WAR IN SOUTH-EAST

After spending three months in Owerri, the capital of Imo State during which he dedicated his second daughter, Uguchi Unachukwu, on Monday, 31 May, set out to return to Germany where he has been based for some months now.

But he could not even make it to Sam Mbakwe Airport where he had hoped to catch a flight to Lagos to join another flight to his final destination in Hamburg, Germany. His journey and indeed, sojourn on earth was ended in front of his wife, two children and other accompanying family members by security operatives who allegedly shot him dead just before the Sam Mbakwe Airport.

In a petition to the Imo State Commissioner of Police calling for justice, Ijeoma, the now 42-year-old widow of Unachukwu, said the security operatives have no justifiable reason to shoot her husband. In the petition sent to the police commissioner as well as Hope Uzodimma, the governor of Imo State on June 1, Ijeoma who said she was inside the same vehicle where her husband was shot dead accused the air force officer involved in the murder of recklessness.

Ijeoma said her husband who was behind the wheels was shot by the trigger-happy Air Force officer in execution-style in front of her and their two children, who were also in the vehicle at the time of the incident.  According to her, the Air Force officer had no reason to shoot her husband because their vehicle stopped when the officer flagged it down. She, therefore, asked the state Commissioner of Police, Abutu Yaro, to ensure that the killers of her husband do not escape justice.

Last Sunday, six days after the death of her husband, the Police in Imo eventually spoke about the killing of Unachukwu.  Bala Elkana, the spokesperson for the Police in Imo said the Command has begun what it described as an ‘in-depth investigation’ into circumstances surrounding the death of Unachukwu during a news conference.

Even, then, the Police seemed to have concluded that the Germany-based returnee was at fault. The Police accused the deceased of failure to heed to instruction of the Air Force officers who shot him to death. “Preliminary investigations revealed that the personnel flagged down the vehicle and ordered the driver to park by the roadside for search, but the driver who at first slowed down and pretended to move to the side of the road, suddenly took off,” the Police said.

“According to the Air Force, being suspicious of the mission of the occupants of the said vehicle at the International Airport, they made effort to demobilise the vehicle and when the vehicle eventually came to a halt, the operatives rounded it and ordered the occupants out. It was at this point that a female passenger in the car mentioned that the man driving the vehicle was her husband and that he was rushing to catch his flight,” Elkanah added while noting that Unachukwu was rushed to hospital by the Air Force team, but he later died at about 1900 hours of the same date.

“We sue for calm and assure the family and friends of the deceased that no stone will be left unturned in unraveling the circumstances surrounding the death,” the police added in the statement.

The assurance by the police was obviously to calm the raging agitations for justice and outcry from family members of the deceased and members of the public over the obvious cold-blooded murder.  The Air Force whose personnel were indicted in the murder has not spoken on the issue as at the time of writing this story. Given how such investigations go, it is doubtful if the Air Force will surrender its personnel to the police for investigation.

In any way, the Police seem to have concluded that the deceased caused his own death by pretending to stop for a search and ‘suddenly’ driving off, thus necessitating the Air Force officers to resort to the use of their guns in the attempt to stop him.

Thus, Unachukwu may end up as another statistic of the impunity that has descended on the South-east as on-the-edge security operatives battle men who seemed determined to root out every presence of federal authorities in the region.

There have been consistent attacks and killings of security personnel and buildings housing agencies of the Federal Government in all states of the South-east and some parts of the South-south in the past six months or so.

But Imo is unarguably the epicenter of the attacks attributed to the ‘gunmen.’ Unachukwu was killed a day after former presidential adviser, Ahmed Gulak was also killed on his way to the same airport. The security operatives and some analysts have insisted that the so-called ‘gunmen’ are members of the Eastern Security Network, ESN, the militant arm of the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB.

Indeed, the attacks and counter attacks between the alleged ESN operatives and security forces were believed to have been sparked off by the January 22, 2021, move by the Army to crush the ‘vigilante group’, which Nnamdi Kanu, the leader of IPOB  said was established to protect villagers from attack by criminal herdsmen in Orlu.

The military action followed alleged attack on communities and persons from Northern Nigeria living in Imo and skirmishes with security operatives by members of ESN. But IPOB had ordered members of ESN to withdraw from Orlu following the panic, destruction and loss of lives that resulted from the military action.

But the military later returned to Orlu about three weeks later after operatives of ESN operatives allegedly killed four soldiers of the Nigerian Army. The military had deployed jets to dislodge ESN operatives from the forests said to be their strongholds in the area.

Governor Hope Uzodimma had also declared curfew over the community.  In reaction, IPOB, while noting that the military operation has led to deaths of many members of the community accused Uzodimma, of conniving with the Nigerian government and the military to attack people in the region. “Regrettably, this genocidal war against Biafrans has the endorsement of the Supreme Court Administrator of Imo State, Hope Uzodimma, who the Fulani Janjaweed Government is using in its futile desperation to actualise its Fulanisation agenda. But he, his likes, and their slave masters will pay heavily for this!,” IPOB said in a statement by Emma Powerful, its spokesperson. IPOB also declared that war against the Nigerian state has begun with the attack: “But we promise disgrace to our enemies. They shall be shamefully defeated. The war has begun! We shall defend Biafra and we shall triumph! No inch of Biafra land will be taken by the invaders.”

There has been no let-up in the targeted attacks against security operatives, their facilities and assets of other government’s agencies in Imo and neighbouring states since that declaration. Significantly, ESN carried out its most daring attack yet in Imo when on 5 April, hundreds of its men stormed the Nigerian Correctional Service and the nearby office of the State Criminal Investigation Department in Owerri. Many vehicles belonging to the security operatives were burnt and over 100 prisoners were set free in the attack that lasted over two hours.

It was also in Imo that security operatives had conducted daring raids that, according to many, in the state, not only resulted in the deaths of alleged leaders of ESN, but many innocent villagers. For example, the biggest setback for ESN, as acknowledged by IPOB itself, was the Saturday, 24 April raid by combined forces of the Nigeria Police, the Department of State Services and the Nigerian Army on the alleged headquarters of the militant group in Awomama village in Oru East Local Government Area of Imo State.

The raid resulted in the killing of one Ikonso, alleged to be the overall commander of ESN. Security operatives claimed Ikonso led the April 5 attack on the Police Headquarters and the Owerri prison. He was killed alongside some of his commanders while three security operatives, including a captain of the Nigerian Army were also killed in the fierce encounter.

Ikonso was seen in a video which circulated after his death pledging loyalty to Nnamdi Kanu, the leader of IPOB and asserting the readiness of his group to attack anywhere, including Aso Rock presidential villa if instructed by Kanu.

The killing of Ikonso led to obvious retaliatory killings of security operatives in Imo and neighbouring states. Three security operatives were killed during attempts by elements linked to ESN to burn the country home of Governor Uzodimma in Omuma, Oru East Local Government Area the same day Ikonso was killed.

Attack and counter attacks between the gunmen and security operative in Imo have continued. Indeed, the press conference where the police spoke on the killing of Unachukwu on Sunday was originally convened to announce how the law enforcement agency with the support of the Army successfully repelled attempt to attack its headquarters by the alleged ESN militants. “Hoodlums masquerading as unknown gunmen attempted an attack on the police headquarters this morning, but suffered a huge defeat. They came in a white Hummer bus, five of the hoodlums were killed during an exchange of fire and others were injured.  The Hummer bus was recovered with four Ak47 rifles, previously stolen from the police during a recent attack on its station, while officers have been deployed to apprehend the fleeing hoodlums,” the police spokesperson told journalists.

The Army later circulated photographs said to be that of a top IPOB/ESN Operational Commander, Joseph Uka Nnachi alias King of Dragons, alongside four other members of the group allegedly killed during the foiled attack.

The Army claimed that ‘King of Dragons’ was one of the key figures involved in the April 5 attacks on prison and police facility in Owerri. It also claimed that  ‘King of Dragons’ took over the leadership of ESN from Ikonso and has been the brain behind attacks against security agencies and government establishments in the South-east since the death of the ESN Commander.

