Vigilante youths and counterinsurgency in Northeastern Nigeria: the civilian joint task force

ABSTRACT

Building on the broader literature on vigilantism, communal war and conflict, this paper examines why and how the Civilian Joint Task Force (CJTF) in northeastern Nigeria mobilized into a pro-government militia with the aim of extirpating Boko Haram insurgents, sponsors and supporters from their communities. It provides a rich and diverse empirical evidence and analysis of why and how local youths joined the CJTF, its modus operandi, and the nature of its relationship to the military and local populations. The participation of people from a variety of religious and ethno-linguistic groups in the CJTF’s counterinsurgent vigilantism point to a collective sense of duty that transcends popular narratives of ethnicity and religion as central to the politics of protection in contemporary Nigeria.

KEYWORDS:

• Counterinsurgency
• Boko Haram
• civilian joint task force

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1. Civilian self-protection may be understood as actions primarily selected and employed by civilians during armed conflict to protect against immediate, direct threats to their physical integrity imposed by militants or military (Jose & Medie, 2015).

2. Following Gore and Pratten (2003, p. 215), I conceptualize youth in Nigeria as ‘a complex, fluid and permeable category which is historically and socially situated. As such, it is a site for particular and localized framings of human agency constituted by various intersecting and contested discourses.’

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Harry Frank Guggenheim Foundation [n/a].

Notes on contributors

Daniel Egiegba Agbiboa

Daniel E. Agbiboa is Assistant Professor of African and African American Studies at Harvard University. His research focuses on the politics of state-society relations in contemporary Africa, especially as they unfold in the context of everyday power relations and hybrid security governance. His articles have appeared in leading journals, includingThe Journal of Modern African Studies, African Affairs, African Studies Review, and the International Journal of Urban and Regional Research.