The
affiliate rights and supportive democracy groups and the leadership of Southeast Based Coalition of Human Rights
Organizations (SBCHROs) are deeply alarmed and worried concerning the
deployment of more battalions of members of the so called “Nigerian Army” and
their war-like heavy equipment to all the strategic roads in the Southeast or
Igbo part of Nigeria. Igbo travellers and road users have reported the laying
of siege by Jihadist elements in the Army on strategic roads in the Southeast
particularly at boundary posts in Imo/Abia and Port Harcourt axis; Enugu
(Nsukka) and Benue (Oturpa) axis; Anambra (Onitsha Niger Bridgehead) and Delta (Asaba)
axis and Ebonyi (Abakiliki) and Enugu axis.
By adding
a quotation mark (“ “) to Nigerian Army, we make bold to say that the “Nigerian Army” of present composition is
nothing but “an armed assembly substantially peopled, dominated and commanded
by the descendants of late Shehu Othman Dan Fodio”; a 19th Century
Jihadist and founder of Islamism in northern part of Nigeria.
Before
the massive deployment under reference, the Southeast has been under siege and
police state with thousands of army, navy and police roadblocks scattered at
right, left and centre of the Southeast Roads particularly on Trunks A and B
Roads. In all these, the stocks-in-trade of the soldiers, police and navy
personnel so stationed are: targeting and killing of defenceless citizens;
indiscriminate arrests; extortion and other corrupt practices; using different
forms.
For
instance, there are documented evidence from rights groups like Amnesty International and Intersociety; showing
the patterns and trends of security roadblock extortion in the Southeast Zone
as well as late evening house raids, killing and torturing of innocent and
defenceless citizens; which all arose on account of sustenance of an army of
occupation by Jihad-prone administration of Retired Major Gen Muhammadu Buhari.
While
Army and Navy recklessly indulge in the recruitment of civilians as roadblock
extortion agents (i.e. at Niger Bridgehead and Uga Junction in Onitsha);
personnel of the Nigeria Police Force openly and brazenly collect N50 or N100
notes from each commercial transporter. In some areas where military roadblocks
are mounted, the Jihadist soldiers openly collect tolls at gunpoint.
The
Nigerian Security Forces deployed on Southeast Roads have between July/August
2015 and May 2016, massacred between 150 and 250 defenceless citizens or more
and injured over 300 others (Amnesty
International and Intersociety:
2016). According to Intersociety
(December 2015), a total of N1.03billion was illicitly collected and
pocketed by the personnel and authorities of the Nigeria Police Force from 750
roadblocks mounted on Southeast Roads between 21st October and 21st
December 2015; on average of N500million per month.
Intersociety and Human Rights Watch had
also in their respective previous investigations empirically established a
nexus between Police Roadblock Killings
and Police Roadblock extortions particularly on Southeast Roads and their
strategic entrances (Intersociety 2011;
and HRW 2010). To Intersociety, Police Roadblock Corruption or Extortion and
Killings on Southeast Roads arose out of the Southeast Blue-Collar Culture
(i.e. concentration of commercial activities and cash transactions in the Zone).
This was the case in the Zone until end of January 2012 when most of the 3500
police roadblocks in the area were dismantled, following public outcries and
advocacy voices and investigations lead-conducted by Intersociety.
That was then! Today, and since the
inception of the Buhari Administration in late May 2015; particularly since
August 2015 when Nnamdi Kanu’s IPOB organized nonviolent and peaceful street
protests in Southeast and South-south areas of Nigeria, coupled with Buhari
Administration’s brazen disposition towards radical Islamism; a dangerous
dimension, by way of ethno-religious cleansing or Jihadism has
been added, coded and embedded into the operational modes of the Nigerian Army,
Navy and the Police in the Southeast Zone.
Further
attestation to this is the brazen domination of the command structure of the so
called “Nigerian Army” in the Southeast Zone under its 82nd Division
in Enugu; by carefully selected officers of Jihadist background; from the GOC
of the 82nd Division to his Spokesman; from the Commandant of the
Onitsha Military Cantonment to the Commander of the 144 Battalion in Ukwa, near
Aba in Abia State, etc.
