naijachix:
Alot of friends have sought my opinion on the ongoing IPOB/ Nigerian Army faceoff, i found this on whatsapp with no attribution. Most of the points raised here reflect my views about the ongoing South east crisis:

My #ThereIsABetterWay tag is primarily directed at the government. There is a reason why a decent society frowns at rape, domestic violence and child abuse. The common denominator here is the ABUSE OF POWER.

When any of the earlier referenced vices occur, a civilized judiciary demands restraint and responsibility, not on the victim, but on the powerful. It is a weak defense in court to insist that I raped a woman because she wouldn’t stop flirting sensually in front of me. Neither would a decent world understand it that I pummeled my wife to death because she said things to me that I disliked. Even a disobedient child is never killed by his parents simply for being naughty.

The hallmark of civilizational progress is RESTRAINT ON POWER. Freedom, in all its variants, cannot thrive when power over life and property is exercised at the discretion of the powerful. Even the bible demands an instinct and disposition from us, such that protects the weak relative to the strong. The so-called provocations of the weak are secondary because the powerful are generally less vulnerable.

The images of Tiananmen Square protests and the Arab Spring shook the world because unarmed men stood up to armored tanks. We Nigerians cheered them and tagged them courageous (and indeed they were), but when the scene is swapped for South Eastern Nigeria, and the youths are IPOB – it becomes PROVOCATION.

How do we cope emotionally with the pictures of boys wielding stones, in front of armored tanks that have invaded civilian spaces? Not in a military barracks BUT IN A VILLAGE, in a zone which the United Nations report of this year considers the ‘most peaceful region in Nigeria’. But somehow, we deduce some valid justification for it.

Remember that in the issues of life, details are subordinate to PRINCIPLES. We can get lost in the details, which always have multiple sides to it. But principles are constant and consistent. And the principle to which I appeal is that which undergirds civilization – placing the burden of restraint on the powerful and not the weak.

That is why I place the responsibility on the government to de-escalate the situation.

But a look at some of the details still discounts the moral claims against IPOB. To the best of my knowledge (howbeit, limited), IPOB is demanding a referendum. A referendum is a civilized and democratic practice the world over in resolving thorny constitutional issues that a parliament is not equipped to.

It has been used in Nigeria in 1961 to determine the fate of Southern Cameroon. It has been used in the UK, Europe etc. How this call translates to a call for war or ‘beating the drums of war’ cannot stand in any court of law.

The video where Kanu was soliciting for arms has been explained as self defense for communities vulnerable to the Fulani Herdsmen attacks in the East. No matter what you and I may think of the explanation, the law demands that we must wait for the courts to tell us what it thinks of it. Not even the Army can usurp that role from the courts.

Terminologies aside, the Biafran Secret Service (or whatever fancy name) cannot be treated differently from any other vigilante group in the country for two reasons – 1. That the army has been unable to prove that the so-called Biafran security service is armed, in spite of the massive military and intelligence gathering apparatus at the disposal of the military. 2. The declared mission of the BSS being to provide security information about the operations of herdsmen in the east.

Bakassi boys, OPC and our Niger Delta militants were never deemed existential threats to the nation, despite common knowledge that they were armed. The Herdsmen have conducted slow-motion genocide across the nation, but they get are cattle protection unit in the military. Arewa declares a genocidal threat against an entire nation of people, and they cant be touched.

But BSS/IPOB is different, why? They are demanding a referendum. Don’t we feel intellectually conflicted when we think this is a legitimate reaction from the government? I do.

That Nnamdi Kanu uses rhetoric that you and I do not like is constitutionally meaningless to the equation. The constitution guarantees him right to call Nigeria a Zoo or whatever. It is his opinion, and he is entitled to it. And if he breaches the constitution, the courts will decide. A wise man once said ‘I may not like what you have to say, but I will defend with my life your right to say it.’

