Ebube Agu, ESN and matters arising

In Greek mythology, the Pandora’s box, as told in Hesiod’s work, represents a dominant and intriguing tale of the consequences of undue curiosity and inquisitiveness. As the story goes, when Prometheus stole fire from heaven, Zeus, the king of gods took vengeance by presenting Pandora, a beautiful dame to Prometheus’ brother, Epimetheus. Out of curiosity, and perhaps under Zeus’ spell, Pandora opened a jar left in her care, containing pain, sickness, suffering, and many other unspecified evils which were then released to the world. 

From this intriguing story, have emerged the famous idiom, “to open a Pandora’s box”, often used to describe starting something that will lead to many unforeseen problems howsoever well-intended. According to Wikipedia, a modern, and more colloquial equivalent, “is to open a can of worms”. Suffice to say that an abstraction of this allegorical tale, aptly fits into the situation gradually unfolding in South East, Nigeria.

Rising from what some critics have described as a “hurried security summit” on Sunday, 11th April 2021, the five southeast Governors in the company of representatives of Ohaneze Ndigbo, Nigerian police amongst other stakeholders, announced the formation of a regional security outfit, by the name, Ebube Agu, to checkmate the deteriorating security situation in their region. From all indications, it was a perfunctory move forced by the unprecedented attack on the Imo State Police Headquarters and a federal custodial center a fortnight ago, leading to the escape of over 1,800 inmates, by well-armed gunmen who at the time of writing this piece remained reportedly at large.

In a 15-point communique, declaring the formation of the regional security outfit which headquarters is to be located in Enugu, the visibly agitated governors who had always played the ostrich in the matter of southeast security, suddenly appeared to have smelt the coffee and were now having their Damascus moment. The case of Gov. David Umahi of Ebonyi State, and incidentally the chairman of a southeast Governors Forum, is particularly exhilarating, if not ironical. Exactly a month prior to that day’s event, he had told Charles Aniagolu of the Arise TV Network that the South East does not need a regional security outfit, as according to him, the security situation of the region was peculiar to those in the South West.

Umahi was reacting to a question bordering on whether the southeastern states do not require a security outfit in the mold of Amotekun, which had then taken root in the South Western States. As my good friend and brother, Joel Nwokeoma of the Punch Newspaper rightly put it in a recent article, such a gaffe, from the chief security officer of a State, can be likened to those of the Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Idris Wase, who says Nigerians in the Diaspora cannot be heard on issues happening in their ancestral land.

In my public intervention in the wake of the attack on Imo State, entitled, “Degenerating Security in the South East: IPOB, ESN and the way forward”, where I deconstructed the dynamics and peculiar contours of the deteriorating security situation in the South East, I had recommended an immediate security summit to be convened by leaders of the region to chart out a way forward before the region becomes a basket case in terms of insecurity. I had particularly made a case for a regional security outfit in the manner of Amotekun to complement federal security efforts in the region. Surely, this is what the governors have done with the formation of Ebube Agu, but it appears it might have just opened a new can of problems that will prove difficult to crack.

As you might have guessed, this problem will be shaped by the growing influence of the Eastern Security Network, an illegal security outfit purportedly set up by the leader of the proscribed Independent People of Biafra (IPoB), with a mandate to rid Igbo farmlands and settlements of Fulani presence. The security outfit whose modus operandi looks much like those of an ethnic militia, also claims to be fighting insecurity in the region. But here is the catch. Its leadership has since disclaimed the newly minted Ebube Agu security outfit, calling it an artificial and imaginary creation and ruling out any prospects of partnership or co-operation with it.

In an interview granted the Vanguard Newspaper, Emma Powerful, the Spokesman of IPoB concluded in unequivocal terms that “Ebube Agu won’t stand”, and threatened that anyone found associating with the security outfit, should be ready to meet their ancestors.  It is their brief that they’re on top of the security situation in the region and that Ebube Agu, is clearly set up to sabotage their efforts and infiltrate their ranks. Now, while these claims and allegations are unfounded and consistent with the conspiracy theories that characterize IPOB’s activities, it is nonetheless popular among the hoi polloi in the South East.

