RESURGENCE OF BIAFRAN SEPARATIST MOVEMENTS, GOVERNMENT REPRESSION, AND RISING INSTABILITY IN SOUTHEASTERN NIGERIA

Abstract

The resurgence of Biafran separatist sentiments in Nigeria is largely a reaction to perceived ethnic dominance and the Nigerian government's compromised state-building capacity. The tendency to attribute the rise in ethnic nationalism and separatist agitations to the expansion of democracy since 1999 is flawed. While security challenges exist across Nigeria, the most pressing threats to lives and livelihoods in the Southeast are coordinated attacks on state facilities by unidentified groups and the Nigerian military’s brutal response to neo-Biafra separatist uprisings. Although the revival of Biafra separatism has received substantial academic attention, existing studies have overlooked how persistent state repression has facilitated the growth of the neo-Biafra separatist movement in Nigeria. This study argues that the Nigerian government's repressive approach towards Biafra separatism has led the Indigenous People of Biafra to shift from non-violent to armed strategies. Relying primarily on secondary data analysis, the paper draws from the theory of state repression to conclude that the indiscriminate use of force, including harassment, proscription, arrests, rendition, torture, and mass killings of pro-Biafra activists, tends to exacerbate insecurity in the Southeast region.