One thing people know about “East”, geographically and philosophically speaking, is that the sun rises from that location. This is a settled matter. The other would be that the East is the traditional place of “wise” people. This view is popular and widespread even though not generally accepted. Yet, enough examples exist to give some measure of validity to it. Bring that home to our country, and from what we know, it would seem the above positions are no fallacies altogether. The sun indeed rises from the East. The old Eastern region perhaps knew so much of this fact they chose the rising sun as the national symbol of the defunct Republic of Biafra in the nasty days of secession that lasted nearly three years.
The Eastern part of our country is also generally acknowledged worldwide as the bastion of knowledge and inventiveness. The Igbo of South East pride themselves as the Jews of Africa and/or Japan of the black race. It is no false claim. The reality is that they meet the bill, the very industrious and creative people they are. Before now and despite the effects of the Civil War that was mainly fought in the area known today as South East, everyone agrees the recovery rate of the people has been nothing but phenomenal. The people of the area often describe the zone as the «most peaceful» in the country. It is no misplaced conception. Igboland has maintained a very appreciable degree of stability and sanity.
But from what is currently happening, it would seem wisdom has taken flight, resulting in negative variables producing after their kinds. Dark clouds have taken over the skyline, forcing the sun to appear to set in the East instead of the traditional West. We would limit our scope of review to events in the last 10 days. Last weekend in Anambra State, a traditional ruler going about his business, had his convoy attacked by gunmen yet to be identified. The king managed to escape what was a barbaric adventure. Lives were lost including valuables. He never committed any crime except that he was on the road at the time, to exercise the right to freedom of movement, guaranteed to him by the Constitution of Nigeria.
On Tuesday, Imo State recorded what could be rightly termed a «Black Tuesday» when in a daredevil operation, unknown gunmen attacked a security team on patrol, comprising personnel of the country›s military, police and Civil Defense unit. They killed about eight of the security officers and destroyed their vehicles. It was a dastardly act. Very despicable. An action that shouldn’t be witnessed in a decent society of human beings. But here we are, it happened, in all places, a part of South East.
There is this obnoxious side to the detestable occurrence: the state Governor, Senator Hope Uzodinma, rightly visited the scene of the event the same day and assured the innocent locals that there wouldn’t be reprisals, either by the military or the other arms of the security agencies affected by the attack but that the authorities would work with the security agencies to ensure the perpetrators were fished out and made to face the law. But he made a statement that left gaps that could be exploited. He said: “Those who did this are not spirits, they are from here, and they live with you, so you must identify them.” A very unintelligent presupposition especially at the time. In crises, there are things a leader should say on the spot and others to reserve for the backstage review and action.
This unwritten rule for sound state administration needed more to be applied in the kind of circumstance the Imo State Chief Executive found himself. The position he took publicly was inciting. Given the negative attitude now associated with our military in particular, it was enough to propel them to vent their anger on innocent citizens within the vicinity of the crime scene. It happened eventually this way. We will return to the reprisal act.
Governor Uzodinma unfortunately didn’t show a grasp of knowledge and experience, otherwise, he would have known that crimes can be locally induced just as it could be the sole activity of “foreign” deviant elements who happen to find a particular location convenient for different reasons. The danger inherent in the loose speech became clear when the next day, Wednesday, the security people as would have been anticipated embarked on reprisal attacks against the local population, destroying residential and business premises. This is the first case. Let’s make this point very clear and in the strongest terms possible: no sane person or group should condone wilful attacks on state security personnel. It will be barbarism taken too far but nothing should approve security organs carrying out reprisals. It is equally not an acceptable act. We will touch on this again after drawing the second event.
The other would be what amounts to clear evidence of abdication of responsibility by South East leaders who in the first place have the task of putting paid to the ugly development we pointed out earlier. If these men and women masquerading as leaders of their people had vision and knew what their people were doing; if they could read the times and interpret correctly, and more importantly, if they had the good judgment to stay on their tasks efficiently, the sun won›t be setting in South East as it is apparent it is doing currently each passing day. The Igbo-on-Igbo undoing has turned a game. Very dangerous game for those who care to know.
