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| Exposing the dangers in state and non-state actors’ involvement in anti-igbo genocidal threats and military fatwa in southeast Nigeria |
(Intersociety, Onitsha Nigeria: 11th
September 2017)-The simultaneous involvement by the
Arewa Youths/Northern Elders’ Forum (non State actor) and the present Federal
Government of Nigeria and its security establishments (State actor) all headed
and controlled by members of the Muslim dominated Northern Nigeria; in the
recent anti Igbo genocidal threats and military invasion and fatwa in the
Southeast Nigeria or Igbo heartland is not only gravely dangerous but also from
all intents and purposes; a prepared, predetermined and collectively endorsed
ethnic and religious pogrom program prepared by the named State and non State
actors; which appeared to have been copied after the anti Tutsi genocidal
policies and programs in Rwanda and Burundi.
The roles of the
Great Britain and other western musketeers
including USA which have found Nigeria and its State as a new dumping ground
and big buyer of their small arms and
light weapons (SALWs) as well as aerial attack and mass destruction weapons;
are also no longer hidden. As a matter of fact, what the Great Britain
represents; by its conspiratorial roles in the present military, genocidal and
annihilative buildup against the Nigeria’s oldest ethnic nationality with
largest Christian population; was exactly what the French authorities and other
western musketeers including the same
Great Britain represented in Rwanda during its 1994 genocide. It is recalled
that Republic of France was a leading complicit in the Rwandan Genocide;
especially before and during the genocide.
The Nigerian Army has broken recognised rules of engagement and committing CRIMINAL ACTS. South East governors must ask them to leave to safeguard the lives of citizens
We had in our
previous public statements following these clear signs of genocide; primarily targeted
at the Igbo race and their South-south neighbors, but secondarily expected to
consume the entire country, if erupted, called on members of the international
community to activate and operationalize their early warning system and preventive diplomacy over the looming
genocide and its danger signals in Nigeria. We had also warned that the United
Nations and the African Union with all their humanitarian agencies and budgets
put together would not contain and curtail the number of refugees and internally
displaced persons and their health consequences and complications; if the
country, with total human population of 175million was or is to be engulfed in
genocidal internal conflict.
We still make
bold to say that if this is allowed to happen, not even the western musketeers who are suppliers of mass weapons at night and makers of peace/donors of
humanitarian aids/funds in the day; will be spared. The humanitarian crises
arising from the imminent Nigerian genocide will be too catastrophic and far reaching
for them to handle or contain. We also reminded and still remind them of the
histories of the intra State violent conflicts of the immediate past whereby
those entrusted with formal control of instruments of violence; but got them
misused and misapplied, ended up in exile or as refugees or in death with
justice accountability for atrocities they committed or perpetrated against
their own people in office placed on them while living or after death.
Instances abound
in Liberia, where the Armed Forces of Liberia under Samuel Doe, later became
moribund and got replaced; in Sierra Leone, where the Armed Forces of Sierra
Leone under Joseph Saidu Momoh; later after its brutal civil war, got radically
restructured; in former Soviet Union where the Armed Forces of the Union of
Soviet Socialist Republics got collapsed and disbanded on account of the
country‘s disintegration into 15 States; occasioned by the policy of perestroika and glasnost; engineered by then
President Mikhail Gorbachev way back in 1987; and in former Yugoslavia
under Slobodan Milosevic and Stjepan Mesic where their armed forces, dominated
by Serbs got collapsed and disbanded. This is to mention but few.
We had expected
the present Federal Government in Nigeria, headed by Retired Major General Muhammadu
Buhari to adhere strictly to the provisions of the existing Constitution of the
Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999,
especially in accordance with its Section 14 (2) (b) (State protection of all
citizens and provision of security and welfare to them) and Chapter Four,
particularly its Sections 40 (right to freedom of association and assembly), 41
(right to freedom of movement and residence in any part of Nigeria), 42 (right
to freedom from discrimination) and 43 (right to acquire and own immoveable
property anywhere in Nigeria).
We had also
expected the Buhari Administration to beef up both unseen and seen security
presence in all parts of Northern Nigeria especially in the host settlement
areas of the Northern Zone where over 11.4million Igbo and other people of old
Eastern Nigeria reside, work, study, worship or trade. The expected but failed
security beef up in Northern Nigeria and in Igbo and other Easterners’
settlements was and is still direly expected considering the nearness of the
expiration of the referenced Arewa Youths/Northern Elders’ genocidal quit
notice (1st October). The issuers of the June 2017 genocidal threats
against the Igbo/old Eastern Nigerian Region population in Northern Nigeria and
their sponsors also ought to have been arrested and put on trial.
Sadly and
wickedly, the reverse has become the case; leading to issuance of military
fatwa and flooding of the ancestral Igbo heartland with battalions of soldiers
and armed police personnel by the present central Government. As matter of
fact, the latest military buildup in Southeast and South-south areas of Nigeria
is a clear case of official issuance of further genocidal threats against
members of the Igbo Race right inside their ancestral citadel by the Buhari
Administration.
As if that was not enough, the same Federal
Government yesterday exposed its “genocidal plan B” by deliberately garrisoning
and shooting in the direction and location of the palace of Prince Nnamdi
Kanu’s father with military tanks and truck-loads of armed soldiers so as to
provoke the disillusioned, disenchanted and angered unarmed supporters and
friends of the pro Biafra movement leader. This was done for the purpose of
provoking the youths into group and reprisal violence with sticks and clubs so
as to find ground to massacre them and unleash widespread violence and genocide
against innocent and defenseless Igbo population in their places of worship,
relaxation, trade, mobility, meeting, etc. Citizen Nnamdi Kanu who the
genocidal soldiers also reportedly attempted to abduct is presently on Court
bail with his matter expected to resume on 17th October 2017.
Till date, it
never and has not occurred to the present Buhari Administration that it is
steadily breeding another insurgency in Nigeria by its radical and militarized
policies and approaches against the Igbo Race. Those obeying and carrying out
Mr. President’s genocidal orders against the People of the Southeast and South-south
Regions are also so subdued, deafened and conscienceless that they cannot strong
advise the same President to stop henceforth from endangering the lives and
security of over 174million people of Nigeria.
Today, barrages
of attack from all fronts against the Igbo Race/Christian populations in
Nigeria abound. Members of the Igbo Race are facing the central Government’s
structural violence and its formal security establishments’ attacks (regime
violence and atrocities). At the level of non-State actor; also come Jihadist
attacks from the government security agencies’ backed terrorist Fulani herdsmen;
who go on rampage with alarming and shocking alacrity; killing and maiming the
Igbo rural population as well as abducting and raping of their women and
children; destruction of Igbo farm crops and violent possession of their lands.
Signed:
For: International Society for Civil
Liberties and the Rule of Law (Intersociety)
Emeka Umeagbalasi, Board Chairman
Mobile Line: +2348174090052
Barr Obianuju Igboeli
Head, Civil Liberties & Rule of Law
Program
Barr Ndidiamaka Bernard
Head, Int’l Justice and Human Rights
Program
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