Le Nigeria sous obasanjo. Violences et democratie

In: La politique africaine, Heft 106, S. 5-27

Abstract

In Nigeria, numerous journalists and scientists associate renewed religious, ethnic or economic conflicts with the return to the civil administration of 1999. The veiled war in the Niger delta, recurrence of the urban riots, the politico-religious confrontations in the northern states and on the plateau, as well as electoral violence, seem to indicate a decline of territorial control by the federal state, of increasing competition between competing juridical systems (federal law vs. Islamic law), of non-legal privatization of national police forces, and the rise of vigilant militia in the Niger delta, regularly defying federal armed forces. A comparison between the elections of 1999 and those of 2007 will be indicative, the first ones considered largely transparent, while the last elections were marked by innumerous irregularities, conflicts and several hundreds of deaths. An introduction on this issues theme of Nigeria under the reign of Obasanjo, who brought back democracy to the country, but did not change the nature of the existing conflicts. In certain cases (the delta area, and the plateau state), those were exacerbated because of the part played by newly elected officials, who are the governors and council presidents of local governments. Adapted from the source document.