Perception Study on Unknown Gunmen Phenomenon in the Southeast Nigeria: The New Face of Terror

Abstract

Nigeria occupied abysmally the third position in 2019/2020 Global Terrorism Index and has been classified as a country in a ‘state of war’. Virtually all the six regions of the country are dotted with various manifestations of insecurity. In the southeast region of Nigeria, which is the focus of this study, the new face of terror is the activities of the ‘unknown gunmen’. The specific objectives are to; identify the peoples’ perception about the identity of the unknown gunmen; examine the root causes of insecurity in the region; determine governments’ responses to the activities of unknown gunmen and determine the impacts of the activities of the unknown gunmen on the region. The study adopted survey research using interview and questionnaire method. The study drew a sample of 350 respondents (politicians, security agents, traditional rulers, men and women) from each of the 6 states in the southeast using simple random and purposive sampling techniques. For the data analysis, descriptive statistics were used. The results of the findings include among others; that people perceived the identity of the unknown gunmen to be political thugs of state actors in the regions; that the root causes of insecurity in the region include governments’ crackdown of IPO Bagitation/detention of IPOB leader and in-fighting among political elites from the region. Recommendations include among others; that the state and federal government should provide good governance to the people of southeast to forestall the temptation of violent youth agitation and secessionists ambition, that the politician in the region should desist from ‘dirty’ politics where youths are used as political thugs and that government should adopt dialogue in dealing with groups agitation rather than the traditional kinetic approach.