Anambra Security: From Igbo-Ukwu to Ijebu-ode on a ‘SathDay’… & Operation Udo-Ga-Achi - Ik Muo, PhD.
I started my media
activism 37 years ago (1978) as a Second Year Economics student at UI and by
the grace of God, it has been nonstop to date. People have always asked me how
I have managed to keep faith with this thankless job for these years and I have
always responded: interest and compassion, commitment of resources and grace of
He who Is. However, nobody has ever asked my what drives me in
all this. Well, when I started, I did not enunciate any ‘mission and
vision statement’. I just started writing on the happenings within, and at times, without, our
environment. However over the years, I have articulated the objectives of these
efforts: To write history as it is happening( history on the go!),
draw the attention of those in government to what they have done wrong or what
they could do better and take a swipe at them when they lie, cheat the people or do what is contrary to
what they say, and to present a template with which to compare the past with the present by those who were not in the
past!
In all this, there is no
bitterness; it is ‘jocularised’ and satirised as I say VERY
SERIOUS things in laffious
manners, adding Igbo proverbs and Bible verses for the appropriate effects. As
somebody once said, it is seriously funny! Two recent feedbacks tell this story: ‘Heart
wrenching piece crafted in
light-hearted, hilarious prose( Taofeek Akinola); ‘Very hilarious, almost cried
while laughing(Chinemerem Muo).
Both were reacting to very
serious commentary linking EndHunger and EndSARS protests! At times I go
out of the way to make people easily
forget their woes. The most important aspect of the whole issue is that I take
joy in MANUFACTURING new words and
phrases. This did not start today because my classmates at St Josephs, Awka-Etiti named me Commissioner for Vocabularies,
while in the University, I was an elected Commissioner for Information and Propaganda at
Nnamdi Azikiwe Hall, the GREATEST
in UI! You cannot do information and propaganda without conjuring words!
Well, the newest word in
town, and for which I have absolute copyright is ‘SathDay’, which
is quite different from Saturday. On 14/1/21 I wrote on Ghost-Town
Strategy, UGM and Reign of Terror: By whom and for what? while on
6/2/22, I wrote on Ghost Town Monday revisited. Ghost-Town Monday(GTM) was the
term used to describe the brutally enforced Monday Sit at Home in the Southeast.
Incidentally, people had gone to Simon
Ekpa’s hometown and reported that while his minions were lethally
enforcing the sit a home in Anambra, Abia and Imo states, life was always
normal in his village, every day of the week, including Mondays . But that is
by the way. Coming to the new word, SathDay, in terms of the
etymology, it was derived from the Sit at home, which happens on Mondays the
east. So, SathDay, which
means Sit at home day, has replaced Ghost Town
Monday; it is in the process of evolution,
displacement and replacement . At the core of this writeup is how I travelled from Igbo-Ukwu
to Ijebuode on the last SathDay in September, 2024.
That was the 5th
time I travelled on Monday since the SathDay nonsense started.
Three of them were by public transport, indicating that public transports were
operational on those days. It is not that I have been daring them
or tempting God; it was just that I needed to travel. On the first occasion, I
came across a barricade with a smouldering bonfire nearby between Adazi-Ani and
Nnokwa. It was around 6am. Just like BAT when he announced that subsidy
is gone, I was seized by a strange courage. I calmly alighted from the car, removed the barricade, re-entered
my car and drove off . One of my friends to whom I narrated the episode said that it was an evidence that your
time was not yet up and I agreed with him; it was an act of God (Akachukwu
di ya). On that occasion, I
drove myself. Now, the Son of Man is going down inexorably, gradually. I feel I can still
drive from Igbo-Ukwu to Lagos or even to
Maiduguri but my Medical Adviser had
warned me long time ago, against driving
such a long distance. As you can see, it
is not only those in government that have advisers! I had planned to travel on the previous day (Sunday)
but some ‘this and that’ related to community service, delayed the trip and I just had to travel and
SathDay became the day. I had imported my emergency driver from Lagos and on
arrival, he had an issue with the okada-man who blamed him for saying that my house was ‘directly
behind Igbo-Ukwu Girls Secondary School’
rather than saying that it was ‘at
the back of Igbo-Ukwu Girls’( Teasher, don’t teash me nonsense!)
