Killers of soldiers in Abia should not escape punishment

Those who killed the five Army personnel of ‘Operation Udoka’ at a checkpoint in Abia State on May 30, 2024, while performing their official duty of ensuring peace and protecting the citizens must be fished out and made to face the wrath of the law.
 
While Nigeria is spending a fortune to tackle terrorism that has been devastating the northern part of the country and retarding national development for about two decades, the government cannot afford to allow a similar madness to be perpetrated in any other part of its territory. This heinous crime that was committed just about two months after a similar one in which 17 military personnel were killed in Delta State, while trying to respond to a distress call over a crisis between two communities, is a dangerous signal that must not be taken lightly.
 
The administration of President Bola Tinubu must convince Nigerians that it is still in control of the country and can stop dastardly acts. If soldiers, who in recent times have been referred to as the ‘last defenders of the defenceless Nigerians’ could be killed in the manner it happened in Abia State, what assurance is left for the unarmed citizens? The fear that makes residents of the South-east very apprehensive now must be allayed quickly by the government through swift and strong action against the terrifying security situation in Igbo land.
   
It was treason on May 30, 2024, when suspected members of the outlawed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) and the Eastern Security Network (ESN), in three tinted Sports Utility Vehicles (SUVs), and their collaborators from built-up areas surrounding the checkpoint suddenly attacked the security personnel and burnt their patrol vehicle. The suspects were said to be enforcing a sit-at-home order made by IPOB, a group seeking to carve out a sovereign state from the South-east and part of South-south, to mark their Biafra Day across the South-east zone, which is done yearly. And the soldiers were deployed to ensure peace and protect the citizens in the area.
 
The killing has generated angry reactions from the presidency, Army and other quarters. Tinubu, who warned IPOB that was commemorating Biafra Day when the incident happened, said his administration would not sit back and watch them commit treasonable offences. “I want to make it clear that the Federal Republic of Nigeria and the Armed Forces have the capacity to crush violent non-state actors making our communities unsafe. I urge security agencies not only to fish out the masterminds and perpetrators of the Abia attack but also those calling people to stay at home. The action is nothing but a treasonable offence. The fact that the security forces are exercising necessary restraints should not be mistaken for weakness…” The Abia State government, Igbo leaders and groups, including Governor Hope Uzodimma of Imo State and Ohanaeze Ndigbo, also condemned the killing of the soldiers, calling for arrest and appropriate punishment for the perpetrators.
 
The military high command, which reacted through the Spokesman of the Defence Media Operation (DMO), Major General Edward Buba, vowed never to handle any attack on its personnel with kid gloves. Gen. Buba gave a hint of what would happen next as a consequence of the attack: “It is absolutely imperative that the military will retaliate against this dastardly act against troops. The military would be fierce in its response. We would bring overbearing military pressure on the group to ensure their total defeat.’
  
It is common knowledge that IPOB, members of which are being suspected to have carried out the attack, was founded by Nnamdi Kanu in 2012 to champion the cause of Igbo secession from Nigeria. The group has since engaged in actions that the Federal Government considered to be treasonable, leading to its proscription in 2017 by the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari. But the ban has not stopped the activities of the group, including enforcement of its Monday sit-at-home directive that paralyses business and social activities every Monday. The members have become more daring since August 2021 when the leader of IPOB, Kanu was arrested by the Federal Government and detained.
  
Some observers have also blamed the security crisis in the South-east on other factors. In a report, which was unveiled in Enugu early this year, a human rights group, Rule of Law and Accountability Advocacy Centre (RULAAC), in partnership with Action Group of Free Civic Space (AGFCS), identified what it termed a complex web of issues, including mishandling of the pro-Biafra agitation, as the reasons safety of life and property in Igbo land has been compromised for years now. Other factors are gun proliferation, criminal politics by a corrupt political class, cultism, occultism, and impunity in law enforcement and the criminal justice system. What was not added is drug abuse by the youth who perpetrate all manner of criminality in the zone.

The writers of the report harped on routine rigging of elections and silencing of dissent voices, which they said promotes violence in political participation, with rival gangs often clashing for control and in the process wasting some people’s lives. Politicians who are emboldened by impunity openly recruit and arm gangs to terrorise opponents and rig elections. Among the fallouts is that members of these gangs, who feel safe to commit any crime with their political gods in power, freely spread insecurity across the South-east with the guns and other dangerous weapons or items in their hands.
  
An analysis of data from two agencies on insecurity in Nigeria, Nigeria Security Tracker (NST) and Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project (ACLED), which was done by the International Centre for Investigative Reporting (ICIR), revealed that the rising insecurity in the South-east led to the death of at least 1,700 people between January 2021 and June 2023. It was learnt that the deaths occurred mainly from armed clashes, abductions, enforcement of sit-at-home directives by secessionist groups, mob violence, riots, electoral violence and other conflicts.
 
We state that whatever could have been the reason for the killing of the soldiers, it cannot be justified. It is pure murder. The constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria does not permit anybody to take the life of another person illegally. Besides, the attack was unprovoked. The soldiers were not in confrontation or battle with anyone or group during the attack. They were just at the checkpoint, which they mounted as part of the strategy to ensure peace and protect innocent citizens.

Lamenting the role played in the incident by collaborators of the gunmen from the area, Gen Buba said: ‘Overall, it must be reiterated that the lifeline of the terrorists is the people and this situation is no exemption. Winning the war without the support of the people is close to impossible. The IPOB capitalised on this to perpetrate attack on troops. This situation leaves more to be desired.”

We join the military to condemn the support given to the attackers against the troops by some residents of the surrounding. That the people for whose safety the soldiers were deployed at the checkpoint, could join hands with the gunmen to kill the troops is sad, barbaric, and most unfortunate. It was a conspiracy against the fatherland.

The culprits should never escape appropriate punishment. They have murdered sleep and should never be allowed to sleep.
 
The Federal Government and the southeastern states should team up to find a lasting solution to the security crisis in Igbo land before it becomes another conflict-torn zone where development will become elusive and the people suffer. The military high command has promised retaliation that will be fierce, which is probably the reason many residents are already fleeing the scene area. We join the Abia State government and other stakeholders to appeal that the security agency be professional in retaliating and fishing out the culprits so that innocent people do not suffer unjustly.