By Emeka Alex Duru
While Nigerian Army, through its Chief of Training and Operations, Major General DD Ahmadu, on Thursday, September 7, 2017, gave indications of conducting special military operations in the five states of the South East, there were various interpretations on the agenda of the exercise.
According to Ahmadu, the exercise, code-named Egwu Eke 11, (Python Dance 11) would be conducted in Nigerian Army 82 Division area of responsibility, covering (Abia, Anambra, Ebonyi, Enugu and Imo states) from Friday 15 September to Saturday 14 October 2017.
He stated that the Army, aside using the operation to carry out routine training activities for its personnel in line with its constitutional role in aid of civil authority, would also use it to check incidences of assassinations (even in religious places), attack on security personnel, theft of weapons, armed banditry, kidnapping, cultism and violent agitations, as well as other security challenges in the South East.
Ahmadu assured indigenes and residents of the zone to remain calm and not be unduly bothered while the operation lasts.
But even as he tried to sell the impression of the exercise being in the interest of the region, there were serious doubts on the real intention of the soldiers. This was especially as the first phase of the programme which was conducted late last year, did not go down well with the people. There were for instance, allegations of harassment of civilians by soldiers on the mission. The Army denied the charge, anyway.
Besides, a recent United Nations report, had identified the South East as the zone with the lowest incidences of insecurity in the country. Thus, the explanation by the Army, was hardly convincing.
In addition, the second coming of the Python Dance, coming shortly after President Muhammadu Buhari’s broadcast, where he spoke harshly of various agitations in the land, added weight to the suspicion of the exercise being targeted at operatives of the Indigenous Peoples of Biafra (IPOB), a self-determinist organisation that has been demanding a separate state of Biafra.
Buhari has not been known to be well disposed to the IPOB agenda. In fact on occasions when he had been asked on how his administration was going to handle the group and its demand, he had insisted that the country’s unity was settled and non-negotiable, even when many had faulted him on the hard stance.
Buhari reads riot act
When he rode on the tough line on his Monday, August 21 national broadcast, a day after his return from London hospital where he spent over three months, it was apparent that IPOB and security forces would face some difficult days ahead.
“Nigeria’s unity is settled and not negotiable. We shall not allow irresponsible elements to start trouble, and when things get bad they run away and saddle others with the responsibility of bringing back order, if necessary with their blood”, the President had thundered.
He did not state who he was referring to. But there were insinuations that he was referring to IPOB and other groups seeking restructuring of the country.
Few days after his meeting with military high command, news filtered out that he had directed them to deal with any situation that threatened the corporate existence of the nation.
When Operation Python Dance 11, was therefore rolled out earlier in the month, inferences were readily drawn that it was aimed at curbing the rising influence of the Nnamdi Kanu-led IPOB. Many reasons accounted for the conclusion.
IPOB rattles Anambra, Abia
Apart from IPOB self-determination agenda, members and leadership of the group have regularly stated they would do anything to ensure that the Anambra governorship election scheduled for November 18, does not hold.
The threat, coming on the heels of a successful sit-at-home which the group had organised on May 30, in remembrance of the Igbo who lost their lives before, during and after the civil war, caused serious concern to Anambra state governor, Willie Obiano and the federal government.
Even in Abia, the hometown of Kanu, the government had manifested copious signs of being overwhelmed by the influence of IPOB.
/NAN
Soldiers invade Abia
When the Army matched through Afara-Ukwu, Kanu’s birth place, in what it termed show of force, on Monday, September 11, with conflicting reports of incidences, it was certain that something was going to give in. The next day, there were reports of clashes and fatalities in Umuahia and Aba on account of brutality of the soldiers.
The Army, however absolved its men of killing anybody.
Ikpeazu imposes curfew
But guarding against the situation slipping out of hand, the state governor, Okezie Ikpeazu, imposed a three-day curfew in Aba from September 12 to September 15.
In a statement personally signed by the governor, he remarked, “Abians and others living within Abia, are advised to remain law abiding and carry on their lawful business without fear, as efforts by Government will be made to reduce friction between the civil populace and military personnel in the state.
“Meanwhile, Aba residents are advised to observe a curfew from 6pm to 6am from today 12/09/2017 to 14/09/2017”.
