Re: IPOB is an insurgency, not a terrorist organisation

The above-mentioned piece was written by Dr Jideofor Adibe on the back page of the Daily Trust of Thursday, 28 September 2017. There was some modicum of objectivity in the article. However, Dr Adibe failed to convince his reader that the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) is not a terrorist organization.  Rather, the erudite columnist […]

The above-mentioned piece was written by Dr Jideofor Adibe on the back page of the Daily Trust of Thursday, 28 September 2017. There was some modicum of objectivity in the article. However, Dr Adibe failed to convince his reader that the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) is not a terrorist organization. 

Rather, the erudite columnist latched his defence of IPOB on the pronouncement by the US and EU that they did not support the Nigerian government in designating the violent group as terrorist. It is sad, however, that Dr Adibe did not agree with a very senior Nigerian government official who differed from the US and EU viewpoint. Shockingly, Dr Adibe strayed into dangerous waters by trying to teach this man, a very senior lawyer, a concept such as territorial integrity. I think Dr Adibe displayed lack of tact in his response to Chief Okoi Obono-Obla, who patriotically reminded the foreign powers of Nigeria’s sovereignty and independence as enshrined in our Constitution.

Let me refer to specific sections of the article. In paragraph 8 of his write-up Dr Adibe claimed that a World Terrorism Index 2015 labelled nomadic pastoralists as the fourth deadliest terrorists. For the avoidance of doubt, terrorism must be condemned in its entirety. At this juncture, it is pertinent to put issues of terrorism as viewed from US and EU perspective. Their perception of terrorism is when a person bearing a Muslim name kills one or more persons in a western society. As I said, murder, in whatever guise, and whoever the perpetrator is, must be condemned.

But, on October 2, 2017 a Caucasian man, Stephen Paddock, opened fire on innocent, defenceless citizens in Las Vegas, United States of America. He cold-bloodedly murdered 59 people and injured 527. This carnage was dubbed the “deadliest shooting in US recent history” by the US media and other observers. Amazingly, the CNN, all the major channels and US government officials quickly came out to stoutly defend his act simply as mass shooting. They simply referred to the mass murderer as a “maniac”, “gunman” “suspect”. 

A day earlier, a man had killed two women with a knife in Marseille, France. Because he was a Muslim he was immediately labelled by all the channels as a terrorist. This killing of two women was horrendous and must be condemned. The point here is that the West has double standards in its labelling of people as terrorists. You can slaughter over 60 people in one fell swoop and injure over 500 people but you are simply a “gunman/maniac” so long you are not a Muslim.

At this point let me refer Dr Adibe to Dr Jibrin Ibrahim’s article in the Daily Trust of Friday 29 September 2017. Dr Ibrahim recounted, and I quote, a “mischievous fabrication of falsehood and propaganda to fan religious hatred and present Nigeria to American institutions as a country engaged in genocide against Christians”. Guess where this was discussed. According to Dr Ibrahim, this was at a public hearing with the title “Muslim cattle rearing herders and Christian farmers in the Middle Belt” of Nigeria. 

This hearing where “Muslim militants” were killing “Christian farmers” in the Middle Belt was held at the US House of Representatives, according to Dr Jibrin Ibrahim. Fortuitously, a Nigerian Christian woman, Ms Onubogu debunked all the lies by arguing that, among other things, herdsmen-farmers clash is not religious; it is based on demographic and environmental factors.

Based on the foregoing, it could be seen that there is a lot of misrepresentation on the political issues in Nigeria. This is obviously fuelled by some unpatriotic Nigerians who masquerade as “consultants/researchers” to these Western powers. This brings me to the IPOB issue raised by Dr Adibe. The group would have been declared a terrorist organisation long ago by the US and EU if it was led by a Mohammed, Mustapha, Ahmed or any other person   bearing a Muslim name. This is the fact of the matter. 

Thus, no amount of misinformation and misrepresentation by Dr Adibe and his cohorts will detract from the fact that IPOB is a terrorist organisation. 

On a final note, all peace-loving Nigerians must condemn the nefarious activities of IPOB, killer herdsmen and other violent non-state actors. And, the relevant authorities must arrest and prosecute anyone. 

Khalifa Musa Muhammad wrote  from Kaduna.