BAKASSI BOYS, JUNGLE JUSTICE AND EXTRA JUDICIAL KILLING IN ABA, 1999-2007

Abstract

The industrial and commercial nature of Aba town had, by the close of 1998 led to an upsurge in the population of the town as people from other parts of Nigeria became migrants including the Yoruba, Hausa, Ibibio, Kalabari, all for their commercial interests. Even foreigners from within and outside Africa converged in the town for trade. With the steady rise in population coupled with the attendant hike in unemployment rate, poverty and high economic depreciation, Aba town gradually became a harbor for educated but unemployed youths who took to robbery, thuggery, violence and other social vices as means of survival in the face of the harsh economic conditions. This led to an escalation in organized crime with heavy consequences such as unprecedented loss of lives and properties. The Bakassi Boys security outfit which was formed to curb the rising menace of heightened insecurity was short-lived as it metamorphosed into a group of hardened criminals. This paper seeks to investigate the formation and operations of the notorious Bakassi Boys security outfit, the reasons for its disbandment and the inception of the Abia State Vigilante Service. The paper adopts a narrative and analytical methodology