Treason for peace agitators, Amnesty for terrorist and murderers!
#Only in Nigeria
“Besides the Jews, probably no other
linguistic group has suffered so much persecution in history as the Igbo
have been obliged to endure in Nigeria.”
—Nnamdi Azikiwe, 1964
Although the Nigeria-Biafra Civil War,
which claimed the lives of more than one million Igbo ethnic group,
ended more than four decades ago, it appears however, that our country
has yet to learn any lesson from the devastating consequence of the war.
Recent events have shown that the ruling elite are poised to reopen the
wounds of our ugly past thereby perpetuating the injustices that
triggered one of the worst chapters in our nation’s history. A probing
of the first half of Nigeria’s post-independence history has shown that
the intriguing political timeline that led to the 1966 pogrom and the
eventual civil war was as a result of the power struggle among the
ruling elite and regional power blocs that sought to selfishly dominate
political power shortly after independence from British rule.
The anti-Igbo feelings and ethnic
mistrust that had brewed in the pre-colonial period also came to a head
in the period after independence. It tragically culminated in the pogrom
of 1966 and has also been blamed for the outbreak of the war. Whether
this is true or not (although recent developments in the polity seem to
confirm latent anti-Igbo feelings), it did however blossom into a
full-blown ethnic mistrust among Nigeria’s major ethnic groups. In the
early 1960s, for example, a general and widespread Igbo paranoia became a
recipe for tension which later engulfed the country and threatened its
very existence.
The rest is history.
When the war ended, the Gowon
administration which had prosecuted the war, sought to heal the wounds
of the past by re-integrating the Igbo back into the mainstream of the
Nigerian society through his Reconciliation, Rehabilitation and
Reconstruction programme. The three pronged approach included restoring
what the ethnic group had lost economically and politically. But this
post-war attempt to right the wrong by Gowon had been variously
criticised as half-hearted and not far-reaching enough. Before the war,
the Igbo had been at the commanding heights of commerce in the country.
The war took a heavy toll on them politically and economically. Many
Igbo lost properties and positions in the civil service and other
sectors of the economy. They have never really recovered from the
aftermath.
Continue after the cut....
Sadly, many years after the war ended,
the cries of marginalisation of the Igbo ethnic group have become more
stringent. The need to right the wrong has often dominated political
discourse. In recent times, no event has highlighted the persecution the
Igbo are still suffering than the plight of the Movement for the
Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafra. The current travails of
the group in the hands of the Nigerian government have prompted me to
reflect on the injustice in our country. It has also re-opened the
existence or otherwise of an underlying anti-Igbo feeling harboured by
the Nigerian establishment.
The plight of the group in the hands of
the Nigerian government has helped to boldly put the issue in the sun
(although it was never much in the shade). Whether we want to admit it
or not, the predicament of the MASSOB has also brought to the fore the
ugly truth of tribal discrimination in our country. The treatment of the
MASSOB has portrayed Nigeria as the allegorical setting of George
Orwell’s Animal Farm, where all animals are equal but some are
more equal than the others. It has also shown that although we have
fought the civil war and touted the “the no-victor no-vanquished”
slogan, we are not ready to correct the imbalances and injustice that
led to the war.
No group personifies the injustice the
Igbo are facing in the country than the MASSOB. The group and its
members are currently being victimised, harassed and persecuted by
agents of government as was the case in the past administrations. Since
its existence, MASSOB has been the subject of state sponsored
intimidation. It has continued under this government. The recent
recommendation for trial of MASSOB members for treason reinforces the
deep-seated anti-Igbo feeling and marginalisation that many have alluded
to years after the civil war ended. What explanation could possibly
justify the recommendation for the trial of the Ralph Uwazurike-led
non-violent group, MASSOB, while other groups like the Boko Haram and
MEND have been offered amnesty? At its inception, MASSOB concentrated on
organising peaceful rallies and protests which culminated in hoisting
Biafran flags at different locations in the South-East.
In recent years, this practice has been
reserved mainly for celebrating key dates and events or in commemoration
of dead members in the region. Besides, it had also embarked on
protests to protest arrests and killings of its members. In 2012, the
Human Rights Writers’ Association of Nigeria condemned the alleged
killing of 16 members of MASSOB by security agencies in Anambra State.
In February 2013, MASSOB claimed that several corpses found floating on
the Ezu River on the boundary of Enugu and Anambra states were those of
its members previously arrested by the police. It is also important to
mention that the group’s peaceful campaign for self-determination is
supported by all treaties, including the International Covenant on Civil
and Political Rights which recognises the right of all peoples to
self-government/determination, including the right to freely determine
their political status.
This key aspect of the International
Bill of Rights known as the International Covenant on Civil and
Political Rights is a multilateral treaty adopted by the United Nations
General Assembly. The global statute commits its parties including
Nigeria among 160 others and the 74 signatories to respect the civil and
political rights of individuals including the right to life; freedom of
religion, freedom of assembly and speech and right to due process and
fair trial. But MASSOB’s peaceful agitation for self-government has been
met with the brutality of the Nigerian government. Interestingly,
MASSOB, like any other ethno nationalist groups, emerged because of the
glaring inequalities and imbalances in Nigeria. The group, for example,
is not different from the Movement for the Emancipation of Niger Delta
or Odua People’s Congress and others.
These groups emerged in the last few
years because the Nigerian state and its ruling elite have continued the
marginalisation and structural imbalances that had led to political
tension in the country. This they have done to further their own selfish
ends. It is exactly for these reasons that groups such as the MEND,
OPC, Boko Haram and MASSOB have proliferated in recent times. But why is
this government treating MASSOB differently? Why is the government
negotiating with a murderous group like Boko Haram while persecuting
members of MASSOB with genuine ideological reasons to agitate? The
government offers to grant amnesty to criminals that have taken
thousands of lives — a group that plans to Islamise the country while
genuine agitations are suppressed. Till date, MASSOB members and their
families are still being harassed and killed with impunity in various
parts of Eastern Nigeria. How can we have an equitable and just society
when criminals masquerading as terrorists are offered amnesty by the
government? Why has the government not offered to address the grievances
of MASSOB? Have they once been offered the chance to meet with the
government for discussions?
One intriguing development in this sad
narrative is the complicity of the Igbo elite and their political class.
They have turned a blind eye to the suffering of MASSOB. Ironically,
Northern elders have defended the terrorist activities of the murderous
Boko Haram by asking for amnesty to be granted it. South-South leaders
also vigorously supported the call for amnesty for MEND in the heat of
the Niger Delta struggle for resource control. That the pan-Igbo
cultural group, Ohaneze Ndigbo has not spoken up against the
harassment and ill-treatment of their kith and kin beats the
imagination. The chieftains of the group, sadly, are contented with
feeding off the crumbs from the Federal Government at the detriment of
their people’s future and aspirations. It’s a shame.
I call on the Federal Government to toe
the path of justice. As a matter of urgency, the trial and harassment of
MASSOB members should stop. The Jonathan administration should address
the structural imbalances in the country that have made ethnic militias
inevitable. If it could in good conscience conceive of amnesty for a
known terrorist group that has spurned the corporate existence of the
country, whose activities have left blood, tears and sorrow at their
trail, what is it doing with hanging a treason charge on a non-violent
movement that poses no danger to lives of Nigerians? What is sauce for
the goose is sauce for the gander.
-Bayo Olupohunda (bayoolupohunda@yahoo.com)
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I posted this article because its the best i have read so far. Kudos Bayo.
sHAME ON THOSE FICKLE MINDED IGBOs THAT FEED THING FROM THE FG.
Share your thoughts...thanks!
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