Igbo-Ukwu Riots & The EndSARS Effect; The Son of Man Wept! - Ik Muo, PhD.

 

Our people say that to the person who is not involved, who has no linkage with the dead, a corpse is just like a log of wood! At around 3.30 pm on Monday, 21/12/20, I stopped over at what was left of the Igbo-Ukwu Divisional Police Office. I was rooted to the ground as I gazed at the charred remains of vehicles, furniture, office equipment, fittings and documents as represented by ashes and the building itself, which does not require any integrity test to ascertain its  ‘health’. And that building does not belong to the Police; it was built by one of us,  as his own ‘aku-luo-uno’(wealth that has come home) who graciously made it available for community usage. Immediately my mind went back to the October 2020 meeting of IgboUkwu Development Union, where we devoted a large chunk of time to deliberate on the welfare needs of the police, expressed gratitude to those who funded the construction of  conveniences,  accommodation for the DPO and refurbishing of the vehicles and our plans  to expand the scope of  the station, which for now covers only two communities. I then recalled about two years ago when the station was first established, when the Igbo-Ukwu Renaissance Committee paid a ‘welcome’ visit to the then DPO, collected his shopping list and pleaded with our generous community to help the young station. I remembered how the IgboUkwu Community Bank spent N1m on its furniture and fittings and another compatriot donated a 5KVA generator. I also recalled the argument then as to whether the Police Station evidenced development, with some arguing that we should do everything to retain the station as neighbouring communities were working underground to have it relocated to their domains; some urged us to be circumspect because police stations usually came with their negatives (extortion, more petitions et al) while others argued that we needed better dividends of democracy than a police station. I recalled all this within a twinkling of an eye and then looked again at the indescribable ruins before me.  Everything, including somebody’s house, has come to naught. And to think that Igbo-Ukwu has invested about N3m in that Police Post in the last 2 years. And then,…The Son of Man Wept!

The EndSARS protest came, and following the Lekki Massacre(massacre without corpses, according to the Great Lai), it went into suspended animation. It was followed by the criminally-motivated riots, arson, micro and macro lootings, which we saw  through the mass and social media. Now, I have just seen the EndSARS Riot…live.  Monday, 14/12/20 started like any other day in Igbo-Ukwu, (originally, simply Igbo, the incontestable cradle of Igbo civilisation, the host of the famous Nkwo market, which was before and during the war, the biggest native market in ana-Igbo. The day had also almost ended without anything unusual but suddenly, as it was heading to the exit, the ‘devil’( in form of human beings and in  obedience to  social dynamics) struck!   It was just after 9pm and the police went on a raid against okada riders, who deliberately or accidentally defied at the not-beyond-9pm  order. One thing led to the other and the man ( a young, hardworking Nigerian resident in IgboUkwu ) died! 

 

                                                                  The man died!

The following day, Tuesday, 15/12/20,an Nkwo day, a special and sacred day in IgboUkwu, it was our turn to experience a ‘small’ version of the EndSARS riots. Incidentally, two months ago, the FRSC IgboUkwu command had written a letter of commendation to the youths for ensuring that their offices and officers were not torched or harmed during the original EndSARS riot. Now, on 14/12/20, when we were already in the season of joy and peace, it was our turn to have a taste of the December-hem (mayhem in December). The mob, consisting solely of okada riders, mobilized and reduced our prized police post to ashes.  The same mob or another platoon thereof went to Ekwulobia ( HQ of Aguata LGA)Police Post where the policemen locked up their gates  and eventually shot the first person to ‘put-head’ across the gate. I cannot say whether the mob had planned to ‘finish’ the station ( do mobs plan?) or whether they were incensed by the murder of their comrade. However the incensed mob barged in, released all those in bondage (detention) and sent everything on fire, starting with the files! They also burnt the Oko Police Post (in the neighbourhood of Ekwueme’s country home and Federal Poly Okoh).   I have referred to what happened as a ‘small version’ because they did not attack the markets, banks, shops, warehouses et al, and the IgboUkwu-Ekwulobia axis has a good number of them

