SOUTHEAST NIGERIA'S UNKNOWN GUNMEN

The #EndSARS protest last year and it's aftermath was a message to the people and government in Southeastern Nigeria that things cannot remain the same anymore. Sadly, while the Governor in Lagos moved beyond just paying lip service to working on recommendations from the panel set up to probe the activities of SARS as well as paying compensation to victims and families of victims, those set up in the Southeast and the South-South regions where no more than spectacles and theatres of the absurd, where impediments upon impediments were placed in the way of petitioners, all in the name of requirements and processes, which led to no end. Eventually the whole process, like the charade it was fashioned out to become, fizzled out. The lot of them unceremoniously, without the submission of any paper to the governors to act upon, even if it was just for the show of it.


The fact that nothing was done by the Southeastern governors to address the issues relating to police brutality and Extrajudicial Killings of young men especially, after the protests, with the names of some policemen suspected to have indulged in human rights violations mentioned, with the hope that their activities will be investigated, and thereafter prosecuted, only to find the same people walking the streets free, which is akin to rubbing insults on the raw wounds of the victims, their relatives and others this affected. When some youths decided to take up arms against the state, it was no surprise that they started with the checkpoints dotting the landscape of Southeastern Nigeria at a time when there was relative peace, and the people and their representative 👉🏽 CHECKPOINTS IN NIGERIA'S SOUTHEAST had at one time or the other spoken up about the money-spinning machine that checkpoints on the roads in that region have become for policemen, soldiers, naval ratings, customs men and officers, civil defence, as well as other uniformed security and paramilitary personnel. From there, these men now referred to as Unknown Gunmen, (a media creation, following denials by IPOB, of responsibility for the rampant destruction of lives and property by the former), expanded their operations to include police stations, correctional facilities, and other security outposts.


The insecurity in Imo State, is of a different dimension in that it appears to have political undertone, so much so that while the governor raised alarm to highlight the peculiar nature of the insecurity in his state, especially the political dimension to it, he stopped short of placing responsibility solely at the feet of his political opponents belonging to the opposition party, seeing as he is battling opposition within the rank and file of his own party as well. It was in Imo State that the erstwhile I.G. of Police, pronounced the Eastern Security Network (the armed wing of IPOB), ESN responsible for the insecurity there, off the cuff, without as much as investigating the matter, only to find that he'd been relieved of his position, while the words were hardly out of his mouth, though that was hardly as a consequence of his misguided utterance (in this particular case) than it was that his removal was overdo, and therefore predetermined for that day, unbeknownst to him.


The ESN claim their mandate is to rid Igboland of murderous fulani herdsmen, and have continually denied involvement in other activities at variance with their stated objective, but it appears the security agencies couldn't be bothered with distinctions as they rained all of their coercive might on anything aimed and poised against them in the Southeast, amidst allegations of human rights abuses against innocent citizens from Southeastern Nigeria. It didn't help that a meeting held by the hierarchy of Nigeria's military to discuss the security situation in the South East and the tackling of same, to restore peace and normalcy in the region had no one from the region present, because of the lopsided appointments especially in the security sector of Nigeria, that's been the hallmark of this administration. The tone of the president in statements credited to him, as well as in his new found love for interviews, haven't allayed the fears of Igbos that the present intifada in the Southeast by the military does not have the blessings of their principal, and Commander-in-Chief.


The video that went viral, of some residents in some town in the Southeast, hailing armed men, appeared to me very disturbing. Even the non-discerning could tell that it wouldn't be long before these Unknown Gunmen will turn their arms on the people, after successfully dismantling checkpoints in the east. I wondered then, of their intentions didn't go beyond sacking those checkpoints to relieve the people of that region of a major burden only, or was it really intended to provide a safe haven for them to continue to carry out nefarious and criminal activities, without let or hindrance. Today the activities of UGM is now looking more like a guns for hire situation, with business people, politicians (latest of which was the decapitation of a security guard to a member of the national assembly from Imo State, after the UGM met his absence), and just the everyday person, bearing the brunt. It seems that many are using the opportunity this security crisis created to settle scores, while lives are also being lost as part of collateral damage, as UGM seem to be employed to right perceived injustices and/or to perpetrate one looks to be the norm, rather than the exception these days, such that threats from one person to annihilate another are no longer taken as jokes or mere threats anymore these days.


