Unethical practices and the role of traditional ruler-ship institutions in modern conflict resolution in Tivland, Nigeria

ABSTRACTIn the past decade, there has been a surge in deadly internal conflicts in Nigeria. The state’s failure to decisively address violent skirmishes through its modern conflict-resolution mechanisms has resuscitated the debate on the role of traditional rulers in conflict resolution. Although the relevance of traditional institutions in conflict contexts has been well acknowledged in many studies, their complicity in the onset and preponderance of conflict remains understudied. Using a mixed qualitative research design, this paper interrogates the nexus between unethical practices of traditional rulers and conflict in Tivland, north central Nigeria. It hypothesises that in the examined case study, the quest for personal aggrandizement unwittingly heightened corrupt behaviour among traditional rulers, leading to conflict emergence and protraction. To curb the impunity that currently undergirds conflict in Tivland, we recommend that traditional rulers found culpable in conflicts should be dethroned and prosecuted as deterrent to others. Also, traditional leadership selection processes should be merit-based, as opposed to the current practice of offering stools to cronies of state authorities.KEYWORDS: Traditional rulersunethical practicescorruptiontraditionalistsmodernistshybridistsconflict resolutionTivland Disclosure statementNo potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).Notes1 Blench, Natural Resource Conflicts in North-Central Nigeria.2 De Juan, ‘“Traditional” Resolution of Land Conflicts’; Boege, ‘Traditional Approaches to Conflict Transformation’; Enyi, ‘Security and Other Challenges Posed by the Fulani Invasion’; Osabu-Kle, Compatible Cultural Democracy; Ayittey, Indigenous African Institutions; Lewis, A Pastoral Democracy.3 Payne, ‘Rethinking Nigeria’s Indigene-Settler Conflicts’; Baruah, ‘Ethnic Conflicts and Traditional Self-Governing Institutions’; Crook, ‘The Role of Traditional Institutions’; Williams, ‘Leading from Behind’; West and Kloeck-Jenson, ‘Betwixt and Between’; Van-Kessel and Oomen, ‘One Chief, One Vote’.4 Paalo and Issifu, ‘De-internationalizing Hybrid Peace’; Fabbe, Kao, and Peterson, ‘Pre-Analysis Plan’; Lawal and Audu, ‘Traditional Institutions and Firearms in Africa’.5 Tivland, as used in this article, refers to the communities of native Tiv language speakers that are indigenous to Benue state. It therefore does not apply to the other speakers who are found in Nasarawa, Taraba, and Plateau states, among others.6 Crook, ‘The Role of Traditional Institutions’.7 Boege, ‘Traditional Approaches to Conflict Transformation’.8 Mutisi, ‘The Abunzi Mediation in Rwanda’.9 Zartman, ‘Conclusions’.10 Mutisi, ‘The Abunzi Mediation in Rwanda’.11 De Juan, ‘“Traditional” Resolution of Land Conflicts’.12 Lewis, A Pastoral Democracy.13 Ugwu and Enna, ‘Conflict Transformation in Nasarawa State’.14 Osabu-Kle, Compatible Cultural Democracy.15 Adom, The Tor Tiv Stool; Enyi, ‘Security and Other Challenges Posed by the Fulani Invasion’; Abeghe, Affidavits in Tiv Politics; Blench et al., The Role of Traditional Rulers; Blench, Natural Resource Conflicts in North-Central Nigeria.16 Onwuzuruigbo, ‘Horizontal Inequalities and Communal Conflicts’.17 Ambali, Salawu, and Adebayo, ‘The Efficacy of Traditional Institutions in Conflict Resolution’; Aluaigba, ‘Exploiting the Tiv Traditional Methods of Conflict Resolution’.18 Crook, ‘The Role of Traditional Institutions’; 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Ifeka, ‘Conflict, Complicity and Confusion’.61 KII with a University Lecturer, Makurdi, November 17, 2020.62 Wantu, ‘Ortom Decries Plan to Appoint New First Class Chiefs’.63 Blench, ‘Natural Resource Conflicts in North-Central Nigeria’.64 Jibo, Tiv Politics Since 1959.65 FGD with Local Public Representatives, Katsina-Ala, July 23, 2021.66 Igboin, ‘Traditional Leadership and Corruption in Pre-colonial Africa’.67 KII with Traditional Ruler, Guma LGA, April 9, 2021.68 Enyi, ‘Security and Other Challenges Posed by the Fulani Invasion’.69 Women Environmental Programme, ‘Project Report on Conflict Mapping into Incessant Crises’.70 Benue State Government, ‘Report of the Peace and Security Committee’.71 Iorkosu et al., ‘Ihyarev and Kparev Communal Violence’.72 Atagher, ‘Houses Vandalized Over Communal Crises in Benue State’.73 Dzurgba, On the Tiv of Central Nigeria; Jibo, Tiv Politics Since 1959.74 Kwaja, ‘Strategies for [Re] building State Capacity’.Additional informationNotes on contributorsEmmanuel EzeaniEmmanuel Ezeani is a Professor of Political Science, University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN). He is the former Head, Department of Political Science as well as the former Dean, Faculty of the Social Science, UNN. He is the author of Political Science: An Introduction, Fundamentals of Public Administration, Local Government Administration, among others. He has many published articles, both local and international.Emmanuel Terkimbi AkovEmmanuel Terkimbi Akov, Ph.D is a lecturer in the Department of Political Science, University of Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria. He has published many well-researched articles in learned national and International Journals. He is the author of ‘The resource-conflict debate revisited: Untangling the case of farmer-herdsman clashes in the north central region of Nigeria’ published in African Security Review, 26(3), 288-307. His research interest straddles comparative politics, conflict analysis and election studies.Kingsley Ekene OkoyeKingsley Ekene Okoye is a lecturer in the Department of Political Science, University of Nigeria, Nsukka. His research interest includes studies on government policy, election studies, development studies, political participation, rural and security studies.