Earlier that day, gunmen believed to be members of ESN had also attacked the country home of Imo Commissioner for Information and Strategy,  Declan Emelumba, in Ubulu, Oru West Local Government Area of the state. The attackers had shot sporadically into the air, causing panic before setting the two buildings in the family compound ablaze.  “In the early hours of Sunday, between 1am and 2am, some people called me from the village that heavily armed gunmen stormed my compound, broke the gate and set the buildings ablaze. My gateman, who was the only person around when they came, managed to escape unhurt. The bandits had easy access to the compound and completely burnt down everything,” Emelumba told reporters in Owerri on how his house was razed.

A report indicated that over 25 police stations have been burnt by the gunmen in parts of the South-east and South-south by the end of May, while 127 policemen and other security personnel were killed in the series of attacks now assuming the status of insurgency. This was in spite of the curfew imposed on some communities across the states by the governors in response to the continuous attacks by the gunmen.

Many more police stations and security operatives have been killed since the report was compiled in May. Brigadier General Raymond Osoha, the Commander of 34, Artillery Brigade of the Nigerian Army, Obinze put the number of security operatives that have lost their lives since the attacks linked to ESN began at 170 during a chat with journalists in the Imo State capital on Sunday.

He further disclosed that out of the figure, 78 were policemen while the Army lost 34 personnel. He added that five naval officers, seven Air Force personnel were killed also killed in addition to 15 and 31 civil defence and men of Local Community Policing Network respectively.

Offices of the Nigerian Drug Law Enforcement Agency, Nigeria Immigration Service and the courts have also not been spared the fury of the gunmen.

Aside the offices of security operatives, the gunmen have also been targeting offices of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, in a move that many analysts said has put the Anambra governorship election scheduled for November as well as the 2023 general elections in jeopardy.

At least, 10 offices of INEC were attacked across Abia, Imo, Enugu, Ebonyi and Anambra by the so-called ‘unknown gunmen’ in May. These include the attack on Anambra INEC state headquarters in Awka on 23 May.

Chairman of INEC, Mahmood Yakubu, told President Muhammadu Buhari at the State House last Tuesday in Abuja that so far, there had been 42 cases of attacks on the offices of the commission nationwide, since the last general election.

Yakubu said the intention of those carrying out the attacks is to incapacitate the commission, undermine the nation’s democracy and precipitate a national crisis. “Most of the attacks happened in the last seven months, and they are unrelated to the protests against previous elections. From the pattern and frequency of the most recent attacks, they appear to be targeted at future elections,’’ he said.

The President had replied with warnings that ‘rude shock’ awaits ‘those unpatriotic elements’ promoting insurrection and burning critical national assets across the country.

He claimed that those behind the attacks are those who are plotting for the failure of his administration.  “Whoever wants the destruction of the system will soon have the shock of their lives. We’ve given them enough time,”  said the President while pledging that he would continue to lead the country in accordance with constitutional provisions.

But the President then said those ‘misbehaving’ in certain parts of the country were obviously too young to know the travails and loss of lives that characterized the Nigerian civil war where a similar demand for an independent state of Biafra as they were agitating for was the main issue.

“Those of us in the fields for 30 months, who went through the war, will treat them in the language they understand. We are going to be very hard sooner than later.”

The reference was to the Nigerian civil war, fought from July 1967 to January 1970 during which millions of lives were lost especially on the side of Igbo of the South-east.

Worse still, the statement was made a day after the May 31 sit-at-home order to residents of states in the South-east to sit at home in honour of millions of Biafrans who lost their lives during war. Buhari, though a young officer then, was involved in that war.

The threat by the President was, therefore, interpreted as an intention to repeat what some had described as genocide against the Igbo during the civil war over the ongoing attacks across the South-east.

Many Nigerians who feared a looming bloodbath in the South-east over the statement had petitioned the microblogging site, Twitter where it was posted.

The platform had responded by removing the statement, saying it violated its rules. The Federal Government, angry that while the managers of the site had allowed the leader of IPOB to continue to use its platforms to call for attacks on security personnel in the country, it wasted no time in removing a part of the President’s statement deemed offensive. It has since restricted access to Twitter in Nigeria.

But Kanu had responded to the threat by the President to envelope the South-east with security operatives with his own threat. “Any army they send to #Biafraland will die there. None will return alive even if it means sacrificing my people,”  the IPOB leader had tweeted on June 2. But Twitter had also deleted the tweet, citing the violation of its rules.

