Fears of another round of military/police massacre,
maiming, torture, mass arrests, long detentions without trial,
disappearances and deliberate entrapment on the Easterners’
fundamental human rights to freedom of movement and religion
particularly in this year’s Charismas and New Year festivities; in
addition to other forms of intimidation or service gross
misconducts are looming and growing day by day in old Eastern
Nigeria including Delta and Edo States.
Already, there is a serious embarkation of creation
of artificial or false insecurity in targeted or mapped out areas
by the authorities of the Nigerian Army and the Nigeria Police
Force. The whole idea behind creation of such false insecurity
including possible stage-managed burning of service vehicles or
facilities, provoked attacks and violence and ‘arrangee’ arrests
and stigmatizations is to cash in on them to committee monumental
service atrocities as highlighted above. One of such build-up
grounds for another round of military and police massacre was
witnessed recently at an Aba suburb called Ndiegoro mini
urban in Abia State where Policemen ran riot, burnt and destroyed
nine residential buildings and arrested and detained over 100
citizens including under-age and women and the
aged.
The above was contained in a statement issued by
Intersociety today in Onitsha and signed by
Lawyers Chidimma Evangeline Udegbunam, Head of Campaign &
Publicity, Obianuju Joy Igboeli, Head of Civil Liberties, Chinwe
Umeche, Head of Democracy & Good Governance, Ndidiamaka
Bernard, Head of Int’l Justice & Human Rights; and Emeka
Umeagbalasi (a Criminologist & Graduate of Security Studies),
Board Chair.
We hereby call on various civil society
organizations including ‘Igbo Civil Society Organizations’, Amnesty
Int’l, Southeast Based Coalition of Human Rights & Democracy
Organizations, etc and media and religious bodies, etc to be at
alert in Southeast and South-south regions of the country for
purpose of forensically monitoring the movements and activities of
the Nigerian Army and other branches of the Armed Forces and the
Police particularly between now and end of Dec
2019.
By Section 22 of the 1999 Constitution, “the press,
radio, television and other agencies of the mass media shall at all
times be free to uphold the Fundamental Objectives (dos and don’ts
of the elected and appointed public office holders including
members of the Nigerian Army or Military and the Police) contained
in the Chapter Two of the Constitution and uphold the
responsibility and accountability of the Government to the People
of Nigeria. This is strengthened with legal effect by Section
39 of the Constitution which holds that “every person shall be
entitled to freedom of expression including freedom to hold
opinions and to receive and impart ideas and information without
interference”; Intersociety added in
its statement.
Intersociety was reacting to the Nigerian
Army’s announced commencement of ‘Operations Python Dance IV’ and
‘Crocodile Smile’ in Southeast and South-south, their adopted
tactics and reasons adduced. Also revisited and strongly condemned
are recent ‘Army arrest and parade of “27 IPOB members with a
recovered AK-47 Rifle” as well as Police atrocities (looting,
vandalism, burning, mass arrests and unlawful detentions) in an Aba
suburb of Abia State, called Ndiegoro mini urban.
It is freshly reminded that the Nigerian Army has earned
notoriety in using disguised and unprofessional operations such as
‘Python Dance’ and ‘Crocodile Smile’ to execute ethnic agenda,
which usually leads to massacre of targeted unarmed and defenseless
citizens of particular ethno-religious nationality. In Sept
2017, for instance, the Nigerian Army carried a well coordinated
massacre operation in Abia State under the guise of “Operation
Python Dance 11”, targeting members of the Indigenous People of
Biafra and other general population and in the end, no fewer than
180 were killed and over 130 others maimed. The Army did not lose a
single soul on its part nor bringing the perpetrators to book till
date.
The same Nigerian Army and other branches of the Armed Forces
and Police, with intelligence supplied by the SSS, had earlier
between 30th August 2015 and 20th Jan 2017,
engaged in series of killings and maiming, targeting unarmed and
defenseless street protesters and other members of the Southeast
and South-south populations; leading to death of no fewer than 300
and maiming of over 370. The killings and maiming then were
perpetrated under the guise of ‘’internal Security Operations”.
Again, no soldier was killed and no perpetrators brought to book
till date.
