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Why International community should note the old military dictator in Obasanjo is abusing human rights of Igbos,
others in Nigeria
By Egbebelu Ugobelu

Special to
USAfricaonline.com
NigeriaCentral.com

Nigeria's Gen. Obasanjo's latest incursion and rampage in Igboland (specifically, Okigwe town), where cars, buses, houses and hotels were ramsacked or shot at, and where innocent people including those who were not MASSOB members, were murdered in cold blood, is crying proof that pleading, moralizing, lethargy and fatalistic wishes do not work for former military dictators like Obasanjo. Also, it is crying proof that non-violence demonstrations and marches do not work for the likes of Obasanjo's government. Obasanjo's obduracy and abuse of human rights in Okigwe (and elsewhere) are steering us irrevocably to one direction. We will face the challenge sooner or later. The horror Igbos are experiencing even in their own land at the behest of Obasanjo, demands a change of focus and approach. We are in a civilian government not a military government. We are in a democracy not a military dictatorship. In this administration, Obasanjo is a civilian President no longer a military General. Why he has been behaving and acting as one we can neither tell or fathom. Nor can we fathom why Nigeria's governors and legislators have allowed him to run amok with the power he does not have. Somebody has to bring him back to his senses. Those who make non violence change impossible make violent change inevitable and irreversible. Igbos need to prepare themselves now for this alternative left to us. We have exhausted the other alternative and must move ahead to protect ourselves from eventual annihilation. The whole world is our witness. For thirty-one odd years we have lived in deprivation and indignity. For thirty-one odd years we have acted with commendable restraint in the face of extreme provocation. We have given so much. We have no more to give.
Peace lovers everywhere: The constant harrassing, jailing and sporadic shooting and killing of members of a non violence group, MASSOB, in Igboland and elsewhere by the Obasanjo regime is an act of extreme provocation. It has been going on since the inception of this noble, unarmed, peace loving and harmless group. An unarmed group in a democracy has the right, vested on it by the constitution, to demonstrate or protest against any situation or action that it deems to be detrimental to its welfare or the welfare of the group or people it represents. Massop is part of the freedom movement of Igbos. It is a legitimate organ that enjoys the respect and concensual acceptance of the Igbo people. Anybody who attacks, kills, maims, dehumanizes or violates the rights of this group, its leader or followers, does so to the entire Igbo race. Any such act is and should be seen as an act of provocation. It is an act that should be decried and discouraged by everybody, including the President, Obasanjo, himself.

The recent assault by the Nigerian army and police in the Igbo heartland of Okigwe, under the guise of flushing out and arresting the MASSOB leader, Ralph Uwazuruike, which killed many people of the town, is more than an act of provocation. It is a declaration of war against the Igbo people. The lesson of 1966 and the Biafra War has not been learnt by Nigeria or its leadership.

Igbos will not stand still as though straightjacketed and watch other people decimating their population. Igbos will not be insulted or humiliated in their own land as they are and have been everywhere else in the country. Thirty million strong people will not allow themselves to be mowed down at the whims and caprices of any leader or people. Like in the case of 1966, our backs -Igbos backs- are once again against the wall. We have only one choice available. To fight back and save ourselves from eventual annihilation.

We are in a civilian government not a military government. We are in a democracy not a military dictatorship. In this administration, Obasanjo is a civilian President no longer a military General. Why he has been behaving and acting as one we can neither tell or fathom. Nor can we fathom why Nigeria's governors and legislators have allowed him to run amok with the power he does not have. Somebody has to bring him back to his senses.

Obasanjo should know that freedom fighters of different persuasion exist among the Igbo at home and abroad. I belong to such a virile and sensible group of positive action believers. My group believes in responsive and retaliatory action. We are very pragmatic people who do not believe in wasting our time in futile adventures. We believe that action speaks louder than words. We believe in the only thing that works, especially with recalcitrant people, like Obasanjo. Blood for blood, tooth for tooth, an eye for an eye. We believe in violent action. We believe it is totally absurd to continue to allow Yorubas and Hausas, who contribute little or nothing to the coffers of the country, to use money made in our land and the eastern and south-south region to buy weapons and "intelligence" from the NATO powers and subjugate, violate and vandalize us with same.
Ugobelu is the author several books on Nigeria's history and socio-economic development.

HUMAN RIGHTS
Nigeria's police, soldiers vandalize Okigwe town in futile search for MASSOB leader

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