CHAPTER ONE
BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY
Introduction
Provision of adequate security is a social pre-requisite for the survival of any society. Every society takes appropriate measures to protect the lives and property of people living within its boundaries. Business and social activities may not go on freely without adequate security.1This fundamental essence of security may be the reason why societies from time immemorial made efforts to police their neighborhoods to secure them from criminality. Security has to do with preventing and protecting to ensure that certain facilities, equipment, persons or activities are safe from damage, pilferage, destruction, murder or disruption.2 However, Peace, safety and security are both necessary and indispensable requirements for development and the attainment of good quality of life for any human society. They provide the enabling environment for citizens to live and work towards social, economic and political development of the society.3 Furthermore, insecurity impacts negatively on all citizens through losses of property, life, or through loss of confidence from fear of violence.4 It is against this backdrop that the delivery of safety and security is considered a justifiable public good and the very essence of the state. This study therefore analyses the impact of vigilantism on crime control in contemporary Nigeria, a case study of Benin City. Vigilantism is not a recent phenomenon. Before 1900, many vigilant groups were formed in frontier areas of the United States. In 1851 and 1856, concerned citizens in San Francisco organized vigilante committees that forcibly restored peace and order.5 In South Africa, vigilante activity is frequently justified as ‘filling a policing gap’ due to police inefficiency, corruption and conspiracy with criminals, practical failing in the criminal justice system. In Sierra-Leone, vigilante activities have been explained in terms of police ineffectiveness in combating crimes. In Nigeria, vigilantism existed in the pre-colonial era. Human Right Watch and Center for law enforcement and education report, notes that “vigilante and other self-defense groups currently operating in Nigeria have roots in the country’s history example. In the colonial era, some groups in the south east maintained their own standing Army to defend their territory against the threat of invasion from neighbouring communities.6 Although there was no equivalent modern-day structure at that time, some parallels can be drawn between these groups which were created by local communities for their own protection, and the more recently formed self-defense groups”. This is also true in Benin City where vigilantism was used as a means of both social and crime control from 2016 to 2024 (Obaseki Administration). The proliferation of vigilante groups in contemporary Nigeria particularly in Oredo, Ikpoba Okha and Egor local Government area of Edo State is a response to crimes and criminality that have not only increased in degree, scope and volume but also have witnessed an unprecedented change in techniques, mode of operation and sophistication between 2016 and 2024 and the apparent failure of the Nigeria police to rise up to the occasion.7 For example Edo State Government under the administration of Godwin Obaseki established a community policing organisation known as Edo Vigilante to protect Edo people from criminals in various local government. To dothis, the Edo State Government organised more than 1,000 young people underthe name Edo Vigilante. In collaboration with the NigerianPolice, Edo Vigilante offers the police vital information, and occasionally the two organisations work together to battle criminals. Most of the operationsoccur in the night under the direction of Edo State Network Security. Withthe support of the state governor, the police trained members of the Edo Vigilante group.8Edo Vigilante group emerged as an attempt tocurb the incessant menace of criminality and insurgency in the community.The vigilante group operate under the directives of chiefs, traditional rulersand the elders of the locality. The structure of Edo Vigilante Group which is under the Edo State Security Network is maintained by thegovernment. The command structure is similar to that of the police. It consistsof the state coordinator with all its scrutiny of staff at the state headquarters,the zonal commanders at the zonal level, the sector commanders, tacticalcommanders who are special outfits designed to take care of specialproblems, and the unit commanders.9 Vigilante groups and others stem from the state’s inability to provide security to its inhabitants thereby leading certain individuals into taking the law into their hands and establishing their type of security. Vigilante groups are defined as a member a group of volunteers who are not police but who decide on their own to stop crime and punish criminals without any legal authority whatsoever.10This study will reflect on the role of the state in the provision of security goods to its public and the emergence of informal actors (vigilante groups).Aims and Objectives This aim of the study is to examine vigilante group and crimes control in Benin City. The study has the following objectives;To examine the historical antecedence of local vigilante in Benin City. To examine the link between state failure and the emergence of vigilante groups.To examine how the vigilante groups have impacted society with reference to Oredo, Egor, Okha local government areas.To examine the challenges faced by the local vigilante group curbing crime in Oredo, Egor, Okha local government areas.Scope of Study This study focuses on the impact of vigilante groups on crime control in Benin City from 2016 to 2024. It covers the causes and consequences of state failure and the emergence of vigilante groups in Benin City, their role in security, and their advantages and disadvantages.Methodology The method of research adopted in this study is the historical methodology. The study utilize data from primary and secondary sources comprise oral interviews, archival sources and other