Opinion

By Emeka Omeihe 

THREE different but closely related events last week again, highlighted increasing concerns on the lingering insecurity in the southeast region. 

The first came through assurances from the Chief of Army Staff, Major General Taoreed Lagbaja at a meeting with the House of Representatives’ Ad Hoc committee investigating killings, kidnapping and sundry criminalities in the Umunnochi and Isuikwuato local government areas of Abia state. 

Lagbaja, who spoke through Deputy Director Operations, Army Headquarters, Brig. Gen. Gabriel Osho had assured that the army and other security agencies were working round the clock to address the insecurity in the region. He noted that kidnapping remains a potential security threat even as he observed that in July this year, the region recorded cases of kidnapping and attacks by criminal elements suspected to be elements of the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra IPOB. 

The Army was responding to a request from the House ad hoc committee for a memorandum and interface with relevant security agencies and stakeholders in respect of the incessant attacks of kidnapping, assassination, banditry and other criminalities in the two local government areas.

The other was the meeting of south east governors in Enugu to deliberate on how to evolve lasting solutions to the insecurity that has left the region a ghost of its former self. It was the first time the five governors met without sending representatives. In a communiqué at the end of the meeting, the governors resolved to fight insecurity decisively both individually and collectively and in partnership with the federal government.

But they appeared to have added a new dimension to the narrative when they stated “categorically that the perpetrators of insecurity in our region and their sponsors are criminals and should not be seen as legitimate agitators… upon arrest, they should be dealt with in accordance with the laws of the land.” 

This should be instructive given the penchant to blame any and every criminality in that part of the country on the IPOB. Ironically, such blanket profiling did not only inject complications to the war against insecurity but exposed youths in the zone to all manner of suspicion and maltreatment.

Had the governors come to this realty before now, some of their actions that led to the mismanagement and escalation of the security situation in the zone could have been perfectly avoided. Perhaps also, we may have come to terms early enough with the reality of the so-called unknown gunmen.    

The third dimension stems from a trending television interview granted by former militants’ henchman Asari Dokubo.  The ex-militant leader had bandied claims which seem to have injected complications into the unceasing insecurity in parts of the country especially, the southeast.

Hear him, “I have a private military company that is engaged by the government and we are fighting side by side with the Nigerian military in many places. Like Niger, Plateau, Abia, Imo and parts of Rivers. We were in Anambra too. We are doing a good job and being commended by the host communities”.

He drew parallels with such private military companies as the notorious Wagner Private army in Russia and Black Waters in the USA to justify the existence of his brand of a private military company. But he was quick to add that he does not have an army.

Director, Army Public Relations, Brig. Gen. Onyema Nwachukwu, denied his claims. He said the army neither conducted operation in any part of the country in collaboration with Dokubo’s men nor is it in any form of partnership with the ex-militant or whatever private security outfit he claims to own.

In Nwachukwu’s view, the veracity of his claims to ownership of a private military company can only be ascertained by the relevant agency statutorily mandated to license such outfits. We shall return to this later.

It is heart-refreshing that the Army, southeast governors and the House of Representatives are seriously concerned with the incalculable harm wrought on the economy of that zone by the festering insecurity and are commitment to stem the tide. 

Of particular note is the keen interest by the ad hoc committee of the House in seeking a memorandum from the army; on how to interface with other security agencies to stamp out the hydra-headed incidents of Kidnapping, killings and sundry criminalities that have left that axis, a verity of the atavism of the state of nature.

But it is important to have a proper reading of the situation in that axis else the renewed efforts may not hit the real culprits. This point is underscored by the statement from the army which seems to ascribe the degenerated insecurity in that area solely to the activities of the proscribed IPOB. This, to say the least, is a very limited perspective of the matter.

No doubt, the activities of criminals of the IPOB and other elements in crime cannot be ruled out in the orgy of violence that characterizes that axis. But of particular interest should be the kind of activities that go on in the cattle market located in that axis which serves as boundaries to the three states of Enugu, Abia and Imo.  

Before now, criminal herdsmen have been fingered for much of the kidnapping that occur in that area. The narratives of those who had the misfortune to encounter them had left no one in doubt about the main characters in the illicit trade. The Prelate of the Methodist Church of Nigeria, Dr Kalu Samuel Uche who was kidnapped in the axis with some of his bishops sometime ago, was unambiguous that those who took him hostage were clearly herdsmen from Mali and Sudan.

He had also alleged the herdsmen they saw were born and grew up in the south east and were children of cow dealers who had lived in the region for decades. Prelate Uche who was released after paying a N100 million ransom had then accused the military of complicity by acting as enabler of kidnappers.

There had also been demonstrations and agitations from host communities for the relocation of the cattle market seen as the incubator of insecurity in the axis. So the role of the cattle market in that winding and desolate axis is an issue that must be tackled head on.

 Even as calls for its relocation may appear a tall order now, there is nothing preventing the army and other security agencies from conducting thorough and regular searches in and around the markets given allegations that it serves as hiding abode for sophisticated weapons used for sundry criminalities. 

The interest shown by the House of Representatives will yield startling and positive outcomes if the army leads such discrete search operations. As long as we treat concerns on the security risk the cattle market poses with disregard, so long will the insecurity in that area remain a recurring decimal.

Dokubo’s private military company in the fashion of Wagner and Black water: it is irreconcilable he has a private military company but does not have a standing army. Yet, he claims to be involved in operations with the military in some states including three in the south east zone. The story does not just add up.  

It is also not just enough for the army to deny any form of collaboration with his so-called private military company. Neither is it sufficient to pass the buck on the veracity of the existence of such company to the agency charged with such registrations. In saner climes, Dokubo should have been arrested to furnish details of his claims and collaborative engagement with the government in its military operations. It is still not late.

Getting Dokubo to account for the activities of his private military company is even more compelling given copious allegations before now that his security outfit is involved in some of the unraveled killings in parts of the south east. He must come clear on what security operations he is involved in Imo, Abia and Anambra states and the arrangements under which he operated.

If the notoriety and disregard for rules of engagement by private military companies as the Wager group and Black Water are anything to go by, we may be getting clues to the riddle posed by ‘unknown gunmen’. The governors of the south east should speak up on whether they engaged the services of Dokubo’s private military company and in what capacity.

It is time to come clear on the so-called Ebubeagu security outfit whose activities, membership and modus operandi are shrouded in utmost secrecy if current concerns are to lead to productive outcomes.

A.

– Aug. 14, 2023 @ 10:59 GMT |

Tags: Asari Dokubo. Brig. Gen. Gabriel Osho Dr Kalu Samuel Uche Emeka Omeihe IPOB Major General Taoreed Lagbaja