Nigeria and Nigerians have reached a cross-road on our journey of progress. Our basic assumptions about who we are, is being tested. We mouth progress and think ourselves democratic, even on paper. Now that claim is being tested and we must decide whether to retreat to the darkness of the Middle Ages (where we have dwelled for long), or take a leap into the 21st century.

When I see Nigerian youths baying for the blood of unarmed youths taking a stand for what they believe in, against a fully armed military unit, I CRINGE. Can there be any valid reason where a trained soldier can pull the trigger on a boy whose only weapon is a stone and the words ‘Give me Biafra or death!’

Have we lost our moral compass? Are there no longer absolutes in life? After all these, would I still want to share a nation with those who think it valid to bring ‘a gun to an ideological fight’ (as Kingsley Nwabugwu would put it), against an opponent whose only weapon is his opinion and vocal cord.

And concerning the comparison of BH and IPOB, Nigerians take solace in the inherently non-violent disposition of the Igbo man and IPOB. This is partly due to the peaceful demands of the Christian faith which holds sway in the region.

But this overlooks the religious slant of IPOB, and its Zionist inclinations. It would be a grave miscalculation to assume that provocation can go on forever against a group who believe in their mandate being God-given. It doesn’t take much to theologically justify armed resistance against an oppressor. History affirms this.

The Nigerian government must do more to de-escalate the situation by engaging with IPOB ideologically. Go to the polls and test their popularity. If you win, the agitations die forever. If you lose, you peacefully re-jig the African narrative forever.

Win-Win!

Courtesy: Pius Okoroafor

Youngadvocate:
Seun, Lalasticlala, Mynd44 do the needful, take this to the Front Page for wider reach.

Dont be silent when you can help in your little way to sensitise the public against this barbarism and crude torture against a people.

Churn ethnic sentiments and do the right thing!!

This is no propaganda. This is real! I just got a call from my friend in Owerri and he told me the Army have begun what they did in Aba.

What is all this!? Are innocent market women and youths now criminals and kidnappers the Army were mischievously sent to the East to fight? Or do these criminals and kidnappers now live in the market?

Why this intense hatred against a people? What have the Igbo really done to deserve this unjustifiable naked force?

politeboy:
Do you know why FG and Buhari will deal ruthlessly with IPOB member? its because the security report on the activities ,sponsorship and operations of IPOB shows that those that lost the last election and those facing charges of corruption are behind IPOB so as to distabilise the Government. Do you know that IPOB members are on monthly salary? some of their members earn between 30k and 10k. All IPOB financial transactions from the sponsors are with the FG. Nnamdi Kanu will just die like a chicken and nothing will happen to nigeria. IPOB means corruption is fighting back. FG will smoke IPOB. LET US WAIT AND SEE. ONE NIGERIA.

BLSYNG:

Thank you. Since carrying arms is not an option for us, we can only carry pen and let the world and posterity judge them.

BLSYNG:

"A most insidious form of fear is that which masquerades as common sense or even wisdom, condemning as foolish, reckless, insignificant or futile the small daily acts of courage which help to preserve man’s self-respect and inherent human dignity. It is not easy for people conditioned by fear under the iron rule of the principle that might is right to free themselves from the enervating miasma of fear. Yet even under the most crushing state of state machinery courage rises up again and again, for fear is not the natural state of civilized man.”“

You don’t have to support illegality just because it is committed against a group or set of people you don’t like. All well-meaning Nigerians and indeed the One-Nigeria chanters should speak against this madness happening in the South East. If we don’t condemn the Modus Operandi of the Nigerian Army’s Operation Python Dance, then we are fast legitimizing impunity in Nigeria and you can’t tell when it’ll be your own turn. Listen to Benjamin Franklin, “Justice would not be served until those who are unaffected are as outraged as those who are.” It is bad to support a brazen brutal illegality committed against unarmed civilians merely because you don’t share with the sentiments of their ideology.

