In recent times, the once peaceful South-East geopolitical zone of Nigeria has been in the news for the wrong reasons.
From herdsmen attacks, to the activities of secessionist group, Indigenous People Of Biafra (IPOB), resulting in clashes with security agents, wanton killing of innocent citizens, destruction of private and public properties by “unknown gunmen,” and the sit-at-home orders being issued by IPOB. These have all combined to raise the bar of insecurity in the zone.
According to reports, between January and April 19, 2021, over 17 police stations, in addition to a correctional facility, have been targeted by the gunmen, leaving in their trail dead officers, charred police stations, freed prison inmates, and empty armoury. Some offices of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) have also been torched across the zone.
Unspecified number of people has been killed in the confusion that has enveloped the zone.
Generally, insecurity in the zone has become a serious concern, particularly with the Anambra State gubernatorial election holding in less than a month’s time.
The assassination of Chike Akunyili, husband of Dora Akunyili, the late director-general of National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control of Nigeria (NAFDAC) and minister, alongside eight others in Onitsha, Anambra State, a few days ago, observers say, has raised the apprehension level in the zone.
The sad development in Anambra has pitted the state government against Abuja, following the Federal Government’s threat of imposition of emergency rule in the state.
While the state government is claiming that the Federal Government was merely creating a panic situation to hijack the state and forcefully install an APC-led government, Abuja accuses the state government of failing in its primary duty of protecting lives and property.
Some high ranking federal lawmakers from the zone are also pointing fingers at the Department of State Services (DSS) and the Federal Government for the gale of unwarranted assassinations in the zone in recent times.
Enyinnaya Abaribe, a senator representing Abia Central, suggested that some persons may be trying to turn Anambra State into a theatre of murder, assassinations in order to create the impression that the state is unsafe for voters to come out to cast their votes during the forthcoming governorship election.
He said: “Let us say that what is going on in the South East is something that we cannot just comprehend properly.
“People in the South East have never been violent and we are not murderers and part of the confusion is that we don’t know who is committing these crimes.”
According to him, “We know that there’s an election coming I think in 35 days and the feeling is that they should turn the state into a theatre of murder, assassinations maybe to create the impression that it is so unsafe that nobody should come out to vote.
“And we are calling on the security agencies that this is the time they should actually do a serious investigation into this. Drawing conclusions saying it’s this group or that group, this person or that person does not help anybody.”
Speaking on the growing insecurity in the zone, Utibe Ibiam, a constitutional lawyer and former lawmaker in Akwa Ibom State, said that since the Biafran war, the Federal Government has not been fair to the South East zone, and using its operatives to hit up the zone is the worse the tribe can experience now as every killing is blamed on unknown gunmen.
“Yes, people blame the governors for not bracing up to their responsibilities, but don’t forget that most of them were forced on the people by the court and are in power to do the bidding of their sponsors-Federal Government,” Ibiam said.
Toeing Ibiam’s line, Anele Oguezi, an associate professor at Alex Ekwueme Federal University, Ebonyi State, alleged that the killings are both politically motivated and perpetrated by government operatives just to destabilise the zone for possible takeover, which he insisted was the worst from a government that has no interest in developing the zone.
“There has been a plot to hijack the leadership of Igboland by their enemies. But the Igbos are strongly resisting that and what is happening now is a result of that sustained resistance, and any well-meaning Igbo leaders should not allow outsiders to use them to achieve that purpose,” Oguezi said.
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He argued that with the insecurity in Ebonyi and Imo states, which are controlled by the ruling party, there is no guarantee of peace in any Igbo state that the party is fighting and manipulating to win.
“I see the Anambra killings as politically motivated violence. But my greatest regret will be for Igbo politicians who will allow themselves to be used by the ruling party, which has not shown any interest in the development of the zone other than thousands of military checks, harassing and intimidation of Igbos in their land. Okorocha, Uzodinma and Kalu should serve as examples. It is all about using you to get what they want at the expense of your people,” he said.
‘State of emergency threat hypocritical’
On the threat by Abubakar Malami, attorney-general of the Federation and minister of justice, of imposing a state of emergency on Anambra State if the new spate of violence persists, many observers called the threat hypocritical as his state and many north-west and north-east states are experiencing the worst insecurity situations, yet no contemplation of emergency rule in such places.
Comparing the insecurity in the north east and north west zones with the situations in the South-East, Sam Ajanaku Onikoyi, a Nigerian historian and Commonwealth researcher based in Brussels, said that the Federal Government was not fair with the South-East zone in many areas, a developing, which according to him, is making many to suspect ulterior motive in the state of emergency threat of the government.
“If you allow the South-East to operate in their own way, they will overrun the so-called gunmen or DSS operatives in their zone. I used to visit Onitsha, Nnewi and Aba, the major commercial hubs in the zone, for UNESCO research projects and it was in the days of ‘Bakassi Boys’ and I saw how they used their unconventional methods to rid the zone of criminals. They can do the same now with the gunmen and that is what those behind the killings do not want,” Onikoyi said.
Jideofor Ezeokonkwo, one of the market leaders in Anambra State, assured that the state is not for the highest bidders and that they will not surrender to government sponsored assassins no matter how many they kill every day.
“What is politics? Do we depend on the government? Every development in Anambra and Igboland is sponsored by the indigenes; so why is the government killing people it never cares for? They should allow us to carry our own arms and let’s see how DSS will kill us without killing some of them in our own land. The government should leave Anambra and Igboland alone, don’t use our sons against us,” he observed.
