Barely a month ago, the gaze of the entire nation of Nigeria was on a small South eastern state, ABIA STATE, or to be more precise, ABA. This was due to the recent increase in the agitation of the Indigenous People Of Biafra (IPOB), and the recent in-flow of the Nations military forces, and their Operation known as ‘Operation Python Dance’ or ‘Egwu Eke’ in igbo dialect.
Well,this post isn’t to retell the story once again, but to give my account and its effects as far as I can perceive.
I found myself at home at aba due to the sudden strike action by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) during that period of time. On the 12th of September 2017, as I was returning home after visting by home town in the same city, there were hear-says about some sort of military and IPOB clash in the main town. However, the route which I took was quite peaceful as even at the military check point along opobo road there was’t sign of any tension, which was confirmed by the Keke-man in pidgin English and is roughly translated as“ See them, they are relaxed, they do not even know what’s happening in the town” .
On getting home, I made some calls to relatives then confirmed the actual story; the genesis of the tension wasn’t in aba but rather in umuahia, the capital city of Abia state and the place of resistence of Nnamdi Kalu, the leader of IPOB, where there I gathered that the Nigerian Military wanted to go through his street and meet with some resistance by the IPOB members alone the street and there was confrontations and exchange of projectiles by both parties ( the IPOB members threw stones and the military fired some shots). The afore mentioned incident then extended to the Aba, where there were reports of buring of vehicles belonging to a particular ethnic group in nigeria and threat to lives.
Within that period of time, the incident had spread to Oyigbo in rivers state, where some destruction of properties where recorded and the death of a police man. The following day, the Nigerian army episode began, some of which included the footage/ pictures of youths in muddy waters for having the flag or the any symbol of Biafra.
All this time, i was glued to the television and the internet, so as to be update with the current happening in the city and prepared my mind for the worst, peradventure the situation detoriates and the IPOB’s picked up actual arms (This of course would mean an unrestrained scrutiny and even brutality by the army on almost any youth of age to bear arms). I even scanned and backed-up my essential documents to a flash drive for portability (you can never be too safe) .Having heard and read some books on the experience during previous attempt by Biafra to pull out of Nigeria, I knew that all I could do was to be up to date on the current developments and pray for the best. Eventually, the tension died down and normalcy began to return to Aba. The entire episode lasted less than a week.
Finally, as I was heading back to school, on the 17th of September, the commercial driver raised a topic about his fellow drivers who the military flogged silly because of the biafran flag on his vehicle. Also on getting near osisioma junction on the aba- port harcourt express way, we all had to disembark the vehicle due to the recent obstruction by the military on the road and join the large number of people on foot and walk to where we can board a vehicle. After having had my fair dose of exercise (Walking and carrying my luggage) I finally boarded a vehicle and sat by the window so as to have a better view of the aftermath of the incidents that occurred few day past. I noticed some burnt lorries about five in total. I also took the privilege to count the check-points, and they were fifteen in nunber from Osisioma junction to Oyigbo junction. I wont fail to mention that the incident didn’t deter the ‘Usual’ collections at the check points , expect the newly set-up check-points.
"War doesn’t determine who is right, it determines who is left" quote by Bertrand Russell , lets give peace a chance.
Image references in order of appearance
http://thewillnigeria.com
https://www.dailytrust.com.ng/
https://newtelegraphonline.com
http://dreamicus.com/peace.html#photo_5