Citation

Guichaoua Y. J. Int. Dev. 2009; 21(4): 520-533.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2009, John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

10.1002/jid.1569

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

The paper contributes to the understanding of the origins of violent non-legal organisations in West Africa by focusing on the emergence and the evolution of the Oodua People's Congress (OPC), a movement aiming at defending the interests of the Yoruba people in Nigeria. It discusses the causes of its gradual transformation from a self-determination group ready to use political violence into an agency of local extra-legal governance tolerated by official federal authorities. This evolution may reflect the normalisation of the OPC in Nigeria's weak democracy. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.