CHRISTIAN ROWLAND ANALYSIS!!!! ON THE MADNESS CALLED “OPERATION PYTHON DANCE II ”BY THE NIGERIAN ARMY IN SOUTH-EAST…SEE
CHRISTIAN ROWLAND ANALYSIS!!!! ON THE MADNESS CALLED “OPERATION PYTHON DANCE II ”BY THE NIGERIAN ARMY IN SOUTH-EAST…SEE
Christian
Rowland writing for ODOGWU MEDIA... The Nigerian Army madness called ‘Operation Python Dance’ in
the South East, with the claim that it is meant to fight kidnapping and
other criminal activities, is Unbelievable ?
If the
leadership of that institution takes Nigerians for fools, especially at a
time when kidnapping, armed robbery and sundry crimes abound in other
parts of the country without any major deployment of soldiers.
Yes,
kidnappings and armed robbery are rampant on the Abuja-Kaduna-Zaria
expressway flank, for instance, to the extent that the Inspector General
of Police, Ibrahim Idris, had to remove all police DPOs, Commissioners
of Police and Assistant Inspectors General of Police (AIGs) in the area,
yet soldiers have not been massively deployed.
There are also
kidnappings and crimes in other parts of Nigeria, but the military has
not been unleashed soldiers on residents and people of the affected
areas. Therefore, there is more to singling out the South East for such
show of military strength and might.
Indeed, it is pertinent to ask these
questions: Why is it that a legion of soldiers and military hardware
have been deployed to the five states of the South East when there is no
war or insurrection in the place? Why is it that Abia and other South
East states are swarming with armed soldiers, who are brutally dealing
with people, against global military rule of engagement, relating to
civilians ?
Why has the military chosen to raise unnecessary tension in the South East and further worsen security situation ?
For
the avoidance of doubt, the hitherto peace enjoyed in the South East
geopolitical zone, despite the wrong picture the authorities were
painting, has been deflowered with the military deployment. Now, Aba,
the commercial nerve center of Abia State, is under curfew, from as
early as 6pm, with residents afraid to even step out for their
legitimate businesses during the day.
And people are being victimized,
tortured and maimed because of the activities of the Indigenous People
of Biafra (IPOB). Reports and video clips on the military
operation in the South East show the most inhuman treatment of innocent
people by this invading army. The soldiers are executing orders in the
most callous way, flogging their victims like animals, making them to
lie down in ponds for hours and liquidating some of them in the process.
The south-east remains the most peaceful region in the whole of the country, i really wondered what message the government thinks it is sending out to the Igbos and the world. At
a time south easterners need protection, they are getting horrendous
treatment in their own land. Coming just a few months after a coalition
of Arewa youths issued a quit notice to Igbos living in the North and no
action was taken against them, the ongoing military operation further
shows the treatment of Nigerians on unequal measures.
If Arewa youths
issued a quit order to Igbos to vacate the North, and there was no
military deployment in the areas wherein the Igbos were under threat, and
the military turns around to deploy troops to South East, it says much
about how the Federal Government perceives people from the South East. To
say the least, if there is anywhere the military and the government are
supposed to deploy soldiers, it is in the North, where the Igbos and
other non-indigenes are living in fear, following an earlier quit order.
Granted that the Arewa youths have
suspended the quit notice, the government knows that there is need for
security guarantee in the North, especially as the October 1 earlier
deadline approaches. For one, Arewa youths outlined conditions on which
they suspended the quit order. Therefore, there is still the feeling
that Igbos are not safe in the North.
And the fact that President
Muhammadu Buhari, in his ‘return home’ broadcast, did not condemn,
outright, that quit order, but only said all Nigerians were entitled to
live and do business in any part of the country leaves much to
imagination. Of course, condemning the quit order and saying that
Nigerians were entitled to live and do business in any part of the
country are not the same thing.
Whereas the former is an assurance that
the government, which President Buhari leads, is against the quit order,
the latter is stating the obvious, as the constitution gives Nigerians
the liberty to live and do business anywhere in the country, within the
ambit of the law.
At present, tension has been heightened
by the indiscretion of deploying troops to the South East. Just as it
did not achieve anything tangible in 2016 other than making the
agitation for Biafra to resonate, when Nnamdi Kanu was under
incarceration, the chances of the government achieving anything
currently is low.
Using force to suppress people who feel short-changed
in a country they think they have equal rights would not work. Rather,
it will increase the agitation and a feeling of alienation. By its
actions, there is no doubt that the government has not learn't any lesson
from the mistake of arresting Kanu, in the first place, over Biafra
agitation.
Whether the government believes it or not, the arrest of Kanu
was one of the most fundamental errors it has made. This is because
with the arrest and detention, Kanu was transmogrified from a simple
director of Radio Biafra to the youths’ hero and his followers’ symbol
of emancipation.
And the worst mistake the government would make is to
re-arrest the IPOB leader Nammdi Kanu.This was
the error made in the Niger Delta, which cost Nigeria a lot, until
the late President Umar Yar’Adua, in his wisdom, initiated the amnesty
programme and quelled the agitation in the region.
The current government’s attitude would
not produce good result. Those advising the government to toe that line
may think that crackdown would stamp out agitation in the South East,
but it is apparent that this would increase it. When the things that
fuel Biafra are left unaddressed, there is no way the agitation or
identification with it would go away.
Just like government believed that
arresting Arewa youths, who issued quit notice to Igbo would have
further increased tension and insecurity, re-arresting Kanu, through
military force or the revocation of his bail would cause the same. Such
plot, if it is the goal of Operation Python Dance, will be a disaster.
Therefore, the government should retrace its steps, withdraw the
military from the South East and allow the dialogue the South East
governors and Ohanaeze Ndigbo initiated to run its course. It does not
make sense that just three weeks after South East governors, Ohanaeze
organisation and some Igbo leaders met with Kanu and his group, with the
plan of further meetings, the government ordered a military onslaught.
Such an act shows that some unpatriotic elements in government do not
really wish the country well and, therefore, taking actions to
exacerbate problems.
For other pro-Biafra groups they should know that caution is not a mark of cowardice.
They should know when to act, and
when to play the fool. Confronting military personnel, who are on a
mission to kill, will only be counter-productive.
Doing so will be
tantamount to playing into the hands of those looking
for an opportunity to descend on the Igbos, although it was a trap the pro-biafrans set for the Nigerian army in which they foolishly fell into.
And for other Nigerians who
are watching and clapping for the military and government, as the Igbo
are being dealt with, one message is this:
Those who sit back and
commend evil tendencies will, one day, will discover that they would not be
spared. Igbos are being dealt with today and others are not talking. This
will embolden those carrying out this suppressive programme. Tomorrow,
the oppressors of our people will take on others. And the undemocratic
practices as well as dictatorship will subsist.
CHRISTIAN ROWLAND ANALYSIS!!!! ON THE MADNESS CALLED “OPERATION PYTHON DANCE II ”BY THE NIGERIAN ARMY IN SOUTH-EAST…SEE
Reviewed by RowlandGate
on
Friday, September 15, 2017
Rating:
No comments: