Egbesu Boys of Africa (EBA)
Origins
The term Egbesu Boys of Africa (EBA) refers to various Ijaw movements engaged in resistance against the Nigerian government and the oil industry under the umbrella of the Ijaw Youth Council (IYC). Best estimates place the beginning of the EBA around December 1998 with the creation of the IYC. The IYC “was formed in 1998, at Kaiama, headquarters of Kolokuma-Opokuma Local Government Area in Bayelsa State, following a meeting of over 5,000 youths from 25 associations, 500 communities, and 40 clans in the Ijaw Nation.” There are conflicting reports concerning exactly when the EBA began its activities; some reports claim their participation in the Ijaw-Itsekiri conflict as early as 1997. It is widely believed that the EBA is the military wing of the Ijaw Youth Council (IYC), “In the context of the current struggle for justice and equity, the Egbesu Boys of Africa is the common fighting arm of all the militant Ijaw groups. There are several well-known Ijaw groups but all of them are coordinated by, and are part of the Ijaw Youth Council, IYC. The Egbesu is therefore the fighting arm of the Ijaw Youth Council in the struggle for equity and justice within the oil-bearing Ijaw communities of Nigeria.”
This formal link with the IYC, however, is contested. “Others, such as Cyris Obi, contend that, although a formal relationship between the IYC and the EBA cannot be established, the IYC leadership did use the EBA to motivate, mobilize, and embolden its youth to fight for the cause of greater control of the region’s oil wealth.” Others contest that the EBA's loyalty does not lie solely with the IYC as they reportedly also “follow the will of the Ijaw’s chief priest, whom his followers believe communes with, and speaks on behalf of, the deity Egbesu.”
Location / Main area of operation
The group is located in the southern-most states, particularly in the Bayelsa States, but it is also present in the Rivers, Edo, and Ondo States. Bayelsa State is the only state populated by Ijaws Communits and it is considered the main base of the Egbesu Boys of Africa.
Objectives
The EBA 's main objectives are to have greater control of the region’s oil wealth and to rid Ijaw regions of Nigerian military and foreign oil companies. “The Egbesu became relevant following the increased agitation, and militancy resulting from social neglect, economic and political marginalization and underdevelopment of Ijawland by the oil companies and the Nigerian State.” As a nationalist movement, “the Egbesu have also expressed solidarity with other people’s organisations and ethnic nationalities in Nigeria, who are struggling for self-determination and justice, notably the O’odua People’s Congress, the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People, and the Egi Women’s Movement.”
Number of Members
Reports estimate the number of members to be several thousands while other sources state the membership to be closer to five thousand.
Type : National
The EBA is a national non-state armed group located mainly in the southern areas of the country.
Conflict Status : Active
“In 2004, some youth gangs still called themselves ‘the EBA,’ but many believed the EBA, as an organised armed group, was not a cohesive force and no longer ‘active.'” Contributing factors to the group's discontinuation include: the lack of leadership after Alex Preye’s death, the 2003 elections which provided “additional political patronage that drew some youth away from EBA activities, the arrival of other, more powerful, vigilante groups” who siphoned EBA youths away and the growth of organized crime, which has provided more lucrative opportunities. The continued powerful influence of the Egbesu priest over unemployed Ijaw youth is nevertheless strong and could provide a future catalyst or rallying figure for “a common purpose, in the name of Egbesu,” the Ijaw god of war.
Structure of the organization
According to the Centre for Democracy and Development, The Egbesu Boys are estimated to have around 5,000 Ijaw youth members, drawn from already existing groups in the region. These include: The Movement for the Survival of Ijaw Ethnic Nationality in the Niger Delta (MOSIEND); The Movement for Reparations to Ogbia (MORETO); The Nembe 1895 Youth Movement; Opkolom Imo Engeni; and the Supreme Egbesu Assembly (SEA). These groups agreed to come together under the Ijaw Youth Council with the Egbesu Boys serving as the militant wing of the group.
Although the groups’ administrative power remains in the hands of the president, who holds regular parliaments in the clans, towns and villages of Ijawland, the Egbesu Boys’ rebellion is a grassroots youth movement organized from the bottom up. However, according to the Centre for Development and Conflict Management Studies, Egbesu militants have an executive structure, but still are not “organized or cohesive.” Rather, they are “sustained by members’ affiliation within various sub-groups of the Ijaw Youth Council.” Fighters are “expected to comply with certain ‘do’s and ‘don’ts,’” but a formal code of conduct or structure does not exist.
