By E O Eke
The lifeless and desecrated bodies of another batch of Igbo youth
murdered by Nigerian soldiers on February 9, 2016 at National High School Aba,
is another gruesome reminder of the brutality and high handedness with which
the Buhari administration is addressing the non-violent protests by youths
agitating for independent state of Biafra. When you view the recent massacre
against the background that the victims were unarmed, were not violent and the
crime was perpetrated by soldiers and police men from Northern Nigeria , the significance and intention of the government becomes
ominous. The use of disproportionate force and introduction of sectarian
dimension raises serious concerns about the future of Nigeria
As
the death toll of this unjustifiable pogrom rise, the silence of Igbo leaders
is deafening. Why have Igbo leaders in position to reach out both to the
government and protesters kept quiet? Is Nigeria is really a secular
democracy? Has the governors, senators, members of the house of assembly and
other elected politicians any real power to implement the will of the people
and give hope to their wishes and aspirations? Are they aware of the Huge
responsibility they carry on behalf of the people?
I
am asking, how much more evil, bloodshed brutality and injustice do Nigerians
want to see, before we act to stop this crime against humanity going in
Igboland. The actions of the army is unconscionable. It is even more curious
that the government withdrew soldiers fighting terrorists to murder non-violent
protesters. The pictures of the atrocities are as nauseating as they are
condemnable. They show the depravity of the minds behind them. It is difficult
to imagine that the men responsible for these crimes have human conscience and
what it takes to bear arms on behalf of a state.
There
are neither reasons no justification for this massacre. It is even more
disturbing that this is coming after we heard that President Muhammadu Buhari withdrew
soldiers fighting Boko Haram and told them to go and deal with non-violent
protesters in Igboland. It is happening as the president releases Boko Haram
terrorists and Fulani herdsmen terrorising the country unchallenged.
It
is difficult to decide which is more disturbing, the silence of Igbo leaders or
the cold indifference of Nigerians in the face of such monstrous evil and
injustice. Nigeria
surely has a problem, when many of us find reason to keep silent, when our
youths are murdered in cold blood. Where are the Igbo leaders? Where are
objective minded, detribalised and patriotic Nigerians? Where are those who are
quick to blame Igbos for the civil war? Where are those who sing the mantra
that the unity of Nigeria
is none negotiable? Where are the condemnation? What are we doing to show that
Igbo life and the life of every Nigerian matters in Nigeria ?
This
unjustified action of the Buhari government will only do one thing. It will
radicalise more Igbo youths who will now choose a life of struggle than to live
under the present dispensation. As a Muslim, president Buhari may be familiar
with the suffi saying that it is better to be a rebel than a slave. He should
also know that such saying also exist in Igboland. Igbos will not live under
the occupation by Nigerian
soldiers whose officers from the north are on a mission to dominate,
dehumanise intimidate and break the Igbo man. What is going on in Igboland is
not an honest government trying to find a peaceful solution to a civil unrest,
but a sectarian minded federal government, pursuing sectarian objectives
anchored on ethnic and religious prejudices against a people. Today it is the Igbos,
yesterday it was the Ogonis, tomorrow it may be you, because the agenda is to
intimidate, control and dominate.
The
government must end the military occupation of Igboland by withdrawing the army. It
is neither necessary nor needed to end the agitation for independent state of Biafra . President Buhari has a moral duty to bring this
pogrom to an end and bring those responsible for this massacre to justice.
What the Nigerian army is doing in Igboland is a crime against humanity for
which they should be held accountable.
If
this sectarian inspired and unlawful killing of Igbos continue, Newton 's third law of
motion would invariable kick in. Retaliation is a natural reaction to
extrajudicial killing and once this starts, Nigeria has no future, no matter
the number of soldiers posted to Igboland. The world has changed, since the
genocide of 1967 to 1970. We must not forget who sowed and waterered the seed of
this conflict. The high handedness and contempt of the present administration
is behind this escalation.
Two
wrongs cannot make a right. Agitation for Biafra as a response to
discrimination and marginalisation of Igbos in Nigeria and the criminal leadership
that has impoverished Igboland through corruption is a wrong response. What
the youth should have been protesting against is political corruption and
criminal leadership, which have wasted the resources that would have financed
the social investments that would have given them a better future.
The
government should have shown understanding of the complexity of the problem and
made honest effort to engage with the protesters and address their grievances.
Therefore, the killing of peaceful protesters in cold blood by combatant
Nigerian soldiers is the wrong response. It is a heinous crime against
humanity. The challenge is to resolve this problem and give peace and rule of
law a chance and the government has no alternative, but to rise to the occasion.
The
government must stop killing unarmed protesters. There is no reason for it and
it is unjustifiable under the circumstance. The protesters must be persuaded to
pursue their objectives politically. Those who persuade them must recognise
that innocent blood have been shed and the victims must not die in vain.
The
idea that a people who are unhappy in a union can be denied self determination
and forced to remain in a country that discriminates and marginalises them without consequences is irrational, to say the least.
The
blood shed must stop. The extrajudicial killings of Igbo youth by Nigerian
soldiers must now come to an end. The government of Muhammadu Buhari must find
a civil response to a civil protest. This is what democracy is about.
President
Buhari must know that he is not a dictator and the army should not be detailed
to murder citizens in peace time in, a democracy. I know that as a soldier, he
is trained to kill his enemies, but as a civilian president, his duty is to
talk to his enemies. Continuing this ill-informed military solution to the
civil protest in East Nigeria or finding justification for it, is to sow the
seeds of an intractable conflict, which will surely mature and bear fruit and,
I hope that those responsible for this atrocity will be around to harvest them.
Please give peace a chance.
*E O
Eke is
qualified in medicine. At various times he has been a General medical
practitioner, Medical missionary, Medical Director and senior medical officer
of health in Nigeria .
He specializes in child, Adolescent and adult psychiatry and lives in England with
his family. His interest is in health, religion philosophy and politics. He
cares for body and mind (Email: eoeke@aol.com
The president of Nigeria of Nigeria should please addrr this matter very well other wise God will do what he did to Abscha to him. Thanks
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