These
are in addition to the age-long hegemonic and Jihadist inspired structural and physical violence
against the Igbo race and their ancestral enclave; leading to massacre in recent years of tens of thousands
of them and destruction and bastardization of their properties, infrastructures
and cultural values. Under the Buhari Administration, for instance, the
infrastructural decay in Igbo land or Southeast has risen to unprecedented
proportions.
The
state of federal roads in the Zone is in tatters; railway system in the area is
moribund; the Enugu International Airport is skeletal and a ghost yard; to mention
but a few. Yet fiscal revenue accruals including those from taxes, import
duties, oil and gas exploration and other sources; which originate from the
Zone, are used to run governance and service the people of the Jihadist
background in upper north.
Saddening
and alarming, the greatest threat to Southeast Zone and sanctity of its
Christian Religion is the ongoing Jihadist and ethnic cleansing operations
launched against the People of the Zone by the Buhari Administration, using descendents
of the arch Jihadist; late Shehu Othman Dan Fodio; uniformed and armed;
under the guise of the “Nigerian Army”.
These
Jihadists, who are responsible for the massacre of not less than 250
defenceless citizens and injuring of over 300 others between July/August 2015
and May 2016 in the Zone; have further chosen to be repeat-perpetrators, by
launching a season two ethno-religious cleansing operation tagged:
“Exercise Python Dance”. We see the “operation” as nothing but genocide,
ethno-religious cleansing, depopulation, psycho-physical warfare and racial
enslavement and persecution.
Consequently,
we make bold to say that all the reasons given by the so called “Nigerian Army”
for its intensification of the genocidal operations under reference are
expressly unfounded, watery, untenable and grossly unsubstantiated.
As a
result, we hold as follows: (1) That the so called “Nigerian Army”
raised false insecurity alarms; (2) That street protests are not armed
rebellion or traditional street crimes of kidnapping, armed robbery or murder;
(3) That IPOB and MASSOB are not armed opposition groups waging war against the
Federal Republic of Nigeria or any part thereof; (4) That Southeast Zone is not
a war zone or a zone at war with the Federal Government or Federal Republic of
Nigeria; (5) That there are no security threats of unprecedented proportion or
Northeast magnitude in the Southeast Zone warranting the present military siege
or police state in the Zone.
(6) That
“Nigerian Army” is crude and an illiterate army with no knowledge of the
meaning and definition of Rules of Engagement; (7) That “Nigerian Army”
has continued to criminalize and
stigmatize the nonviolent activities of IPOB to the point of saddening and
alarming proportions; (8) That while the Southeast, which is a Zone in peace
and non war Zone is being hunted, persecuted and pushed to the wall; the
troubled Zones like Northeast and violent groups like the Fulani Janjaweed are
being cuddled, petted and protected.
(9) That
the “Nigerian Army” and its Commander-in-Chief are killing, wounding, torturing
and persecuting citizens and the Southeast Zone that have chosen nonviolence
and law abiding living; whereas violent entities and Zones including Boko Haram
and Fulani Janjaweed are being rewarded and given presidential treat and
protection. (10) That there are no credible official crime statistics from the
Nigeria Police Force in the Southeast Zone, detailing the patterns and trends
of violent crimes such as kidnapping and armed robbery in the Zone; showing
increase or decrease; warranting the involvement of the “Nigerian Army” in the
flooding of the Zone with troops and weapons.
(11) That
soldiers are not professionally trained to catch kidnappers and armed robbery
or arsonists or burglars or rapists; or engage in fighting street crimes and
they do not have mental and ICT expertise to do same. (12) That hiding under
the guise of “fighting kidnappers and armed robbers” as a cover to actualize
their Jihadist intents have been exposed and shamed. (10) That “Nigerian Army”
resorted to such useless and mockery excuses as a cover to execute their
Jihadist and ethnic cleansing operations.
