Former Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari has been called out for being responsible for the heightened insecurity and violence pervading parts of the Southeast region.
A retired Professor of Political Science at the University of Nigeria Nsukka, UNN, and rights activist, Prof Obasi Igwe made the allegation while unveiling a Special report on insecurity in the Southeast, launched by the Rule of Law and Accountability Advocacy Centre, RULAAC, and the Action Group on Free Civic Space, AGFCS.
The launch of the report took place in Enugu.
Presenting the report, Prof Igwe posited that at the onset of President Buhari’s administration, there was an agitation for an independent state of Biafra in the Southeast, due to the perceived marginalization of the region.
He was however quick to note that there was no effort at starting a war to bring about the state of Biafra, because the impact of such war in the late 70s, was not yet lost on the people of the Southeast region.
“There was Biafran agitation in the Southeast but no war to bring about Biafra.
“The Igbo elites, intelligentsia, and business people never wanted any war because they knew the implications and they were not ready to start it.
“They also know that the objective conditions for the realization of such war in terms of international coalitions and firepower, do not exist.
“Yet, Buhari brought all manner of military operations including ‘Python Dance’ and others,” he said.
According to Prof Igwe, aside from the cry against marginalization, people of the Southeast were also demanding that killer herdsmen of Fulani extraction in the forests and on the highways, killing, and kidnapping people, leave their lands.
“But instead of addressing these genuine concerns of the people, Buhari criminalized these agitations by the people.
“So, it goes to say that Southeast was a peaceful society before Buhari started orchestrating deadly military operations in the region.
“Buhari’s fight against insurgency in the Southeast was a war that never existed.
“It was only part of his efforts to drive the Fulanization agenda because he knows what is going on,” Igwe said.
The academic further accused Buhari of creating the unknown gunmen who have perpetrated several killings in the region.
He however commended the incumbent President Bola Tinubu regime for reducing the dramatic insurgency orchestrated by Buhari regime in the Southeast since he assumed office.
According to him, “Tinubu has not sustained Buhari’s criminal war in the Southeast and that has reduced drastically, the spate of violence and insecurity in the Southeast.”
Commending the efforts of the RULAAC and its partners in producing the report, Prof Igwe observed that the book is detailed with recommendations on the way forward, showing the producers’ belief in the unity of Nigeria, peace and justice, equality, and fairness.
He regretted that there is no solution that the report presents that will not be undermined by existing deliberate federal policies aimed at keeping the Southeast region marginalized, suppressed, and under monitor.
He however said the exposure is not for the Igbos to stop doing anything, but to encourage them to begin the right steps, instead of devoting time and energy to things that will not work.
“Whenever you say you are from the Southeast, it is better to say you are from a slave area.
“Any research made in the Southeast may be an objective research but an effort in futility because of Federal Policies.
“Southeast was created to suffocate Igbos with the support of some Igbo elites.
“So, when I hear Igbo governors clamoring for ‘Think Home’ and encouraging Igbos elsewhere to bring back their wealth and invest in the Southeast, I see it as a farce.
“Do you come home from Lagos for instance, to establish industries, with no outlets to export and you eventually go back to the same Lagos from where you ran back home, to export through?
“The Igbo nation must begin to press more for the restructuring of the nation. The Igbos are not afraid of unity. They have all along supported the unity of the nation,” he said.
