In September 2017, the Nigerian Army engaged in a ‘clean up’ exercise in the South East tagged “ Operation Python Dance II (Egwu Eke), to curb insecurity.
Before hand, the Nigerian Army had announced that the Operation would run from September 15 to October 15 2017.
How ever the Operation took a twist in Abia State, one of the South Eastern Geopolitical zone in Nigeria, when military personnel had a week long face-off with members of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB).
Crisis, killings erupted in the Cities of Umuahia and Aba between Sunday, September 10 and Thursday September 14, 2017.
The rising crisis that continued warranted the Executive Governor of Abia State, Dr. Okezie Ikpeazu to impose a dusk to dawn curfew on the commercial city of Aba. However the curfew which was supposed to last for three days, was extended to four days.
The situation continued to degenerate and seemingly was out of hand, the Governor therefore summoned an emergency meeting of the State Security Council, which was attended by heads of all security agencies in the state, the commander of 14 Brigade Ohafia, Maj Gen Abdul Khalifah Ibrahim, and the Commandant of Navy School of finance and logistics, Owerrinta, Abia State, Commodore Abdul Aminu, to seek for a lasting solution.
The cause of the clash that ensued between operatives of the Nigerian Army and the IPOB in the State could not be far fetched as the operation was initiated at a time when the leader of the IPOB, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, was just released on bail (April), and was resident in his ancestral home Afaraukwu Umuahia, Abia State.
The confrontation between the duo then, could also be attributed to the belief of an attempt to suppress, intimidate the freedom agitation by the secessionist group.
Umuahia the capital city of the State was not left out, as military tanks with various caliber of personnel continued to parade the streets of the city instilling fear into civilians.
The palace of Kanu’s father, the traditional ruler of Afaraukwu Ibeku Autonomous Community, Eze Israel Kanu is the traditional ruler of Afaraukwu autonomous community, became Kanu’s Place of Solace after his release from detention.
Afaraukwu was playing host to IPOB supporters and sympathizers that daily thronged the area in their numbers.
On the evening of Sunday, there was a clash at Afaraukwu when soldiers surrounded the home of Kanu.
Sporadic gunshots were reported in the area, some IPOB members sustained injuries, while others lost their lives. However, the Deputy Director, Army Public Relations and Information, 82 Division, Colonel Sagir Musa denied claims that the home of Nnamdi Kanu was under siege, adding that no soldiers were deployed at the home of the IPOB leader.
The Colonel had said this when he visited the Abia State Council of Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) in Umuahia, after some soldiers attached to the Operation Python Dance assaulted the journalists, smashed their gadgets as they were viewing the activities of the military from their office balcony.
Musa also said that the Operation Python Dance [Egwu Eke] was not targeted at anybody but aimed at tackling the security situation in the South East zone.
The IPOB in a statement signed by its Media and Publicity Secretary, Comrade Emma Powerful, claimed that 15 of its members travelling from Isiala Ngwa in Abia State to Umuahia to show solidarity to its leader, Nnamdi Kanu, were shot dead at an Army Check Point at Isiala Ngwa, while over 20 sustained various degrees of gunshot wounds.
“Soldiers of the Nigerian Army and the Police have surrounded our leader’s house today being September 12, 2017, to harm Kanu and other IPOB members who strongly believe and fight in the struggle for the liberation of Biafran people.
“We the indigenous people of Biafra, IPOB, and its leadership worldwide under the command and leadership of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, wish to bring the attention of well meaning Nigerians and the entire world that Nigerian Government led by President Muhammadu Buhari and Nigerian Army and Police in Nigeria have drafted their men to Mazi Nnamdi Kanu’s house in Afaraukwu Ibeku, Umuahia, Abia State to kill him..
“On September 10, 2017, being a Sunday, the Nigerian Army killed our members in Umuahia, and on Monday, September 11, 2017, the soldiers in Nigerian Army uniform attacked Mazi Nnamdi Kanu’s convoy at Ubakala junction on his way to an official assignment. The Nigerian Army fired live bullets at his vehicle including his convoy…’’
“the soldiers of Operation Python Dance are now seriously embarking on forceful abduction of Biafrans, brutalizing anybody seen with Biafra insignia, whether it is in their vehicle or houses and called on the international community to prevail on the Nigeria Government to leave Biafrans alone.”
The Igbo Civil Society Coalition (ICSCO), a coalition of civil society organisations, activists, human rights groups and the academia in Igboland in a communiqué, claimed that the Nigerian Army killed no fewer than 100 people and injured 200 others during the Army operation ‘Python Dance’ in the south-east in 2017.
The IPOB, meanwhile has set today, Tuesday, September 14 as a day to remember members of the group who lost their lives during the military operation. The group ordered a sit at home in all the south eastern states to honour the fallen heroes of the secessionist group.
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