The Bakassi boys were an "anti-crime, state-supported militia also known as the Anambra State Vigilante Service" (AVS) (AP 11 Apr. 2002). They had operated in three states in southeast Nigeria: Anambra, Abia and Imo (HRW May 2002, 2, 5; CLEEN 15 July 2003). According to a report by Human Rights Watch (HRW) and the Center for Law Enforcement Education (CLEEN), the Bakassi Boys were responsible for human rights violations including summary executions, systematic torture and ill-treatment, abductions, arbitrary arrest and unlawful detention (HRW and CLEEN May 2002, 16, 28, 30), before being disbanded in September 2002 (Executive Director of CLEEN 15 July 2003; This Day 28 Feb. 2003; ibid. 24 Jan. 2003).

The Executive Director of CLEEN explained that although the Bakassi Boys were active in the states of Anambra, Imo and Abia, it is the activities of the Bakassi Boys in Anambra state that provoked "public condemnation," and it is those that were affected by the August-September 2002 government ban (15 July 2003). In August and September 2002, the police carried out raids against vigilante groups mainly in Abia and Anambra states in which over 100 vigilantes were arrested (ACCORD/UNHCR 28-29 June 2002, 153). The Executive Director of CLEEN said that an unknown number of the ring leaders and low ranking members of the Bakassi Boys, whose names were not disclosed, were arrested in Anambra state and later transferred to the federal capital, Abuja. Although some of them have been released (ibid.; This Day 24 Jan. 2003), most of them remain in detention without trial (CLEEN 15 July 2003).

Other sources consulted by the Research Directorate indicate that the Bakassi Boys in Abia state were also affected by the ban. A 5 August 2002 Vanguard report states that "heavily-armed mobile policemen raided the Bakassi Boys headquarters in Umuahia [Abia state], and destroyed all their personal and corporate belongings." According to the Daily Trust, as part of a police crackdown on the Bakassi Boys, 34 of the group's ring leaders were arrested in Aba, Abia State, and "ferried" to Abuja where they were being detained at the Force Criminal Investigation Department (FCID) for interrogation (6 Aug. 2002).

Nonetheless, the Bakassi Boys still enjoy the support of traders and youth in Anambra state who want to see the Bakassi Boys restored (This Day 22 Jan. 2003; Vanguard 3 Mar. 2003), and their dissolution was still being challenged by some state governors in 2002 (ACCORD/UNHCR 28-29 June 2002, 154).

In March 2003, for example, traders in the commercial city of Onitsha reportedly "vowed to float a security outfit" to fight a resurgence of crime in the state and "accused the Federal Government of dislodging the state's crime buster, the Bakassi Boys without placing anything in place to protect them" (Vanguard 3 Mar. 2003). The Awaka Taxi Drivers Association argued that police stationed in Anambra State to remove the Bakassi Boys had themselves "resorted to harassing, intimidating and extorting money from taxi drivers" (This Day 28 Feb. 2003). Consequently, the governor of Anambra State, Dr. Chinwoke Mbadinuju, reportedly promised to reinstate the Bakassi Boys if he won the gubernatorial election (Vanguard 28 Mar. 2003).

Like his counterpart in Anambra State, the Abia State governor, Dr. Orji Uzor Kalu, is reported to have also promised to re-introduce a vigilance group like the Bakassi Boys (Vanguard 13 Feb. 2003). However, "unlike the disbanded Bakassi Boys which was funded mainly by government, the new outfit would be the responsibility of the communities from where membership of the vigilance outfit would be drawn" (ibid.).

The Executive Director of CLEEN anticipates that the Bakassi Boys will be revived in all three states under different forms because the public has lost confidence in the ability of the police to provide it with adequate protection (15 July 2003). He opined that in Abia and Imo states, Bakassi Boys have withdrawn from "public visibility" but continue to operate clandestinely (15 July 2003). This opinion is corroborated by an Agence France Presse (AFP) report, which claims that members of the Bakassi Boys "have continued their work under different names" (27 May 2003).

In late June 2003, commissioner for Works and Transport in Anambra State and an Onitsha camp commander of the Bakassi Boys, and 10 others, reportedly "appeared before an Onitsha Chief Magistrate Court charged with the murder of the former Onitsha Chairman of [the] Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Barnabas Igwe and his wife, Blessing" (Vanguard, July 2003). The two were murdered on 1 September 2002 in the Awada area of Onitsha (ibid.). The case was adjourned to 14 July 2003 and ordered transferred to the Director of Public Prosecution (DPP) in Abuja, while and the accused were remanded in Onitsha prisons (ibid.).

This Response was prepared after researching publicly accessible information currently available to the Research Directorate within time constraints. This Response is not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular claim to refugee status or asylum. Please find below the list of additional sources consulted in researching this Information Request.

Agence France Presse (AFP). 27 May 2003. "Two Die as Traders and Vigilantes Clash in Nigeria." (NEXIS)

Associated Press (AP). 11 April 2002. Glen MacKenzie. "Amnesty Witnesses Nigerian Vigilantes Attempt Execution" (NEXIS)

Austrian Centre for Country of Origin and Asylum Research Documentation and United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (ACCORD/UNHCR). 28-29 June 2002. "Nigeria: Country Report." Report based on presentations by Enrique Restoy and Heinz Jockers at the 8th European Country of Origin Information Seminar, Vienna, 28-29 June 2002, http://www.ecoi.net/docPipe.php?file=pub/mv154_Ngr-rois-2002-rep.pdf [Accessed 16 Jan. 2003]

Centre for Law Enforcement Education (CLEEN), Lagos. 15 July 2003. Telephone interview with Executive Director.

Daily Trust [æbuja]. 6 August 2002. "Police Arrest 34 Bakassi Boys in Aba." (Africa News/NEXIS)

Human Rights Watch and CLEEN. May 2002. Vol. 14, No. 5 (A). Nigeria: The Bakassi Boys: The Legitimization of Murder and Torture. New York: Human Rights Watch.

This Day [Lagos]. 28 February 2003. Charles Onyekamuo. "Taxi Drivers Protest Menace of Checkpoints." http://allafrica.com/stroies/printable/200302280521.html [Accessed 17 July 2003]

_____. 24 January 2003. Charles Onyekamuo. "3 Ex-Bakassi Boys Killed in Anambra." http://allafrica.com/stories/printable/200301240473.html[Accessible 16 July 2003]

_____. 22 January 2003. "Group Wants Bakassi Boys Restored." http://allafrica.com/stories/printable/200301220235.html [Accessed 16 July 2003]

Vanguard [Lagos]. 1 July 2003. "Igwe: Mbadinuju's Commissioner, 11 Others Charged With Murder." http:allafrica.com/stories/printable/200307010004.html [Acessed 16 July 2003]

_____. 28 March 2003. Anayo Okoli. "Mbadinuju Pledges to Re-Introduce Bakassi Boys." http://allafrica.com/stories/printable/200303280573.html [Accessed 16 July 2003]

_____. 3 March 2003. Anayo Okoli. "Anambra Traders Plan Another Vigilante Outfit." http://allafrica.com/stories/printable/200303030398.html [Accessed 16 July 2003]

_____. 13 February 2003. "Abia Gets New Vigilance Group Soon, Says Gov Kalu." http://www.com/stories/printable/20030270113.html[Accessed 16 July 2003]

_____. 5 August 2002. Vincent Ujumadu. "AAGM: Police Raid Bakassi Boys' HQ." (Global News Wire-Asia Intellience Wire/NEXIS)

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