The undisputed fact, however, remains that the Southeast needs an urgent regional internal security outfit.
―Ebuka Onyekwelu
There has been continued debate on the newly formed and unveiled Eastern Security Network –ESN- outfit for the old Eastern Region’s security, by the Indigenous People of Biafra- IPOB. The propriety of the establishment has been put into question by many Nigerians. While as many justify the formation of the group yet, the setup as a non-state actor raises fundamental accountability and abuse of power concerns.
These concerns are worsened by the fact that IPOB, the pro-Biafra group behind the security group, is a proscribed organization by Nigerian law; a move by the state some years ago at the heat of agitations by IPOB. Although this ban is considered by many as a joke and a result of politics taken too far, but for the time being, it remains the reality within which the organization is seen by the establishment, and there are consequences. To this extent, officially, IPOB is an illegal organization in Nigeria, and this is not without severe implications.
So basically, the question really is, if a proscribed organization can float a security outfit for a whole region, and what are the possible consequences of doing so? If we move further, then IPOB will be seen as subverting the state’s authority. The point is that the fact that IPOB played into Nigerian authorities’ hands and got proscribed has crippled the organization’s free and possible beneficial existence within Nigeria. And this is a fact that even many members of the group are yet to come to terms with. However, their evasion of this reality does not guarantee their shield from the effects of reality.
Observers and commentators are testing the morality of the existence of the security setup. With the level of insecurity in Nigeria, especially in the north, where the tripartite evil of banditry, kidnapping, and terrorism is crippling the north comprehensively, a situation that is now being slowly duplicated in the South, especially kidnapping and banditry, the need for security remains paramount. As perplexing the insecurity situation has become, the most challenging issue is the continued helplessness of our security agencies in bringing the situation under control. With this in view, it is only natural to assume that Nigeria’s security agents have exhausted their options and very likely require urgent assistance.
This is where localizing security comes in, and the reason behind the formation of Amotoken, a Southwest regional security outfit put together and funded by the six Southwest governors. So very clearly, non-state actors coming in to help solve a critical matter like insecurity is not something that is strange or completely out of place. But the issue is with the identity of such non-state actors and in this particular case, the ESN, which was floated by IPOB.
Throughout the entire Southeast geo-political zone of Nigeria, there are dire security threats.
Looking at the facts, although Southeast and the entire old Eastern region remains the most peaceful region in the country as of today, still, the region is not insulated from the magnitude of insecurity experienced in different parts of Nigeria. Throughout the entire Southeast geo-political zone of Nigeria, there are dire security threats. To buttress, militant herdsmen pose varying degrees of threats to farmers in agrarian communities in Anambra state.
Around Anambra East Local Government, Anyamelum, and even at Mgbakwu that is about five minutes drive from Awka, the Anambra state capital. In Enugu, agrarian communities in Enugu north senatorial zone are under severe threat of herders’ violence. Other parts of Enugu state like Udi are also under such threat of possible attack by herdsmen. In Imo state, Abia and Ebonyi, several reports of different levels of herdsmen violations and threats abound. Interestingly, each case of herdsmen violence follows the same sequence of events in which herdsmen lead their cattle into cultivated farmland for grazing. The follow-up reactions then culminate into violence by herders against farmers for stopping them from grazing in cultivated farmland.
As of now, the consciousness of herdsmen violence has become commonplace such that people have palpable misgivings upon sighting herdsmen anywhere around the Southeast. The fact that one cannot distinguish between militant herdsmen and ordinary herders has not helped the situation. Farmers in the north have abandoned their farmlands because of the fear of being killed by bandits or terrorists. The situation also obtains in many parts of the Southeast.
About two years ago, Mr. Stephen was attacked by herdsmen in his farmland at Ogbaru — a community reputed for agricultural produce in Anambra. It took the timely intervention of his two sons who prevailed upon the herders from taking him with them; no one would have known what happened to him. In Mgbakwu, Anambra state, many young farmers no longer go to their farms alone for fear of being attacked by herdsmen who desecrate their farmlands and lead their herds to feast on cultivated farmlands.
In the Southeast, Kidnapping, although receding, is still an issue. People are still afraid of being attacked by criminals and disposed of their belongings while on the street. In Owerri, only recently, two brothers were assassinated by unknown gunmen. These only but speaks to the level of security concerns throughout the Southeast.
Circumstances are lingering, and the political class in the Southeast seemingly has no appropriate response to stop the deteriorating security situation in the zone. The Southeast governors have failed to leverage their collective strength to address the rising insecurity that will profoundly impact the zone in many ways. The silence of the Southeast governors unsurprisingly created a vacuum that must be filled by anything that has a semblance of a solution. For the same old reason, nature does abhor a vacuum, so vacant positions are filled by competent or incompetent hands, but they must be filled by any means. Even the birth and continued existence of IPOB against decency and strategy is due, largely to the failure of political leadership in the Southeast.
Notwithstanding, it is difficult not to see that the ESN poses a credible menace maybe not immediately but certainly, because of inherent crisis of quality control, standardization, rules of engagement, accountability, order, and responsibility, which are primarily necessary, sadly all of which IPOB can only supply in meager quantity, and at best cannot guarantee. The problem here is not much because ESN is of the Southeast, but because of the manner the parent organization has carried on over the years, and there are genuine concerns that in the long run, there is bound to be abuses and extra-judicial killings, and this is not farfetched as the memories of the dreaded Bakassi boys remain fresh in our minds.
Until now, the governors’ forum has no answer or reaction to the development that, again, speaks to the depth of leadership in the zone.
Days after the ESN was unveiled, the same culture of silence or, perhaps, confusion has gripped the entire Southeast political leaders. Until now, the governors’ forum has no answer or reaction to the development that, again, speaks to the depth of leadership in the zone. The undisputed fact, however, remains that the Southeast needs an urgent regional internal security outfit. The zone needs urgent regional economic cooperation as well. The need for high-level regional integration can hardly be exhausted; nonetheless, we are yet to see any form of synergy and integration of the zone in addressing collective regional challenges.
These challenges, as desperate and as urgent as they require attention, necessarily must be championed by the states or agents of the states within the zone. But the states and their apparatuses have continued to maintain absolute silence on profitable regional synergy but somehow still expect the vacuum they leave to remain void. It is now glaring that the Southeast needs political leaders who match the offices they occupy with a commensurate measure of leadership and responsibility to the people and with a regional perspective. That way, Southeast political leaders will be consumed by addressing real problems and not keep silent or look the other way over issues affecting the region.
♦ Ebuka Onyekwelu, strategic governance exponent, is a columnist with the WAP
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