Proliferation of Vigilantes: Nigeria’s Next Security Problem?

Nigerian Vigilantes - Credit: pressherald.com

In 2013, thousands of young men formed a rag-tag militia and rounded up Boko Haram members in Maiduguri, northeast Nigeria, then handed them over to the military.

Is The Proliferation of State Vigilantes, Security Task Forces in Nigeria Not Tantamount To State Police Through The Backdoor?

Introduction: The unprecedented security challenges in Nigeria – Boko Haram insurgency (albeit retiring), marauding herdsmen attacks, militancy, wanton incidents of kidnap for ransom and extortion, amongst others, has birthed a blossoming vigilantism industry or state security task forces as some states call them to fill the void created by overwhelmed and ineffective central government-controlled conventional security agencies. There’s a perennial debate in Nigeria whether or not to permit state control of police or ‘State Police’. For the sake of clarity, regional or State police is hereby defined as a kind of decentralized police service under the direct control of a regional or State government rather than under the direct control of the federal government as dictated by Section 214 of the Nigerian 1999 constitution. This essay argues that the trend in State Vigilante outfits portend we already have a semblance of ‘State Police’.