The proscribed separatist group, IPOB, with its armed wing, ESN, has intensified an armed struggle in a radical push to force the South-ea...
The proscribed separatist group, IPOB, with its armed wing,
ESN, has intensified an armed struggle in a radical push to force the
South-east out of Nigeria and create an independent state of Biafra.
ByTaiwo-Hassan Adebayo
April 3, 2022 2 min read
The intensifying violence associated with the secessionist
movement in Nigeria’s South-east is fuelled by the excessive militarised
response of the state security forces as well as collective feelings of
marginalisation and misinformation, a new report has said.
The report – Multiple Nodes and Common causes: National
Stocktake of Contemporary Insecurity and State Responses in Nigeria – was
authored and released on Friday by the Centre for Democracy and Development in
West Africa (CDD). The report states that Nigeria faces an epidemic of
insecurity, including the violent secessionist agitations in addition to
terrorism, banditry, and the perennial farmer-herder conflicts.
The proscribed separatist group, IPOB, with its armed wing,
ESN, has intensified an armed struggle in a radical push to force the
South-east out of Nigeria and create an independent state of Biafra, decades
after an initial effort caused a devastating civil war (1967-1970) and failed.
In the violent wave, attacks blamed on IPOB and ESN operatives
have resulted in the killings of state security personnel and civilians. The
attacks have targeted police stations, markets, and other public properties,
including INEC offices and custodial centres.
The separatists have continued to enforce a sit-at-home
every Monday to protest the continued incarceration of their leader, Nnamdi
Kanu, who is standing trial in Abuja. The weekly sit-at-home protests, with
substantial compliance, mean schools are shut to avoid endangering pupils and
suspension of socio-economic activities.
In its report, the CDD said military action by the
government in 2016 worsened the IPOB crisis.
“Since the launch of a military operation known as
“Operation Python Dance” in 2016, the region has witnessed an intensification
of confrontations between IPOB and the Nigerian security forces – especially,
the police, the Department of State Security (DSS), and the military,” CDD
said, and then referenced a report by PREMIUM TIMES exposing massive
extra-judicial killings by the Nigerian security between 2015 and 2016.
Among the factors contributing to the recent intensification
of violent separatism in the region, CDD identified: “a violent defensive
counter-response to the state’s militarised approach; a pronounced perception
of contemporary marginalisation in Nigeria’s current federal political and
security architecture; and the development and spread of false narratives
legitimising armed mobilisation as a pathway to a regional secession.”
“For many interlocutors in the region — both those
identifying as formal members of IPOB and those who rejected the movement’s
aims — the militarised response of the security forces to the initial emergence
of separatism was frequently highlighted as a key driver of the group’s
counter-mobilisation,” CDD said.
The organisation further said that “attempts to address the
conflict arising from secessionist agitations – which remain the most
significant node of conflict in the region with a bearing on national cohesion
– need to account for the central role of the state as a perpetrator of
violence and injustice in any resolution.”
The Nigerian government has not only proscribed IPOB but
also officially labelled it a terrorist organisation, thus ruling out formal
discussions with the group.
IPOB leader Nnamdi Kanu is currently in detention where he
is standing trial for treason and other charges.
There have been calls by political and traditional leaders
from the South-east for Mr Kanu’s release as part of efforts to stem the
violence in the region. President Muhammadu Buhari has, however, rejected such
calls, saying the trial of Mr Kanu should run its course.
On Saturday, traditional rulers from the South-east restated
their demand for Mr Kanu’s release. They said this was part of their agreement
with violent secessionists who in turn agreed to end the sit-at-homes on
Mondays in the region.
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