You might praise Nigerian Army and condemn the IPOB today, but hey, remember, we live in a world of Karma. The past, present and future are all connected. For those who will say they are neutral in the face of this wanton show of force and injustice, I leave you with the words of Desmond Tutu, “If you are neutral in situation of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor. If an elephant has its foot on the tail of a mouse and you say that you are neutral, the mouse will not appreciate your neutrality”. There is no reason for the Army to enter into Abia State with a show of force on unarmed civilians not to talk of where there is not even any ostensible insurrection and without the approval of the National Assembly.

The Biafran ideology is a regenerative one. You can never kill it by killing, oppressing, or repressing the subscribers and followers. You can only defeat them by providing a better, genuine and practical alternative ideology, and educating them on the consequences of their choice. You won’t defeat them shoving the insincere rhetoric of One-Nigeria down their throat. What happens to the younger ones who are witnessing these illegalities, brutalities, killings and show of force?

Oh! You think the agitation and the ideology will die by killing or arresting Nnamdi Kanu?

I tell you, Biafra has since become an identity and even embedded in the DNA of her people and until the issues propelling the agitation are genuinely addressed, the ideology will never die. A million of Nnamdi Kanus have been born already and the separatist movement has even gone beyond Nnamdi Kanu. A lot of us might not subscribe to the early approach of Nnamdi Kanu in advancing the movement, but the circumstances that have given intensity and energy to this movement are there for all to see. Instead, we politicize everything and shy away from the truth and think the problem will solve itself. It is painful how people politicize everything in Nigeria even when human lives are at stake. Indeed, the intelligence of human race is overrated.

Can’t we see that the future of the so called One-Nigeria looks bleak as the day passes by? Yes, the ugly, needless and avoidable events of the past few days have further diminished the hope of a united One-Nigeria. You cannot wash away the blood you have shed. The memories of the brutalities, atrocities, torture and the accompanying scars can never be erased. In the face of any agitation, there has never been a longtime solution and understanding reached by any means better than dialogue. Did Niger Delta agitation end with the killing of Ken Saro Wiwa? Regrettably for the oppressors, Asari Dokubo, Ateke Tom, Tompolo, other militants and avengers rose with unmatched deadlier tactics. The last time I checked, it was mainly the military operation codenamed ”crocodile smile” that plunged Nigeria into recession as a result of the reactionary Niger Delta Avengers.

Paulo Freire in his Pedagogy of the oppressed submitted that “Leaders who do not act dialogically, but insist on imposing their decisions, do not organize the people – they manipulate them, they do not liberate nor are they liberated, they oppress.” This is even more so “because to take away a man’s freedom of choice, even his freedom to make the wrong choice, is to manipulate him as though he were a puppet and not a person” Magdeleine L’Engle opined. The choice of self-determination is an imperative principle of action and it is not just a mere phrase you can ignore.

Hence, there is the need to genuinely address the driving force behind it rather than repressing the agitation by the so called Federal might. You may not like the IPOB rhetoric, but the fundamental message is a fundamental right recognized by African Charter of Human and Peoples Right as a law Nigeria should follow. In the history of all IPOB gathering, there is no any evidence or even allegation against them that they harmed anybody neither do they constitute any terror. They happily and peacefully gather in their thousands and go back home same way. Also, there’s no any ostensible and unambiguous breakdown of public order, security or any insurrection in South East by IPOB, which the Police cannot handle and then that would warrant deployment of the Nigerian Army to the region.

The deployment of the Nigerian Army is an act of official terrorism and a calculated and premediated plan to unleash mayhem and provoke IPOB members to carry arms so that they can find reason to carry out their ongoing atrocious acts in full scale. Consequently, I urge them to remain non-violent as the world is watching.

