By Dele Olowu
Those who have enough sense of history will be confused by the new narrative, which holds out the South East region of Nigeria as the epicenter of criminal conduct and insurrection in our nation. Not so long ago, Onitsha was the hub of commerce for the entire West African subregion; Aba was a parable for the creative manufacturing spirit, while the East as a whole served as a springboard for popular, iconic music and musicians in a way that anticipated Nigeria’s current overlordship in world music.
The east alone, or indeed, Onitsha alone, produced such icons as Rex Lawson, Celestine Ukwu, King Sunny Brown, G.T. Onwuka, David Bull and Frank Shine. These bands feasted on the technical opportunities provided by Nigerphone, Tabansi Records and Rochas Studios. Aba on its own offered the famous Atomic 8, a leading national contender in the highlife music stakes.
The insecurity trend is a new challenge and well-meaning citizens of the jurisdiction will reject it as a crown of thorns! Policymakers and patriots will on their part be anxious to inaugurate a new dawn Now outside the remit of jurisprudence, there has been a growing consensus that the Nnamdi Kanu matter and the insecurity it has stamped on the South East can be resolved politically. A new peace initiative is in the offing and is expected to bring in new levels of harmony.
The civic engagements of the PISE-P. Peace in the South East Project, also called the Bende Declaration, is an earnest thrust to redress society from bottom up, energize people with honest offerings and direct community towards more ethically correct purposes. The project enjoys the full support of a cross section of our top political players including Hon. Dr. Benjamin Kalu, Deputy Speaker of the Federal House of Representatives.
The project enjoys the endorsement of Vice-President Kashim Shettima and the Deputy Speaker of the Federal House of Representatives, Dr. Kalu, has led a delegation to the National Security Adviser. The project, which also focuses on infrastructural renewal, has received endorsement from the National Security Adviser and a chunk of our political elite. Historically, southeastern Nigeria was considered the safest geopolitical zone in Nigeria. The five component states: Abia, Anambra, Ebonyi, Enugu and Imo had recorded the least amount of violent attacks in comparison to other parts of the country. In a 2019 security report, Nigeria Mourns reported that the South East recorded the least number of reported killings with 94 deaths, while the South West recorded 157 deaths, followed by South-South with 341 deaths. North Central recorded 469 deaths, the North East had 1,009, while North West led the pack with 1,118 deaths. Security has degenerated in the South East owing to a conflation of factors. Some of it is due to customary disgruntlement found among the urban mass on the African continent; some derive from settler-herder conflict; some flow from political opportunism while others have been shaped by the response to the detention and trial of Nnamdi Kanu.
The launch of the Eastern Security Network by IPOB has stirred the pot somewhat. Whereas IPOB maintains that the ESN purports to provide security against violators of their property rights, government has remained in disbelief and this gulf in understanding has been responsible for a significant part of the unrest in the South East today. Kanu has been the arrowhead of this turmoil. There is enough blame to be served up among the contending parties; decaying infrastructure, narrowing employment opportunities, heavy-handed militarism, relatively ignorant youths and insincerity on all sides. Kanu was arrested in Lagos and detained for more than a year, despite various court orders calling for his release.
On April 2017, Kanu was released on bail for health reasons. He jumped bail and fled abroad and in his absence IPOB was declared a terrorist group. The separatist clamor reached a crescendo at this time. The Orlu area in Imo State became more insurrectionist, placing more violent challenges on governments in the jurisdiction. In June 2021, Kanu was arrested by Interpol in Kenya. But the Court Of Appeal sitting in Abuja termed the rendition illegal and dropped all terrorism charges against Kanu by the Federal Government. He was discharged and his abduction was declared unlawful. The Kanu case has in its aftermath produced a big bag of mixed emotions. The appeal to the Supreme Court by the Federal Government, some say, has heightened tensions. Kanu consists a greater danger inside detention than outside. Detention, retains, for Kanu, the prospect of martyrdom.
It also continues to allow suggestions of persecution to fester and for opportunistic challengers of federal authority to make hay. Jobless, and with limited vision, these cause-mongers jump on the agitation bandwagon and muddle up the political space. However, many of them are genuine lovers of peace and country.
These are among the throng who looked with hope and expectation to the verdict from the Supreme Court on Nnamdi Kanu. Former Governor of Anambra, now late, Chukwuemeka Ezeife, was one of them. Dr. Ezeife had thrown himself into several struggles, all of them with similar ideological intensity. He was one of the nation’s outstanding June 12 combatants and it is not always difficult to determine ethical correctness from the position he adopts. He surprised none when recently he made a loud demand calling on the Federal Government to release Kanu, leader of IPOB. Now, by some touching irony, Ezeife himself joined the Saints on December 15, the same day upon which the Supreme Court ruled that the detained leader of IPOB, Kanu, must face trial for the criminal allegations made against him by the Federal Government.
This was a shock as many had expected that the Supreme Court would uphold the verdict of the Court of Appeal, which in October 2022 had ordered the release of Kanu and also quashed the terrorism charges against him. The Supreme Court ruled that although the Federal Government had been reckless and had unlawfully renditioned Kanu from Kenya, such an unlawful act could not absolve Kanu from being tried for his own subsisting violations. The Supreme Court further stated that Kanu’s remedies could only be the result of a civil litigation and that he would require to face his own criminal charges.
This new peace project targeted at the South East zone is intended to rid the demography of the clamor, which has over the years threatened to asphyxiate its economic and social life. The traditional structures of state have tried and failed, some of them have tried and have themselves become part of the problem. New voices require to be heard. It is important that they have begun to make the right noises. Our country is hungry for new perspectives and for people who would be ready to break the mould. We may have reached that moment when men and women of service, taking the leap of faith will enable us arrive at a new dawn. The south eastern zone must be assisted to enable it reclaim the glory years.
It might beat the imagination of the world, albeit Africans and even Nigerians from other parts to note that Nigeria’s first President, Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe, the Great Zik of Africa, was of South East origin. So also were several other illustrious sons of Africa and Nigeria such as, once Africa’s richest man, Sir Luis Odumegwu Ojukwu, world renowned author, Chinua Achebe, inventor of the world’s fastest computer, Philip Emeagwali. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, World Trade Organisation’s Director-General is also of the South East geo-political zone which today begs for redemption from a seemingly intractable insurgent menace. Need it also be said that legendary footballers, including but not limited to Kanu Nwankwo and Mikel Obi, are among the South East ambassadors whose friends and family members have suffered in hands of kidnappers operating in southeastern Nigeria? These insecurity concerns and more are the problems the Bende Declaration launch of 29th December, 2023, is meant to address.