Rein-in the military

IN YET another damning report, titled “Nigeria: ‘Bullets Were Raining Everywhere’: Deadly Repression of Pro-Biafra Activists,” Amnesty International (AI) last week alleged Nigerian troops killed 150 members of Indigenous People of Biafra (Ipob) and Massob between August and now.

While the military authorities have responded with counter-allegations against the pro-Biafra groups without disputing the weighty claims in the AI report, we believe there is need to investigate the excessive use of force by the military.

It is particularly noteworthy that this is not the first time that AI would be accusing the Nigerian army of widespread abuses.

However, the graphic video currently being circulated makes the accusation much more compelling and rather unhelpful for the image of our country. Thanks to social media, such images usually spread like wildfire and can only worsen the relationship between the military and the civil populace.

The argument of the military that it intervened in the last Onitsha pro-Biafra agitation out of necessity to “prevent re-enforcement of the pro-Biafran members apparently surging ahead from the far side of the strategic Niger Bridge at Onitsha” is, to put it mildly, spurious.

And even if such imperative necessity existed, indiscriminate shooting at peaceful protesters cannot be a way of resolving civil conflicts, especially in a democracy. It is unacceptable and that message must be made clear to the military by the highest political authority in the country.