The
Oodua People's Congress has warned the federal government that the
operation python dance could send signals of civil war in the country.
Nnamdi Kanu and IPOB
Oodua People's Congress, OPC, has condemned the militarization of
some part of the South-East under Operation Python Dance which kicked
off today. The group said the intention of the government is to arrest
the growing influence of the Nnamdi Kanu who is the leader of the
Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB).
In a statement issued by the OPC on Thursday, and signed by its
Publicity Secretary, Yinka Oguntimehin, the group said the agitation of
IPOB could be fruitfully addressed through dialogue rather than the
military option being adopted by the Federal government.
According to OPC, there was any security threat in Umuahia and its
environs to warrant the deployment of soldiers to intimidate and molest
innocent Nigerians who are going about their lawful business.
The Yoruba group advised the Federal Government to be careful in
handling the IPOB issue, adding that any agitation that has been able to
attract international sympathy and support like that of IPOB should be
handled with utmost care and high degree of diplomacy.
Explaing the implication of Military presence in the East, the
group said it naturally sends signal of civil war in the country to the
international Community, and this will discourage investors, especially
now that the country is assumed to have survived recession.
The OPC said history does not favour military suppression of
agitating groups, citing the case of Odi where MEND surfaced strongly
and serious damage done to the nation’s economy even after the President
Olusegun Obasanjo led Federal Government was supposed to have
successfully muscled the South South community to silence.
It said oil supply was forced down to 750 barrel per day from its
usual 2.5m barrel as a result of MEND activities, adding that profitable
oil activities only picked up in the Niger Delta after the Late
President Yar’dua led government successfully dialogued with MEND.
Warning against the implication of the military attack on IPOB and Umuahia leading to the killing of many, the OPC said “all efforts must be made to guide jealously the hard earned democracy which individuals and groups fought hard to enthrone”
The OPC said the nation’s democracy is daily being threatened by
sundry issues, chief among them injustice, security and the economy,
which it said could naturally be resolved without bloodletting if the
Federal Government could be sincere enough to take the best possible
option of restructuring the country.
Re-iterating its call for the restructuring of the country along
regional line, the OPC advised government “to take conscious effort to
ensure that the incessant bloodletting in the country is arrested
instead of aiding it through unnecessary militarization of the country
like is being done in the South East”.
The statement added that the recent happenings in Abia between
soldiers and members of the public had underscored the urgency to
reconsider the necessity of Operation Python Dance 2.
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