In the midst of all these madness, "Bakassi Boys", who held sway in the early days of the return to civil rule in 1999, notable for their extrajudicial killings of those suspected of armed robbery and the likes; staged a return with a parade somewhere in Awka a few days back, in the full glare of residence, firing gunshots at random, with loud music in the background, with no police or other government security apparati anywhere in sight. 

This time around, they claim they have come to continue in the same light, and also to battle cultists whose activities in Anambra State have 

grown worrisome in recent times. Only time will tell if they will cross paths with UGM, if they considered the latter's activities to be at cross purposes to theirs. I shudder to imagine what such a scenario will look like. 

Sadly, when the security agents descend, the arrests they carry out are arbitrary, with those who eventually managed to get released claiming they only did so, after parting with huge sums of money. Many others are said to not have been so lucky, especially in the period when judiciary workers were on strike, and none of those arrested were charged to court, and couldn't be bailed. When a truck fell into a ditch in Onitsha, with the contents (bullets) of it's container got spilt on the road, with residents moving beyond shock and bewilderment to picking them, the security agencies should have known that many more like that would've passed through successfully and without incidence, hence should've been more proactive, rather than the reactions we have now, that's resulted into the arrest of innocents, after the UGM have had a field day to themselves, and yet continue to wreak havoc in the region.


Another unfortunate angle to all these, is the attack and torching of offices of the electoral agency, INEC in the region, with elections in just a few months in Anambra, and in 2023 nationwide. It now appears like there's a plan to disenfranchise the people from exercising their franchise, and precluding them from determining who will lead them at several levels of government and governance, and through whom dividends of democracy can be passed down to the grassroots. Unfortunately, as regards dividends of democracy, the Southeast region has fared badly, with so much left to be desired, at all levels, and from all levels of government. If truth be told, it is the lack of government presence in the Southeast, that can be fingered as one of the reasons driving the agitation for secession, that personalities like Nnamdi Kanu are latching on to promote their agenda.


It is doubtful though that things will change should Biafra be handed the Igbo on a platter, because the leaders will either be today's slave masters, or new ones, who will be same as the old. Just look at the audacity with which Nnamdi Kanu issues orders to anyone listening to his rants (as most times that is what his words come through as), and you wonder how Biafra under that sort of person could be. The fact that people stayed back at home, after his so called "order", in honour of lost and dead loved ones during the civil war, doesn't necessary mean they support IPOB's ideals, many did in the spirit of "Ozoemena", while others could've just because of the atmosphere of insecurity in the east, and the fear that the government forces could be battling UGM and/or IPOB/ESN on the day, and innocents could be caught in the crossfire. Either way, Igbos could definitely do without the threats, from Nnamdi Kanu and his followers prior to May 30.


If Igbo people can be truthful about some things, even the much revered Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu, in some of his statements appeared not to leave much room for compromise or considerations for an alternative path to pursue things, and how that could have negatively affected the fortunes of Biafra, in those heady days, is not difficult to imagine. How are we sure that even if the referendum that's being sought by IPOB and other secessionist groups are granted, the results won't go against their wishes? Especially, when you consider that Igbo though insular in the way their locale is set, especially post civil war, but international in outlook, would want to be boxed in, for which President Muhammadu Buhari in an unscripted response in a recent interview described Igboland as a "dot in a circle" (which Igbo youths are currently running with, as you'd take up a name defiantly, just to spite those who thought to diminish you by it).

The truth is, if the utopia the Igbo dream of cannot be perceived today in the slightest, it will not be realised wholesale in Biafra tomorrow. Any change Igbos desire, must begin today and must be required and demanded of the leaders/rulers today by the people, against waiting until Biafra comes. For now, the Igbo must learn to negotiate to their advantage, within the present framework, beyond merely getting political power at the centre, but unto other items that will make life and the conduct of their business and enterprise flourish, and easier to manage. That the Igbo are disadvantaged today, doesn't mean they will remain so tomorrow, for only if the Igbo exist, will they live to see a government tomorrow that will be less discriminatory, either led by an Igbo son, or not.


'kovich