There is a shifting public opinion that every mass killing, kidnapping, and security incident in Igboland is done by ESN, BLA, and UGM of IPOB. This opinion is even more dangerous than what ESN, BLA, and UGM have brought upon us. Without oversight, we are in for an existential threat.
I spent years fighting against what Ala-Igbo became today. I foresaw today. I was threatened. I was called names… “baby saboteur,” among others.
Give me your attention and calmly read between the lines and through. I am seeing a dangerous trend. I can see a monstrous elephant in the room. In years to come, I don’t want to say I foresaw today like I am today saying I foresaw today.
I stopped critiquing what was going on in the name of Biafra in 2022. I felt I had done enough, and it’s at times beneficial to allow the pestering child who wants to put his hand into the fire to go on. Once burned, he won’t try it again.
Although there is regret, the pain and scar will live with the child forever. The child, if the fire didn’t kill him, will learn a vital lesson.
Will Ndigbo survive this fire that is still consuming them?
A critical question. Being that a drowning man longs to catch everything he touches, his confusion is often what leads him to his grave.
The new trend in Ala-Igbo now is we jump straight to blaming Biafra groups for every mass killing, kidnapping, and death. It’s a trend I totally disagree with.
By quickly pointing at ESN, BLA, and UGM for every security incident in Ala-Igbo without oversight, we are worsening our problem. Be properly guided; I am ESN, BLA, and UGM critic-in-chief. I am critical of their lack of wisdom, which backfired against us, but not critical of the course. I have said that until Nigeria gets it right, Biafra agitation is justified.
You that jump on your microphone or pick up your pen to write how every killing was caused or done by UGM, BLA, or ESN is another version of Frankenstein. You are not nurturing a monster, but you are feeding a fully fledged monster.
This monster you are feeding will grow into a giant monster that would swallow both the monster the IPOB era created and all of us at once. We are dealing with double trouble; hence, there is the need to be cautious.
Don’t forget there are Islamic and ethnic terrorist organizations invading Nigerian communities and slaughtering them. Ala-Igbo is not an exception.
Permit me to digress. Let me share a short story of what transpired between me and Nnamdi Kanu in 2018.
After Nnamdi Kanu was released from his 2015 imprisonment on bail, he was supposed to come to a round table with the Nigerian government, but he was under enormous pressure from members of IPOB.
It was a delicate situation for him, because he was expected to go Uwazurike’s way—negotiate after your release and go about Biafra within the confines of the law of Nigeria.
The option before him was to negotiate or walk the thin line. After his release and knowing only radio broadcasts couldn’t sustain the status quo, a change of direction for the struggle was inevitable. The struggle needed a new direction, and he was desperate to bear the responsibility.
There were two directions to move forward from. One, embrace armed struggle. Two, embrace political struggle. Number two comes at the cost of losing the fanatics in the struggle or even his entire support base. Number one comes at the cost of destabilizing Igbo land due to inexperience.
When the option presented itself, I held a meeting with Nnamdi Kanu and obviously told him that he couldn’t champion armed struggle. I further demanded he step aside. I said this to him in a meeting of about seven people.
My conviction was clear back then. Nnamdi had no military experience, and he was bound to lose control of the men on the ground because he wasn’t on the ground. Armed struggle needs a thin line with no margin for error. The tiniest mistake would implode the whole thing and go against the people. It indeed happened!
A military person had told me prior that giving boys guns and camping them in the bush amounts to nurturing beasts that would swallow you tomorrow. It needed extraordinary experience to manage.
Giving people guns and trying to control them from a distance was bound to fail. The boys would lose control; they would try to live comfortably and express power via possession of arms.
To give boys you knew nothing about guns and camp them in a bush in Nigeria and believe you could control them from the UK with phone calls was a monumental mistake.
Boom! Nnamdi Kanu floated the Eastern Security Network. He had a plan with the name. The name creates a different impression—not about the second Biafra war or the independence war, but created to secure the Southeast. He did that to find balance between fanatics and moderates. It was a fine response to the pressure that had built up against him.
He armed the young men and created camps across the Southeastern bushes. The group brandished guns with black civilian uniforms, and it was the dawn of the Frankenstein monster.
The monster was given birth to, so it looked beautiful and promising. Most people dreamed about Biafra. But when videos were circulated of them chasing and shooting Fulani cows, the mission became clearer—to secure the bush for our mothers to be able to farm.
He was unsure of what he wanted, and in search of veiled legitimacy, he decided to go with the security network instead of the Biafra army. Yet, in that quagmire, he had the law to contend with.
