Abstract:
Globally, violent radicalised groups (VRGs) pose a threat to national security. Oodua Peoples‟
Congress (OPC) and the Movement for the Actualisation of Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB)
who initially emerged as groups set up to fight against perceived marginalisation and insecurity in
South-West and South-East regions later got metamorphosed into violent radicalised groups
threatening the national security. OPC on its own has a history of violence with recorded cases of
clashes and violence with Nigeria‟s security agencies (Nigeria Police and Army) at Arepo in Ogun
State over cases involving oil installations protection, among others. Existing studies on VRGs have
largely concentrated on their emergence and proliferation, with little attention paid to factors
underlying their transformation. This study, therefore, was designed towards examining the factors
that led to transformation of OPC and MASSOB to VRGs, the interface with security agents in the
process of transformation, the political economy that influenced the transformation and perceived
influence of the groups from 2003 to 2014 in the South-East and South-West, Nigeria.
Social Movement, Political Economy and Dollard‟s Frustration-Aggression theories served as the
framework, while an exploratory survey design was adopted. Primary and secondary data were
obtained. South-East and South-West Nigeria were purposively selected as the homelands of OPC
and MASSOB respectively. A sample of 452 respondents was drawn using Cochran‟s (1977)
sample size formula. A structured questionnaire was conveniently administered to community
members in Lagos, Ijebu-Ode, Osogbo, Ibadan, Awka, Aba, Onitsha, Owerri and Enugu, the
instrument covered all the research objectives and was complemented by in-depth interviews and
focused group discussions. Ten In-Depth Interviews got conducted with four community leaders,
two each zone and six youth leaders, three each from each zone. Six focus group discussions, three
each from each zone were held with youth associations. Secondary data were obtained from
journals, newspaper reports, internet sources and other relevant publications. Data gathered were
content analysed.
The OPC and MASSOB were transformed into VRGs as a result of politics of ethnicity and
agitation for regional sovereignty. MASSOB was basically formed to advance the interest of the
Igbo (53.5%), OPC was reported as ethnic movement (56.0%). It was discovered from the
qualitative data that the long term political marginalisation compounded with Nigeria law
enforcement agencies‟ reaction to their conducts accounted for transformation of the groups into
VGRs. Law enforcement crackdowns on the groups (63.0%), repressive nature of the state (51.0%)
and arrest of their leaders triggered the transformation to VRGs. Relatedly, „growing poverty‟ and
stiffening economic realities contributed to the radicalisation of the youth wings of the groups thus
posed threats to live and political stability in the country. Despite the transformation to VRGs,
45.0% opined that OPC had been very helpful in securing lives and property in the South-West,
while 67.0% indicated that MASSOB had been effective in the sensitisation for the actualization of
the Biafra state.
The perceived ethnic or tribal marginalisation with political agitation of the Yoruba and Igbo ethnic
groups were pivotal in the transformation of OPC and MASSOB to violent radicalised groups from
2003 to 2014 in the Southwestern and Southeastern regions of Nigeria. There is the need to build
reliable democratic process for inclusive representations of all geopolitical zones in Nigeria.
