offers a security dimension to extant studies and analyses on Nigerian sovereign debt. The study is qualitative with data sourced from primary and secondary sources.
Kenneth Dike Journal of African Studies (KDJAS), 2020
The objective of this paper is to analyze government's borrowings in the purview of time violence... more The objective of this paper is to analyze government's borrowings in the purview of time violence with recourse to the adverse effects that bad debts could have on succeeding generations. Using Nigeria as a case, we argue that there is a nexus between debt, its management, time violence, and sustainable development. If the purpose of debt acquisition is altruistic, and the processes of the utilization of its proceeds are transparent, it is likely to be sustainable and self-servicing. Otherwise, debt would become a menace over time and culminate in time violence to generations who neither incurred nor benefited from the debt. Consequently, debt should be conceived and analyzed as a security threat that is capable of hurting and destabilizing a country through a myriad of ways. While borrowing may be inevitable, debt must be properly securitized to foreclose its attendant violence. This study, thus, offers a security dimension to extant studies and analyses on Nigerian sovereign debt. The study is qualitative with data sourced from primary and secondary sources.
By its virtue of not declaring any religion as state religion, the Constitution of the federal re... more By its virtue of not declaring any religion as state religion, the Constitution of the federal republic of Nigeria has been adjudged by many to be temporal, and Nigeria, a secular state. However, the level at which religion influences govern-ance and vice versa has begged for the question, is Nigeria really a secular state? In this paper, we attempt an interrogation into the origins and radicalization of religiosity in Nigeria's profanity. Adopting the Huntington's Clash of Civilizations model as a framework, the work argues that the two preponderant religions-Islam and Christianity-have been in a serious struggle to influence the outlook, maintain status quo or exert control over the various levels of governments in Ni-geria. The implication, the work has discovered, is that efforts by the government to appease these religious forces by maintaining equilibrium has culminated in institutional and structural reforms that have transformed the country's political orientation, by action, to a theocratic diarchy amidst the aura of secularism. There is, therefore, a need for nomenclature revision.
Since the inception of Nigeria’s fourth republic, there have been well over five secessionist mo... more Since the inception of Nigeria’s fourth republic, there have been well over five secessionist movements from south east Nigeria with momentum potent enough to attract the attention of the Nigerian state. Such movements are always assessed from the realist context of power politics which accrues no justification for challenge against state sovereignty with underlying interest covered in hardened positions and allowed free progress to the crisis stage. In this work, attempt is made to analyse the potency of secessionists’ group radicalisation and a possible adoption of terror strategy against the Nigerian state in the near future. Content was qualitatively generated from secondary and primary sources. The theories of Relative Deprivation and Horizontal Inequality were adopted as frameworks in analysing the marginalisation ‘question’ of south east Nigerians while the Staircase Radicalisation theory was used in evaluating the progressive scale of secessionist activities with a view to establishing the present threshold and/or the possibility of crossing the redline. It is discovered that the “Igbo marginalisation” cliché, which is the livewire of secessionist impulse, is gaining more validation among the south easterners and that secessionists’ activities are getting more brazen, daring, audacious and extreme with time. There is, therefore a need, for the Nigerian government to wade in and advance a superior argument, through action, to foreclose the chances of another unconventional warfare against a radical group – this time, from the east.
The Cross River region is a vast socio-cultural mosaic which accommodates peoples of distinct eth... more The Cross River region is a vast socio-cultural mosaic which accommodates peoples of distinct ethnic, religious, social, economic and political inclinations. Its northern half is infact, the birth place of the Bantu group who are known to speak over 200 related languages. Amidst this plurality in culture, a traditional institution played a crucial role in the amalgamation of political structures which, if not for colonial intervention, could have engineered a nation out of these different socio-cultural groups; that traditional institution was the Ekpe institution. Literature on the proliferation and indeed imperium of Ekpe abounds. Yet, none explicitly explain the confederation which the Ekpe was at the process of engineering in the Cross River region before colonialism interrupted such progress. This work examines the unsung attempt by the Ekpe traditional institution to forge a confederation across the segmented peoples of the Cross River region. Utilizing primary and secondary evidences, it has been shown in the work that such efforts at nation-building were yielding results and would have maturated into a formidable central political unit but for colonial truncation.
