Arresting MASSOB leaders is a wrong signal

MASSOB leader, Chief Ralph Uwazuruike

Maybe the Federal Government has other reasons for arresting the leaders of the Movement for the Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB). But if it is for gathering to honour their heroes, then something is wrong.

MASSOB has been in existence for the past 12 years and its message has been the same: its people are marginalized and the federal government should look into it or they press ahead to leave Nigeria. If this is the message, has the FG looked into their grievance and failed or succeeded? Not yet. It’s on record that each time they gathered, they faced police brutality in the dimension of enemy soldiers invading Nigeria.

In some cases, there are reported deaths in hundreds; still that grievance is not lifted and addressed. The group’s approach is non-violent, relying on the power of conviction and mobilization. Still, its grievance has failed to attract FG’s attention 12 years on. By a streak of contradiction, the FG has labored to appease/negotiate with militant groups at the slightest surge of threat to stability, meaning it is soft on violence and hard on peace. So which does it want and which is it encouraging? The FG should ask itself, ‘all this while, has the mainstream Igbo filed behind MASSOB’? But now, voices are rising and questioning why militancy should be appeased and peace crushed? The people ready to be dialogued with are arrested while those throwing it overboard are begged to come to the table. I have not understood the real reasoning behind this contradiction. The nearest I can come to is ‘fear’. Fear that when the Igbo wants to push, they go all the way. But are they pushing? They are expressing a grievance that simply needs a tap: ‘old boy, come on, what’s up, let’s get on’.

Instead, they are shot, beaten and detained. The implication is that a violent and daring group may emerge for the reason of a wrong federal policy. Maybe the FG is scared of the symbolisms of the group: flag, websites, currency and UN engagements. But where is the currency in use? Has any UN member-nation done anything towards Biafra other than giving them audience at the plenary? Anybody can print flags, even football clubs do, so how do these become worries enough to constitute a response of rout? Indeed, even if the threat is real, there is the socio-cultural representative of the group to be approached. During elections, would-be Presidents parley with this group to get voted in, but on slightest seeming threat, they aren’t good enough to be approached; the FG goes it alone in the name of security and clamps down.

Now imagine a scenario where this people say, ‘it’s enough’ and become violent; then we will have Boko in the North, militants in the South, and OPC in the West each making unsavory demands on the FG. Then, which will it fight and under such distractions, where will it find the concentration to give good governance? Again, does the FG think it can command soldiers to shoot their people and they continue doing so indefinitely? Why Nigerians seem to be silent on government’s tight fist on Boko is because they kill their fellow Nigerians, Muslim, Christian, other, alike without reason. In effect, they are ‘Jowana’- dangerous to everybody. The day they come down and government still gets hard, voices will rise. The best way to approach fear is to decode the mind to know what’s in it. There are traditional heads, opinion leaders, groups: youth, women, socio-cultural.

These are facets to reach the mind of the people, meet and discuss with them. That done, the threat of today quickly converts to the strength of tomorrow. Ignoring these and upholding might only makes a collapse visible. Gadaffi tried it and lasted six months, Gbagbo lasted five months, etc. This can’t be the way to go and the President’s advisers should tell him that. Releasing the MASSOBists is the right step but beyond that, FG should use them as a model for all others enmeshed in agitation. It’s about reason not ruin; about talk not terror.

The time has come to take a holistic look at the reason for increasing agitations. It’s not just security talk anymore. See, we’ve spent three months talking post-election violence. We have three years and nine months left and the 6 year single term won’t fly. So the Jonathan legacy is ticking away. The best now is: call off distraction and deliver. If I were the President, I wouldn’t just invite these people, I would visit them. After all, I am their leader. Our action should not be seen to encourage violence.

Commentary by Onyebuchi Onyegbule

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