Arewa People's Congress (APC) 



Origins

The APC was formed in December of 1999 by former military elite, after the transition to democratic rule. The APC was formed as a militant wing of the Arewa Consultative Forum (a socio-political and ethno-religious group) to protect the interests of the Hausa-Fulani in the north. It “is a recent manifestation of elite discontent, an instrument of elite protest against the policies and actions of a civilian regime, which they perceive as having robbed them of the inordinate privileges they had hitherto enjoyed.” Following the election of Olusegun Obasanjo, a southerner, and due to the violent and powerful activities of the O’odua People’s Congress, the APC’s founders felt Northern interests were being increasingly threatened.
From a strictly conceptual point of view, the APC is neither an ethnic organization nor a militia, but a coalition of disenchanted Northern elites. However, it is believed that it can raise an armed wing at very short notice, especially from the ever-growing pool of jobless youth who roam the streets of major northern towns popularly called “almajirais” or “yandabas."

 

Location / Main area of operation

The Northern Region, especially the Hausa-Fulani areas.  


Objectives

The main objective of the APC is to safeguard northern and Muslim interests, especially of the Hausa-Fulani tribe, and to protect northerners from southern-initiated violence. In its mission statement, the APC stated its commitment: “The organization will carry out activities aimed at protecting and promoting the cultural, economic and political interests of the Northern states and their people (…) The organization deplores the recent spate of sectarian killings in various parts of the federation. While the organization has the fullest confidence in the law-enforcement apparatus of the country, it will look at ways to protect Northerners from any such attacks and this in a swift and decisive manner. Self-defence being recognized as the inherent right of the aggrieved.”
Even if not mentioned in its statement, the other objective of the APC was to provide a counterweight to the pro-Yoruba Oodua People's Congress (OPC) “the APC was launched in Kano specifically to checkmate the militancy of the pan-Yoruba O’odua People's Congress and threats that might emanate from other ethnic-based organizations.”

 

Number of Members


The exact number of APC members is unknown. However, it is estimated by the PADEP - Preliminary Assessment of the Needs of Nigerian Youth in Conflict - that thousands of children comprise the Almajiri group and that they are mostly from poor peasant and low-income working-class families.  

Type : National

The APC is a national non-state armed group.  

Conflict Status : Active

The conflict is active.

 

Structure of the organization

The leadership of the APC sometimes recruits unemployed youth known as ‘Almajiri boys.’ Actions carried out by the Almajiri Boys are not generally structured or well organized. Moreover, the APC “has no cells in different towns and communities, no recognizable hierarchy in different towns in the North, and no army of willing and committed volunteers, except paid mercenaries and street urchins trained and armed by the ex-military officers that established it. Beyond occasional inflammatory public statements issued by its officers, so far the APC is not as visible to the common eye as the other militia groups in the southwest and South-south that operate in the open and also claim responsibility for their actions.”  

Leadership

Retired army officer, Brig-General Sagir Muhammed.  Muhammed Sagir is a former operative of the Directorate of Military Intelligence in the Nigerian Army. Muhammed reports directly to the Ulama (scholars) or elders of the Arewa Consultative Forum that co-ordinate the political activities and day-to-day administration of the group.  

External aid/Third party involvement

No information is available on this matter.

External effects of the NSAG's armed activities

None. 

Funding

While all funding sources are not known, the APC is believed to have solid financial resources and has often made reference to its ‘financial muscle.’ Key contributions are made by active and retired army officers.  

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).
  • Osita Agbu, “Ethnic Militias ad the Threat to Democracy in Post-transition Nigeria," Nordista Afrikainstitutet, The Nordic Africa Institute Research Report n°127, Swden, 2004.
  • 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), available at : link

 

Articles and Chapters

Reports and resolutions of intergovernmental organizations

Governmental reports

Reports of think tanks and non-governmental organizations

 

  • 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
  • International Crisis Group, Nigeria’s Faltering Federal Experiment, Africa Report No. 119, 25 October 2006, available at link

 

Press Information (in chronological order)

Interviews

Internet resources

  • The International Institute for Strategic Studies Armed Conflict Database, Non State Armed Groups, Nga, available at link.

 

Statements of the armed group

Agreements involving armed groups