Leadership
The main body of the Egbesu is comprised of groups from different communities and organizations whose leaders make up the Supreme Egbesu Assembly (SEA). Apart, from the chief priest of the deity, the leadership comprises his immediate assistants who make up the executive body of the EBA.
While rumours abound about the Egbesu’s tradition of consulting the chief priest of the Egbesu shrine before and during major operations, the priest, Augustine Ebikeme, is not considered the leader of the group nor is he active in their operations. A 2005 Small Arms Survey (SAS) research paper reports that, although the chief priest may be consulted regarding operations of the Egbesu Boys, he is not necessarily the leader of the group.
The group was led by Alex Preye until his death in 2001. The current leadership is unclear; though some have “identified Dokubo Asari as the leader of the Egbesu Boys. Other executives include Mr. Felix Tuodolor, General Secretary; Mr. F. Denumighan, Director of Mobilization; Clayton Daunumingnan, Finance Director; Ambah Binaebi, Environmental Affairs Director; and Patrick Ziakede, Public Relations Director.
External aid/Third party involvement
No information is available on this matter.
External effects of the NSAG's armed activities
While it is difficult to assign any specific actions or encounters to the Egbesu Boys since their members in different militant organizations undertake most of the military actions of the Ijaws against the State, oil companies, and other ethnic groups,” it is clear that they participated in the “occupation of oil instillations, kidnapping of oil workers, and hijacking of oil facilities,” as well as numerous clashes with the Nigerian army. The activity initiated by the EBA and other militant groups in the Delta region have had a “severe impact on oil production,” and have even “contributed to periodic spikes in world oil prices.”
“According to Shell Nigeria, average losses [from the combined oil bunkering by militant groups] have ranged from 20,000 barrels per day (bpd) up to 100,000 bpd during the 2003 elections.”
Funding
Sources of funding for the EBA are unclear but it is assumed that highly influential members of the community have been linked to financially supporting the group. One member of the Egbesu Boys interviewed claimed that they were given monetary and technical assistance from retired military personnel who believe in their struggle. Another interviewee said that they also financed their activities with money from crude oil theft and kidnapping”
Relationship with the international community
None.
Books
• Florquin, Nicolas and Berman, Eric G. (eds) (2005), Armed and Aimless: Armed Groups, Guns, and Human Security in the ECOWAS Region (Geneva: Small Arms Survey).
• Sesay, Amadu, Ukeje, Charles, Aina, Olabisi, and Odebiyi, Adetanwa (eds), (2003) Ethnic Militias and the future of Democracy in Nigeria, (Nigeria: Centre for Development and Conflict Management Studies).
Articles and Chapters
Reports and resolutions of intergovernmental organizations
Governmental reports
• Denmark. January 2005. Danish Immigration Service. Report on Human Rights Issues in Nigeria: Joint British-Danish Fact-Finding Mission to Abuja and Lagos, Nigeria. 19 October to 2 November 2004. link
Reports of think tanks and non-governmental organizations
• Centre for International Cooperation and Security at the University of Bradford. Jeremy Ginifer and Olawale Ismail Armed Violence and Poverty in Nigeria: Mini case study for the Armed Violence and Poverty Initiative March 2005, available at link
• Centre for Democracy and Development , Mohammed Ibrahim, An Empirical Survey of Children and Youth in Organised Armed Violence in Nigeria; Egbesu Boys, OPC and Bakassi Boys, as a case study, Centre for Democracy and Development, available at link
• Human Rights Watch/Center for Law Enforcement Education (CLEEN), Nigeria. The Bakassi Boys : The Legitimization of Murder and Torture, Vol. 14, No. 5 (A), May 2002, available at link
Press Information (in chronological order)
• The Guardian. 25 September 2004. Rory Carroll. "Rebels Threaten Nigeria's Oil Wells." link.
Interviews
Internet resources
• The International Institute for Strategic Studies Armed Conflict Database, Non State Armed Groups, Nga, available at link.
• GlobalSecurity.org (2005), Niger Delta People’s Volunteer Force, Egbesu Boys, Ijaw National Congress and Ijaw Youth Congress, available at www.globalsecurity.org
• Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada, Responses to Information Requests, 16 February 2006, available at link
Statements of the armed group
- The Kaiama Declaration, by the IjawYouth of the Niger Delta being Communique, Issued at the end of All IjawYouths Conference which held in the town of Kaiama,This 11thday of December 1998, available at: link
Agreements involving armed groups