Still on the Onitsha massacre

On the evening of May 29, Channels Television confronted us with statistics and figures on the programme – Politics Today. A disturbing one, at least for me, was the fact that killings in the first year of President Muhammadu Buhari have been the highest compared to former presidents Obasanjo, Yar’Adua and Jonathan. Remember, we are talking about killings in the first year of these governments and not the total time they spent in office. The data analyst wanted to gloss over this grim fact but the presenter called his attention to it.

But I’m sure neither Seun Okinbaloye, the programme presenter, nor Chido Onumah, a friend and brother, could be clairvoyant enough to know that the next day, May 30, would witness more killings. Onumah had fixed May 31 for a public presentation of his new book, We are All Biafrans, in Abuja. As at now we are not sure of the number of casualties that resulted from the Onitsha, Anambra State killings by men of the Nigeria Army on May 30. Depending on who is telling the story, the figures range from “at least five” in the words of our soldiers or 30 according to the Biafra activists. The fact, however, is that soldiers killed some citizens they are paid to protect. Under this government, this is the second major incident involving our army as the Shiites killings have still not been probed nor anybody court martialled for killing over 300 Nigerians.

Some accounts suggest that the army invaded a Catholic church in Nkpor, Onitsha and shot at a peaceful gathering of people in memory of those that died during the civil war. The Biafran war broke out on May 30, 1967 following the declaration of Biafra by late Odumegwu Ojukwu, then a colonel. Families and relatives of those who lost their loved ones in the war have marked this successively since the end of the war in 1970 quietly. The growing agitation by majority of those who were born after the war who have nothing to be ashamed of or reticent about has led to loud and boisterous celebration in recent years. Add to this the incarceration of Nnamdi Kanu, the face of the Indigenous Peoples of Biafra (IPOB), who has not been released contrary to court orders, we have a perfect recipe for a major conflagration. This background is necessary as the press release churned out by the Nigeria Army claimed they acted in “self-defence”.

Further to this is the way and manner our president responded to a question on Kanu last year at a televised interview. Also, the president declared imperially on May 9 at the Emir of Katsina palace that “Nigeria is indivisible.” Why he had to make that declaration in his home state and at the emir’s palace will be something for presidential scholars and watchers to ponder as the ghost of the civil war has refused to go away. “A few individuals who were not even born at the time of the war are now out agitating for secession. I fought in that war to unite Nigeria and there is no way I will allow such to happen while I am alive. I will not take it lightly with anybody agitating for self-secession. I am ready to die defending this country. I cannot fight for the unity of this country and somebody just comes out overnight and chases me out of it. That is not possible.” These were the president’s words at the gathering.

So for our president it is a matter of personal honour as a soldier who fought in the war and also as a general who must crush the enemies to a pulp. Interestingly under Buhari, our country has voted publicly at the international arena to support the Palestinians and the Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic, which operates a government in exile. We support self-determination abroad but crush it at home. By the way, I’m against the break up of this country but that is just my view out of the millions of Nigerians who are supposed to determine this. The political leaders in Igbo land too are doing themselves a great harm by pretending this is an agitation that will go away. They can continue to play the ostrich but they will be the first casualties of this agitation as their legitimacy will be swept away and made redundant. The Biafra agitators need to up their game as well as the campaign needs better coordination for the world to truly hear what they are saying.

Driving peaceful dissent underground could be counter productive just as it has not really worked. I hope our soldiers and the government are listening.