Soldiers on rampage
Unconfirmed reports alleged that even with the curfew, soldiers went on killing IPOB members and their perceived supporters. There were even video messages showing soldiers molesting civilians. A particular action of the soldiers that attracted wide condemnation was their invasion of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) Press Centre, in Umuahia.
Nigerians react
The Army has assured of investigating the allegation of human rights abuse by its personnel, even while tacitly claiming that they did not commit any crime. But other Nigerians are not reasoning with them in that light.
Veteran journalist and public relations practitioner, Kanayo Esinulo, took grave exceptions to the attacks by the soldiers.
Writing on his facebook social media page on Wednesday, September 13, he stated, “I must confess that I have total disdain for any military that attacks and kills unarmed civilian protesters anywhere. We all condemned the brutal killings of unarmed protesters by the mindless Apartheid constabulary of South Africa.
“The protesters/house guards at Kanu’s home in Umuahia are unarmed, young, vibrant and daring, and if there is no evidence of violence on their part, the use of force becomes, in my view, very unnecessary.
“The world is watching and taking note. Any military that attacks unarmed protesters is, to me, timid and primitive – whether it is in Apartheid South Africa, Venezuela, Idi Amin’s Uganda, Abacha’s Nigeria or Bokassa’s Central Africa Republic”.
On its own, the National Secretariat of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), viewed the Operation Python Dance 11 of the Nigerian Army in the south-eastern part of the country with dissatisfaction and disenchantment, especially the unnecessary clashes with innocent citizens.
The Union, in a statement by its National Secretary, Usman Leman, also condemned the invasion of its Press Centre in Umuahia, by Soldiers on Tuesday, barely few days after three journalists were brutalized by the officials of Department of State Security in Osun State.
It demanded full compensation for all the furniture and office equipment destroyed by the soldiers at the Press Centre as well as all damaged gadgets belonging to members, adding that items seized must also be returned.
Ohanaeze, PDP condemn invasion
Toeing the same line of argument, Igbo socio-cultural organisation, Ohanaeze Ndigbo, has called on the Federal Government to direct the military to stop its military operation in the South-East immediately.
The group expressed discomfort with what it called the invasion of the zone by soldiers, operating under Python Dance 11.
In a statement on Tuesday in Abuja by its President-General, John Nwodo, the group stated that the military operation was aimed at intimidating the people.
Nwodo said, “Nigeria, at this moment, does not need such deliberate and proactive escalation of tensions and crisis.”
He believed that there were more civilised and established ways to resolve the country’s democratic and security challenges rather than resort to the use of brute force.
In similar vein, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has asked the Federal Government to withdraw the military and initiate dialogue with the people of the Southeast in order to avoid further violent clashes.
In a statement, PDP Publicity Secretary, Dayo Adeyeye said the rights of citizens to express their yearning within the confines of the law should not be truncated using the military.
“What the country needs at this time is an atmosphere of peace and tranquility, without which no meaningful positive development in whatever sector can be attained, and the situation unfolding in the Southeast, which is a very important component of the Nigerian family, is no doubt, inimical to our collective quest to take Nigeria higher”, the party noted.
Between IPOB and the Army
The Abia incidence, is not the first time the Nigerian military would be descending on IPOB activists.
In November last year, a report by Amnesty International on the bestiality of the Nigerian Army against members of the organisation, was damning.
The release which captured the atrocities of the soldiers on the group between August 2025 and August 2016, put members of IPOB killed by the military within the period at over 150.
Curiously, the Amnesty account of the situation was not based on hearsay, nor conjecture. It rather relied on analysis of 87 videos, 122 photographs and 146 eye witness testimonies, all revealing soldiers of the Nigeria military firing live ammunition to disperse IPOB members whose only offence was demanding a separate independent state of Biafra.
A chilling aspect of the report was on how, at least 60 defenceless IPOB protesters were shot dead within two days leading to the Biafra Remembrance Day of May 29, 2016.
It also captured the gory incidence of massacre of the members of the organisation in Aba, Abia State, earlier in February, that year. The Army however debunked the claim, describing it as an attempt to tarnish the reputation of Nigerian security forces.
It is not immediately known how many IPOB members and non-members that may have been felled in the current operation. But the soldiers are yet to admit any casualty arising from the brutality of their men. And tension persists.