Criminal Politics: Violence, “Godfathers” and Corruption in Nigeria

esponse to concerns that Igodo was planning to disrupt the new government’s May
29 inauguration. 295
Soboma and his Outlaws gang were reportedly hired by the PDP to help rig the 2007
elections in Rivers. 296 One cult member described a meeting in Government House in
Port Harcourt just prior to the April 14 polls during which he saw government officials
hand out between N5 million and N10 million ($38,500 to $77,000) to several
different cult groups in return for their assisting or simply accepting the PDP’s plans
to rig the polls. 297 Several other sources confirmed the substance of the meeting. 298
In August 2007, Port Harcourt descended into chaos, with armed gangs waging
ongoing battles in the streets of the city and wreaking devastation on the
surrounding communities. Civil society activists in Port Harcourt described this
fighting as being linked to struggles between various gangs to assert claims on
political patronage including money and oil bunkering routes from the state
government and anger on the part of some gangs at Soboma George’s preeminent
role in securing such patronage. As one prominent activist put it, “It’s the same old
story—people who were used for elections on April 14 and 21, having won the
election are trying to establish supremacy against the other groups in the state.” 299
And indeed the fighting bore a grim resemblance to the events that followed the
2003 elections in Rivers—not least because one of its central belligerents was none
other than Ateke Tom.
After weeks of violence, the Nigerian military’s Joint Task Force (JTF) intervened,
engaging in a bloody battle with the gangs in Port Harcourt. The JTF is comprised of
forces drawn from different branches of the Nigerian military and is currently under
the command of Army Brigadier General Yaki Sakin Bello. A tenuous calm was
295 Human Rights Watch telephone interviews and email correspondence with civil society activists, journalists and former
cult members, June and July 2007.
296 Human Rights Watch interviews with activists and cult members, Port Harcourt, April 2007. See also Patrick Naagbanton,
“Funeral Song for Prince Igodo and Others,” The Port Harcourt Telegraph, June 6, 2007.
297 Human Rights Watch interview, Port Harcourt, April 16, 2007.
298 Human Rights Watch interviews, Port Harcourt and Abuja, April 2007. See also Robyn Dixon, “Niger Delta’s politicians
ease way into office by using thugs,” Los Angeles Times, April 21, 2007, citing a member of the Buccaneers cult group
claiming that cult groups were paid N10 million to help rig the elections.
299 Human Rights Watch telephone interview with Anyakwee Nsirimovu, Port Harcourt, August 21, 2007.
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