PYTHON DANCE, THE LAW AND COMMON SENSE.

Prior to now, I would take pride in the fact that I speak my mind regardless of the consequences and opinions of whoever that is at the receiving end. 

I detested Political correctness and conformism: in fact, in my hierarchy of sins, political correctness was at the forefront. 

However, I have been in some sort of a dilemma in the recent past: I know what to say but what I want to say is by no means agreeable to the people around me and for the first time, I'm afraid of saying what I want to say because of the accompanying backlash. 

Let's cut the chase, I'm talking about Egwu Eke, which literally means the Python Dance.
For those who are not in the know, Operation Egwu Eke is the code name for the military action embarked upon by the Nigerian Army to decisively put an end to the menace and nuisance occasioned by the Indigenous People of Biafra in the SouthEast region of Nigeria. 

The activities of the Nigerian Army in the South East, and particularly Abia State, the home state of the Leader of the Indigenous People of Biafran has thoroughly dominated discussions and commentaries within the Nigerian public in the past one week.
Questions and discussions have varied from the legality to the moral propriety and even the tactical propriety of the military operation.

As regards questions on the legality of the military operation, opinions have been sharply divided.
But the position of the law in this matter is quite clear. 

The 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria which is the grundnorm provides in S. 215(3)  that:
The President or such other Minister of the Government of the Federation as he may authorise in that behalf may give to the Inspector-General of Police such lawful directions with respect to the maintenance and securing of public safety and public order as he may consider necessary, and the Inspector-General of Police shall comply with those direction or cause them to be compiled with.
This provision simply confers the Nigerian Police Force with the executive power of maintaining peace and order within Nigeria.
If this provision is anything to go by, the very presence of the Army in South East is a clear violation of the Nigerian Constitution given that their presence would amount to the usurpation of the duties of the Nigerian Police since the constitution empowers the Police with maintaining peace and order within the confines of Nigeria.
However, S. 215(3) is not all that the law says about who is in charge of maintaining internal peace and order.
Of course, it must not escape mention that the Primary duty of the Nigerian Army is to among other things, protect the territorial integrity of Nigeria and this is ably provided for in S. 217(2)(a) (b) and (c) of the Constitution.
For the sake of emphasis, S. 217(2)(a) (b) and (c) of the Constitution provide as follows:
(2) The Federation shall, subject to an Act of the National Assembly made in that behalf, equip and maintain the armed forces as may be considered adequate and effective for the purpose of -

(a) defending Nigeria from external aggression;

(b) maintaining its territorial integrity and securing its borders from violation on land, sea, or air;

(c) suppressing insurrection and acting in aid of civil authorities to restore order when called upon to do so by the President, but subject to such conditions as may be prescribed by an Act of the National Assembly; and

(d) performance such other functions as may be prescribed by an Act of the National Assembly.
Beyond the regular duties of protecting Nigeria's territorial integrity and protecting her from external aggression, the Army has a duty of suppressing insurrection and acting in aid of civil authorities to restore order when called upon to do so by the President...
Clearly, this position appears to justify the continued occupation of certain parts of the Eastern region by the Nigerian Army.
However, before we rush into that conclusion, the question that comes to mind is whether there was any insurrection in Aba that would call for the attention of the Nigerian Army to suppress. 

The Merriam-Webster English Dictionary defines Insurrection as "a usually violent attempt to take control of a government".
We know that there has been a persistent clamour for the independence of the Republic of Biafra led by the Indigenous People of Biafra in the South Eastern Part of Nigeria.

We also know that in the course of their agitation, they have made comments which make a mockery of Nigeria's Statehood and which have done nothing but incite hate and heat up the polity.
We are also aware that the group hasn't made any attempt to violently take control of the Government of Nigeria: if anything, they even want to leave Nigeria without doing anything to overthrow the Government. 

In view of the above and to the extent that there was and is no insurrection that would have necessitated the intervention of the Nigerian Army, their continued occupation of the Eastern part of Nigeria in the name of Operation Egwu Eke is in clear violation of the express provisions of the grundnorm of Nigeria which is the Constitution. 

That said, let us even assume without conceding that the occupation by the Army is legally justifiable, serious questions persist as regards the morality of the operation. 

First, these persons pose minimum threat to the peace of Nigeria and deploying members of the Army who ordinarily should be more occupied with fighting the globally acclaimed Boko Haram to whip them into line is the very perfect example of killing a fly with a sledgehammer.
Truth be told, what the Nigerian Army is doing in the South East is tantamount to declaring war on an entire region because of the agitations of some persons who are in no position to reflect the mood and views of the Igbo Nation. 

Being a military tactician or security expert is far from being one of my super powers but basic knowledge and common sense tells me that the approach taken by the Army in their quest to "capture" the irritant Leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra is one that is strategically wrong and also one that has helped to reinforce the opinion of the general public that the Nigerian Army is the worst perpetrator of Human Rights abuses in Nigeria. 

If the Nigerian Authorities so desperately needed to arrest Nnamdi Kanu, they should have been more covert and reliant on intelligence reports rather than brute force.
Doing so would definitely have minimized the extent of the Human Rights abuses that the Army has wrought. 

In conclusion, without bowing to the pressure of political correctness, I think the agitation for the Republic of Biafra is unnecessary, ill-timed and misinformed. I believe that Biafra is not a solution to the problems that have bedevilled the South Eastern part of Nigeria. I believe that the problem is a failure of Leadership and the imbalanced shape of the Nigerian Federation. 

My beliefs notwithstanding, I am strongly convinced that Operation Egwu Eke is wrong in every respect and I also opine that in the interest of Peace and oneness in Nigeria, the Nigerian Army should do only one thing : withdraw their troops from Aba, Nnamdi Kanu's village and every other part of the South East which they are currently occupying.

Wilson-Okereke Clinton Elochukwu.
500 Level Law Student,
University of Benin.