Synopsis
This essay is a comprehensive analysis of issues surrounding the disputed proscription, categorization of IPOB as a terrorist organization and the military blitzkrieg codenamed - Operation Python Dance II (Egwu Eke) which was launched in southeast Nigeria on September 15, 2017 by the Nigerian military. As the military operation comes to an end today October 14, 2017, this essay argues that proscribing, censoring IPOB and using the military to rein in Biafra agitators, is tantamount to treating the symptom of an ‘ailment’ hence will not extinguish the recurring, fervent and resilient Biafra Spirit.
Preamble
On September 12, 2017, soldiers/security agents reportedly deployed MRAPs (Mine-Resistant Ambush Protected) vehicles at the tailgate of the Afaraukwu country home of the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu. The military claimed it was doing a ‘’show of force’’. Why the show of force with MRAP vehicles at Afaraukwu, a sleepy, serene, dead-end neighbourhood? Sensing this as an attempt to attack their leader, stick-wielding civilians, presumably IPOB members were seen hurling sticks, pebbles on the armoured vehicle. Unverified media reports claim that, ‘’many – plausibly 15 persons were allegedly killed as a result of the military siege on Nnamdi Kanu’s Afaraukwu country home’’. One of those reportedly killed during the mêlée, is Nnamdi Kanu’s cousin, Adaku Odoemenam. The rampaging soldiers were said to have ransacked and vandalized Nnamdi Kanu’s father’s palace, leaving many houses within the vicinity riddled with bullet holes, shrapnels. Two weeks after the military onslaught at Afaraukwu, Umuahia, nobody knows the whereabouts of Nnamdi Kanu and his parents. There are insinuations that Nnamdi Kanu and his parents were abducted by the soldiers. Some claim they may have been eliminated. A widely distributed video clip emerged portraying soldiers torturing civilians in Abia State. Some of the civilians, victims of extrajudicial killing were seen lying lifeless on the ground. The Army initially denied the claims but says it will investigate after videos of the incident went viral.
The MRAPs deployed by the Nigerian military at Umuahia, Abia state are credibly amongst the two dozen which Colonel Patrick Doyle, US Defence Attaché to Nigeria handed over to the Nigerian military a while ago to help the military in its counter-insurgency operations. The US government donated, some say, dumped (MRAPs have logistical difficulties –high fuel consumption, expensive to operate and transport) the 24 MRAPs to Nigeria as part of the US government’s ‘’Excess Defence Articles Programme’’, aimed to transfer surplus US military gear to partner nations. Events in southeast Nigeria is far from an insurgency or uprising. Notwithstanding the Biafra agitation, southeast Nigeria was adjudged to be the safest part of Nigeria. Some schools of thought liken the indiscriminate military onslaught against innocent, unarmed civilians and IPOB members as having the hallmark of genocide, state-sponsored terrorism. The so-called Operation Python Dance II which the military claim is aimed at reining in criminals, kidnappers in the southeast started on September 15, 2017 while the siege at Afaraukwu, Nnamdi Kanu’s home happened on September 12, 2017. Means the onslaught at Afaraukwu was premeditated? Connect the dots. Not to be outdone, the Nigerian Air Force declared it has deployed Alpha Jets in support of Operation Python Dance II. Alpha Jets to deal with ‘’criminals’’? Sounds more like an overkill, a declaration of war.
Recall that Justice Binta Nyako granted Nnamdi Kanu bail in April and subsequently adjourned trial of the IPOB leader to October 17, 2017. Kanu boasted that he will attend his court hearing in October. Why did the Nigerian government resort to self-help, deploy soldiers and MRAPs to hunt down Nnamdi Kanu?
The Military’s Ultra Vires Declaration, Doublespeak
In a statement in Abuja on Friday, September 14, 2017, Maj.-Gen. John Enenche, the Director, Defence Information (DDI), declared that the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, is a “militant terrorist organisation’’. Enenche’s overreaching statement instantly drew overwhelming backlash from individuals, human rights activists, organizations and the international community. Taking a cue from the army, on September 15, 2017, the five South-East Governors issued a communiqué proscribing the IPOB. Again, the action of the southeast governors didn’t follow due process hence ultra vires. On Monday September 18, 2017, two days after Major General Enenche’s declaration, the Chief of Army Staff, Lt. General Tukur Buratai did a volte-face; he blatantly recanted the statement of the Director of Defence Information. General Buratai opined that ‘’the Defence Headquarters did not declare the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, a terrorist organization in the country. What the Defence Headquarters did was to make pronouncement. It wasn’t a declaration per se…’’.