While the controversies over the suspension of Twitter continues, in South-east, the fear is that many more of the people may lose their lives as President Buhari and Nnamdi Kanu battle for the soul of the people.

Many had cited the success of the sit-at-home order by the IPOB leader as well as ‘cheering’ of the ‘unknown gunmen’ in some of the videos that have been circulating as evidence of the massive support for Kanu and his idea to bring back the defunct Republic of Biafra in the South-east.

The compliance to the sit-at-home order was against the advice of many of the state governors and security operatives that the people should go about their businesses and not listen to Kanu. “The Southeastern Nigeria’s compliance with the sit-at-home order, approved by Biafra agitators, signalled that the Biafra agitators are now in charge of the South-east, as the zone is at the brink of being annexed out of the country if necessary steps are not taken,” Ohanaeze Ndigbo Worldwide, which claimed to be a faction of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, the apex Igbo socio-cultural group said in a statement.

It blamed the marginalization and neglect of the South-east by the Buhari administration for the embrace of the secessionist agitators in a statement on Sunday by its Secretary-General, Okechukwu Isiguzoro.

However, many have argued that people chose to stay at home because the government cannot guarantee their security in the face of threats by the IPOB leader that any defiance of the order will be met with death.

However, in the bid to assert its authority, the region has been heavily militarized while the Federal Government launched a special security initiative, Operation Restore Hope, targeted at stopping activities of the unknown gunmen.

But the fear is that many more ‘Unachukwus’ may be killed in the battle of superiority between the unknown gunmen who have been indoctrinated with battle cry of ‘zoo (Nigeria) must fall’ and the security operatives.

Already, there have been reports of random killings and indiscriminate arrests of innocent citizens over allegations of being members of ESN across the South-east by the security operatives. In a recent report, the International Society for Civil Liberties and Rule of Law said it was in possession of graphic details of how soldiers, police and other Nigerian security operatives presently deployed in the South East abducted innocent citizens and allegedly killed them.

In the report signed by Emeka Umeagbalasi, Chinwe Umeche and Chidimma Udegbunam, its leaders, the group at least 170 persons have been shot dead openly since the recent insecurity in the region began. After days of outcries from their families, the Police in Imo on 3 June released five of six citizens they have arrested and publicly paraded over claims that they were part hoodlums that attacked prison and police headquarters in the state.

Family members of the suspects had raised the alarm that most of them were on their way home from work when they were picked up by the police and wrongly labeled.

Also, the Catholic Archbishop of Owerri Ecclesiastical Province, Most Rev. Anthony J. V. Obinna, few days ago, raised the alarm about secret dumping of 35 unidentified corpses in the morgue of Federal Medical Centre in the capital city within a few days.

He also noted that 106 young men arrested from various locations for being members of IPOB/ESN with allegations of treasonable felony hanging on their heads are rotting away in Owerri prison.

“There is scare in the air and anxiety on the ground. Imo people are hiding, living in fear. Reports of indiscriminate arrests for no clear reason and killings, as a show of power or in alleged retaliation continue to spread,” the Cleric said in a statement entitled: “Stop the killings, Convoke a ceasefire meeting, Save Imo State: A charge to Governor Hope Uzodimma and all stakeholders.”

While disowning agitations for secession and violence, Ohanaeze Ndigbo, through its President-General, Dr. George Obiozor, had in a statement last week over increased extra-judicial killings in the Southeast started that: “Majority of Nigerians prefer unity to secession or separatism. They want justice, pace, equity and fairness. The golden rule of do unto others what you would like done unto you, that is complementarity and inclusive governance,” said Obiozor.

He also demanded a probe of atrocities committed by trigger-happy security officials in the South-east in recent times while imploring the Federal Government should be confident that no secessionist force can defeat Nigeria.

According to him, the Federal Government should initiate dialogue to resolve the crises, taking into consideration the reality of pluralism. He especially asked the Federal Government to take note of “ongoing human rights violations in the South-east zone, adding: “We must beware of its international consequences and domestic implications in our ability to heal the Nigerian nation. Nigeria is at crossroads of its history and destiny. Let wisdom prevail.” But it is doubtful if both sides are ready to listen and heed to such counsel.