The Nation Newspaper

Tag: IPOB/MASSOB

  • Presidency to IPOB/MASSOB: you are wasting your time

    Presidency to IPOB/MASSOB: you are wasting your time

    THOSE calling for the disintegration of Nigeria are only wasting their time as “Nigeria remains one”, the Presidency has said.

    It gave the assurance yesterday through the Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, when he received a coalition of Southeast youths.

    The group, led by Steve Anyata, stormed the Aso Rock Villa gate to declare their support for President Muhammadu Buhari.

    The Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) and the Movement for Actualisation of Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB) have been agitating for the creation of Biafra over alleged marginalisation of the Southeast zone.

    But, Adesina assured the youth that the Southeast geopolitical zone, just like other zones, would get its dues under President Muhammadu Buhari.

    The presidential aide described as untrue the insinuation by some mischief-makers that the Southeast region was not in support of Buhari’s administration.

    He said: “The fact that a coalition from the Southeast region has come to mount this solidarity rally for him is very significant because some mischief-makers always say that the Southeast region is not with the President. That is not true.

    “It was in the Southeast region that he was given the name Okechukwu during the campaign. It was in the Southeast, Abia precisely, that Eze Ikot Nne gave him a traditional title.

    “So, we know that every part of this country approves the leadership of President Muhammadu Okechukwu Buhari.”

    Adesina noted that some youth groups from the Southsouth region had also embarked on similar solidarity rally in support of Buhari.

    He said: “This gives us confidence that no matter what anybody does, no matter the antics of people who plot mischief, Nigeria will remain one.

    “You must have heard our President yesterday in his nationwide address when he said whatever it takes, Nigeria will be kept together. And I tell you, whatever it takes this President, he will keep the country together.

    “Therefore, anybody who is planning something else should know that it’s just a mere waste of time; is like beating a dead horse which is share waste of energy. Nigeria will remain one; President Muhammadu Buhari will keep the country together.”

    Adesina reassured that the Buhari administration would continue to ensure fair and equitable distribution of infrastructural facilities across the six geo-political zones.

    “And I also want to promise on his behalf that the Southeast will get its due during the President Muhammadu Okechukwu Buhari’s Presidency.

    “The roads in the region will be fixed, the second Niger Bridge will be done, everything, infrastructure, positions, offices, all that the centre needs to do for the region, the Southeast region will get its own fair share,” he added.

    He thanked the group for its support and promised to present their letter to the President.

    Anyata said they embarked on the solidarity rally to demonstrate their support for Buhari’s administration.

    He called on the Federal Government not to ignore the quit notice slammed on the Igbos residing in the North by some youth groups.

    He thanked God for the successful return of the President after his medical vacation in London.

  • Police confirm arrest of IPOB, MASSOB members in Ebonyi

    Police confirm arrest of IPOB, MASSOB members in Ebonyi

    The Police in Ebonyi on Saturday confirmed the arrest of some members of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) in various part of the state for alleged unlawful sensitisation programme.

    The command’s spokesman, DSP Jude Madu, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Saturday that the arrested suspects also included members of the Movement for the Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB).

    Madu said that the suspects were arrested for unlawfully sensitising the public to stay at home on May 30, in observance of the group anniversary.

    “They would be charged to court and the command would ensure that they are duly prosecuted to serve as a deterrent to others.

    “IPOB and MASSOB are illegal groups and did not get permission from the police to embark on such exercise which threatens the peace and security of the state.

    “The command with the directive of the Commissioner of Police, Mr Titus Lamorde, has commenced intensive sensitisation of the populace to disregard the sit-at-home directive and go about their lawful businesses,” he said.

    Madu warned members of the group not to carry out outlawed activities within the state before, during and after May 30, as the full weight of the law would be brought on any defaulter.

    “Any person or group found culpable would be arrested and duly prosecuted as the groups’ activities amount to mutiny or fighting a sitting and legally recognised government.

    “IPOB and MASSOB are techniques developed by some individuals to gain public interest and recognition as the former is even a breakaway organ of the latter.