African Journal of Social Science and Humanities Research (AJSSHR), 2019
The North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) is the strongest and most successful political cum ... more The North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) is the strongest and most successful political cum military alliance the world has ever known to date. Founded in 1949, the transatlantic alliance served as a bulwark for Western Europe countries from the expansion of the Soviet Union, its ideology-communism and, nuclear warheads during the Cold War. In the year 1991, the gigantic Soviet Union collapsed which marked the end of the Cold War. As the Soviet Union no longer posed a threat to NATO members, the Alliance took on new missions from conflict management in the Balkans and Maghreb, counterterrorism operations in South Asia and the Middle East, to anti-piracy missions off the Horn of Africa. At this juncture the question arising is this: is NATO a relic of the Cold War or an indispensable alliance in the 21 st century? This paper recounts the eventful history of NATO from 1949 to 2019. It also answers the question, is NATO an obsolete or relevant alliance in the 21 st century? and most importantly, it discusses at length the accomplishments and problems the Alliance faces in the post-Cold War era. These research objectives were successfully carried out using the historical approach with the qualitative method of secondary data collection. Concerning the findings in this research paper, it was discovered that NATO's achievements are being overshadowed by the plethora of challenges bedeviling it, the biggest of which is defence spending shortfall.
International Journal of Research - GRANTHAALAYAH, 2019
This paper submits that there exist multiple dimensions through which herdsmen attack in Nigeria ... more This paper submits that there exist multiple dimensions through which herdsmen attack in Nigeria could be perceived. Though traditionally seen as violence anchored on resource conflict, the attacks inhibit acts of terror and in some instances, religious extremism. Also, the word farming was substituted for the phrase “farming communities” because victims of herdsmen attacks are all not farmers. Importantly, this paper emphasizes the word “herdsmen” in place of the popular and ethnically charged phrase “Fulani- herdsmen” because, although predominantly of Fulani stock, not all herdsmen are ethnic Fulani. There is a perception that the rising state of these attacks is nothing other than a conspiracy by some influential forces within the country, and in the opinion of others the attacks embeds acts of criminality. This paper argues that beyond the perception of resource conflict, issues of terrorism, religious extremism, conspiracies and criminality are but new perspectives with which herdsmen attacks in Nigeria could be understood; and within these perspectives lie various security challenges that require multiple strategic solutions. The researchers consulted several secondary and tertiary sources, especially newspaper reports.
American Journal of Social Sciences and Humanities , 2019
There is always a romance between the present and the past. Peace and conflict studies, as a disc... more There is always a romance between the present and the past. Peace and conflict studies, as a discipline is not immune to such covering law as its praxis of context profiling suffices in establishing the dots between an event and its cause and effect connections. Nevertheless, context profiling might be superficial and sui generis to a specific conflict of interest. The observation, therefore, is that students of peace studies often lack sufficient depth in case studies and instances in their specialization, but for autodidacts which in the observed case is a rarity. Consequently, the focus of the work is to justify the need for the introduction of courses that address specific themes of history of conflict with peculiarity to various specializations in peace studies programmes. To the Ibadan Peace and Conflict Programme, we recommend the introduction of courses as (i) historical cases of border-related conflicts (for borderland specialists) (ii) historical cases of environment-related conflicts (for environmental conflict specialists) (iii) historical cases of international conflicts (for international conflict specialists) and (iv) selected themes of conflict in the history of Nigeria (for internal conflict specialists). The descriptive research design was utilized and data was qualitatively collected and presented. Primary data was generated through direct participant observation and secondary data sourced from existing literatures. Highlights of this paper There is always a romance between the present and the past. Peace and conflict studies, as a discipline is not immune to such covering law as its praxis of context profiling suffices in establishing the dots between an event and its cause and effect connections. The descriptive research design was utilized and data was qualitatively collected and presented. Primary data was generated through direct participant observation and secondary data sourced from existing literatures.
International Journal of Applied Science and Research , 2019
From January 15, 1966 when the overzealous demarche of the hotheaded Majors ushered in a watershe... more From January 15, 1966 when the overzealous demarche of the hotheaded Majors ushered in a watershed in the contours of the Nigerian political environment, the military has aggressively cleaved onto power with a plethora of sanctimonious justifications. Since the first putsch, the immaculate praetorians have overtly "guarded" with a well engineered structure which has culminated in them engendering three realms (1979-1983; 1993; 1999-present) of either outright military "guardianship" or control through a coterie of "retired" military politicians, recently punned as "repentant democrats". This work focuses on the elements of military influences and control over the central government in the Fourth Republic. Utilizing secondary data, the work argues that the military, through its veteran club, has not just exercised overwhelming influence on the post-1999 Nigeria, but has also become a receptacle of the "philosopher kings" who either rule or decide who "rules". The work concludes that the malicious process that characterized the 1999 transition to civilian rule was crafted to entrench the pontifications of the military veterans and their perpetual relevance, but, at the expense of genuine democratization, good governance, and active youth participation and assertiveness in politics. The work therefore calls for the dismantling of the "civilian-military estates" and its analog and insidious structures which have over the years, bred under-governance while impeding altruistic and innovative political culture.
