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| Operation Python Dance II - Military siege Umuahia, Abia State |
By Odira O. Udozo | For Biafra Writers
September 25, 2017
First, they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out— Because I was not a Socialist.
Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out— Because I was not a Trade Unionist.
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out— Because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for me— And there was no one left to speak for me.— Martin Niemoller
The people of Africa and the world, in general, must be unanimous in condemning evil in this region of the world. The colonial masters may have committed the initial evil at the Berlin Conference, but the actions of Africans towards fellow Africans keep oiling the wheels of discord and war in a continent laden with so many potentials.
How else can we define the events of the last two weeks in Eastern Nigeria? How else can we define a scenario where the Nigerian State rolls out armoured tanks, machine guns, and even fighter jets against defenseless people under the guise of an operation called "Python Dance" in a peaceful part of Nigeria?
They said it was meant to curb kidnapping, armed robbery, and violent agitation. The question then is; what is the job of the Police? Whose activities were violent? IPOB or the Nigerian government’s security agencies? A lot of Federal government apologists have referenced section 217,2(c) of the Nigerian Constitution, that gave the government power to deploy the military to quell insurrection but was there any form of insurrection in Biafraland?
READ ALSO: Biafra: Declaration of IPOB As Terrorists; Using The Fire Brigade Approach Won't Solve The Problem
Insurrection according to the Oxford Dictionary is a violent uprising against a government, this greatly contrasts civil disobedience, which is refusal to obey governmental demands or commands especially in a non-violent and usually collective means of forcing concessions from the government. English language may not be our forte, but it is very important a government understands the terminologies used in its constitution. How the Nigerian government perceives unarmed Biafrans rallying peacefully, asking for a referendum as violent uprising remains a mystery; as mysterious as how the 4th ranking deadliest terror group in the world; the Fulani herdsmen has become more peaceful and law-abiding than unarmed self-determination activists! Only in Nigeria.
The dance of shame in Afaraukwu did not stop at the ‘harmless show of force’ at the neighbourhood of the IPOB leader, events of the following days confirmed the fears of the masses who envisaged that the "Egwu Eke Dance", was just out to crush a movement whose argument, they couldn’t surmount nor counter with a superior one. A show of force by a country’s military is to intimidate its opponents, that at Kanu’s residence they did not only intimidate but stationed to crush those they perceived as opponents.
Who were these opponents of the Nigerian military at Abia state? Biafrans, ‘heavily’ armed with sticks and stones! A worthy and commensurate opponent indeed. This reckless display of impunity by the Nigerian state has left dead, hundreds of innocent people whose only crime was belonging to a self-determination group in Nigeria. The video clips of the military subjecting Biafrans to degrading treatment like making them lie in mud water, beating them, with some already looking dead, is enough evidence to buttress the Nigerian state’s act of terrorism against unarmed civilian population.
READ ALSO: BIAFRA: IPOB COMMEND SENATE PRESIDENT AND SOUTH EAST SENATORS FOR TIMELY INTERVENTION
Some have argued that they were members of Biafra Security Service, BSS, others say they belong to Biafra National Guard, BNG, then one wonders if the Nigerian courts are for riddles and jokes. If there is any shred of evidence with the Federal government pointing to the fact that there was arms build-up within the Biafra vigilante service, why not tackle it via the courts of law? Why the unnecessary and provocative military assaults at the behest of the unrepentant dictator of the Nigerian government at Afaraukwu Ibeku? The world should have passed the level where governments make allegations without proof, after all people of conscience are still awaiting US former president George Bush’s evidence of Saddam Hussein’s weapons of mass destruction.
When most felt that the worst part of the terror night was over, the Nigerian military goofed again in over-flowing proportions— the unilateral, illegal and unconstitutional declaration of IPOB as a terrorist organization. This is to say that IPOB was to join ISIS, Boko Haram, Al Shabab and the rest, in the terrorism hall of fame! Some may say, this is perhaps the most absurd happening of this year. Why the haste in this declaration? Are they trying to divert attention from the heinous crimes against humanity committed in Abia state?
One wonders if the military has no legal advisers. Have they not read the Terrorism (Prevention) Act, 2011, Act No. 10? The act was explicit on the processes involved in tagging a group a terrorist unit. Until recently, which is also a wrong move anyway, when did the Attorney General or the Inspector General of Police send the request to a competent court for hearing by a judge? Has it been gazetted? Where is the right of IPOB to appeal against it? Why were Biafrans arrested in the Aba unrest, allegedly being charged as terrorists even before the government obtained the court order via an ex-parte motion? These are the trappings of a state, so desperate to crush a movement that has raised human consciousness on an issue which beneficiaries of this lopsided, skewed, partial and anti-merit system, would rather remain buried for all eternity.
READ ALSO: Biafra: Northern Conspiracy Behind The Proscription Of IPOB— Biafra Writers' Editor Writes UN, US, UK, France
The remixing of the military’s spokesperson statement by the Army Chief of Staff, Lt. Tukur Buratai, the emergency court injunction gotten by the Federal government, after condemnations from well-meaning groups and individuals of conscience, does not exonerate them from this mess just as they felt sending a high-ranking officer to apologize to molested and assaulted members of the Nigerian Union of Journalists, NUJ, in Abia, after invading their Secretariat, was commensurate.
However, Nigeria must be given a special recognition for having a unique group of terrorists. These are terrorists whose only acts are simply holding peaceful rallies across cities and villages in Biafraland. They are so dangerous that women and even children have organized well-publicized rallies and conventions. However, these kinds of terrorist activities are not limited to Nigeria, they also engage in "bloody" rallies in more than 90 countries around the world, carrying dangerous weapons like flags, Biafra branded shirts, bangles, hats and other Biafra insignias. It is so bad out there that even Ireland invited IPOB in Ireland to join in their St. Patrick rally last year, and they also had one of such "suicidal" activities on Sept.19, 2017 at the UN General Assembly in New York City, to protest the state-sponsored killings in Biafraland (Imagine terrorists protesting).
They are so "secretive" that their leadership is well known, even their addresses are well known to the public. Some say Justice Abdul Kafarati of the Federal High Court; like the red priestess of the famous game of thrones series; may have seen a phantom future, where IPOB started killing and bombing, hence the hasty and irrational granting of the prayers of the Attorney General whose evidence and reasons against IPOB are simply laughable. It is pertinent to point out that one is judged by his actions not based on what he intends to do in the future, even the greatest critics of IPOB know that their activities do not in any way or form, amount to terrorism!
It really should not be a matter of ‘I am not a Biafran, so it doesn’t concern me’ or ‘I don’t like IPOB so the FG should crush them’. It happened to the Shiites, today, it is on Biafrans, tomorrow it might be you when you hold contrary opinion to that of the government. The governments of Africa and especially the civilian dictatorship in military form in Nigeria must understand that this is a democracy, no one is above the law and no one should be put beneath it.
THE BIAFRA TIMES
Edited By Chukwuemeka Chimerue
Publisher: Charles Opanwa
Contact us: [email protected]
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