SENDING ANOTHER PYTHON TO IGBOLAND?

Sonnie Ekwowusi argues that it is unnecessary

Another Python (Eke) is about to be released and sent to Igbo land. The new General Commander Officer of the 82 Division of the Nigerian Army Major-General B. Kabuk confirmed this last week. He said that another python code-named Operation Python Dance 111 or Ekwu Eke 111 would soon be released and sent to Igbo land. The mind-boggling questions remain: Why send another army python to Igbo land considering that the earlier pythons sent to Igbo land in 2016 and 2017 killed and injured many Igbo people? If Igbo land is not engulfed in any war or civil commotion necessitating python operation why send python 111 to intimidate and harass a peace-loving people?

Before attempting to answer the above questions an outline of the relationship between the Buhari government and the Nigerian army alias pythons will be useful. You will recall that from 2016 to 2017 the Nigerian military pythons were deployed by the Buhari government to invade the whole of the South-East in what was tagged Operation Python Dance one & two. The soldier pythons said the invasions were necessary to tackle threats to security personnel, theft of weapons, kidnappings, armed banditry and violent agitations by secessionist groups and other crimes in the South-East. The first invasion took place from November 28 to December 27, 2016 in the five South East states of Abia, Anambra, Ebonyi, Enugu and Imo. The second invasion occurred from September 15 and ended on October 14, 2017 in the same five states. Despite the stiff opposition to the invasions, the pythons did incalculable damage in the South-East. The video clips of the aforesaid invasions show that several civilians were either murdered or badly injured or publicly flogged or harassed or hounded by the pythons during their operations.

Notwithstanding the condemnation trailing the aforesaid killings and maiming in Igbo land during the execution of Operation Python Dance one & two as contained in the 2017 Human Rights Report of the United States Department of State, the Buhari government is poised to deploy another military pythons code-named Python Operation Dance 11. In its pseudo-rationalisation of the upcoming invasion, the Nigerian army says Python 111 is a training exercise to protect the territorial integrity of Nigeria. It says that during the training the army will not close its eyes and watch the criminal activities that thrive in the area but would use its weight to crush some activities. Clearly the army is seeking a false alibi under army training and protection of territorial integrity. If the Nigerian army really wants to protect the territorial integrity of Nigeria or crush criminal activities in Nigeria, it should have gone to Sambisa Forest, Benue State, Taraba State or Borno State where Boko Haram, Fulani herdsmen and other criminals are destroying lives and property on daily basis and threatening national security. The Sambisa Forest is full of dangerous pythons. Instead of sending pythons to the South-East to intimidate, harass and kill innocent citizens, why can’t President Buhari send them to Sambisa Forest where they would meet their fellow pythons and challenge them to a fight? Come to think of it, must the Nigerian army be sent to train in Igbo land? Why can’t the army be sent to train in isolated places or congenial environments so as to avoid human casualties? I grew up seeing the police and the army train without seeing any policeman or any soldier killing or harassing any citizen for any reason. But in the last three years the army pythons in Nigeria have been killing and maiming innocent citizens under the guise of training. The Nigerian army contradicts itself when it says that it is dispatching python 111 to the South-East for training and for protection of the territorial integrity of Nigeria. How can Python 111 be training and at the same time protecting territorial integrity of Nigeria? Are there security threats in Igbo land at the moment necessitating the deployment of pythons to the South-East? In 2016 and 2017 the government justified the deployment of pythons one & two to Ndigbo on the doctrine of necessity. It argued that it was necessary to send the pythons to quell the violent agitations by secessionist groups and other crimes in the South-East at that time. But can such a doctrine still be pleaded today? I do not think so. Nnamdi Kanu is no more a threat. Nnamdi Kanu and his mother and father are presumably under house arrest. IPOB has been banned. Above all, Igbo land has been peaceful in the last couple of months. So, why send python 111 to Igbo land?

More importantly, militarisation of Igbo land or deployment of soldier pythons to Igbo land is unconstitutional. Ours is now a democracy not a military autocracy. Therefore government actions should be governed by the rule of law. Why? Because government is not above the law. Section 217(2)(c)(d) of the 1999 Constitution has in no unmistakable language spelt out the circumstances and conditions under which the military can be invited to intervene in quelling internal secession or conflict in a country. While the President of Nigeria can freely deploy our military to defend our country against external aggression and to maintain our territorial integrity, he cannot, pursuant to section 217(2)(c)(d) of the 1999 Constitution, freely do so against internal insurrection and internal armed conflicts without the consent of the Senate and “such conditions as may be prescribed by an Act of National Assembly,” and “performing such other functions as may be prescribed by an Act of the National Assembly”. It is obvious that the aforesaid constitutional provision is being routinely violated. For example, the aforesaid provision of the constitution was violated on February 9, 2016 when the Nigerian soldiers shot and killed countless defenceless pro-Biafra protesters who were peacefully holding prayers inside the football field of Ngwa High School, Aba in Abia State. Also the provision was violated on May 30, 2016 when over 30 civilians were killed and many injured by the Nigerian military after the several clashes involving the military, police and members of Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) and members of the Movement for Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB) during the Biafran day celebration at Nkpor-Agu, Niger Bridge, Onitsha and Asaba. Now the aforesaid provision of the constitution is about to be violated again as the government is poised to send Python 111 to the South-East.

In the light of the foregoing, the government should stay action on sending Python 111 to Igbo land. Already the incalculable damage done by Pythons One & two has not been remedied. In fact the international community has blacklisted Nigeria on account of the human rights violations in the South-East during Operation Python Dance one & two. So, why dispatch another python to Igbo land and cause more damage? If there is one part of Nigeria that should attract pythons, it is the North-East which is fraught with threats to national security. It serves no purpose, in my view, sending python 111 to the South- East. Let the South-East be.