Realizing the blunder by the military, on Wednesday, September 20, 2017, five days after the military declared IPOB a terrorist group, the Chief Judge of the Federal High Court, Abuja, Justice Abdu Kafarati, formally granted the ex-parte motion by the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mr. Abubakar Malami (SAN), seeking the proscription of the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB and to declare the IPOB a terrorist organisation. The lawyer to the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, Nnamdi Kanu, Mr. Ifeanyi Ejiofor subsequently filed a motion challenging the proscription of IPOB.
Condemnations Trail Attack on IPOB Members, Proscription
In a statement, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Mr. Mike Ozekhome condemned the proscription of the IPOB by the military. He said: “I do not believe the instances cited by the Defence Headquarters to justify declaring IPOB a terrorist organization." Mr. Ozekhome also submitted, “The herdsmen who go on rampage daily, maiming, raping, killing; those responsible for the Agatu massacre; Shiites massacre, Southern Kaduna pogrom, indiscriminate killings, brazen quit notices’ givers, across Nigeria, etc., have never been arrested, prosecuted, let alone been proscribed and stigmatized as terrorist organizations’’.
A Lagos-based lawyer and human rights lawyer, Mr. Ebun-olu Adegboruwa asserts that the Attorney General of the Federation, AGF, cannot seek legal action against the IPOB group because it is non-existent, adding that the court cannot also issue orders against the group as it is “unenforceable.” Mr. Adegboruwa went further to say that, “The Attorney-General of the Federation cannot competently sue IPOB as a defendant, in any court of law, the same being an entity unknown to law’’. “The Supreme Court has stated it times without number that the court cannot proceed against a non-juristic person’’.
President of the EU Commission, Mr. Jean-Claude Junker, reportedly warned the Nigerian security personnel against what he described as ‘’their ill-hearted and unprofessional handling of democratic issues and the rights of the people’’. According to Junker, “It is the people’s right to agitate and make a request from their government; self-determination is a right enshrined in the United Nation Charter. The people of Biafra have every right to request for a referendum, they have been in this struggle for a while now they have never killed or shot a bullet instead they are the victims of attacks and murder’’. “The entire EU hereby condemns the brutal attack on IPOB members and leadership under the pretentious disguise of a military exercise (Operation Python Dance). The Nigerian military is warned to adopt democratic tenets in handling citizens’’.
A renowned UK-based counterterrorism expert, Mr. David Otto submits that proscribing the IPOB ‘’is a wrong tactic at a wrong time’’. He says, ‘’If the purpose is to maintain unity, then it will have the opposite effect. If the purpose is to destabilize IPOB and take away the legitimate steam it is generating from the massive support of the people, then it is even more complex now. Irrespective of the precarious situation in different parts of the country, declaring IPOB a terrorist organisation is a bad idea’’.
