Dimm Uche Okwukwu, Deputy President General of Ohanaeze
Ndigbo Worldwide, has written an open letter to the Governor of Rivers State,
Nyesom Wike.
In the letter addressed to the governor, Okwukwu asked Wike
to kindly reconsider the 7pm-6am lockdown recently declared in the state.
Wike had during a statewide broadcast on 10th May 2021 said
that the criminals responsible for the killings were from Obigbo.
He had said, “We have reviewed the way and manner the recent
attacks were executed and discovered that the perpetrators, who disguised
themselves as security officers, moved in unhindered from Oyigbo to launch the
attack.”
And the Ohanaeze Ndigbo chieftain, in the letter, wondered
how the Governor could come up with such conclusions even without a proper
investigation, adding that Wike should not see the Igbo as his enemies.
Okwukwu’s open letter reads in full:
Your Excellency, writing you is a difficult task considering
that at the micro level I am Ikwerre; but at the macro level I am Igbo. You are
also Ikwerre and the theater of this violence is Ikwerreland. Isiokpo, Omagwa,
Choba and Elimgbu are all in Ikwerreland. I am from Elele in the Ikwerre Local
Government Area, LGA; the very first LGA where our brave law enforcement agents
were killed. Their murders are completely unacceptable, condemnable and
barbaric.
I commiserate with the bereaved families while praying for
the peaceful repose of the souls of the departed. My solidarity is with the
government and people of Rivers in their struggle against terror. The
perpetrators must be arrested and made to face justice. The Civil Defence,
police, Department of State Service, DSS, and other law agencies must be
empowered to carry out detailed investigations with the view of arresting and
prosecuting the culprits.
For record purposes, it is unacceptable that our amiable
Governor Wike, the first governor to receive in 2017 the newly elected National
Executive Committee, NEC, of Ohanaeze, asserted in his 10th May 2021 broadcast
that the criminals responsible for the killings were from Obigbo. Your
Excellency had said, “We have reviewed the way and manner the recent attacks
were executed and discovered that the perpetrators, who disguised themselves as
security officers, moved in unhindered from Oyigbo to launch the attack.”
Geo-strategically speaking, I am not questioning the wisdom
of the governor as he is the Chief Security Officer, CSO, of the state with
access to intelligence reports. What I question is the rationale, the reason,
behind his assertion.
From Obigbo to Isiokpo is about an hour’s drive. From Obigbo
to Abua is about two hours’ drive. How could assailants in the dead of the
night drive from Obigbo to Isiokpo, given all the security checkpoints in
between, and kill security officers before escaping undetected? How could assailants
drive from Obigbo to Abua, kill soldiers and escape without being apprehended?
How many checkpoints exist between the two points? That is what I question. Let
it not be that Your Excellency has resorted to profiling and labelling.
I am not saying it is not possible that the killers came
from Obigbo. In the circumstances, however, it is difficult to convince the
ordinary man in the street. Profiling and labelling were the order of the day
during the EndSARS protest when Obigbo was completely locked down; a lockdown
that claimed the lives of children, women and the elderly from sheer hunger,
dislocation and frustration. So this profiling, labelling and pre-judicial
condemnation must be rejected by all well-meaning Igbos, Nigerians and men of
good conscience because they have a background. The background is that Your
Excellency has been provoked by some elements in Obigbo in the past.
As an Igbo leader, I do not agree with Your Excellency’s
profiling and labelling. A more detailed investigation into these killings
should be carried out before anyone can safely point a finger at where the
killers emanated. The security agencies must be allowed to do their job in
unravelling the mysteries behind these attacks. Assuming, without conceding,
that the hoodlums were from Obigbo, were they still responsible for the havocs
in Akwa Ibom, Ebonyi, Anambra and Imo? The answer is no. So there is more than
meets the eyes.
I am curious that these killings occurred in the wake of the
establishment of the Eastern Security Network, ESN, by the Indigenous People of
Biafra, IPOB, and Ebubeagu by the five governors of the South East. It is my
contention that the Igbo society is kindred and community based. You cannot
establish a security outfit without involving the town unions, chiefs, youth
leaders, community and women leaderships.
The only security arrangement that can work is the one that
is bottom to top and not top to bottom. The British reaped frustration when
they tried putting up political structures from top to bottom. That led to the
Aba Women’s Riots of 1929. The British never understood the Igbo society. Our
political structure is kinship structure where people gather to take decisions
affecting their community.