International Journal of Quantitative and Qualitative Research Methods , 2019
The value of “good name” in politics and political movements is highly invaluable and... more The value of “good name” in politics and political movements is highly invaluable and is most appreciated when confronted by agents of demonization. Cases abound where angels are presented as demons and fugitives packaged as saints; thus, while a sparkling reputation can enhance political demagogues and even parachute political victory, “bad name” is deleterious to the state, the agents of the state and forces against the state and provides justification for the utilization of extra-legal means in solving “perceived grave” problems. This work evaluates the attempt by the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu, to demonize President Muhammadu Buhari’s personality and present him to the Nigerian audience as an impostor and a security threat from Sudan. Content was generated from secondary sources which comprised mostly online media publications and published and unpublished literatures. Using the securitization model, we have subjected the demonization to several levels and units of securitization analysis and have concluded that the IPOB’s securitization was not successful in the sense that it dominated the agenda over a period of time and even captured the interest of a reasonable proportion of the Nigerian political audience but faded away without successfully demeaning the president as a threat, albeit, to the majority of the citizenry.
Nigeria has been in a seeming state of frenzy, following the escalation of the acti... more Nigeria has been in a seeming state of frenzy, following the escalation of the activities of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) from the second half of 2015. The security challenge engendered by the separatists group was brought to bear with a naked clampdown which was punctured by a military declaration of the group as a terrorist organization and subsequent court order to give legal credence to the former’s declaration. This work weighs and analyses the legality of the IPOB proscription and declaration as a terrorist group. The work argues that the excitement brought by legal proscription of IPOB was just a veneer to achieve the necessary – an end to the IPOB security threat on the territorial integrity of the Nigerian State. Primary and secondary sources are qualitatively utilized.
POLITOLOGY OF RELIGION: III BIANNUAL CONFERENCE 2021 CONFERENCE PROCEEDINGS , 2021
The nature of Nigeria’s secularism and its contradictions have generated a plethora of scholarly ... more The nature of Nigeria’s secularism and its contradictions have generated a plethora of scholarly debates with three dominant trajectories of arguments – Nigeria is secular; it is secular but influenced by religion; and it is a state of religions. The character of the Nigerian state, therefore, is ambiguous to define and demands a concept that could disambiguate its complexities and deflate the cycles of debates on the nature of its secularism. This paper builds on our earlier proposed idea of “theocratic diarchy” as a more befitting and pragmatic concept to qualify and situate the ambivalent character of the Nigerian state in its relationship with its dominant religions. The paper does not seek to generate another controversial dichotomy or dimension to existing debates but seek to unify the two succeeding lines of the aforementioned arguments highlighted above by building the concept of theocratic diarchy and using it to demonstrate how Nigeria could solve its secularism ambivalence.
13th Annual International Conference of the Society for Peace Studies and Practice (SPSP) on November 2019 at the Redeemer‟s University, Ede, Osun State, Nigeria , 2019
The continuous desiccation of the Sahara, inter alia, has mounted severe pressures on herdi... more The continuous desiccation of the Sahara, inter alia, has mounted severe pressures on herding communities in the Sahel regions of Nigeria, leading to their downward movements to central and southern Nigeria in search of pastures for their flocks. This has culminated in terrific violent conflicts to which the RUGA is one of the intervention policies designed by the Nigerian government to mitigate. This work attempts a situational analysis of the RUGA policy to identify the various factors that culminated in its rejection by stakeholders from central and southern Nigeria. Secondary evidences in the form of media reports and primary data such as press releases by stakeholders suggest that the rejection was, among other things, instigated by the hysteria of a calculated stratagem by the federal government to, through federal-might, reallocate ancestral lands of central/southern Nigeria to the demographically pressurised herding groups from the north through the RUGA settlement. There is, therefore, a need for rigorous consultations of stakeholders nationwide in drafting and implementing sensitive policies of national significance.
From a vantage perspective and analysis, the act of terrorism has been in concomitance with the h... more From a vantage perspective and analysis, the act of terrorism has been in concomitance with the history and evolutionary trend of the Nigerian state. What is however novel is the threat which the 21st century terror groups pose on Nigerian national security. From the realist parlance, the state can adopt any measure to counter threats and perceived threats as long as “the end justifies the means”. Seemingly, the exploits of the Nigerian Armed Forces at countering terrorism have been bashed with rhetoric accusations of human rights violations by several actors. The perturbing question, however, is “what really is human rights without the state?”. This paper attempts to analyze and address the dilemma the Nigeria’s government faces in its quest to combating terrorism, securing its enclave and satiating fundamental human rights. The paper argues that it would be preposterous to rule out collateral damages in a war which one of the belligerents is faceless. Secondary data is utilized in this work.
In G. L. Adeola (Ed.). Repositioning Nigerian Universities for the Digital Revolution in the 21st Century: A Festschrift in Honour of Professor Isaac Rotimi Ajayi, 2021
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