(13)
That the use of Fulani Herdsmen by the “Nigerian Army” as one of the excuses
for invasion of the Southeast is deliberate and a further cover to be hidden
under to perpetrate its planned unprovoked war or mass killing and torture
mission; (14) That the Fulani Janjaweed or Herdsmen have massacred over 140
defenceless Christians in Southern Kaduna alone, in the past six months; yet
the “Nigerian Army” turns blind eyes;
likewise similar massacres in Agatu (Benue State), Nimbo (Enugu State), Akokwa
(Imo State), Asaba and its environs (Delta
State), etc; with the “Nigerian Army” looking the other way; but wasting
unnecessary energy and weaponry chasing, massacring, wounding, torturing and
persecuting defenceless Igbo-Christians for the purpose of pleasing its
Commander-in-Chief.
Real Reasons For The So Called “Operation (Exercise) Python
Dance”: The real reasons for the genocidal operations under reference
are for ethno-religious cleansing and socio-economic corruption and strangulation
of the Southeast Zone and its Environs.
That
is to say that the Jihadist component of the Nigerian Army led by Lt Gen Turkur
Buratai decided to launch and intensify the heinous operations so as (1) to cripple
and strangulate the social and economic activities in the Southeast Zone by
scaring the investors away; chasing away traders coming to patronize Southeast
economy; and crippling leisure, recreation and other cultural activities. (2)
Turning the Southeast Roads into extortionist money making arenas by way of
structured or organized and open ended extortion.
(3)
Depriving the pastoral or Diasporan people of the Southeast or Igbo race their
sacred rights to visit their ancestral communities and see their loved ones
particularly during the Xmas and New Year period. (4) Depriving the Christian
People of the Southeast and South-south Zones of exercise of their sacred
religious rights to commemorate the birth of their Saviour Jesus Christ during
the Xmas period. (5) Causing untimely death through suffocation, scorching heat
or cold and chronic traffic gridlock of newly born babies, unborn babies,
terminally sick persons, old age persons and heavily pregnant women.
(6)
Causing the perishing and death of domestic livestock and cooking items;
occasioned by chronic traffic gridlock and standstill created by the Jihadist
soldiers on Southeast Roads particularly at the Onitsha Niger Bridgehead; the
major entrance into the Southeast Roads and Zone. (7) Forcing thousands of Xmas
Holiday makers of the Southeast and the South-south extractions to sleep on the
road for days under scorching heat or cold and mosquito and other insect bites;
owing to Jihadist army created chronic traffic gridlock. (8) Subjecting the
Xmas Holiday makers of the Zone to both physical and psychological torture and
other degrading treatment or punishment and exposing them to random armed
robbery and other criminal attacks.
Total Blockage Of Onitsha Niger Bridgehead: The most disheartening, wicked and condemnable of it all is
the last week total blockage of the Niger Bridgehead by the Jihadist soldiers.
Despite the industrial hazard or dilapidating or sinking condition of the
Bridge; requiring steady less load capacity; the Jihadist soldiers have
moronically and sheepishly cordoned off and blocked the two main lanes of the
Bridge in front of Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu Statue. The two lanes were
blocked with empty drums painted in military colours with a narrow space for
only one vehicle passage. The Ojukwu Statue is also routinely abused by the
Jihadist soldiers squatted under a tent by its corner. The Statue is steadily
spat at and defaced. Urination around its brick is also a routine.
The
Onitsha Niger Bridgehead is notorious for chronic traffic gridlock and this is
very hellish during Xmas period and other major activities in the area. In
December 2015, 17th of December, to be specific, the Jihadist
soldiers stationed near it opened fire and killed over 10 jubilant IPOB
members, who were singing and dancing after news broke out that a Federal High
Court in Abuja has ordered for immediate and unconditional release of Mr.
Nnamdi Kanu; leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra. Citizen Nnamdi Kanu is
still the SBCHROs’ Prisoner of
Conscience.
After
the massacre, the Jihadist soldiers took away most of the corpses and later
dumped and abandoned three of them at Onitsha General Hospital. The Jihadist
soldiers later went on rampage; blocking the Bridge and causing hellish
conditions for Xmas returnees of 2015. Over 300 live fowls and dozens of goats
suffocated and died. Four persons including a heavily pregnant woman, a newly
born baby and an aged woman were reported dead; all as a result of chronic
traffic gridlock created by Jihadist soldiers.