Unlike in the South West where the elites and the masses agree on the imperatives of Amotekun and have given it their total support, it is now clear that one of the first battles which Ebube Agu must win is the battle of acceptance and legitimacy by a people who have been hypnotized by Nnamdi Kanu to believe that the southeast leaders are sell-outs and appendages of the federal government who do not mean well for the region but only interested in feathering their political nests.

It is thus, not surprising that the reception of the security outfit has been mixed, even amongst Igbo Intellectuals who blame the governors for only waking up to lock the stable long after the proverbial horse has bolted. Only yesterday, the World Igbo Congress (WIC), in a statement by its scribe, Basil Onwukwe in unmistakable terms rejected the Ebube Agu security outfit describing it as a Trojan horse and urging the governors to support and provide all that is necessary to make the illegal ESN, a strong security outfit for Ndigbo. In what seems to lend credibility to this bias, the dominant narrative being circulated in the South East is to the effect that the proposed Ebube Agu is a rogue security outfit being set up to spy on the ESN, and to enable further Fulani penetration of the region. Unfortunately, thus far, there have been no concerted efforts by the southeast leaders to counter these narratives which continue to gather momentum and credibility by the day, typical of conspiracy theories.

Against the above backdrop, the pertinent question that begs consideration is, how would Ebube Agu, a state force; and the ESN-an illegal, uncompromising,  yet popular security set up, confront the security demands of the South East? The ESN has threatened fire and brimstone against any youth who volunteers to be recruited into Ebube-Agu, or agrees to partner with it in whatever form. Thus, in a worst-case scenario, are we heading for a situation where operatives of ESN are treated as security risks by the soon-to-be commissioned operatives of Ebube Agu, with the unimaginable consequences of a potential clash between both outfits? Would that be the tipping point that would ultimately push the southeast off the edge of the precipice where it currently ambulates?

Again, as I had observed in my referenced piece above, the incursion of the murderous-Fulani herder into farmlands and attacks on Igbo villages as was seen recently in some communities in Ebonyi State represents a major factor of South East insecurity. It is instructive to note, however, that preventing these attacks forms one of the major planks of ESN’s mandate, for which it claims it has so far, performed creditably. Which leads us to the question: how do operatives of Ebube Agu hope to confront similar criminal Fulani incursions into farmlands and villages in the South East, alongside ESN which has ruled out any chance of collaboration with it; and as a matter of fact, threatened to kill its recruits? “We pity those they are going to recruit into the outfit. They should be prepared to meet their ancestors soon if their mission is to spy on ESN. We assure them that they’ll certainly see ESN in the bush but will not return to tell the story. We don’t care to know who they may be“, Emma Powerful was reported to have declared in the explosive interview with the Vanguard.

These potential issues and crisis points, are by all means worrying in the context of southeast security. The specter of a war of attrition between Ebube Agu operatives and ESN is better imagined; yet barring any deux ex machina, that seems to be where we are headed. This ugly situation has again exposed the steep price of reactive leadership on the part of Igbo leaders as the emergence of ESN, is by all accounts, the consequence of leadership vacuum and poor management of consensus by so-called Igbo leaders as things gradually fell apart in Igbo land. The problem becomes grimmer when contextualized against the backdrop that the governors as it stands, wield the shorter end of the stick given the quantum of reception that the ESN has received, and the goodwill it enjoys.

By and large, it is also a situation that can bow to strategic and dynamic leadership from the crust of Igbo leaders. By way of advisory, I don’t think it is totally out of place for Igbo leaders to engage the leadership of ESN to either hand off its security activities in the region or agree to be drafted into the Ebube Agu infrastructure to continue the same work it claims to be doing under a more sustainable legal framework. I must quickly admit that this would be a long shot, given IPoB and ESN’s ideological leanings. Either way, something has to be done, and the earlier it is done, the better. As Joel Nwokeoma rightly observed, this is clearly not the best of times to be a governor in Igbo land.

Raymond Nkannebe, a Legal Practitioner and Public Interest Commentator, writes from Lagos. Please follow me on Twitter @RayNkah.