Military occupation will intensify militarist action in South East —Okey Onyeka

South East Bureau Chief, JUDE OSSAI, speaks with Okey Onyeka, a legal practitioner and Director, Civil Rights Concern, Enugu, on the military invasion of some parts of the South East in the wake of the continued threat of members of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) to the national unity.

Does the Nigerian Army have the right to occupy the South East zone over an alleged security threat by members of IPOB?

Obviously, it is not a matter of whether the military or the army has the right to occupy the South East zone if they feel the territory is threatened to endanger the lives and property of the people in the area. For me, it is whether the assessment of the situation of alleged security threat is right in the sense that security threat may be doubted by others, based on people’s perception of what they regard as security threat. So, if the Federal Government demands for freedom and basic fundamental rights and sees threat to security and decided to lay siege on the area with military, then that is its own definition of threat to security.

What do you think the government should have done in view of what is happening in the zone now?

The argument is whether the right of the government accords to the general perception as to what is right and what constitutes threat to security. If a group of people begin to agitate for something, the leader of such group should, ordinarily, try to find out the reasons for the agitation and assuage the feeling of the group to allay the fears, either perceived or real. But in a circumstance where the words do not match with action in terms of what the leader or says or does, then it creates room for suspicion and more agitation.

In the circumstance of Nigeria, the people of the South East zone have, over the years, consistently been talking about marginalization, especially in the current administration, in each key sector of the economy. A situation where a group of people are not part of the security architecture of the country they belong to, there is room for suspicion because whatever is planned to safeguard the country, they (the people who felt marginalized) may never know it. If the constitution of Nigeria did not provide that a minister must come from each state of the country, it means that the people from the South East would not have had federal ministers.

The agitation by the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), basically made of youths, is simply a reaction to the fact that they are not feeling secure in the present political dispensation. It is of no use reminding them that there was war and many people died in the course of the war. Because a person does not see a future in the environment he lives, he desires to get out of such an environment.

What is the legal implication of army occupation of Igbo land?

It has given vent to the fight for Biafra and its actualization. Nigeria is a signatory to 2007 UN Charter on Right to Self-determination by Indigenous People. Nigeria is also a signatory to AU Banjul Charter on Self-determination. These Charters legally point to the fact that Biafrans have right to self-determination which may not be actualize by force. Nigerian military, using force on armless Biafrans, has meant that the oppressed have right to minimal force for self-defense.

Will the occupation not affect the people of the region as it could lead to panic and anxiety?

Clearly yes! It has affected the people of the zone already. But that is momentary. So the IPOB members who are platonic in belief will drop and that will cause dissociative illusion on the part of the military to believe they have defeated the IPOB ideology. But that will, in near future, lead to recoil for a redraft of ideology by IPOB which will lead to a more creative action against the government. This is because sending military intervention to the South East not approved by National Assembly in a democratic setup is to flutter dove-coast which will lead to a more resistant militarist action by Ndigbo.

What is the way out to the imbroglio?

The way out is a singleton set of referendum. Nothing else can solve the Biafra agitation aside plebiscite. My advice to the military is for them to withdraw the soldiers from the South East zone and go for public relations dialogue.

My contention is that the Federal Government should take practical steps to assuage the feelings of marginalization and make everybody feel that he has equal stake in the country. The best way to get people feel they are loved is to do something that touches their development, things that touch their livelihood and feeling of being wanted. They should not be treated as tokens that just can be seen and not heard. Let all the people across the country have equal rights in taking strategic decisions on issues affecting Nigeria’s political and socio-economic structures. If these things are done most of the agitations will stop.