Biafran ghosts
Subtitle: the MASSOB ethnic militia and Nigeria's democratisation process
By: Ike Okonta
Series: Discussion paper -- 73; Discussion paper (Nordiska Afrikainstitutet) -- 73
Publisher: Nordiska Afrikainstitutet
Published: 2012
Place of publication: Uppsala
Language: eng
Number of pages: 64
ISBN-13: 9789171067166
Subjects: Politics and government; Igbo (African people); Political aspects; Ethnic conflict; Ethnic relations; Democratization; MASSOB (Militant group)
Other titles: MASSOB ethnic militia and Nigeria's democratisation process; Movement for the Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafra ethnic militia and Nigeria's democratisation process
Description: On the back cover: The movement for the actualisation of the sovereign state of Biafra (MASSOB), an ethnicmilitia, emerged in the Igbo-speaking region of Nigeria in 1999, shortly after military rule ended and Olusegun Obasanjo took office as elected President. MASSOB's stated goal is the struggle for Igbo self-determination and the re-emergence of a new sovereign state in the eastern part of the country to be known as the 'United States of Biafra', thereby raising the spectre of a possible break up of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. This discussion paper examines the circumstances of MASSOB's emergence in a period of political transition and considerable uncertainty as the Nigerian armed forces began to prepare to relinquish their grip on power, and the specific ways the promoters of this ethnicmilitia movement have shaped Nigeria's still unfolding democratization process since 1999.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references.