Niger Delta People's Volunteer Force

The Niger Delta People's Volunteer Force is the largest armed group in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria and is composed primarily of members of the region's largest ethnic group, the Ijaw. The group emerged in the late 1990s in an attempt to gain more control over the region's vast petroleum resources, particularly in Delta State. The NDPDF has frequently demanded a greater share of the oil wealth from both the state and federal government and has occassionally supported independence for the Delta region. Until 2004 the group was spearheaded by their charismatic leader, Alhaji Mujahid Dokubo-Asari, who is viewed by many locals as a sort of folk hero.

The NDPVF's strongly Ijaw agenda has led to conflict with both the Nigerian state and federal governments, as well as with neighboring ethnic groups, notably long-time rival the Itsekiri. . This rivalry precipitated a number of conflicts in the region, centered primarily around the cities of Warri and subsequently the 'oil capital' of Port Harcourt. The issue of local government ward allocation has proven particularly contentious, as the Ijaw feel that the way in which wards have been allocated ensures that their superior numbers will not be reflected in the number of wards controlled by politicians of Ijaw ethnicity. Control of the city of Warri, the largest metropolitan area in Delta State and therefore a prime source of political patronage, has been an especially fiercely contested prize. This has given birth to heated disputes between the Ijaw, the Itsekiri and the Urhobo about which of the three groups are "truly" indigenous to the Warri region, with the underlying presumption being that the "real" indigenes should have control of the levers of power, regardless of the fact that all three groups enjoy ostensibly equal political rights in their places of residence.

By 2003,the NDPVF began an escalating conflict with the military group known as the Niger Delta Vigilante, led by Ateke Tom. The conflict between the NDPVF and the NDV had which had previously centered on Warri, shifted to Port Harcourt, however, a change in the stance of the NDPVF provoked the state politicians who had granted the NDPVF funding to withdraw their support and begin funding Tom's NDV in 2004. This resulted in Asari and the NDPVF declaring "all-out war against the Nigerian government" and threatening to attack wells and pipelines throughout the region in September 2004. The declaration would act as a causative agent for what would become known as the Nigerian Oil Crisis. The oil companies operating in the area, mainly Royal Dutch Shell, subsequently withdrew their personnel, cutting oil production by a devastating 30,000 barrels per day. Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo invited the leaders of both the NDPVF (Asari) and NDV (Tom) to the capital of Abuja in order to negotiate a resolution to the conflict. After much deliberation on the part of Asari and the NDPVF, the group agreed to disarmament but the peace process collapsed due to lack of cooperation from the militias. Asari was also arrested and incarcerated by the federal government after he declared support for the independence of the Delta Region from Nigeria and has been charged with treason.