Today,
they are at it again; by abandoning two tents built for them to watch over
vehicular and other traffic movements, to out-right blockage of the two lanes
for obvious ethno-religious cleansing reasons. They also want the sickening
Niger Bridgehead to collapse so as to ground the Zone socially, economically,
culturally, technologically, industrially and politically; having conspired
wickedly to stop and abandon the Second Niger Bridge Project. These explain
while we held that Buhari Army’s occupation of Igbo-Land is the making of another Jihad and
Ethnic Cleansing
Calls:
1.
Call on Governor Willie Obiano of Anambra State, who faces a
second term election in late 2017, to wake up from his gubernatorial slumber
and demilitarize his State. He should particularly get the blockage of the
Niger Bridgehead de-blocked and cleared for easy flow of traffic for Xmas
returnees. The Jihadist soldiers should be removed from the blockage scene and
forced back to their tents nearby, to watch over vehicular movements and
decongest the traffic.
2.
Governor Willie Obiano should also get the personnel of the FRSC
to disappear from the same scene to allow Xmas returnees a free hand to make
use of the Bridge and its adjourning roads; other than habitual traffic law
breakers.
3.
Call on all the people of good conscience particularly the
Christian leaders, governors,
legislators and other public office holders from the Southeast Zone to reject
and rise in condemnation of the ongoing intensification of “operation
ethno-religious cleansing of the Igbo Race” and insist on demilitarization of
the Zone.
4.
Call on the Buhari Administration and its Jihadist army
commanders to stop pushing the Igbo Race to the wall and back out of the
ongoing unprovoked pogrom against the Igbo Race in all its ramifications. It must be made to understand that the Presidency
of Nigeria is not a weapon to enslave and crush the Igbo Race as nothing or
nobody; except God, lasts forever.
5.
Call on all churches, CSOs and members of the academic body and
professional bodies of the Southeast extraction to rise in legitimate defence
of their Christian religion and other legitimate religious worship in non-violent,
steady and constructive manners.
6.
Call on Governor Willie Obiano to particularly visit the Niger
Bridgehead to see things for himself; and reverse himself immediately if he has
a hand in the genocidal blockage.
7.
Call on other Southeast Governors to rise to the occasion by
paying a visit to President Muhammadu Buhari for the purpose of demilitarizing
the Southeast Zone and allowing the people of the Zone a breathing space
including right and freedom to worship their predominant Christian religion.
8.
Call on the mass media (audio, audio-visual, print and web
media) to visit the Onitsha Niger Bridgehead to see things with their own eyes
and assess the enormity of nuisance and hindrances deliberately created by
Jihadist soldiers for innocent people of the Southeast and the South-south
Zones particularly the 2016 Xmas returnees or holiday makers.
9.
Call on them, too, to
visit other similar military road blockages across the Southeast for the
purpose of raising alarms to get them removed and demilitarized.
Acknowledgements: Special
thanks to Emeka Umeagbalasi and Intersociety for their special contributions
and assistance. Similar thanks to Human Rights Watch, USA and Amnesty
International, UK.
Signed:
1.
Comrade
Aloysius Attah (+2348035090548)
For: Civil Liberties Organization,
Southeast Zone
2.
Comrade
Peter Onyegiri (+2347036892777)
For: Center for Human Rights & Peace
Advocacy
3.
Comrade
Samuel Njoku (+2348039444628)
For: Human Rights Organization of Nigeria
4.
Engineer
Rufus Duru (+2348037513519)
For: Global Rights & Development
International
5.
Comrade
Chike Umeh ( +2348064869601)
For: Society Advocacy Watch Project
6.
Obianuju
Joy Igboeli, Esq. (+2348034186332)
For: Anambra Human Rights Forum
7.
Comrade
Alex Olisa(+2348034090410)
For: Southeast Good Governance Forum
8.
Emeka
Umeagbalasi (+2348174090052)
For: International Society for Civil
Liberties & the Rule of Law
9.
Jerry
Chukwuokoro, PhD (+2348035372962)
For: International Solidarity for Peace
& Human Rights Initiative
10.
Mr.
Tochukwu Ezeoke (+447748612933)
For: Igbo Ekunie Initiative (Pan Igbo
Rights Advocacy Group)
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