What this wholly incompetent and directionless Nigerian Army led by Lt. Gen Tukur Buratai ought to understand is that rebranding their expensive civilian repression exercise in the east from Egwu Eke (Python Dance) to Egwu Atilogwu Udo (Atilogwu Dance of Peace) will not detract from the fact that the intimidatory presence of machine gun wielding, trigger happy, largely uneducated and ill-informed Fulani soldiers is illegal, unlawful, wholly unconstitutional and diversion of resources that should have been better channeled towards the north where terrorism, insecurity and insurgency is making the lives of poor Fulani people unbearable.
Rather than jumping from one meaningless name to another in a futile effort to give meaning to what is in essence a murderous military exercise directed at the 5% that did not vote for APC, the Nigerian Army should call this periodic murderous spree to a halt. No animal dances with AK47, going by the previous name of the annual killing jamboree in the east and this new name Atilogwu Dance, which no doubt was coined as a public relations stunt designed to market state sanctioned intimidation and brutal suppression of civilian populations in peace time, is a pathetic joke. The appropriate name for this unwarranted military exercises in the east should be Operation Dance of Shame. That is the only dance taking place in the east and is a befitting name that will do justice to the mindless thuggery and lawlessness of these military incursions into civilian private space and it must be stressed, peaceful civilian space in the east.
We Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) and other sensible observers around the world would like to know with what frequency do these names of army operations or similar military exercises in the north change. Of what benefit are all these army operations in the east when war, hunger, poverty, disease, terrorism and insurgency is laying waste to the north? This is the simple question that neither the cabal in Aso Rock or military hierarchy in Nigeria is able to answer till date. Of what military purpose is the deployment of a combative army formation to a peaceful region when war is ravaging another part?
The fact of the matter remains that Nigeria, we are led to believe is a democracy with a police force. Internal security operations within the borders of Nigeria remains the primary responsibility of the police NOT the army unless there is breakdown of law and order. There is no constitutional justification for the presence of armed soldiers on the streets in a region where there is no war. Such only obtains in backward uncivilized Banana republics with tin pot dictatorships. The only solution left for the Nigerian Army is to call-off this dance of shame and return to the barracks where civilized countries place their soldiers in peace time or else IPOB will continue to expose and make them an object of ridicule before the civilized world. Changing from one name to another in an effort to market what is unmarketable is a complete and utter waste of time. If Buratai and his army are bored as they clearly are, they should volunteer to do something meaningful by offering to serve as a peace keeping force in Afghanistan or Yemen where their soldiers are rather than disturbing law abiding civilians across Biafraland.
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COMRADE EMMA POWERFUL MEDIA AND PUBLICITY SECRETARY FOR IPOB.
