President Muhammadu Buhari and Gen. TY Buratai
The
'Python Dance' panacea is a dramatic product of the intersection of the
Biafra paranoia of President Muhammadu Buhari, and the snake fetishism
of his army chief, General Tukur Yusuf Buratai.
The ongoing destructive ‘Python Dance’ of the Nigerian troops in the South East states of Nigeria is easily the most futile conceivable strategy for defeating the growing Biafra consciousness in Igboland. It’s a thought out police witch-hunt operation, and it is destined to end in a shameful retreat like all brawny wars waged against persuasions rooted in hearts and minds.
The ongoing destructive ‘Python Dance’ of the Nigerian troops in the South East states of Nigeria is easily the most futile conceivable strategy for defeating the growing Biafra consciousness in Igboland. It’s a thought out police witch-hunt operation, and it is destined to end in a shameful retreat like all brawny wars waged against persuasions rooted in hearts and minds.
The barbarous militarization of the
reasonably quiet geopolitical zone is a bald-faced abuse of the Nigerian
army. Emptying the barracks into civilian space in the absence of a
present or imminent security threat is creating a gladiatorial arena for
no just reason.
It should never have happened because it
is unconstitutional for the President of Nigeria to deploy troops on a
whim. And even if were, it's a repulsive course of action because its
atmospherics cannot but help solidify the case for Biafra 2.0,
radicalize the youths of the region, and create the perfect storm that
didn’t exist before the soldiers’ siege.
The ‘Python Dance’ does not have any
perceptible prospect of getting Igbo heartland over a barrel. It can
only be counterproductive. It will lend momentum to Nnamdi Kanu’s cause,
enlarge his support base, and enhance his profile as an ordained
prophet-leader of Biafra’s second exodus.
The ‘Python Dance’ panacea is a dumb
idea. The only way it begins to make sense as a present-day reality is
understanding that it is a dramatic product of the intersection of the
Biafra paranoia of President Muhammadu Buhari, and the snake fetishism
of his army chief, General Tukur Yusuf Buratai.
President Buhari is sick of Biafra. He is
obsessed with Biafra. He dreads Biafra, nourishes that dread, and makes
his nightmares out of its intangible essence.
Buhari is so tormented by a seemingly
ubiquitous apparition of Biafra that he is expressing and exercising
that fear as state policy. He is radiating that fear like a distressed
coward vested with military omnipotence. He is transmitting that fear as
a command, making his anxiety the lived experience of other people.
The current siege on Igboland stems from
Buhari’s desperate need to attack his own Biafra paranoia. He fears that
if he hesitates to preemptively destroy Biafra, Biafra will destroy
him. He believes the only pro-Biafra activists that can't haunt him and
aggravate his fears are the ones killed in cold blood.
Buhari unleashed Nigerian soldiers on
Igboland in a bid to annihilate the fear he harbored within. The facts
on the ground did not demand the deployment of a trigger-happy army of
occupation to the South East. But he had to validate his Biafran
paranoia by dispatching the military.
President Buhari’s short broadcast on his
return from London, after 104 days in medical exile, was all about the
putative unity of Nigeria and how Biafra would secede over the dead
bodies of its canvassers. Of the myriad issues that needed to be
addressed, he laser-focused on Biafra. He prioritized and singularized
it.
As far he was concerned, it was the most serious problem of Nigeria because it represented his greatest private headache.
As far he was concerned, it was the most serious problem of Nigeria because it represented his greatest private headache.
During his first briefing with military
chiefs, he gave them marching orders to destroy ‘threats to national
security and unity’, and by that he meant Biafra. The Biafra he never
tires of vowing to ‘crush’.
Fortunately, he has a brutal automaton
for chief of army staff. Buratai is in sync with his commander in
chief’s anti-Igbo hate. And he received the instruction as another
chance to immortalize himself as a militant agent of the Grim Reaper.
In November last year, he launched
‘Operation Python Dance 1’ in the five South East states. He
rationalized the provocative militarization as a mission necessitated by
‘’violent agitations by separatist groups’’. That was a false pretext
for invading the Igbo space and assaulting the sensibilities of the
people. There were no violent agitations in Igboland at the time.
Buratai’s relaunch of his ‘Python Dance’
consequent upon Buhari’s order scarcely lasted 24 hours before claiming
its first innocent causalities: 3 dead and 20 severely wounded. By
Buratai’s standards, this figure from the army’s raid of Nnamdi Kanu’s
residence is nothing. It’s nowhere close to his Zaria overkill.
The military occupation of the South East
has now thrown parts of the zone into turmoil, with civilians mustering
some forms of resistance. This is a needless crisis. It is a case of
making trouble for the fun of it.
The codename of the military operation,
‘Python Dance’, reveals that its purpose is to satisfy an expensive
taste. General Buratai is a snake fetishist who takes pride in indulging
his fantasy. He is cashing in on his headship of the Nigerian army to
eternalize his fascination for snakes.
General Buratai keeps the statuette of an
Egyptian cobra on his official desk. He farms snakes. He takes selfies
with snakes. He feels an affinity for snakes. He launched ‘Python
Dance’ to assert himself.
For some reason, Buratai derives a sense
of meaning from snakes. His pursuit of ‘Python Dance’ is a quest to
ensure to ensure that his life counts. It’s an attempt to secure
historical significance.
Buratai has purported to ‘kill’ Abubakar
Shekau many times. He has declared Boko Haram defeated countless times.
But both Shekau and the death cult he leads continue to exist and kill
with abandon.
Buratai recently set for himself a 40-day
target to get Shekau dead or alive. That deadline passed without any
incident. Shekau was not captured, and Buratai did not resign.
In fact, after Buratai failed to make
good on his promise to capture or kill Shekau, Nigeria’s most serious
threat, Buhari rewarded the army chief with the easier task of
terrorizing civilians of South East Nigeria. The spoiled general has
seized that face-saving, achievable challenge as an opportunity to
execute a snake-themed military operation.
Nnamdi Kanu was a mere source of bombast
on a pirate radio station until President Buhari made him a folk hero.
Buhari’s arrest and incarceration of Kanu turned him into a martyr and
phenomenon. He is now the most popular Igbo man alive.
The grotesque ‘Python Dance’ plays into
Kanu’s narrative of Nigeria’s hatred for the Igbo race. It furthers the
perception that Nigeria continues to maintain a policy of hostility
against Igbo people after the 30 month-long civil war that wasted 3
million Biafrans. The deaths and human violations resulting from the
operation will inevitably multiply the grievances that are fueling the
agitation for Biafra’s secession from Nigeria.
The siege on Igboland is legitimizing
Kanu’s quest for Biafra’s self-determination. His house arrest will make
him a prisoner of conscience. Every state sponsored act of intimidation
helps his cause.
'Python Dance' is snake oil. It will
avail Nigeria nothing. Except romancing Buhari's paranoia and his army
chief's snake fetish.
******************
By: Emmanuel Ugwu - immaugwu@gmail.com
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