Given the unfolding events in our
country I believe that this is the time for deep introspection and sobre
reflection.
I am not a member of IPOB, I have
never attended any IPOB meeting and neither am I Igbo. I am however deeply
concerned about what is going on in our country, what the Igbos are being
subjected to and what I consider to be the greatest assault on the human rights
and civil liberties of the Nigerian people since the military left power in
1999.
A violation of the constitutional
right of freedom of association and freedom of speech affects not just those
that have been targeted but each and every one of us.
An act of injustice against one
is an act of injustice against all. What affects the part also affects the
whole. If you beat my neighbours child it is as good as beating mine and
consequently I have a duty to defend that child.
That is the essence of humanity
and chivalry: to speak up for those that are being persecuted, to defend the
defenceless, to fight for those that are too weak to fight for themselves and
to be the voice of the voiceless.
We must cultivate the discipline
and courage to defend the right of others to be different and to think
differently from us and to express contrary views.
We may not all agree with the
style, language and objectives of IPOB but we surely have a duty before God and
the law to defend, uphold and affirm their right to express themselves in any
way that they deem fit providing they do not threaten or hurt others whilst
doing so.
This is the very essence,
foundation and indeed cornerstone of freedom and democracy and if we allow the
government to take that away from us and to get away with what they are doing without
a stiff challenge we are finished as a people.
It is IPOB today but tomorrow it
could be OPC, Ijaw Youth Council, Ohaneze, Afenifere, Middle Belt Forum, Arewa
Youths, Arewa Consultative Forum, Northern Elders Forum or indeed anyone else.
I have never heard of a
“terrorist” organisation that has not killed or threatened to kill anyone and
that has totally rejected the idea of violence and an armed struggle.
I have never heard of a
“terrorist” organisation whose only aspiration is to have a referendum to
determine whether or not their people should or should not remain in Nigeria.
I have never heard of a
“terrorist” organisation whose only objective is the peaceful and lawful
exercise of the right of self-determination.
I have never heard of a
“terrorist” organisation whose only crime is to take objection to the stripping
away of their historical and cultural identity and to speak out against the
willful marginalisation and mass murder of their people.
I have never heard of a
“terrorist” organisation who believe in passive and non-violent resistance and
who consistently emphasise the importance of peaceful opposition.
Saying that IPOB is a terrorist
organisation is like saying that Mother Theresa is the Marquis De Sade. It is
like saying that an angel from heaven is a demon from hell. It is like saying
that Little Red Riding Hood is the hungry and ravenous wolf.
It is like saying that Snowhite
is Jack the Ripper. It is like saying that Florence Nightingale is Aleister
Crowley. It is like saying that the Apostle Paul is Anton La Vey.
It is like saying that John the
Baptist is Atilla the Hun. It is like saying that Desmond Tutu is Ghengis Khan.
It is like saying that John Knox is Adolf Hitler.
It is like saying that Martin
Luther King is Osama Bin Ladin. It is like saying that Nelson Mandela is Ali Al
Baghdadi. It is like saying that Mahatma Ghandi is Abubakar Shekau.
It is like saying that Amnesty
International are the Fulani Herdsmen. It is like saying that Medecine Sans
Frontier is Boko Haram. It is like saying that Human Rights Watch is ISIS.
It is like saying that the white
dove of love and peace is the savage, cruel, blood-crazed and cadavar-eating
vulture from the seventh circle of hell.
It is like saying that ice is
fire. It is like saying that a believer is an infidel. It is like saying that a
peaceful preacher is a violent blasphemer.
Such a designation and
categorisation is unhelpful, inappropriate and unfair. It is a damning and
specious lie that has been put out by a Federal Government that is paranoid,
weak, bereft of ideas and scared of it’s own shadow.
It is a desperate attempt to give
a dog a bad name in order to hang it. It is childish nonsense and it does not
make sense.
Finally came the most absurd
allegation of all: that IPOB is being funded by “treasury looters”,
“disgruntled” and “destabilising” elements “in the opposition” and by France.
Some assertions are so insane and
asinine that they ought not to be dignified with a response and this is one of
them.
I urge IPOB to go to court and
have the order that has designated them as a terrorist organisation set aside.
I also urge President Muhammadu
Buhari and his Minister of Information, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, to remember that
when they exercised their right of freedom of speech three years ago and openly
defended Boko Haram by saying respectively that “an attack on Boko Haram is an
attack on the north” and that it was “unconstitutional” and “unlawful” to ban
them no-one threatened them with arrest because the government of that day had the
presence of mind to recognise the fact that the right to express one’s
opinion, no matter how reprehensible that opinion may be, is enshrined in the
constitution.
The Federal Government should
take a queue from that and stop trying to manufacture a crisis where there is
none or kill a fly with a sledgehammer.
They should also consider
declaring the Fulani militants and herdsmen, who have been described by the
International Terror Index as the “fourth most deadly terrorist organisation in
the world” and who have killed more innocent Nigerians than any other terrorist
organisation in the last two years, as the malevolent, vicious, murderous and
bonafide cowards and terrorists that they are.
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