An Original Contribution to the Theory of Vigilantism as Crime Control in Postcolonial African States

Vigilantism is a widespread crime control phenomenon in sub-Saharan Africa, and existing theoretical frameworks developed primarily in Western and Latin American contexts inadequately account for the postcolonial political economy dimensions that shape vigilantism's legitimacy, forms, and consequences in African states. This study developed an original theoretical framework for understanding vigilantism as crime control in postcolonial African states, with Nigeria as the primary empirical reference context. A constructive theoretical methodology combining systematic review of African vigilantism scholarship (62 publications from 2015 to 2024), comparative case analysis of six Nigerian vigilante formations (Bakassi Boys, Hisbah, Civilian JTF, OPC, Amotekun, and Ebubeagu), and structured expert consultation with 20 security sector, political science, and anthropology scholars was employed. Systematic review confirmed that existing vigilantism theories inadequately theorise the postcolonial state legitimacy deficit as the foundational enabling condition, the ethnic and religious dimensions of vigilante legitimation, the dynamic relationship between vigilante formations and formal state power (cooperation, competition, and subordination), and the gendered dynamics of vigilante violence targeting women. The original Postcolonial Vigilantism Framework proposes four theoretical constructs: legitimacy substitution (vigilantes filling the legitimacy vacuum created by ineffective and predatory policing), communal justice enactment (vigilante violence as expression of community rather than individual agency), state-tolerated parallelism (formal state maintenance of vigilante capacity as a cost-free security supplement), and vigilante-state oscillation (the dynamic movement of vigilante groups between autonomy and state incorporation over time). Expert review confirmed original theoretical contribution.

Keywords: vigilantism, postcolonial theory, Nigeria, crime control, African security