This BBC News article about a group in Northern Nigeria perked my interest. Not only do they call themselves the Taliban (or Taleban, as the BBC spells it) and are led by a man called Mullah Omar, but they have raised an Afghani flag.
These men are obvivously Nigerian, and they claim to have received no foreign support (so Osama is not hiding in Nigeria). While the Taliban were able to sucessfully create an Islamic state, the conditions in Afghanistan after the Soviet pullout were much different than those in northern Nigeria today.
This type of "role-playing" reminds me of medieval history in Eastern Europe, especially in Russia. Whenever there was a succession crisis or some other monarchy-shaking event, some opportunist would pop up and claim to be the last young, popular prince who died in mysterious circumstances. Though the case of Prince Dmitry (who died in 1591, but was "resurrected" during Russia's Time of Troubles) remains the ultimate example for me, a more recent case would be the various people claiming to be Princess Anatasia.