The hawks have taken hold of the space and the struggle to sell out has become fierce. It is taking a toll. It has gotten so bad a people who need unity most are the ones dancing naked in the nation›s public square telling the whole world how disunited and divergent the leadership has become and how fragmented their units have become politically. Yes, going in different directions has been an issue but it became a concern with the ascendence to public offices by some Igbo politicians in recent times. Their views are far off from what their people harbour. The bad fortune is that these few believe with the assistance of outside influences they will railroad their people into the influence of their choice. The veiled clash is also part of the convolution hitting the South East and making it look as if the people have collectively rejected peace.
September 28 and 29 are days sacrosanct to the Igbo. It is the time they enact events to re-establish their being and essence. They gather to remind themselves who they are, assess the journey so far and pick out areas they didn›t meet expectations. It is a time to set new goals. The leaders know the importance of the time, and they have admitted this but what is intriguing is most of them have chosen to walk a path different and out of sync with the season and its essence.
The Governor of Imo State who seems to enjoy the assumed new leadership role of the highly republican Igbo people has accepted to host a South East Summit on South East Security and Economy on those two days, whereas it ought to have been a central event organized by the Pan Igbo cultural organization, Ohanaeze Ndigbo at Enugu, the traditional headquarters of the Igbo nation. The summit will be held in Owerri. This new introduction has provoked expected controversies. We now take a critical review of the developments and see what they portend for the South East and her people.
The incident in the Ehime Mbano area of Imo State is another of many that have happened in different parts of the federating unit that have followed similar patterns. Igbo and those who know them intimately are appalled at the development because the reason that Igbo are not known for internecine kind of conflicts. It is not in their character to inflict wounds on their own or to embark on acts that possess capabilities to unsettle their areas. Yet, this is the tragedy that has come upon them and which has refused to pale with time, rather it is escalating.
The other matter associated with this would be the fact that no reasonable arrest has ever been made that would have helped to reveal the source of the malfeasance. Everybody appears lost on the issue and unfortunately, the governors too. This is the terrible aspect of it all. If we take from the last incident in Imo State it will be very baffling that killers would confront a security convoy and still be able to escape arrest with security checkpoints dotting all locations in the South East. This is incomprehensible. It baffles really. It is impunity of the highest order for a group of deviants to take on security officials in the most brutal manner. It is an act that shouldn›t be condoned at all and we condemn it in the strongest terms.
It is time the people entrusted with state responsibility rise to the demands of their offices. Very important. What has muddled the atmosphere and made finding solutions a bit difficult is an overflow of partisanship. Each person wants to reap undue advantages over the blood of their people. Otherwise, a unified approach to insecurity in the South East would have restored adequate calm. There is a point highly canvassed on this space regularly, which bears repeating because of the crucial nature of the matter at hand.
Security is not solved by force of arms. A sense of bonding and public enlightenment can bring sanity in days. Saboteurs will have a rethink when the amount of damage they bring on their people when they collude with outside interests to import evil is succinctly captured and made very clear to all. Igbo Day was meant to serve this purpose among others and if the senses were in order and nationalism flowed in the veins in the right quantity, every attention would be focused on making it a huge success. Everyone who is who would be heading for Enugu, the traditional headquarters of Igbo, not one group going to Enugu and another to Owerri same period.
No argument or explanation would reverse the truth that the arrangement is not sensible. Besides the divided attention it will impose, the Igbo message for the hour would be mixed up. Those for whom it is intended would not be able to understand which is which or able to differentiate the very serious from the unserious. Those who initiated the clash in programming intended distraction as the objective; some surrogates want to please their masters. Unfortunately, they intend to reap personal gains, they place themselves well over the well-being of their people and area. This is unfortunate. The truth is betrayers die for their own gain. Some of us wish the selfish knew this.
The South East is important to the world. The creativity domiciled in the area is such the country and the world can›t ignore what happens there. It behoves the leadership to understand what they have and to resolve to nurture it. For now, there is nothing to suggest they know. The leaders can hardly meet and a few times they do the communique shows they don’t have a grasp of what the issues are. The good thing is that a man on the wrong path can initiate a turnaround at the very point of realization. South-East needs that turn back now, not tomorrow.