Breakdown of law and order looms in South East

• As Igbo youths search vehicles for victims of attack
• Time for Buhari to intervene

Danger signal is fast building up in the South East; and some stakeholders in the polity are of the view that this is no time for President Muhammadu Buhari to sit back and watch Nigeria slide into anarchy or another civil war.

Reports show that some misguided youths in the South East have commenced stop and search of commercial vehicles, looking for northerners to attack. Also, IPOB members were further said to have attacked a police station in Aba, Abia State. These are clear acts of lawlessness which the government cannot ignore and have a duty to prevent, but the President should deal with the root cause of the misconducts.

The situation is certainly unhealthy for managing the security of the country and could clear a pathway to civil strife.

The Igbo youths have become helpless in the circumstances of the current Operation Python Dance II in South East states by the Nigerian Army which is beginning to show flaws of security management by the Armed Forces of the Nigeria.

The current military action in the South East is isomorphic to using atomic bomb to kill a fly, irrespective of the slogan or reasons attached to the operations.

Nnamdi Kanu, leading the Indigenous People Of Biafra (IPOB) has not been involved in arms struggle which could be admitted to threaten the territorial integrity of Nigerian.  Admittedly, agitation or advocacy for secession constitutes treason or felony, as the case may be; but these have spelt out consequences in the laws of Nigerian.

However, the constitution provides certain rights and liberties, which, perhaps, Kanu and his group have not gone beyond the limits in their agitations for Biafra. Social movement such as the IPOB is involved in could be contained by the Police; the Army could step at a time of wide violence or obvious threats of war.

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More so, Kanu is obviously not an opinion leader either within the monarchy of the political milieu of the South East. If Biafra succeeds today, Kanu cannot emerge the President of Biafra. So, the Federal Government of Nigeria is merely helping Kanu to increase global popularity which, he ordinarily, cannot achieve without the activities of the Nigerian Army. The Army are only helping Kanu to become more popular in the crisis.

Paradoxically, the Nigerian Army is overreacting to the reality of the situation in the South East; this requires urgent intervention by President Buhari to immediately close the violence space against the Igbo youths before it spreads to other parts of the country.

The threat of civil strife is increasing in the speed of light. Attempts by Igbo youths to attack innocent northerners in their states because of the military action may break the limit of patience or restraint by relations of their victim. The consequence is obvious to all stakeholders in the Nigerian project; a violent uprising that could snowball into a civil war becoming inevitable.

Reports of military brutality in the Operation Python Dance II that might have provoked the attitudes of the misguided youths in the South East have often been supported with video footages on social media across the globe, generating sentiments over the activities of the Nigerian Army in the zone.

However, all stakeholders in Nigeria must admit the fact that only the State has the authoritative monopoly of violence and government has a responsible to guarantee such. Any parallel capacity of violence from the component units threaten the cohesion of the country.

Ironically, Igbo leaders in the APC have remained dormant while the threats of violence rise in the South East; they have failed in their duty of promoting the interests of their people in government.  It is expected that they would have commenced political diplomacy, seeking audience with President Buhari to dialogue on minimizing the high level of force in the South East, and also make attempts to interface with the agitators.

It is apposite that President Buhari considers the withdrawal of soldiers from the South East while the Nigeria Police should be empowered to move in and round up the miscreant.

Igbo leaders must also speak out as the situation is degreasing into anarchy. They cannot wait until federal government takes violence actions to complain thereafter; they must call the youths to other.