Nigerian Army and the Python Dance in Igboland

Recently, the Nigerian Army announced the commencement of what it termed Operation Python Dance in the southeastern part of the country. The exercise, which commenced on November 27, 2016, is expected to end on December 27, 2016.  Since then, many groups and stakeholders within and outside the South-East have raised issues with the said exercise, […]

Recently, the Nigerian Army announced the commencement of what it termed Operation Python Dance in the southeastern part of the country. The exercise, which commenced on November 27, 2016, is expected to end on December 27, 2016. 

Since then, many groups and stakeholders within and outside the South-East have raised issues with the said exercise, questioning the rationale behind it.

Not even the desperate explanation of Col Sagir Musa, the deputy director, Army Public Relations, 82 Division, Enugu, could douse the rising tension in the region. Rather than douse the people’s suspicions, the army spokesman raised issues that elicited more questions than answers.

The people of the South-East have raised concerns that the military exercise is just a smokescreen for the alleged genocide against Ndigbo. The Igbo cannot be fooled. They will not be intimidated. 

It is said in some quarters that the period of the exercise has been carefully chosen to coincide with the time Igbo sons and daughters from all over the world converge on their motherland to celebrate the Christmas holidays with their kiths and kin. It is this period that the army has chosen to send a message to our visiting brothers and sisters, that the conquest of Igboland is not a fable. It is an opportunity for them to see how the land of their fathers has been conquered. 

It is a way of sending a message to brothers and sisters in the Diaspora to, out of fear, request their kinsmen and women back home to surrender their will and rights to the army and their federal collaborators. Like Col Sagir Musa said, “It is designed to, where necessary, dovetail into real time activities such as anti kidnap drills, patrols, raids, cordon-and-search, checkpoints, roadblocks and show of force.” 

One wonders when it has become the duty of the army to conduct raids, cordon and search, mount checkpoints, roadblocks and show of force in a region that is one of the most peaceful in Nigeria today. These are normally the functions of the police, but because the South-East is the target, the army is detailed to ensure that pepper is rubbed into their eyes even amidst the abundant water.

It is instructive to note that while similar exercises lasted only between two to three days in other regions where they took place, that of the South-East has been planned to last for one full month, with the possibility of extension.

One wonders why similar exercises in the North-East and North-West, where unprovoked violence by suspected Fulani herdsmen against innocent citizens, whose only crimes are that they are Christians and belong to what is dubiously termed minorities in our clime, lasted only for few days. 

The argument in some quarters, that the operation might just be another way of providing cover for suspected Fulani herdsmen to continue to unleash violence on innocent Igbo citizens, simply because of their political choice in the 2015 presidential election, a sin for which the South-East is yet to be forgiven, may be true after all. 

This same military was among the security agencies the governor of Enugu State, where the famous 82 Division is located, informed ahead of time about an impending attack on the sleepy community of Ukpabi Nimbo in Uzo-Uwani Local Government Area sometime in April this year, yet, the attack was executed successfully.

Right under the nose of the military and other sister security agencies, the suspected herdsmen have carried out more daring attacks with impunity. A lot of people have been left dead while some were raped, maimed and rendered homeless in other parts of the region. The only crime the innocent people of the South-East have committed is that they decided to exercise their rights to peaceful assemblies and associations.

There are visual and verbal testimonies of how the army massacred innocent pro-Biafra agitators in this same South-East.  

When they said they were bringing pythons to dance in the South-East, we understood full well what they meant. We got their message, but we will not be intimidated. We will not relent. We will not give up our ancestral heritage to any blood-thirsty agency, lest we answer to our forefathers when we eventually meet them. 

We are very much aware of the inconveniences the needless multiple roadblocks would cause us; the expected news of raids of entertainment centres at random in the name of looking for one non-existent criminal or another, the sad news of brothers felled by “stray” bullets; the implicating of innocent indigenes with “planted” evidence in order to have them summarily executed. We are used to all these in the South-East, but we will never be conquered. We will never surrender our land to anyone. Thousands may be extra-judicially executed, but our land will remain that of Ndigbo. 

No matter how beautiful the pythons you bring to the South-East are, your dance will be a dry one, without an audience and anyone to cheer you up, except those you have enchanted with filthy lucre and the promises of fame, power and pardon for corrupt practices. And such men are extremely very few. 

Ndukwe can be reached on [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>