Although the main target areas of the so called “Army Python
Dance IV” in the Southeast remain Aba and environs and Afara-Ukwu,
all in Abia State, but others are likely to include Ebonyi, Imo,
Anambra, Delta, Rivers and Cross River States. The deceitful,
unprofessional and disguised operations are also designed to
further disrupt and cripple the socio-economic activities
particularly businesses and peaceful movements in the Southeast and
the South-south.
Part of such disruptive activities includes deliberate
entrapment on the Easterners and their visitors’ fundamental human
rights to freedom of movement and religion especially this year’s
Yuletide or Christmas and New Year festivities. These are in
addition to military and police siege already laid on the two
regions or old Eastern Nigeria including Delta and Edo States since
August 2015. In the Southeast alone, there are over 3,300 police
dominated roadblocks, out of which the military accounts for not
less than 150.
Unprofessional Reasons & Tactics Justifying Ulterior
Motives Of The Army Operations
Citing or using “fighting kidnappers, armed robbers, bandits,
arsonists, cultists, traffic offenses and other violent crimes
threatening national security”; or conducting, identity
verifications (“operation positive identification”) as reasons for
the said operations is totally a height of unprofessional
soldiering or military unprofessionalism. It is also a brazen
usurpation of service duties and responsibilities of the internal
or homeland security providers. In other words, the reasons are not
only militarily infantile and laughable but also clear camouflaging
and usurpation of the professional and constitutional duties of the
Nigeria Police Force and the spy or intelligence establishments,
such as SSS and Police Detectives or Intelligence Units..
The Professional Dos & Don’ts Of The Nigerian Army
& Ors
The clearly spelt out duties of the Nigerian Army or Military
are the counterinsurgency operations against Boko Haram and ISWAP
in the Northeast as well as the insurgency and terrorist activities
of the world’s fourth most deadly terror group or ‘Jihadist Fulani
Herdsmen’. As obtained in other parts of the world, Nigerian Army
or the Military is trained and charged with the responsibilities of
combating and managing the internal violent conflict or war and
defense of the country’s territory against external attacks or
aggressions.
The Nigeria Police, on its part, is charged with internal
policing security including detection, control and management of
domestic or ‘street crimes’, the SSS is charged with gathering and
managing internal intelligence and the NIA is tasked with gathering
and managing external intelligence including at Nigeria’s
embassies, high commissions and consulates overseas as well as at
the country’s international airports, seaports and borders. These
latter tasks of the NIA are performed side by side with the SSS
Blunders Of The Nigerian Army Justifying
Unprofessionalism Of The Renewed Operations
One of the unforgivable blunders of the Nigerian Army in the
instant case is its operational tactics of the so called
“Operations Positive Identification” targeted at the Nigerian Road
Users particularly Igbo citizens and other members of Eastern
Nigeria including indigenes of Delta and Edo States. According to
the Army, “the operation positive identification” would involve
mandatorily tasking the soldiers to “strictly check valid means of
identification such as identification through ‘National Identity
Card’, ‘voter’s Registration Card’, ‘Driver’s License’ or
‘International Passport’, or “other valid official identification
before allowing such persons passage”.
Apart from being elitist and clear grounds for extortion or
roadway bribery, indiscriminate arrests, abductions, torture, extra
judicial and unlawful killings and disappearances; it also
expressly means that Nigerians or citizens without such elitist
documents including the aging and the under-age, automatically
become “kidnappers”, “armed robbers”, “bandits”, “arsonists”,
“cultists”, “IPOB terrorists”, “419s” or “cyber criminals”,
“murderers”, “rapists” and “road traffic offenders”. Coupled with
the fact that over 70% of Federal Roads in old Eastern Nigeria are
in acute deplorable state, the so called “operation positive
identification” is a deliberately designed punishment or roadway
torture package meant to further keep road users or travelers for
several hours on cue or artificially created acute or chronic
traffic jams
On the other hand, it is also “in the wisdom” of the Nigerian
Army that “kidnappers”, “armed robbers”, “bandits”, “arsonists”,
“cultists”, “IPOB terrorists”, “419s” or “cyber criminals”,
“murderers”, “rapists” and “road traffic offenders” do not possess
and can never possess “National Identity Card’, ‘Voter’s
Registration Card’, ‘Driver’s License’ or ‘International Passport’,
or other valid official identification”. This is more so when
violent criminals and harmless others (i.e. cyber criminals
including advance fee fraudsters) are like every other citizen with
easy access to the named identification items until they are on
rampage. This is therefore the blunder of the highest order on the
part of the Nigerian Army.
