BY NATE HAKEN AND PATRICIA TAFT* Although on a per capita basis, violence is relatively high in Bayelsa, the number of fatalities and incidents have dropped since 2010. In February 2012, Henry Seriake Dickson (PDP) was elected as governor after a period of uncertainty in the wake of Governor Timipre Sylva’s termination in January 2012. […]
Category Archives: Nate Haken
Conflict Bulletin: Rivers State – Patterns and Trends, 2012-2015
- 20 August 2015
BY NATE HAKEN AND PATRICIA TAFT* Since May 2013, political tensions were high in Rivers State after the disputed Nigerian Governor’s Forum election. Formerly a member of the PDP, Governor Rotimi Amaechi, who is from Ikwerre (Rivers East Senatorial District), switched affiliation to the APC in November 2013. Despite the zoning formula, which would have […]
Conflict Bulletin: Akwa Ibom State – Patterns and Trends, 2012-2015
- 20 August 2015
BY NATE HAKEN AND PATRICIA TAFT* Overall, between 2012-2015, Akwa Ibom was the second most peaceful state in the Niger Delta region as measured by reported fatalities per capita. Udom Emmanuel of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) won the gubernatorial election in April 2015, to replace outgoing Governor Godswill Akpabio (also PDP) who was elected […]
Conflict Bulletin: Delta State – Patterns and Trends, 2012-2015
- 19 August 2015
BY NATE HAKEN AND PATRICIA TAFT Although the 2009 Amnesty Program was instrumental in reducing violence and fatalities associated with militancy, since 2012 Delta has been the most violent Niger Delta state as measured by conflict fatalities per-capita. Conflict risk incidents in Delta State during this period included gang violence, criminality, vigilante/mob justice, communal violence, […]
Conflict Bulletin: Abia State – Patterns and Trends, 2012-2015
- 19 August 2015
BY NATE HAKEN AND PATRICIA TAFT* Since 2012, Abia has been the most peaceful state in the Niger Delta overall, as measured by fatalities per capita. In the 2015 gubernatorial elections, Okezie Ikpeazu, of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) was elected to replace outgoing Governor Theordore Orji (also PDP) in the second round of voting, […]
Conflict Briefing: Conflict Prevention in Rivers Following Election Violence
- 19 August 2015
BY THE FUND FOR PEACE AND PARTNERSHIP INITIATIVES IN THE NIGER DELTA The Nigerian Presidential and National Assembly elections of March 2015 were widely praised by international observers as free and fair, with relatively peaceful outcomes across most states. However, among those states with elevated levels of political conflict was Rivers, where tension has cascaded […]
Conflict Bulletin: Imo State – Patterns and Trends, 2012-2015
- 10 August 2015
BY NATE HAKEN AND PATRICIA TAFT* Imo state has a population of approximately 3.9 million people, according to the 2006 census. The population is predominantly Igbo (98%). The capital city of Owerri is the largest in the state. Imo is made up of 27 Local Government Areas (LGAs). Natural resources include palm oil, mahogany, crude […]
Looking Beneath the Total Score: United States
- 17 June 2015
BY NATE HAKEN As the United States heads into a heated political campaign season, candidates are beginning to frame their take on the social, economic, and political track the country is on and what they would do to calibrate those trajectories. Certainly, to listen to pundits you might suppose that the U.S. is either going […]
Beating the Odds: Nigeria Defies Predictions of Doom
- 17 June 2015
BY NATE HAKEN The world is not deterministic. People have a say. If ever there was any doubt, Nigeria belied that notion with elections in March and April of this year in which the sky did not fall as just about everybody feared it might. Yes, there were reports of rigging and violence at various […]
Widespread Violence and Insecurity Strikes the Central African Republic
- 17 June 2015
BY NAKE HAKEN AND HANNAH BLYTH The Central African Republic (CAR) is a vast, beautiful land about the size of Texas, but with a fraction of its population. It is home to sprawling herds of forest elephants roaming the Dzanga-Ndoki national park along the Sangha River. Logging towns have sprung up where Muslim merchants sell […]