How violence shapes contentious traditional leadership in Nigeria’s Niger Delta

Abstract

This article analyses the role of violence in the emergence of political leadership in village-communities of Nigeria’s Niger Delta. The article makes three overarching arguments. First, that individuals involved in violent militancy and youth cultism (gangs) use violence to attain political power within communities in the Niger Delta. When they succeed, these individuals become the new elites in their communities. This power is often focused on appropriating traditional authority. Second, the use of violence to take control of traditional governance structures reduces the moral authority that legitimizes traditional leadership. Third, the struggle by everyday people and factions within villages to reclaim traditional authority from violent actors creates contentious leadership in communities. These arguments highlight the crisis being experienced by traditional forms of governance in Nigeria’s Niger Delta as a result of the proliferation of violence in the region. Based on empirical data obtained from ethnic communities heavily impacted by militancy and youth cultism in Rivers State, the article found that competitive struggles amongst the local elites in communities over the control of cult groups, and economic and political spaces of traditional authority shape the dynamics of cult wars, political violence and contentious leadership in the Niger Delta.