Arrest & Parade Of “27 IPOB Members With One AK-47
Rifle”
The above is a clear attestation of the real motive behind the
announced Army Operations practically targeted at old Eastern
Nigeria including Delta and Edo States using the so called
“Operation Python Dance IV” and “Operation Crocodile Smile”. The
announced arrest and parade and their accompanied Army accusation
are likely to be false or amount to giving dog a bad name so as to
hang it. In other words, it is likely a clear case of ‘criminal
stigmatization’, false labeling and racial profiling. Apart from
becoming the patterns and trends of the Nigerian Army since August
2015, the information publicly supplied by the Army is utterly half
baked and sketchy as well as militarily and professionally
questionable.
The Nigerian Army has also been living with lies and spinning of
unforgivable proportion since August 2015. Till date, the Army had
never accepted killing or maiming a single defenseless citizen of
old Eastern Nigeria between August 2015 and Sept 2017. Issues of
arresting defenseless citizens across the Southeast and the
South-south and labeling them “terrorists” or “kidnappers” or “IPOB
terrorists” have remained the stock in trade of the Army and the
Police.
In August 2017, for instance, over 120 defenseless street
protesting women were arrested in Owerri and labeled “IPOB
terrorists” and “coupists” and in the end, it turned out to be
false and the women got freed. In Nov 2018, the Nigeria Police and
the Army under “JTF” claimed they arrested “34 IPOB terrorists at
Nnewi and recovered two AK-47 Rifles and One Beretta Pistol” and in
the end, the “34 arrested IPOB terrorists” turned out to be traders
of Nkwo Nnewi Market, leaving their shops to retire home. In the
end, they got freed but for four who hurriedly paid their Police
captors N1.2M (N300k each) to be granted bail. In May 2019, the
Enugu State Police Command announced the arrest of “140 IPOB
terrorists” at Army Checkpoint along Nsukka-Benue Federal Road and
in the end, the “140 arrested IPOB terrorists” turned out to be
innocent and defenseless mourners who were returning from a funeral
attended in a location at Nsukka. They were later released or freed
by Court. These are just to mention but a few.
Therefore, in the case of the “arrested 27 IPOB Members with One
AK-47 Rifle” including 23 men and four women, it is likely not
going to be different from the above. This is more so when from our
independent investigation, the 1st October 2019 when
they were arrested in Ideato part of Imo State, there was no form
of any gathering or meeting of the group being falsely accused. As
a matter of fact and our investigation, the group and its members
had distanced themselves from any form of activity marking the
country’s 59th Independence Day as a protest over the
ugly turn of events in the country.
Eyewitnesses also told Intersociety that there
was a pro Government solidarity procession in Aba and other parts
of Igbo Land organized by Mr. Raph Uwazuruike’s MASSOB-BIM.
Specifically, they were sighted at Aba and environs being escorted
by soldiers of the 144 Battalion; the same Battalion the Nigerian
Army said arrested the “27 IPOB Members with One AK-47 Rifle” in
Ideato part of Imo State.
This is more so when it was professionally strange for soldiers
of 144 Battalion located in far away Asa, in Ukwa West, near Aba to
have crossed their duty area or boundary to arrest people in far
away Ideato South Local Government Area of Imo State which is under
the 34 Brigade of the Nigerian Army at Obinze, near Owerri, Imo
State. That is to say that the arrest is likely stage-managed or
deliberate criminal labeling; all as a build-up to finding grounds
for another round of massacre of unarmed, defenseless and innocent
Igbo citizens, using the so called “Python Dance IV”..
Aba Suburb Police Invasion, Looting & Burning As
Part Of False Insecurity For Another Massacre
The said Police invasion, looting and burning of nine
residential houses in Ndiegoro suburb of Aba in Abia State and mass
arrest of over one hundred residents including the aged, under-age
and women and displacement of 400-450 others are being
independently investigated by Intersociety. Going
by facts at hand so far, the Police atrocities, falsely denied by
the State Commissioner of Police (Ene Okon) took place following a
misunderstanding between a Police racketeer/extortionist squad and
local drug dealers and addicts particularly those selling and
smoking Indian Hemp in the area.