Different camps were created in different forests. The ESN camp was the beginning of camps scattered everywhere today in Ala Igbo. ESN camps. BLA camps. Unknown Gunmen camps. Fulani herdsmen camps. Fulani footsoldiers camp. Kidnappers’ camps. Yahoo Yahoo and Okeite camps. Every camp is now called an ESN camp.
In fact, if I am able to mobilize five boys with one pistol, I could own my own camp and operate in disguise as ESN, Unknown Gunmen, or BLA, na we we. After all, if my group acts, there is cover of ESN, BLA, UGM, and Fulani herdsmen. Fulani footsoldiers.
While this was happening, I had my reservations, and I communicated extensively with those in the UK. I made it clear that what Nnamdi Kanu was doing would backfire. I explicitly said that enemies of Ndigbo would carry their own guns, move inside the bush, and commit havoc undercover.
Ant-infested wood had been fetched, and lizards had arrived. The enemies of Ndigbo desperately wanted Nnamdi Kanu to float ESN and arm them so it could create a loophole for them to come in and put the final nail on the coffin Kanu made.
To execute armed struggle. It must be coordinated on the ground. It must be brief and precise. And it must be open and stationed.You must be identifiable to avoid infiltration or hijack. And everything about ESN lacked the properties of armed struggle in a fragile theater.
ESN men wore civilian clothes without identifiable leadership or personnel on the ground. They randomly attacked, and from there, other factions emerged. In different forests, there were multiple groups camping and operating.
Despite what is happening in Ala Igbo, there is one fact that can’t be disputed—that Fulani herdsmen were mass killing and are still mass killing Ndigbo to date. That conquest agenda was there before ESN was created. That Fulani agenda is still playing out in Ala Igbo. That there was a security issue before ESN was created. Finally, that Fulani herdsmen, foot soldiers, and criminals took advantage of Kanu’s error. That ESN, BLA, and UGM worsened our situation.
There is a conquest agenda by the Fulani disguised as herdsmen. There is the Ottoman quest—to conquer indigenous people and take over their lands.
The emergence of Unknown Gunmen, the Biafra Liberation Army, and the Eastern Security Network didn’t neutralize that pre-existing agenda in motion. It didn’t stop anything; instead, it aided it, and that is the monstrous elephant in the room.
The Fulani execution of this agenda is ongoing in indigenous communities across Nigeria. They have not laid down their arms in Ala-Igbo, and unfortunately, today, we aid them unknowingly to successfully carry out this conquest.
BLA kills. ESN kills. UGM kills. Fulani herdsmen kill. Fulani footsoldiers kill. Kidnappers kidnap. Criminals and enemies operate under the cover of ESN, BLA, and UGM, and they were the makings of Ndigbo.
The dangerous trend today is that anywhere there is a mass killing of indigenous people in Igboland, without investigation, we conclude that it was done by elements of Biafra—Unknown Gunmen, Eastern Security Network, or Biafra Liberation Army. By doing this, we feed a fully fledged monster (the Fulani agenda) that will consume us and consume UGM, ESN, and BLA.
I in no way shield UGM, ESN, or BLA; instead, I am calling for a cautious approach to security incidents in Igboland. If we assume Biafra elements are behind every incident of mass killing, kidnapping, and security without oversight, we ultimately shield real culprits or give the enemy of Ndigbo the fertile ground to conquer Ala-Igbo.
It’s double trouble for Ndigbo, but instead of foolishly exonerating the second trouble and giving it license to destroy us, keep quiet when security incidents happen in Alaigbo.
We are today faced by an existential threat aided by IPOB elements. It’s true because IPOB elements didn’t start the mass killings, the kidnappings, and all the security incidents happening today. They were there before IPOB elements aided (joined) it by festering and giving perpetrators a cover.
It might be deliberate, and it might not be deliberate, but one thing is certain: the IPOB elements came in with good intentions that turned into our worst nightmare.
Today, Fulani herdsmen have freedom of operation. They can freely go out and kill, kidnap, and destroy; there is already an existing label. The UGM, ESN, or BLA label is there to be used.
The pressure on Fulani herdsmen, which has been effective, is gradually diminishing, allowing them greater freedom to expand their influence or stage a major conquest.
Criminal elements in the society have seen an opportunity to excel—they know ESN, UGM, or BLA will take the blame—giving them freedom of operation.
We can help ourselves by ensuring proper oversight. We must critically assess every incident. We must duly apportion the blame to maintain a collective pressure on all the elements of insecurity in Igboland.
No one should give criminals license to operate because of UGM, ESN, and BLA. No one should give Fulani footsoldiers or Fulani herdsmen the opportunity to stage a major conquest or go about their conquest untamed.
In the same breath, no one should keep silent in the face of UGM, ESN, and BLA tightening the ring of insecurity. We are today faced with double trouble and must wisely and proactively confront the trouble.
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