So the ESN is a fundamental mistake bearing in mind that
IPOB never consulted the socio-anthropological structures before establishing
it. The south East governors, who should have known better with all their
special advisers and commissioners versed in Igbo history and culture, also
made the same mistake. That explains why both the ESN and Ebubeagu are not
working.
What we are seeing in Igboland is an implosion. It is this
implosion that made the IPOB leadership believe that the extra-judicial murder
of one of its commanders was authorized by the South East governors. This led
to retaliations. Instead of security, the establishment of ESN and Ebubeagu has
led to greater insecurity. Who is the enemy now that we fight ourselves?
Igboland is commerce-trade-dominated in what I call “Akpata
erie,” or survival-on-daily-basis. In Rivers we have a 7pm-6am curfew. That is
unacceptable because a lot of people depend on the “Mama-put” they sell in the
evening between 6pm-10pm. Also, those who lost their jobs use their private
cars to do “Kabu-kabu” in the evening. Right now this support economy does not
exist because of the curfew; and with it hardship.
Mr Governor, I fear violence because its first victim is the
oppressed. Revolution is a double-edged sword. The revolutionary and those he
leads into rebellion may perish if their struggle is not properly managed. The
alleged oppressor will escape the inferno only to reappear after the
conflagration to create a new order from the ruins of the old. So we must be
careful.
The alleged Fulani herdsmen responsible for all the killings
are today being excused. We are now fighting ourselves. The governors are under
threats. Policemen are under threats. Politicians are under threats. Students
are being kidnapped. Is that how we are going to win the presidency in 2023?
That is my genuine fear.
Governor Wike, I have three prayers worth your esteemed
attention: One, Ndigbo in Port Harcourt are not fighting you. From Eleme, Onne,
Choba, etc, Igbos rush home at dusk in obedience to your curfew. If they are
confrontational the majority of them would openly defy you. But they are
obeying you not minding the hardship your curfew inflicts on them.
My message to both Igbos and non-Igbos, therefore, is for
them to continue to support their own governor in these trying moments. None
must undermine the mandate Rivers people gave him to modernize their state.
Anyone with useful information on these attacks should talk to the Rivers
Police Command.
Two, I appeal to His Excellency, Governor Wike, to kindly
reconsider the lockdown. Any curfew from 7pm-6am is no longer curfew but a
lockdown of eleven hours. This is bad for socio-economic activities of a people
who for the better part of 2020 were under global lockdown.
And three, Your Excellency should stop making inflammatory
statements capable of dividing us and tensing Rivers the more. It is
unacceptable for His Excellency to say, for example, that those who carried out
an attack are from the Ikwerre LGA even before a formal investigation is done.
Allow the security agencies to investigate and arrest possible suspects. Their
findings will then be handed over to you as the CSO. The Ministry of Justice to
charge and prosecute those indicted is under you. But Your Excellency cannot be
the investigator and prosecutor in your own case.
In conclusion, sir, I put it on record that Governor Wike is
one of few governors to appoint a non-indigene as full commissioner. That is
the whole truth. Your Excellency appointed Emeka Onowu, a non-indigene, as
commissioner. This lofty record of yours must never be tarnished in this
eleventh hour. For instance, if one does good for three years only to start
doing bad in the last four months of his office, people may forget the good
things he did and judge him by the bad ones. Your Excellency should maximize
what you are doing very well while minimizing any apparent mistake like this
7pm-6am curfew.
None on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP,
can dispute that Governor Wike is a possible presidential, or Vice
Presidential, candidate. If so, Your Excellency will need the block votes of
the South East and South South to get an edge over your opponents in the PDP
primary. Your predecessor, His Excellency Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi, is another
strong presidential candidate on the platform of the All Progressives Congress,
APC.
We wish both of you luck. We also wish other contenders
luck. But if we do not get it right, we will only end up reducing ourselves to
a laughing stock. You cannot antagonize a people and still expect them to give
you their votes in an election. Thank you, sir.
Click to signup for FREE news updates, latest information and hottest gists everyday
Advertise on NigerianEye.com to reach thousands of our daily users
No comments
Post a Comment
Kindly drop a comment below.
(Comments are moderated. Clean comments will be approved immediately)
Advert Enquires - Reach out to us at NigerianEye@gmail.com