Chuka Achusi, a engineer, artificial intelligence expert and an indigene of Ukpo, Anambra State, believed that the strategies of the ruling party and northern oligarchy are bent on breaking the last stronghold in Igboland, and that it would not be easy as the people would not bend; the state is prepared and the trouble would affect the whole country it comes.
“Why is the Federal Government interested in Igboland, a people that don’t get any benefit from government; a people hated because they expressed their legitimate right to be alone? We know the killings are to destabilise the state and possibly take over the leadership, but it will not work, because we are resilient to death.
In an 8-paragraph statement in response to Malami’s threat, C. Don Adinuba, commissioner for Information and Public Enlightenment, Anambra State, said: “It seems that since these politicians have proved unable to intimidate the Anambra people from coming out to participate in the vote, they have resolved to impose emergency rule on the state. Not up to 15 persons have lost their lives since the new spectre of violence in the state. For a state that has for the past seven years enjoyed the well-deserved reputation of being Nigeria’s safest and most peaceful state, this number is pretty high.”
“But it is absolutely not even a fraction of the casualties the nation has seen in places like Borno, Zamfara, Katsina, Benue, Plateau, Yobe, Niger, Adamawa, Taraba, and others where terrorists have not only killed several thousands of civilians but also successfully attacked military formations and slaughtered soldiers and other security officers. They have even brought down some sophisticated combat aircraft. Were elections not held successfully in these states in 2019?” he said.
We want to be treated like any other part of the country – Umahi
Speaking on Channels Television Wednesday, a day after the meeting of the South East Governor’s Forum and other stakeholders in Enugu the previous day, on security issues, Governor Dave Umahi said, over the years, the issue of marginalisation has been in the psyche of the people.
The governor said the desire of the Igbo nation was to be accorded their rights in Nigeria and be treated like other parts of the country.
Umahi noted that the agitation had been hijacked by hoodlums, cultists, criminals and politicians who are using it to further their personal agenda. “It is now a bit complicated,” he admitted.
He explained that Igbos in the Diaspora, who had been bitter over the situation of things in Nigeria and the continued marginalisation of the South East, decided to buy into IPOB philosophy.
He also noted that as time went on, some other criminals came into the matter, hiding under IPOB; then the issue of herdsmen worsened the situation. IPOB set up the ESN to check the activities of herdsmen in the South East and it was also hijacked.
When confronted with the question of failure governance on South East or loopholes on the part of the security agencies and governors who are the chief security officers of their states, Umahi said the governors were doing their best and that the security agencies were also doing their bit. He however, pointed out that the number of security personnel was far too small to police the area.
On why it seems that the South East people appear to obey the orders of IPOB rather than those of elected political leaders, which indicates a vote of no confidence in their governors, Umahi said: “People are not sitting at home out of obedience or compliance but out of fear. People are afraid to speak out openly for fear of isolated killing which has been happening.”
The governor emphasised that “We don’t want Biafra; what we want is to be treated like any other part of the country; just to have an equitable government.”
The governor, who spoke again Friday in Abakaliki, Ebonyi State capital, during a prayer summit organised by the state government at the Christian Ecumenical Centre, emphasised the need for the presidency to be zoned to the South East to assuage the anger of the people.
“And let me state very clearly, zoning or no zoning party or no party, South East must not be schemed out of the affairs of this nation; it must not be schemed out.
“What is good for other states, is good for the South East, it doesn’t matter whom God enthrones. Let the South East be properly integrated into the affairs of this nation. We are nation builders; we should not be left out.
“We have investments in every part of this country and people use hate speeches to keep us down, people should not be afraid of us,” he said.
Kunle Okunade, political analyst, said that the South East could be responding to the marginalisation in the current administration of Muhammadu Buhari.
According to him, “Looking back at the security situation in the South East since 2015, it will be right to say that the geopolitical zone is responding to the lopsided way and manner the current federal government is governing the country in their own best way of reacting.
“In a heterogeneous country like Nigeria, insecurity and politics go hand in hand because most often insecurity of such kind is fuelled by political elite who are believed to have been side-lined in the political system. Although, they always make it look like it was fuelled by bad governance.
“I want to believe that the security crisis is politically motivated to achieve a myopic benefit which is not people-oriented. I would be surprised if the situation continues till 2023 when this administration would be rounding off.”
But no going back on Anambra election – INEC
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has said the Anambra gubernatorial election would hold despite the threat posed by insecurity.
Amid the tense atmosphere and ongoing agitations in Anambra, Mahmood Yakubu, the Commission’s chairman, at the emergency meeting of the Inter-Agency Consultative Committee on Election Security (ICCES), recently assured indigenes and Nigerians at large, that the Commission was determined to proceed with the election as scheduled.
“We wish to assure the people of Anambra State that the commission intends to proceed with the election as scheduled,” Yakubu said.
The INEC Chairman also restated his assurances Friday at an emergency meeting of political parties and the Commission in Abuja, saying that “Already, security around INEC facilities in the state has been ramped up. We are also confident that the heightened deployment of security officials, which is expected in the coming weeks, will further give citizens the confidence to turn up and vote on Election Day. We shall continue to work with the security agencies to ensure that the election is successful and violence-free.”