relevant materials, while the secondary sources will be textbooks, journals, and articles. Literature Review To achieve the highlighted research objectives of this study, literature on the historical antecedence of local vigilante group and crimes control in Nigeria are explored. They include the following Olusegun Oladele Idowu, and Destiny Ebatamaehi Usifoh, in their work titled “Community Policing:“Atalakpa” (Edo State Security Network) and the Management of Crime andInternal Security inEdo State, Nigeria,”11examines the praxis of community policing inmanaging internal security in Edo State, Nigeria. It alsoevaluated the nature of community policing (Atalakpa-Edo State Security Network) in Edo State and its effectiveness.In addition, the author identified the relationship between community policing (Atalakpa-Edo State Security Network)and the public security force in Edo state. The author furtherIdentified the challenges confronting Atalakpa-Edo State Security Network in Edo State.The study concluded that the emergence of community policing (Atalakpa-Edo State Security Network) was borneout of the need to reduce crimes and social vices, securityof lives and properties, and to complement other securityagencies in fighting crime and criminality in rural areas. Theauthor recommends restructuring and overhauling of the Atalakpa-Edo State Security Network to meet itsestablishment’s goals and purpose. Also, there should be bettercollaboration and partnership between community policingand other security agencies in the area of handing-over/transporting of suspects, conducting investigation, sharingof information, fire alert, armed patrol, joint duty posting,training and re-training; workshops and seminars, with aview to fighting crime and criminality, and entrenching peacein rural areas.12 Victor A. Onifade, book titled, A Political Economy of Policing in Nigeria,13 examine the spatial pattern of criminal victimization carried out in Somolu local government and some other local government’s areas in Lagos metropolis, reflects that urban morphology and policing is a function of effective political economic (political 43 structure), the police and the policing strategy. The nature of an environment depicts the caliber of people living in the neighbourhood and invariably relates with the nature of the crime in such society. It will take a well-grounded officer to be able to trace crime in an unknown terrain. The people clamoring for state policing are talking sense if we are to achieve effective policing in Nigeria.14 Lanre Olusegun Ikuteyijo’s article titled “The Challenges of Community Policing in Nigeria,”15 Examines these challenges as well as the constraints they pose to the success of community policing in Nigeria. The author is of the opinion that for community policing to be successful in Nigeria, these challenges must be addressed taking into consideration the peculiarities of the Nigerian context. He further explain that community approach to the management of crimes and criminal behaviour in Nigeria is the latest in the crime fighters’ attempt to curb the menace of the rising crime rate in the country. And the efficiency of this approach is, however, facing certain challenges, namely: interference of some ‘powerful’ members of society in the course of justice, inertia on the part of some corrupt police officials who want the status quo to be maintained, financial constraints, and the unpleasant image of the police.16 Ernest Ogbozor’s, in his article “Understanding the Informal Security Sector in Nigeria,”17The author provides an analysis of the informal security actors in the Nigerian states of Plateau, Kaduna, and Kano and in the capital city of Abuja. Although it is not a state, Abuja was included because many informal security stakeholders are based there. The key issues considered are the types of informal security actors, the structures of these actors, their recruitment and training mechanisms, their accountability issues, their relationships with formal security actors, and perceptions of them.18The author contributes to a more nuanced understanding of the informal security structures in Nigeria. Chike Abden Onwuegbusi, work title “Public Perception of the Services of Vigilante Groups in Anambra State,”19 The author revealed that in spite of a number of shortcomings and limitations of the vigilante members, the citizens of the State are still very supportive to them for the services they render to ensure a crime free society. He equally revealed that the efforts of the groups contribute towards a reasonable control of crime in the State. Chike posits So much has always been said about the activities of the vigilante groups in Anambra State. The objective of this study therefore was to investigate the perception of the citizens of the State with regards to the activities of the vigilante groups in the State. The recommends among other things, consistent and regular training of the vigilante members in the State.20 He later recommends among other things, consistent and regular training of the vigilante members in the State. Ejika John Ejika, article titled “The Impact of Vigilantism on Crime Control in Lafia,”21 elucidates the impact of vigilantism on crime control in contemporary Nigeria with reference to Lafia Local Government Area of Nasarawa State. In the course of carrying out the study.The population of the article consist of both males and females, young and old, resident in Lafia Local Government Area. The author delineated the article to some selected areas within Lafia town which includes; Wakwa ward, SarkiPada ward, Chiroma ward, Makama ward and Gayam ward respectively.22 In as much as we agree, that these contributions and views have their own merits towards understanding the origin, nature of Vigilante groups in many part of Nigeria, but we must also agree that they have not been able to give a total study of thenature and activities of vigilante groups in Edo state and the impact local vigilante group and crimes control in Edo state. This research seeks to fill that vacuum that has been created for a long while by various scholars.