So many people are afraid to talk, as it is the order of the day within a system which denies the existence of the basic human rights, for fear of imprisonment, fear of torture, fear of poverty, fear of death, fear of losing friends, family, property or means of livelihood, but hear this submission from Aung San Suu Kyi:

“ A most insidious form of fear is that which masquerades as common sense or even wisdom, condemning as foolish, reckless, insignificant or futile the small daily acts of courage which help to preserve man’s self-respect and inherent human dignity. It is not easy for people conditioned by fear under the iron rule of the principle that might is right to free themselves from the enervating miasma of fear. Yet even under the most crushing state of state machinery courage rises up again and again, for fear is not the natural state of civilized man.”

As for the Federal might, I can only quote the words of Henry David Thoreau for them. “Whatever the human law may be, neither an individual nor a nation can commit the least act of injustice against the obscurest individual without having to pay the penalty for it”

kn23h:
No mistake

Nnamdi made the mistake of targeting Yorubas in his hate speech.

citizenY:
Forwarded as received.

The Igbo Nation to which I belong seems to me to be drifting badly. As we now see enemies everywhere. We now complain and complain and complain. We cry and cry and cry, we bicker and bicker and bicker. We are now agitators aa if any person or group or persons or society became successful by agitation.

Once a list is produced from Government we start looking for Igbo names. Once a list of retirees is released we start shouting if there are igbo names.

Even DANGOTE a private man running a private company is taken to task by Igbos because non of his factories are in Igbo land. Nobody is asking Coscharis why his car manufacturing plant is in Lagos but Dangote must build his sugar plant in Onitsha over 1000 km from the sugar Cain farms.

For those of you who care to listen I have news for you

1. No one is going to offer you anything for FREE. YOU can cry and cry and complain all day long if you want to. The guarantee you will get is that they will give you more things to CRY about. So if you don't like the situation then use your money, your resources and your capacity to build up your own land and your own people. If you don't want to do this but prefer to keep crying then you are out of luck. PLEASE READ *WHO MOVED MY CHEESE* this book sums up the Igbo situation in Nigeria today.

2. As the book I recommended says ....... *THE CHEESE HAS MOVED* So move with the cheese. If you sit and cry as IPOB AND their supporters are doing you get nothing. Keep up amd keep crying *WHO MOVED MY CHEESE* and guess what, nobody cares for a grown man that is a *CRY BABY* NATURE, the Universe and its Kingdoms has a set of rules and it is *survival of the fitest* the LION will always seek out gazelles or antelopes to feast on. It's not because they hate the gazelles but it is because they MUST survive, and the lions must feed their children. If the gazelle sits down crying all day that the lion would not stop eating him and his family he will surely get eaten next. In fact the weak gazelles get eaten first. And anyone in business knows that human nature follows these same rules.

My advise to the few Igbos that still have a thinking faculty ...... *don't let these IPOB people take away your determination to succeed.*

If you start thinking like them you are doomed. They are already doomed and since *misery loves company* they will be happy taking you down with them.

3. The rise of IPOB AND it's hate mongering has made it highly improbable for the Igbo to build a nationwide coalition in Nigeria any time soon. The hate and fear spread by IPOB and it's leader NNAMDI Kanu has returned to us as Igbos ten folds. As Sonny says *_Every Action brings with it an equal and opposite reaction_*

However I think the reaction towards us snd our people in the future will be unequal as it will be far worst and spread over tens of years. We may indeed have sealed the *FATE* of the younger Igbos coming after us ( _or should I say they sealed their own fate as they are the ones supporting IPOB_) and they may indeed need a new NATION ( Biafra or whatever they want to call it when the time comes ) in the future to contend with the backlash Igbos will experience from the people we have poured out all these HATE messages, HATE speeches and the ethnic agenda of IPOB.