    “These groups have not provided amenities or other forms of social security for the people they are directing to stay at home; it shows that their intentions are not sincere and must be rejected by all,” he said.

    He advised the groups that not everybody was interested in issues concerning secession as people still remember the horrors of the civil war and other upheavals in the country after then.

    According to him, they should realise that most people are not interested in their preaching, therefore, they should not force anybody to be involved in their illegal and unlawful practices.

    Madu called on traditional rulers and town unions across the state to assist the police in sensitising the people and provide relevant information about the group’s activities.

    “The command has distributed various call contacts (numbers) to the public to report activities of these groups within this period, especially molestation, if they refuse heeding to the stay-at home order.

    “Any gathering of two or more people propagating the IPOB/MASSOB messages or executing related activities should be promptly reported to the police for immediate actions,” he said.

    A NAN Correspondent who visited the state police command reports that the arrested IPOB members were upbeat and chanting solidarity songs.

  • Upping the ante in IPOB/MASSOB crisis

    After the death of nine people, five of whom were members of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) demanding the release of Nnamdi Kanu, one of their leaders, the police have begun to talk tough. Most of the dead were killed by soldiers forcefully removing barricades mounted by the protesters on the Niger Bridge in Onitsha. The police in fact lost one of their own. Shooting unarmed protesters of course has its own legal implication, and the shooting itself may yet be investigated, though justice may be delayed. Yet, the language issuing from the mouths of security agents is not different from the one coming from the protesters, only that the protesters have spoken violence and so far used none. Has the country learnt any lesson from the Boko Haram insurgency? Perhaps not.

    A few weeks ago, this column suggested that rather than threaten fire and brimstone, the federal government should design brilliant and ingenious way of engaging the IPOB/MASSOB protesters. But apparently no one is thinking for the government. Everyone is relying on force and talking of the need to crush the protesters. The column had warned that in the modern era, few secessionists embrace direct or conventional war. The vogue is asymmetric war. If the IPOB/MASSOB campaigners were to embrace violence, they would not opt for conventional tactics; and with an unmanageable insurgency in the Northeast, the crisis could easily become messy and bloody. The wise option for the government, as it was suggested in this place, is to find accommodation with IPOB/MASSOB on a realistic and sustainable basis.

    No matter the amount of force applied, the problem will not go away. It can only get worse. Whether Southeast leaders support or deny IPOB/MASSOB is hardly the point. And whether sometime in the future an Igbo man becomes president hardly also matters. After all, Boko Haram did not regard the presidency of the late ex-president Umaru Yar’Adua, nor has it responded to that of the ascetic President Buhari. The government must therefore challenge itself to come up with a solution. As an analyst said recently, the crisis threatening to fester in the Southeast is partly due to the fact that there was no closure to the Nigerian civil war. The issues that led to the war, which issues have led to periodic eruptions all over the country, have not been addressed in any systematic or scientific fashion. There is no sense of national identity, and no lodestar around which the various ethnic and religious groups can coalesce. Nor is the country structured in such way as to eliminate or considerably attenuate political, cultural and religious frictions. Until these are done, the problem will both endure and worsen.

    By shooting unarmed protesters, the first fateful step may already have been taken in aggravating the IPOB/MASSOB crisis. If the Buhari presidency is smart as his supporters say, it will pause for some deep reflections. Campaigning on the pages of newspapers or in the media against the promoters of Biafra will achieve nothing. Even if two-thirds of the Southeast should repudiate the Biafra idea, it would profit nothing. All it takes for this kind of crisis to assume apocalyptic proportions is just for a few dedicated martyrs to offer their lives and time to prosecute the cause. And all it takes for the matter to explode out of hand is for the government to falsely believe that it has the security apparatus to check the crisis. It does not have the resources, and it is already stretched thin by Boko Haram.

