There are also suspicions that the three groups may have established forms of collaboration in some areas. The three groups are however increasingly converging on their strategies: just like bandits, terrorists and insurgents are known to have raided communities, looted property (foodstuff and livestock), and abducted civilians. While terrorism and insurgencies are driven by forms of ideology, banditry is pure criminality by armed gangs driven primarily by economic gains. There is a nexus between terrorism, insurgency and banditry.

There are equally the poverty, state failure and crisis in our nation building arguments which supposedly force some groups and individuals to de-link from the state into other contraptions they feel offer them better alternatives to negotiate life. There have been several theoretical explanations of terrorism including David Rapoport's waves of terrorism theory in which he argued that terrorism moves in waves, with each wave lasting approximately 40 years before it mutates into another form.

People also talk of state-sponsored terrorism. The term can also be used in a political sense to de-legitimize any group. Broadly speaking, it is the use of intentional violence and fear as tools to achieve political or ideological aims. Terrorism is an emotionally charged term with no consensus in the literature on its definition. IPOB and the Yoruba nation agitations are typical examples of insurgencies. They are essentially a struggle of the weak against a materially superior ruling power. They seek to alienate the population from the government by creating alternative social, political and cultural institutions. Insurgent groups aim to undermine the legitimacy of the government and bolster their own standing with the population. It is not a mode of warfare but primarily a political process. What do we understand by Insurgency, Terrorism and Banditry? What are their drivers and manifestations? And what is the relationship between the three concepts?Īn insurgency is a violent political struggle for control of people and resources.

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