We woke up to the mayhem of the unknown gun men in Imo state on April 5, 2021. They had attacked Nigerian Correctional Services and the police headquarters in Imo State, freeing 1,844 inmates, after which they set the facilities ablaze. This incident has become the basis for destabilizing insecurity that is affecting lives and businesses in the South East. South East has been marginalized and excluded in the politics at the federal level for a very long time. Their political ambitions are blocked as they cannot aspire to become the president of Nigeria, if not, the 30-month war that was fought and won by Nigeria will be used to blackmail and intimidate them.
These political exclusions and the often being regarded as minority in a country they partly championed its independence from colonist Britain, the 97 percent vs 5 percent policy of the Buhari’s administration and much more, have given rise to agitations for self-determination and otherwise to restore the Republic of Biafra.
On May 30, 1967, Republic of Biafra was proclaimed and seceded from Nigeria on accounts of intent of genocide on the Igbo people. War was declared on the young country in order to bring them back into Nigeria as one nation. Biafra lost and even when Gen. Yakubu Gowon declared “no victor, no vanquished”, Igbo people have been dealt with as the vanquished in the policies perceived or seen to be targeted on them. For this, majority of the Igbo people felt that the war has actually not ended.
Insecurity has been ongoing in other states of the country; countless of people have been killed which emanated from the attacks by the Fulani herdsmen who invade communities, but the insecurity in the South East has become very big to require the president to deal with the people “in the language they will understand.” The president first made this statement in his June 1, 2021 tweet, (now deleted); he reiterated same in an interview he granted to Arise TV on June 10, 2021. In his words, “In any case, we say we’ll talk to them in the language that they understand. We’ll organise the police and the military to pursue them.”
For clarity, I am not in support of violence or am I happy for the insecurity in the South East and in the country.
On May 11, the federal government announced new security measures for the South East region. In the meeting, no one from the South East was in attendance because no one from the South East was appointed into the nation’s Security Council. The Inspector-General of Police, Usman Alkali Baba had said the government decided to evolve a new approach to tackle insecurity in the south East.
Despite that the Imo state governor, Hope Uzodinma has publicly stated that “those perpetrating the violence and evil {in Imo state} are mostly not Igbo people but hired machinery and that over 70 percent of them are not Igbos.” Despite that IPOB denied that they have no hand in the insecurity happening in the South East, the federal government led by Buhari has ordered a shoot-on-sight on the South East people.
There have been reports of increasing “incessant arrests” of the perceived members of the IPOB. President Buhari in the same interview described Igbo people as IPOB, “That IPOB is just like a dot in a circle…And the way they are spread all over the country, having businesses and properties, I don’t think IPOB knows what they are talking about.” It has become an eye opener that every Igbo person has now become IPOB member in the eyes of the president therefore laying credence to the indiscriminate arrests and otherwise killing of Igbo youths. To this, Hon. Bede Eke (Representing Abor Mbaise and Ngor Okpala Federal Constituency of Imo state), had raised alarm that many of his constituents are missing and many others killed or sought refuge in the bushes. Igbo Elders had also raised alarm of the “ethnic cleansing” on Igbo people. Yesterday, The Igbo Elders Council (IEC), alleged that “over 5000 Igbo youths have been killed and more than 10,000 others were thrown into detention camps.”
It was Josef Goebbels that first suggested a “general distinguishing mark” for German Jews. So, referring to all Igbo people as IPOB who according to the Nigerian government is proscribed was not just a slip of naming but can be said to be a well-intended identifier that will justify any extra-judicial killings or abductions.
Referring to Ojukwu’s interview to BBC on January 13, 2000, he said, “We have a situation creeping towards the type of situation that saw the beginning of the war.”
Even if South East is just like a dot and as often represented on the map, the president who also said that he has got the assurances of the South-South leaders and youths which therefore describes the “dot in circle” statement, is the president telling the Igbo people that the new security approach has South East and Igbo nation encircled? The president continued in saying, “Even if they want to exit, they will have no access to anywhere.” As The Guardian wrote in 1967, “A deeper northern motive would be to secure the landlocked region’s outlet to the sea.”
There have been attempts to isolate and target the Igbo people given the utterances from the northern politicians, several northern groups including women that demonstrated and asked that the Igbo people be allowed to leave Nigeria by referendum. The narrative is that the ills in Nigeria are committed by the Igbo people despite that they are far from the helms of the executive, judiciary, legislative and security administration .
Given all these, we must not allow another pogrom to take place on Igbo people in the Igbo heartland. We have to remain law abiding and not give excuse for any extra-judicial killing.
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