Go to AfricaBib home

Go to AfricaBib home Africana Periodical Literature Go to database home

bibliographic database
Line
Previous page New search

The free AfricaBib App for Android is available here

Periodical article Periodical article Leiden University catalogue Leiden University catalogue WorldCat catalogue WorldCat
Title:When the Bakassi Boys Came: Eastern Nigeria Confronts Vigilantism
Author:Baker, BruceISNI
Year:2002
Periodical:Journal of Contemporary African Studies
Volume:20
Issue:2
Period:July
Pages:223-244
Language:English
Geographic term:Nigeria
Subjects:organized crime
police
national security
Law, Human Rights and Violence
Politics and Government
Ethnic and Race Relations
Peoples of Africa (Ethnic Groups)
External links:https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/0258900022000005188
http://ejournals.ebsco.com/direct.asp?ArticleID=00MA7TCRLGLPW85DXG0D
Abstract:The Anambra Vigilante Service (AVS), which incorporated the Bakassi Boys from the neighbouring state of Abia, has had a dramatic impact on the crime rate. From the time of its inauguration in July 2000 until January 2001, there were practically no armed robberies anywhere in Anambra state and Anambra claims to have the lowest robbery rates in Nigeria. However, the formation of the Bakassi Boys, as they are popularly called, proved to be more than a popular anticrime measure. It triggered a debate on policing and brought to the fore a power struggle between the federal and state levels of government and between the Nigeria Police and those in the local community concerned with security. Moreover, the activities of such State vigilante services give cause for concern in that they lead to diminishing accountability, marginalization of the Nigeria Police, escalation of the use of violence, inequality of treatment, the emergence of ethnic militias and a questioning of the rule of law. Elements of anomie theory, the victimized actor model, and social control theory may contribute towards a theoretical explanation of the origins of this quasi-official form of vigilantism. Bibliogr., notes, ref.
Views
Cover