File photo
The
Biafra question was never addressed after the war. Buhari must think
long and hard about what the Igbo want, why they feel sidelined, and
what he can do to make them feel part of Nigeria.
Peace cannot be kept by force; it can only be achieved by understanding. — Albert Einstein
Whoever he is, the military officer who coined the code name
‘Python Dance’ is a genius. Although an original version of the military
operation, the Python Dance I, held between November 27 and December
27, 2016, no one should have looked any further than the code name to
deduce the possible outcome of the army’s latest incursion into the
south-east. As a rebel scientist, I’ll break this down.
‘PYTHON DANCE’ MORE THAN MERE NOMENCLATURE
Although they are a family of nonvenomous snakes, pythons,
scientifically Pythonidae, can be extremely dangerous. They are some of
the largest snakes in the world, and are notorious ambush predators in
that they typically lay motionless to evade the notice of a passing prey
but then suddenly strike when danger is least expected. Ordinarily, no
one should tease the python — that is where Nnamdi Kanu and the
Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) got it wrong. Even though it looks
innocuous when motionless, a python cannot be active without inflicting
harm — that’s the misjudgement of the army, the thought that the
operation would run without tension.
Prior to the take-off of the operation, the Nigerian Army acted
like a python, listing a raft of harmless activities to cover up its one
controversial aim of the operation. David Dawandi, a Major-General and
Chief of Training and Operations of the army, said in a statement on
September 8, that “during the exercise, emphasis will be placed on
raids, cordon-and-search operations, anti-kidnapping drills, road
blocks, check points, patrols, and humanitarian relief activities such
as medical outreach”. That’s the motionless python. The statement also
made it clear that there would be a “show of force to curb the rising
threat to national security in the south-eastern part of the country”. A
“show of force”? That’s a python in ambush mode. The summary is that it
was an unnecessary operation. For many reasons.
NEEDLESS DANCE
Nnamdi Kanu’s court trial is ongoing. When he returns to court on
October 17, the court will hear the federal government’s application for
the revocation of his bail. There is no chance Kanu will win that
argument — unless Justice Binta Nyako, who granted him bail in April,
wants to make a mockery of herself and the judiciary. Kanu has
repeatedly violated his bail conditions, the most obvious being his
prohibition from hanging out with a company of more than 10 or granting
interviews. The violation of the latter Kanu has already tried to
defend, bizarrely claiming that he doesn’t “grant interviews” but he
only “answers the questions” of journalists because it would be “rude
and arrogant” of him to keep quiet when asked a question! But no such
ingenious explanation exists for the former; there are numerous footages
of him among scores and hordes of people, including videos of him
preaching raw hate. Kanu’s return to prison will be permanent in
October, so first question to the army; why roll out the pythons against
a drowning adversary?
Read this also: SPOTTED: Military violated Terrorism Act 2013 by declaring IPOB 'terrorist group'
While the pythons were still dancing, the defence headquarters
rushed to designate IPOB a terrorist group without even taking a moment
to find out the procedures, as laid down by the same law they claim to
be enforcing. The army erred by failing to follow the provisions of the
Terrorism (Prevention) Act 2011, amended in 2013, that “setting up or
pursuing acts of terrorism, the judge in Chambers may on an application
made by the Attorney General, National Security Adviser or Inspector
General of Police on the approval of the President; declare any entity
to be a proscribed organization and the notice should be published in
official gazette”.
Even that move itself is an overkill. Of course, Nnamdi Kanu is
very annoying — I can imagine the Chief of Army Staff watching him in
one of his numerous hate videos and itching to grab his throat and
strangle him. There can be no arguments that he is unstable: how can a
man who so passionately preached Nigeria’s unity under Goodluck Jonathan
now so vehemently champion secession? But a more careful look at him
will reveal his true nature: a mere radio/internet noisemaker elevated
to the status of Biafra champion by a zealous and unlawful Muhammadu
Buhari government. Kanu would never enjoy half his current popularity if
he wasn’t repeatedly denied bail. Kanu talks too much; die-hard rebels
talk less and act more. His Biafra Security Service (BSS) is toothless;
not one of the so-called trainees carried any sort of weapon. They, in
fact, looked too confused to be able to withstand confrontation by a
private, the lowest-ranked officer of the Nigerian army. Little wonder
Kanu himself is now in hiding.
Read this also: Military designates IPOB 'terrorist organisation'
LESSONS AND QUESTIONS
The deployment of soldiers to the south-east has caused needless
tension. The death of a hard-to-ascertain number of people, the assault
on suspected IPOB members (which, by the way, will go unpunished despite
the army’s claim to be investigating it), the combing of buses by IPOB
members in Aba for Hausa to harm, the Igbo-Hausa tension in Jos and Port
Harcourt are all worrying scenarios that would have been avoided
without military action. The seething inter-ethnic tension is worrisome;
this is how wars start. In the past week, whether we admit it or not,
Nigeria took one giant step towards a second Civil War. The good thing,
though, is that the situation is still reasonably under control. To
avert a total breakdown of law and order, our leaders must learn from
our history and ask themselves the hard questions.
Speaking of lessons, it is hard to imagine how quickly our leaders
have forgotten the role of military action in the escalation of Boko
Haram from a nonviolent ideological group under Yusuf Mohammed to a
ruthlessly violent one under Abubakar Shekau. The 2009 police crackdown
on Boko Haram in Bauchi led to violence in Kano, Yobe and Borno states;
and after Mohammed’s capture by the military and extrajudicial execution
by the police, the reins of Boko Haram fell on the bellicose,
blood-thirsty Shekau. The rest, as they say, is history. It will take
decades for the north to recover from the ruin of this insurgency — the
deaths of hundreds of thousands, displacement of at least 3million
people, the humanitarian crisis, the sheer destruction of flora and
fauna, the physical and socioeconomic regression. So, even if the
military succeeds in taking out Kanu, the Biafra mantle will naturally
be transferred to someone else, who may even be more dangerous than
kanu. Tact, not force, is what President Muhammadu Buhari needs to
handle Kanu and the Biafra agitation.
There are two questions the government must answer if Nigeria must
remain peaceful. Why, despite his apparent weakness of character, lack
of purpose, unruly choice of words, does Kanu continue commanding huge
youth following? And, why, after almost four decades post-Civil War, are
we still discussing Biafra? I do not have all the answers, but I’ll
supply some.
First question: as I said earlier, Kanu is the number-one
beneficiary of government’s misuse of power. But more importantly,
Kanu’s followers are mostly made up of unemployed or unprofitably
employed, disillusioned youth who have finally found someone to identify
with their struggles. For the second, it must mean that the Biafra
question was never addressed after the war. Buhari must think long and
hard about what the Igbo want, why they feel sidelined, and what he can
do to make them feel part of Nigeria.
Otherwise, a legitimate Biafra question will be left in the hands
of an opportunistic Kanu, and we will lose a golden opportunity to once
and for all resolve our differences and strengthen the bond of our
nationhood. Buhari should let the courts decide Kanu’s fate. He must
jettison the use of force and embrace dialogue — because whether we like
it or not, a million pythons cannot dance away the Biafra question!
About the Author:
Fisayo Soyombo, is the Editor of the International Centre for Investigative Reporting (ICIR), tweets @fisayosoyombo
0 comments:
Post a Comment