It all started on 27th Sept when the police racketeer
that also have earned notoriety in mounting roadblocks and
collecting road bribes in the area went to collect their returns
from the drug dealers and smokers; leading to misunderstanding and
scuffle. The misunderstanding and scuffle further led to snatching
of a police rifle and shooting to death of an officer and lynching
of the civil driver of a hired “SHUTTLE” Bus, hired and paid for by
the Police racketeer.
A Police team of about three from Ndiegoro Police Post operating
on a hired “SHUTTLE” Bus with its driver had gone to the drug
dealers’ hideout for their routine returns. The Police team was led
by one “Alhaji”, a police officer of Fulani Muslim extraction. The
misunderstanding led to scuffle which later resulted in grabbing of
police rifle and shooting to death of the said “Alhaji” as well as
lynching of the “SHUTTLE” Bus driver. Two other policemen
accompanying the slain officer reportedly shot their way to safety
and escaped. Ndiogoro Police Post is under the Cameroon Barracks
Police Divisional Command.
Signals were sent across Police formations in Aba and in the
late evening of 30th Sept 2019, eyewitnesses said not
less than 12 Police Hilux vans, 5 commercial Buses and 12 tricycles
were mobilized by the Abia State Police Command made up of General
Duty, Mobile and Special Anti Robbery Police squads. The squads
stormed the area and embarked on late evening mass arrests;
arresting over 100 defenseless citizens including the aged,
under-age and women.
Among those arrested, taken away and detained were Joseph Chukwu
(69yrs), Chijioke Joseph (14yrs), Oluchi Joseph, Augustine Chukwu,
Oluebube Okereke (19yrs), Chiamaka Joseph, Ifeoma Joseph (16yrs)
and Kingsley Ogbonnaya (15yrs). Under-Aged Citizen Kingsley
Ogbonnaya’s bail was secured at the Cameroon Barracks Police
Station with sum of N26, 000. Name of one of the Police IPOs
handling the matter at the Cameroon Barracks Police Station was
given as “Inspector John”. It was further found that the arrestees
were detained at various police formations in Aba and possibly
including the State CID at Umuahia.
As if that was not enough, the atrocious Police teams returned
to the area in the evening of 1st October 2019,
vandalized and carted away valuable items before setting nine
residential buildings in the area on fire or destroying some of
them. The buildings, all downstairs, included Nos. 123, 127, 128,
129 and 130 Degema Street, Aba and Nos. 7and 7 (A) Ababa Street and
No.4 Oko-Jumbo Street as well as another located at Aba-Owerri
Road, close to Ndiegoro Police Post. The latter building was said
to have harbored one of the suspected attackers of the culpable
policemen. It was further found that the smallest among the nine
destroyed or burnt buildings harbors at least ten families while
the largest contains 14 families. Each of the smallest families has
two-three children while each of the largest among them has seven
children.
Valuable items destroyed or looted or carted away by the
invading and looting policemen included sitting plastic chairs, JP
Tanks, doors, windows, portraits, tables, pots of soups and boiled
rice, stew and meats; empty and filled jerry cans of fuel and
kerosene, smart phones, computers including laptops, Plasma TVs,
Audio Sets, Video Machines, small generators, cash sums, wrist
watches, etc. An aging woman of No. 1 Oko-Jumbo Street was reported
to have died of shock and trauma. Also but for heavy downpour
same period of invasion and mass destruction, the buildings would
have burnt beyond recognition.
This, totally, is a clear case of deliberate creation of
artificial insecurity in Abia State as a build up for another round
of massacre, using the so called “Python Dance IV”. As we speak,
harassment and mass arrests of passers-by and other innocent
citizens have intensified in Aba and environs. Reports are
continuing concerning indiscriminate arrests and abductions by
soldiers of 144 Battalion in Aba and environs including at Ariaria
Junction-where innocent citizens going about their legitimate
businesses are maliciously and hatefully accused of “being IPOB
terrorists”; yet those who brandish AK-47 rifles in broad day such
as terror and jihadist Fulani Herdsmen are overlooked and even
protected militarily.