4. The ethnic agenda and ethnic politics of IPOB and some misguided Igbo elders can only back fire. Ethnicity has no place in the modern World of the 21st century. This century is being run and directed by innovation and it will be shaped by three technologies
A. *Nano Technology*
B. *Artifical Intelligence*
C. *Digital Connectivity*

There is nothing in these three that says anything about your tribe or your religion or your language or your ethnicity. IPOB and it's supporters the ones here on this platform and out there are playing a loosing game. It's like a game of basket ball in which the basket is on the court and IPOB has the ball running towards the stream miles away to throw the ball into the water. They think that will win them the game. But unfortunately they are way way off.

I find it hard to hold conversations with the unintelligent people running IPOB and their supporters. So I don't expect them to understand this message. This message is NOT for them. It's for those Igbos who still have a brain and can use it to think.

There is an old saying that goes ....
*You cannot discuss Rocket Science with a bunch of monkeys, because all the monkeys want to do and talk about is how to get the next batch of bananas*''

I rest my case
Dr Nicky Okoye
September 2017

Ereolamide:

Atleast learn to write a coherent sentence before quoting me.

Ereolamide:

You should be used to Igbos by know, all that nonsense the toddler wrote up there is just the normal Igbo grandstanding even in the throes of defeat, instead of begging for sympathy, the stupid boy has resorted emotional blackmail.

wahles:

Sadly I yes, I v educated chaps up der as friends.
Im sure u ain't in d SE or SS typing now. Probably enjoying d peaceful confines of d west or north, Sad

wahles:
Point of correction, we would all soon get tired of d killings, b u hausa, ibo or yoruba. Pikin wey no get home training, na for outside dem go train am.

Deir blood is on dah dude dah said 'Biafra or death ' not me

Markfemi:
why attack yoruba mosque

wahles:
When someone said give me 'Biafra or death' I wonder what he had in mind

Flets:
Events of the past few days killed every hope of a united one Nigeria. Infact, restructuring is already too late.

FTrebirth:
you were making sense until you posted this ridiculous picture. now who's making the jest now?

neoOduduwa:
Okay, chill! This isn't the usual tribal yadayada.

Yesterday, I was watching the video of IPOB members being punished by the Nigerian soldiers. I was having a good laugh watching them whipped, I won't lie to you. But at some point in the video, there was an IPOB member wearing Biafran sandals covered in blood and that was when my heart sank.

First of all, I noticed the soldier recording tried not to spook the other soldiers by covering his camera. And from his accent, one could deduce that he was a Nigerian soldier of igbo extraction. Maybe he doesn't support IPOB, but of course he couldn't stand by and watch his people get killed. As much as I find Adeyinka Grandson and his fellow hate mongers annoying, I would laugh at them getting whipped, but not at the sight of them being shot. They're fellow Yorùbás afterall.

To those siding with Nnamdi Kanu that IPOB is not a violent group, I shake my head at your ignorance. If you had been keeping up with the whole schenanigans from the beginning, you would know there was a particular time Kanu said it in one of his hate speeches that they need guns and bullets to face the zoo. This same man acknowledged that he has no military experience or training, but Chukwu Okike Abiama is going to lead them because they're the children of God (A delusion which is a corollary of their belief that they're Israelites). Are you kidding me? This is war fam People die

Also, to some of you defending the video of IPOB thugs searching for Hausa/Fulani people in buses, what do you think would have happened if a Hausa man was found on that bus? What you would have seen in that video would be way worse than that of the Nigerian soldiers. This act further consolidated my belief that Kanu's agitation was founded on his arbitrary hatred for Notherners. There are evidences to corroborate this on facebook, there are tons of his speeches in which he called Northerners pedophiles, rapists, animals and many other unspeakable derogatory terms. He hates both Yorùbás and Hausas, but the truth is that he hates Hausas even more.

Where is that bastard called FFK who was hyping them up? Probably at home shagging his wife Is he the one leading the front line? The only contribution he'll make is to post nonsense on his facebook page while brainwashed igbo youths are being killed in the southeast. He's a b¡tchass nigga who'll jump from one political bed to another and do just about anything to destabilize the APC-led government. How can you people not see this? Brainwashed igbo youths are pawns in this game.

