Self-determination group or extra-legal governance agency? The multifaceted nature of the Oodua people's congress in Nigeria

The paper contributes to the understanding of the origins of violent non-legal organisations in West Africa by focusing on the emergence and the evolution of the Oodua People's Congress (OPC), a movement aiming at defending the interests of the Yoruba people in Nigeria. It discusses the causes of its gradual transformation from a self-determination group ready to use political violence into an agency of local extra-legal governance tolerated by official federal authorities. This evolution may reflect the normalisation of the OPC in Nigeria's weak democracy. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.