The Nigerian military are at it again. Iyanga de sleep, trouble de wake am. The military have told us that they are going to launch “Operation Python Dance III” in the South East.
Many people are afraid. They are worried. They are apprehensive. They are disturbed that perhaps, this year’s “Operation Python Dance” (Egwu Eke), might turn out to be like that of last year.
“Operation Python Dance II” was launched in the South East in September 2017, with disastrous consequences. That was when the Biafran agitation was in its frenzied height. Not that the agitation has abated, or has been thrown overboard.
On the contrary, the Biafran agitation is continuing even in intensity. The only difference is that the agitation was then being led by the enfant terrible, the irrepressible Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, founder and leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB).
Nnamdi Kanu was a no nonsense man. He was a no compromiser. He was stubborn. He was a no respcter of person or institution. He was a gadfly. He was a thorn in the flesh to the authorities. He would look you up in the face and tell you who you are, and what you are.
Nnamdi Kanu was a sore in the throat of the authorities. He was dreaded. He was feared. But on the fillip side, he was a cult hero to thousands of his followers. He was being worshiped like God by some diehard youths who adore him and who took his words for law.
Not very comfortable that Nnamdi Kanu and his IPOB were taking shine out of their faces, the Nigerian Federal Government decided to launch “Operation Python Dance II”, on September 14, 2017, to deal with the man, and his group, the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB).
As a result, Nnamdi Kanu’s Afara-Ukwu home, near Umuahia, Abia State, was invaded by the highly fortified Nigerian military under the guise of “Operation Python Dance II”, and every moving object found in and around the compound, mowed down.
It was an ugly and horrific spectacle, which resulted to the loss of scores of innocent and precious lives. This was followed by the proscription of IPOB and declaring it a terrorist organization by the federal government. This was a group that possessed neither gun nor cutlass.
Since after the incident, both the IPOB leader, Nnamdi Kanu, and his father, the traditional ruler of the community, disappeared into thin air. Till date, nobody could give account of their whereabouts. This has greatly dented the image of the Nigerian military, and by extension, the Nigerian federal government.
Therefore, before the Python begins another dance in the South East, both the Nigerian military and the Federal Government of Nigeria, should tell us what had happened to Nnamdi Kanu and his father.
Are they dead or alive. If they are dead, they should produce their bodies for proper burial. But if they are alive, they should release them since they committed no crimes. We are in a democracy, and the Nigerian Constitution guarantees freedom of speech.
We acknowledge the fact that the military usually organize various exercises with different code names as part of their combat readiness, and that “Operation Python Dance” might be one of these exercises.
But if the Python wants to dance, let it leave the South East and go to the North East, in particular, to Borno State, and begin its dance there. Let them leave the South East where there is peace and go to the place where there is war because soldiers are trained to fight war and not to disturb peace.