Where is Nnamdi Kanu? Probably still hiding under his bed. Is this not the same man who said he's ready to face the zoo soldiers? Is this not the same man who called for war on the zoo in many of his hate speeches? A jet is probably around somewhere waiting to take him to the UK while brainwashed igbo youths are being used as human shields against the Nigerian soldiers.

Where is that idiot called Fayose? Probably somewhere cutting Kponmo or eating Ofada rice by the roadside. Things have gone sour now, and the only support they'll give will be through social media.

California has been trying to secede from USA since 1965 (Yes, the same California that you know), have you ever seen them referring to USA as a zoo or using hate speeches to achieve their goal? You probably didn't know about their secessionist movement because they don't make the headlines for wrong reasons. The GDP of California is currently at $2.44 trillion and saying they'll be fine after secession is an understatement. In fact, they'll be great. What plan does Kanu have besides land grabbing and screaming zoo upandan?

Andalusia has been trying to secede from Spain since 1868. That's 149 years fam, 149 years! Have you ever seen them using hate speeches or calling Spain a zoo? If you watched the 2017 Champions League final that took place in June, you should have noticed Sergio Ramos holding a green-white-green flag with Hercules drawn on it, that's not the Nigerian flag but the Andalusian flag. He's overtly pro-Andalusian, but have you ever seen him using hate speeches or calling Spain a zoo?

If Biafra is what you want, there are tons of peaceful, formal and sensible ways to go about it and Kanu is NOT the right person to lead you (feel free to dispute that).

Whenever a Yorùbá man speaks about Biafra on Nairaland, you call us Afonjas and insult us. Remember that Igbos have more of their brothers living outside their region than in it. There are incriminating evidences on both sides and the last thing we need right now is the whole issue metastasizing into a tribal war because we all know Igbos will have the most casualties. The Nigerians Army are currently claiming IPOB provoked the current crisis and vice versa.

The best thing right now is for IPOB to stand down. Remember that scores of Shiites were killed in the North by the Nigerian soldiers and no justice has been served till date despite incriminating evidences of them being buried in mass graves. Keep calm and let the elders in Igboland handle the situation. Don't make the mistake of thinking this is an Igbo-Hausa situation, it's Nigeria-Biafra and Nigerian Army vs IPOB. If Nigeria is going to break up, I don't mind, but I don't want it to be through violence.

Feel free to strike out the entire text and post the picture of a man with tribal marks like you usually do , but the truth is that I truly care. Lord knows I do.

Customer80:
Miscreants burning police station is condemnable if its true

SamzackD:


This goes to show how far your Biafra would go,

cause you guy's are destroying public properties and threatening lives which only proves that IPOB is a violent group and the Nigeria army was sent to quell their activities in the SE, so any case you think you've got against the Nigeria army with the ICC was destroyed the moment your brothers resorted to using violence against the military

My only advice to you guys is to denounce your membership with the IPOB cause you guys are now terrorist's and every member of the IPOB would be treated as such

Abagworo:


You just lied. I only want Kanu dead and not the boys he misled.

Afam4eva:
Abagworo is beyond redemption.

Afam4eva:
Now, her'es a former directory, Army services lying on Channels TV to defend the invasion of the Nigerian military in a civilian setting. Notice, how he kept moving goal post to be comfortable in his lying prowess.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N7_bgb1k1HI


Mind you, the same Channels TV were giving excuses for the army yesterday until the Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ) office was also ransacked by the Nigerian army. Here's the video. Like they say, karma is the B word.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W2dAVtUeyw8

Abagworo:


That's my opinion in order to save millions of innocent Igbos he should be sacrificed. If I lose anyone in the North to his incitements I won't hesitate to carry it out personally.

Abagworo:
I just want Kanu killed that's all. His followers were misled

mesoprogress:


https://www.channelstv.com/2017/09/12/operation-python-dance-act-terror-legal-practitioner/