The South-east and South-south regions of the country dissolved into anarchy on Monday when thousands of protesting youths clashed with security forces in Anambra, Imo, Enugu, Abia, Delta, Cross River and Ebonyi states.
The clash led to several deaths, including about three policemen, while others sustained severe injuries, with the security forces arresting a number of the protesters.
In Umuahia, the Abia State capital, members of MASSOB defied the police in the city and held a peaceful rally to mark the 49th anniversary of Biafra.
But the pro-Biafra movement said that the police eventually arrested 10 of its members, while one person sustained gunshot wounds. However, the state Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Mr. Udeviotu Onyeke, said only four MASSOB members were arrested by the police during the “illegal rally”, which according to him, was not authorised by the police command. The Abia Central Information Director of the Chief Ralf Uwazurike-led Biafra Independent Movement (BIM/MASSOB), Mr. Ansalem Ogbonna, however, told journalists that armed policemen had swooped on their members at Asaba Street after the rally and opened fire on them.
He said the Divisional Police Officer (DPO) in charge of Umuahia Central Police Station, who later whisked away the arrested Biafran activists to the police station, led the police team.
A detachment of heavily-armed policemen led by the DPO had attempted to stop the protesters at the Isi Gate Junction but could not, as more sympathisers joined the protest, thus overwhelming the security operatives. The protesters, chanting Biafran songs and waving Biafran flags, took off from their base at Asaba Street after a prayer session and marched through major streets within the metropolis
This is not the first such protests are taking place in the country and each time there has been some violence trailing such protests. This time, the protesters, who were mainly members of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) and Movement for the Actualisation of Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB), had trooped out en masse, some of them coming from as far as the northern part of the country and Lagos, to mark Biafra Day in memory of the former leader of the defunct Biafra Republic, the late Chukwuemeka Odumegwu -Ojukwu.
Report has it that during the recent rally in Onitsha, Anambra State for example, a combined team of the military and police clashed with members of IPOB leading to the death of about 30 persons. Several others were injured while over 50 members of the Biafran group were arrested.
For many observers, this are deaths too many. They should be stopped immediately. All over the world, peaceful protests are allowed. And in the case of IPOB and MASSOB, the Nigerian security forces have lacked the capacity to manage them professionally hence the resort to confrontation, which usually leads to bloodshed, destruction and disruption of economic activities.
There’s nothing wrong in asking or agitating for self-determination but it has to follow laid-down international best practices. Just recently, when Scotland agitated for self-determination, there was no recourse to waste of human lives. There was a plebiscite, which did not sail through. There are many countries like that have gone through such process and some succeeded while others did not. This is the road the MASSOB or IPOB leaders should tread rather than going on collision cause with the security apparatus of the country.
In a recent interview with The New Diplomat, Lt-Gen. Alani Akinrinade, one of the actors in the Nigerian civil war said any part of the country could go its way as there was no point holding any unwilling partner. But he added that the process must be initiated and agreed on. He condemned the recourse to violence by both the military and the agitators.
Also in a recent interview, President Muhammadu, while responding to a question on why Nnamdi Kanu, the leader of IPOB is being continuously held in detention, was quoted as saying that those agitating for Biafra have a tough job to do, as Nigeria will not disintegrate under him. As a result, he unleashed the military on the harmless agitators. Military option will not solve the problem, dialogue will be a better option as military option may lead to the agitators arming themselves.
MASSOB leader, Mr. Uchenna Madu, on Monday said that the federal government should look into the massacre with a view to arresting the situation. He warned that the Biafran agitators might be forced to take up arms in self-defence should the security forces continue to kill defenceless IPOB and MASSOB members.
He alleged that while the same government was in negotiation with Boko Haram and Niger Delta militants, the security forces continue to fight its unarmed members.
The federal government that has been fighting Boko Haram in the last couple of years is advised to handle the Biafra agitation with every sense of responsibility, including going into dialogue. On their part, IPOB, MASSOB and allied groups in the agitation as well as the security agencies should conduct themselves with high level of decency in other to stop these recurring bloodshed.
Enough of this bloodbath.
Following the escalation of violence in the Niger Delta region as oil output dropped as low as 1.2 million barrel per day with the nation losing as much as N50 billion daily, President Muhammadu Buhari is considering several options aimed at ending hostilities in the volatile region.
The New Diplomat gathered from Presidency sources that Buhari is seriously considering overhauling the Presidential Amnesty Office and the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) with a view to re-positioning both institutions for better and most effective performance. Sources hinted that the Presidency, which is said to be dissatisfied with the performance of the management of the Presidential Amnesty Office headed by retired Brigadier-General Paul Boroh, may fire the latter with a view to bringing on board a team with more pragmatic, visionary and community-connected leadership.
Buhari is said to have directed a top presidential operative to review both the operational capacity and leadership competence of the Presidential Amnesty office as well as the various models put in place by late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua . The New Diplomat’s checks revealed that a former Managing Director of the NDDC and former Special Adviser to the late Yar’Adua on the Presidential Amnesty Programme, Mr Timi Alaibe, has been pencilled down for consideration by the presidency.
Said a Presidency source, “I can assure that with the way things are, it is obvious that the situation could have been handled differently and most professionally. Who are the Niger Delta Avengers? Are they not human beings? What are their grievances? Why should the head of the Amnesty Programme be going to Benin City to hold a so-called meeting with militants when the real theatre of militant operations is in Warri or Port-Harcourt? These are the two places to hold such meetings. So it is increasingly clear that the present leadership of the Amnesty Office is not on ground. I also understand that there may be changes in that sector soon. The NDDC will also be repositioned. You recall that the Board was sacked and an acting MD, who was supposed to serve for three months, is in place by this month, June. It is exactly six months that the NDDC is without a Board. So there are no operational and leadership capacities within these two vital institutions. That is why Mr President is determined to do something soon.’’
Crisis in the Niger Delta took a new dimension recently following criminal acts by a violent militant group called Niger Delta Avengers which blew up major oil and gas installations in the heart of the region. The Federal government, in a swift response had deployed troops to fish out the militants and restore normalcy in the troubled region.