Growing Distrust For The Buhari Administration And The Military
The unmistakable marginalization of Ndigbo and the military onslaught - Operation Python Dance in the southeast has deepened distrust for the Buhari administration and the Nigerian army. Fifty four percent of 4,937 respondents to an online/social media poll conducted by Guardian Newspaper agreed that Operation Python dance II will be counterproductive. Similar to how the Iraqis resented the United States military occupation of Iraq, the distrust, resentment between Ndigbo and the Nigerian military is unprecedented. There was palpable fear and pandemonium on Wednesday October 11, 2017 across Southeast Nigeria following the start of a medical outreach by the Nigerian Army as part of its Operation Python Dance II. Insinuation was rife that military personnel were forcefully immunizing, injecting students with a ‘virus’. Parents and guardians in Anambra, Imo, Abia, Ebonyi and Enugu states besieged schools to withdraw their wards. Prior to the aforesaid incident, THISDAY Newspaper of September 21, 2017 reports how low turn-out marred military medical outreach in Ebonyi State, southeast Nigeria following the clampdown and alleged killing of members of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) in Abia State. The economic impact of Operation Python Dance in southeast Nigeria is huge. As at September 24, 2017, barely 10 days into the military operation, a BusinessDay Newspaper report asserted that Operation Python Dance II cost Aba businesses about 10 billion Naira. Essentially bulk selling and export of Made-In -Aba products have been hampered drastically as a result of the anxiety, tension in the southeast sequel to Operation Python Dance II. Many Igbo folks hitherto sitting on the fence are beginning to sympathize with the Biafran agitators. The Movement for the Actualization of the Sovereign State of Biafra, MASSOB, says ‘’Buhari’s government wants to kill Kanu in other to complete the 1967 genocide’’ against Biafrans. MASSOB argues that, ‘’Operation Python Dance, also known as ‘Egwu Eke,’ is a ploy by the Federal Government of Nigeria, led by President Muhammadu Buhari, a Fulani man, to wipe out the Igbo from the face of the earth. It is simply a means for him to express his hatred for the Igbo. All the while, we have been complaining that Buhari hates Ndigbo. Now, the hatred is clear for everyone to see’’. It is not only in the southeast that the military unleashed its needless gusto on. New Telegraph Newspaper, October 18, 2017, reported that panic ensued on Tuesday, October 17, 2017, at Edo State, when soldiers, who were part of Operation Crocodile Smile II, allegedly razed down 15 houses at Ajakurama community, near Egbema Kingdom in Ovia South West Local Government Area of Edo state. The Army Public Relations Officer for 4th Brigade Command, Benin, Captain Muhammed Maidawa reportedly owned up that officers from the command carried out the operation at Ajarukama community. He explained that the army took the action because there was credible information available to the command, about activities of kidnappers in the community. Perhaps the Nigerian military will have to launch ‘’Operation Restore Trust’’ to help it regain the modicum confidence and trust that Nigerians reposed in them.
Militarization, Deploying Troops To Quench Scuffles Is An Aberration
The Nigerian government should realize that deploying soldiers to rein in brawls is sign of a dysfunctional, weak, failing/failed state. Unwarranted militarization of an environment leads to apprehension, hostilities, and mistrust. You seldom see combat-ready troops and armoured tanks (MRAPs) in operation on the streets of stable climes like the United States, Germany, and the United Kingdom, amongst others. Ndigbo have a saying that goes thus – ‘’Aru gbaa afo oburu omenala’’, a rough translation says ‘’when a crime is widespread and entrenched, it inadvertently becomes a tradition’’. It is now a norm for the Nigerian government to use maximum force, deploy overzealous soldiers, armoured vehicles and helicopter gunboats to rein in unarmed civilians, to quell civil disputes. Flooding the nook and cranny of Nigeria with soldiers for ‘’law enforcement’’ is an aberration because more often than not, the principle of use of minimum force and rules of engagement are jettisoned in favour of maximum force. Soldiers, especially the Nigerian variety, are trained to kill and not to enforce law. In essence, the Nigerian military usurps the role of law enforcement agencies - the police et al. On August 7, 2016, the Guardian Newspaper quoted SBM Intelligence, a strategic Intelligence analysis firm report which affirms that soldiers were deployed to 30 out of the 36 States of the Federation and the Federal Capital Territory. Since President Muhammadu Buhari was sworn in as President on May 29, 2015, the Nigerian military has carried out nearly a dozen military operations in its bid to ‘’protect Nigeria’s territorial integrity’’ and to fight criminality. They include:
1. Operation Lafiya Dole (replaced Operation Zaman Lafiya” (Let’s live in peace).
2. Operation Sharan Daji
3. Operation Awatse
4. Operation Shirin Harbi
5. Harbin Kunama I and Harbin Kunama II
6. Crocodile Smile I and Crocodile Smile II
7. Python Dance I and Python Dance II (Egwu Eke)
8. Operation Dokaji:
Guardian newspaper says, ‘’for instance, not less than 1,000 men of the Nigerian Army and the Police, allegedly invaded Gbishe, a renowned farming settlement, in Katsina-Ala Local Government Area of Benue State, in the early in the morning, reducing over 1,000 homes to rubbles’’. Characteristic of the current administration’s heightening poor human rights record, in a report titled, ‘’Nigeria: Unearthing The Truth: Unlawful Killings And Mass Cover-Up In Zaria’’, Amnesty International evidenced how on the afternoon of 12 December 2015, soldiers opened fire on protesters blocking a road in the Nigerian city of Zaria. The report says, ‘’Over the following two days, more than 350 protesters and supporters of the Islamic Movement of Nigeria, IMN, were killed at two sites in Zaria’’. Nearly two years after the alleged massacre of the Shiite Muslims and despite a court order for his release, Ibrahim El-Zakzaky, the leader of the Shiite group, is still being detained by the government. Another investigation by Amnesty International published November 24, 2016, chronicled how ‘’Nigerian security forces, led by the military, embarked on a chilling campaign of extrajudicial executions and violence resulting in the death of AT LEAST 150 peaceful pro-Biafra protesters in southeast Nigeria’’.
