Challenging the State in Africa
MASSOB and the Crisis of Self-determination in Nigeria
Description:... This thesis examines the 'Igbo Question' and emergent forms of Igbo 'self-determination' in contemporary Nigeria. It does this within the context of contested citizenship, ethnic identity politics and the unresolved crisis of state ownership and legitimacy, which all feeds into the 'National Question' in the Nigerian public space. The thesis proceeds from a theoretical standpoint that places the 'Igbo Question' within the framework of the 'tri-polar' power struggle and competition among the three major ethnic groups in Nigeria. Based on a prior idea of statehood which is rooted in the aborted secessionist attempts of the Igbo ethnic group from the Nigerian state between 1967 and 1970, and drawing on the case of an Igbo ethno-nationalist separatist movement in Nigeria, known as the Movement for the Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB), this thesis focuses on the use of 'territory' and 'space' as components of the 'repertoires of contention' in the quest for political change, sovereignty and self-determination. This provides the context in which 'claims' and 'counter-claims' of security, territoriality and sovereignty are enacted. While the thesis draws substantially on various forms of group and sub-national rights which have been identified and studied in international law, political philosophy and social science literature generally, it transcends these debates, but focuses more on the actual processes of appropriating, interpreting and applying these rights and laws against the state in specific contexts. The analysis of the 'Igbo Question' draws on issues and perspectives surrounding the salience, construction, mobilization and politicization of ethnic identity, and the dynamics of its deployment and use in national politics, coupled with the diverse struggles, contentions and conflicts inherent in it. The research provides an innovative and empirically grounded insight into the processes of 'juridification' of self-determination rights for groups within the nationstate in Africa; the dynamics, constraints and possibilities inherent in the mobilization of these rights and laws; the emancipatory potentials or transformative ends of these rights and laws; and the role of violence in nation-building processes in Africa.
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