 Now, I was NOT  an eye witness but I undertook an extensive investigation, which started with my stopover at the burnt police-post on my way back from Lagos. I spoke to okada riders, community leaders, resident professionals and ordinary folks.  I have thus become an ear-witness. The key factor in this whole unfortunate and avoidable incident was the DPO, who was on duty with her colleagues that night. The lady DPO was described in very negative terms by all the people I spoke to and one of them, a lady, said she wished that they had burnt the DPO rather than the police station. She was described as mean and uncharitable whether in the office (bail matters) outside (raids and arrests). Even though the 9 pm order was legitimate, the people believed that she displayed suspicious enthusiasm about it and you may hazard a guess as to how they linked her unholy antics with her impending retirement (January 2021). They also claimed that in all the neighbouring communities it is only at IgboUkwu that okada night-raid was rampant.  Thus, even though the mob was incensed by the murder, tons of acidic grudge had been accumulated before then and this deep-seated animosity would have led to something sooner or later. There is also another dimension to the crises. Most of the Okada riders (about 97%) are our guests; they are not from IgboUkwu.  However, I don’t want to interrogate that aspect of the crises. This also happened on the day one of our twin priests,  Revd Fr Vallentine Ezeagu( SMMM) was kidnapped by some ‘bandits’ in Imo State on his way home for the burial of his father. Thus we were on the news for two wrong reasons on the same day! I condemn the coldblooded extortion-focused murder of defenseless citizens just as I condemn the act of lawlessness’ by the okada-mob. Our police station is gone and thereafter, a transformer located in the very before of the police station has been thoroughly vandalized. The IgboUkwu community, to which the Okada men contribute NOTHING will bear the cost or consequences of these consequences. The Okada-boys have also become the law unto themselves. On 22/12, around 3pm, they staged a riotous party at the Nkwo market square, blocking the road at such time of the day. It took a while for them to mercifully let me pass! If you recall how a different genre of ‘Okadarists’ chased armed task-force members away in Lagos, then it is obvious that something unpalatable is brewing.

 Everything is now calm.  The Police Commissioner had liaised with the community  through its PG and appealed for calm, assuring that the culprits had been arrested and that justice must be done. The ANSG delegation had visited the bereaved families, made an immediate cash donations  and undertook to  defray the funeral expenses among other expenses.  On a personal note, I had requested through one of the Commissioners that the state should restore our police office. I will also take it up with the LGA chairman. Now, the rapid response of the ANSG and commissioner of police is a part of what I call the EndSARs Effect. There are several effects all over the place. There is the Trump-Effect( turning American governance and  practices upside down); the Biden Effect (Dow Jones Industrial Average surged past 30000 points  the highest single day gain over the victory  of Biden and commencement of his transition process), the Buhari Effect( when people were frightened into temporary moderation when they thought that PMB  was serious about his war against corruption) the body language effect( when there was confusion in government as everybody was interpreting and misinterpreting his body language), the Lai Effect( as Nigerians do NOT believe statements by Lai), the ASUU effect( people no longer believe government assurances after it has repeatedly reneged on all promises to ASUU) the Coro Effect( after  Coro had  commonalised all humanity and reminded us of our nothingness) and the announcement effect( the minister of State for Petroleum informed  us that the last petrol pump price hike was due to the announcement of the approval of Coro-Vaccine). Now, we also have the EndSARS effect; the new and emerging behaviours, attitudes and tendencies that are the byproducts of EndSARS. The first is the immediacy with which members of the EndSARS generation mobilize and move into action whenever they feel that their rights and dignity are abridged. That was what happened at IgboUkwu  on 15/12/20 and what happened the week earlier Ukpokwu, River State when a policeman murdered a Tricycle operator over N100 bribe. The speed with which the Government of Anambra State and the police authorities responded was also due to the EndSARS Effect as everything is being done to appease the restless and combustible  EndSARS generation. That was why  Military authorities arrested soldiers who harassed one Godson at Asaba , why police authorities arrested policemen who fired at Bayelsa traders in an effort to clear the road for their vehicles, that was why all state governments established the Judicial panels with dispatch  and deliberately publicise their activities; why the National Economic Council established a Youth Engagement Committee, headed by the VP; why a policemen was arrested for killing a wedding guest in Imo State( 7/12/20), the expression of shock (from the president of course),disownment and discontinuation  of the police suite against the Judicial panels, why police sanctioned their men for smashing a driver’s head over N200 tithe in Delta State (15/11/20),  

 

                                                                The battered driver

the commencement of police salary review process by the FG and the  ‘with immediate’ release of 253 EndSARS protesters in Lagos the other day. There are also the negative EndSARS effects, especially on the part of those who believed that they must do the ‘right thing’, including the CBN which froze EndSARS accounts for economic terrorism, the fine on Arise , Channels and AIT by Nigerian Broadcasting Commission, and the prosecution or rather persecution  of some EndSARSers.

 Well, the positive EndSARS effects  are indicators that we attempted to learn some lessons from the EndSARS experience. However, the fact that people in uniform, maintained with our money, still go about murdering our citizens with reckless abandon and that some government agencies are still making some inflammatory statements and taking some hardline steps are indicators that we still have far to go. The further we are from the EndSARS period, the more people forget the essence and lessons from the EndSARS movement. And as sure as day follows night, EndSARS shall return to ensure the sustainability of its gains. How and when it will be, the son of man cannot tell.

My proposal to Catholic Bishops Conference of Nigeria, Christian Association of Nigeria and the Presidential Taskforce on Coro, that we should declare a force-majeure  and thus postpone the Christmas Celebrations, did not sail through. I thus have no other option than to extend Christmas felicitations to all men of good will while praying for peace on earth, starting with Nigeria!  

- Ik Muo, PhD. Department of Business Administration, OOU, Ago-Iwoye. 08033026625