In his piece: ‘’Is The Nigerian Army Teachable?’’ Professor Pius Adesanmi of Carleton University, Canada, submits that ‘’You cannot use soldiers and their tanks for routine law enforcement’’. Adesanmi believes it is utterly a reprehensible idea for the Nigerian military to deploy their tanks in civilian spaces. He affirms that, ‘’Even in Iraq and Afghanistan, there is still law enforcement by police’’. Pius Adesanmi (@pius_adesanmi) later tweeted that, ‘’the Nigerian Army will soon intervene in domestic disputes between couples to popular acclamation. We need a massive drive for civic enlightenment’’. Soldiers, especially the Nigerian breed openly boast that they are trained to kill. Since the Nigerian Army usurps the roles of the Police and other law enforcement agencies, perhaps the Nigerian government will do well to scrap these ‘ineffective’ security agencies and save Nigeria money expended on them.
Where The Nigerian Military Should Prove Its Mettle
A swathe of oil-rich Nigerian territory (Bakassi peninsula) was ceded to Cameroon and the Nigerian military didn't fight to defend the territorial integrity of Nigeria. Punch Newspaper, October 16, 2017, reported that two people were feared dead while six others sustained injuries as Cameroonian gendarmes from Bodam community invaded Danare in Boki Local Government Area of Cross River State. On July 7, 2017, the Guardian Newspaper reports that 97 Nigerians were feared killed in Bakassi by Cameroon Gendarmes in violation of the 2005 Green Tree Agreement (GTA) by the Nigeria-Cameroon Mixed Commission. The Nigerian military didn’t launch ‘’Operation Hippopotamus Dance’’ to protect Nigerians in the Cross River state flank of the Bakassi peninsular. The military is currently having a tough time reining in a so-called ragtag Boko Haram Sect after nearly 10 years of insurgency. On August 26, 2014, the internet, social media was awash with news of how about 480 Nigerian soldiers fled into Cameroon after heavy fighting with Boko Haram insurgents in the border town of Gamboru. To save face, the Nigerian army referred to the unscheduled escape of the Nigerian troops into Cameroonian soil as a “tactical maneuver”. The soldiers were later repatriated by Cameroon.
Not long ago, Boko Haram leader Shekau released video showing policewomen abduction during Boko Haram attack on a joint police/military convoy near Maiduguri on June 20, 2017. The factional leader of Boko Haram, Albarnawi also released a video of three of the four missing staff of the University of Maiduguri who were abducted after Boko Haram ambushed their oil exploration team at the Lake Chad basin and killed five of their colleagues on July 25, 2017. Several months down the line, these Nigerians are still in the custody of Boko Haram insurgents. Where was the Nigerian military when a supposed ragtag Boko Haram sect forced to the Nigerian government to negotiating table which led to the release of some 82 abducted Chibok schoolgirls lately? A report by BBC Correspondents – Alastair Leithead and Stephanie Hegarty dated May 19, 2017, titled, ‘’The Fate of The Chibok Girls’’, unveiled how, apart from handing over five Boko Haram bomb-makers to Boko Haram in exchange for the release of 82 Chibok girls, €2m in cash was handed over to the terrorist group in exchange for the release of the girls. Having gotten enough intelligence from the freed Chibok girls, what is stopping the Nigerian military from rescuing the rest of the Chibok girls still in Boko Haram captivity? Is the military waiting for another prisoner swap? The Nigerian military should prove its mettle, expertise in such situations rather than use innocent, unarmed civilians for target practice. The United States, Israeli military will not sit back and watch their government pay humongous ransom to terrorists operating inside their countries.
*** To be continued.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
© Don Okereke, a security analyst/consultant, writer
CEO, Holistic Security Background Checks Limited
http://www.holisticsecurity.com.ng
Twitter: @DonOkereke
October, 2017.