    The Buhari presidency must act now while it still has the initiative. He has been accused of not really having an economic vision; at least he has not given indication he has any beyond his anti-corruption war and his idiosyncratic asceticism. And he has also been accused of not having a vision for a new social order, a vision that comes only from inside of him. It can’t be administered from outside, and cannot be taught. Worse, now, he is been accused of not having a political vision, just as ex-president Goodluck Jonathan did not have one until in desperation he concocted one half-heartedly in the closing months of his presidency. Whether it can be taught or developed from within him, President Buhari has only a little time to enunciate a political vision for Nigeria. It is that vision that will inform how he responds to the Biafra crisis and other crises waiting in the wings to erupt like a volcano.

  • Upping the ante in IPOB/MASSOB crisis

    Upping the ante in IPOB/MASSOB crisis

    After the death of nine people, five of whom were members of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) demanding the release of Nnamdi Kanu, one of their leaders, the police have begun to talk tough. Most of the dead were killed by soldiers forcefully removing barricades mounted by the protesters on the Niger Bridge in Onitsha. The police in fact lost one of their own. Shooting unarmed protesters of course has its own legal implication, and the shooting itself may yet be investigated, though justice may be delayed. Yet, the language issuing from the mouths of security agents is not different from the one coming from the protesters, only that the protesters have spoken violence and so far used none. Has the country learnt any lesson from the Boko Haram insurgency? Perhaps not.

    A few weeks ago, this column suggested that rather than threaten fire and brimstone, the federal government should design brilliant and ingenious way of engaging the IPOB/MASSOB protesters. But apparently no one is thinking for the government. Everyone is relying on force and talking of the need to crush the protesters. The column had warned that in the modern era, few secessionists embrace direct or conventional war. The vogue is asymmetric war. If the IPOB/MASSOB campaigners were to embrace violence, they would not opt for conventional tactics; and with an unmanageable insurgency in the Northeast, the crisis could easily become messy and bloody. The wise option for the government, as it was suggested in this place, is to find accommodation with IPOB/MASSOB on a realistic and sustainable basis.

    No matter the amount of force applied, the problem will not go away. It can only get worse. Whether Southeast leaders support or deny IPOB/MASSOB is hardly the point. And whether sometime in the future an Igbo man becomes president hardly also matters. After all, Boko Haram did not regard the presidency of the late ex-president Umaru Yar’Adua, nor has it responded to that of the ascetic President Buhari. The government must therefore challenge itself to come up with a solution. As an analyst said recently, the crisis threatening to fester in the Southeast is partly due to the fact that there was no closure to the Nigerian civil war. The issues that led to the war, which issues have led to periodic eruptions all over the country, have not been addressed in any systematic or scientific fashion. There is no sense of national identity, and no lodestar around which the various ethnic and religious groups can coalesce. Nor is the country structured in such way as to eliminate or considerably attenuate political, cultural and religious frictions. Until these are done, the problem will both endure and worsen.

    By shooting unarmed protesters, the first fateful step may already have been taken in aggravating the IPOB/MASSOB crisis. If the Buhari presidency is smart as his supporters say, it will pause for some deep reflections. Campaigning on the pages of newspapers or in the media against the promoters of Biafra will achieve nothing. Even if two-thirds of the Southeast should repudiate the Biafra idea, it would profit nothing. All it takes for this kind of crisis to assume apocalyptic proportions is just for a few dedicated martyrs to offer their lives and time to prosecute the cause. And all it takes for the matter to explode out of hand is for the government to falsely believe that it has the security apparatus to check the crisis. It does not have the resources, and it is already stretched thin by Boko Haram.

    The Buhari presidency must act now while it still has the initiative. He has been accused of not really having an economic vision; at least he has not given indication he has any beyond his anti-corruption war and his idiosyncratic asceticism. And he has also been accused of not having a vision for a new social order, a vision that comes only from inside of him. It can’t be administered from outside, and cannot be taught. Worse, now, he is been accused of not having a political vision, just as ex-president Goodluck Jonathan did not have one until in desperation he concocted one half-heartedly in the closing months of his presidency. Whether it can be taught or developed from within him, President Buhari has only a little time to enunciate a political vision for Nigeria. It is that vision that will inform how he responds to the Biafra crisis and other crises waiting in the wings to erupt like a volcano.