Mutuality Between Bandits and Jihadists

The insurgency waged by Boko Haram and its breakaway factions has ravaged much of the Lake Chad Basin for over a decade. Aimed at establishing an Islamic caliphate in Nigeria, the jihadists have violently attacked the states and citizens and symbols of modernity in the sprawling area (Ayoade, 2014). In the North-West of Nigeria, gangs of loosely affiliated bandits have subjected the region to persistent violence. The violence which started as a crisis between Hausa farmers and Fulani herders in 2011 has since escalated into full-blown banditry where local communities are raided in Gestapo style.

Constrained by climate change and the need for land-based resources such as water and pasture, nomadic Fulani herders and sedentary Hausa farmers have become locked in a violent struggle (Ugwuanyi, 2010). However, despite the similarities in the abuses of violence by the Boko Haram terrorists and the bandits, the latter have little or no ideological leanings or clearly defined leadership structures. But strangely, in the last couple of months, there have been growing mutuality between the jihadists and the bandits.

This edition of Nextier SPD policy weekly examines the drivers of this violence collaboration and highlights how they can be curtailed.

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