Everybody shouted in
trepidation when I told them I would travel on that Monday. My wife did all the
casting and binding. The last person I informed, my elder sister,
raised alarm but I told her that it was
already late since I had packed and would leave within 5 minutes. She decreed
and declared. I left at exactly at 6 15am. I was used to leaving earlier but
on this particular day, I decided to ‘see those who see me’
and so I waited till day break. There
was eerie calm as I left my house on that day
.At Nkwo Igbo-Ukwu square, there was no life (as it was on my
‘fact-finding’ visit to the market on the first SathDay, a few years ago) and
so it was at Ichida. At Awka Etiti,
there was a little life; and I saw one or two people awaiting public transport
vehicles. At Nnobi, there were more activities. I saw some keke and shuttle
busses awaiting passengers, while the tomato market was in full operation. It
appeared that a truckload had just arrived, most likely from the North, and the
wholesalers and retailers were doing the sharing. By the time I got to
Umuoji, socioeconomic activities were in full swing and at Nkpor roundabout,
there was life in full but the motor-park, about 500 meters down the road, was empty. I encountered about
2 private cars, 8 shuttle busses, 8 tippers and 4 lorries on the 45minutes
distance from Igbo-Ukwu to Onitsha. Zik’s roundabout, Enugu Onitsha Expressway, Upper Iweka axis and Niger bridge were all empty as there
was no traffic. However, at
Asaba, there was FULL traffic and socioeconomic activities were in full swing. It was when my beloved called and learnt that
we had crossed the Niger bridge that she relaxed and went about her normal
activities
The Asaba end of Benin-Onitsha express way…roadworthy
certificates for unmotorable roads
One surprising discovery
was that the SatH affected all businesses in the Onitsha-Lagos ecosystem: The road was empty; the fuel stations were free, the
eateries along the road were free, even the policemen who usually mounted 1001 toll-gates
along the route were idling away; they were busy killing flies that perched on their uniforms. At the Asaba
end of the Niger Bridge there were several Sienna and Hiace
busses ready for the Lagos trip but
there were NO passengers. There was NO go-slow even at the infamous Benin
Bypass and the journey that would have taken circa 10 hours, took barely 6
hours. The woman who sold a bunch of bananas to me for N500 at Ore lamented that if it were not on Monday, people
would be begging her to sell a similar size for N800. Obviously the SathDay was
not a South-East affair. Its affects reverberated beyond South East; indeed, it has adverse national macro-economic
consequences.
And then… Udo g’achi & Agunechemba
In response to the
audacity of SathDay enforcers, the adverse economic consequences of the
SathDay, the ruthless kidnap for money and/or rituals, murderous rage by sundry
criminals and the cries of the people
about the insecurity in Anambra (appears overexaggerated), which cast a negative shadow over other activities
of government, the Anambra State Government launched a comprehensive security
programme( 18/1/25), which had its roots on the Homeland security law.
Responsibility for security was ‘democratised’ as everybody had
his role: Hoteliers, President Generals of Town Unions, Royal Fathers,
communities, landlords native doctors and
residents. For the residents, it is see something, say something
and anonymous whistle blowing. For NDrs(native
doctors), it is advance and be recognised. For others it is about
collating specific security information and reports. The punishments are severe
including conscription of forests, demolition of houses used by kidnappers
(which may not even belong to kidnappers), and long jail terms. People were
generally excited about the development but in the first one month of the
programme, it has been a mixed harvest. Some are happy that the Government
acted at last and there were strings of successful operations to support this.
One is the operation at Enugu
Agidi(30/1/25), where enough arms and ammunition to wipe out a community was
recovered( 2 AK-47, 8 pump action, 4 locally-made pistols 100 bullets etc),
successes in the Ihiala axis and . the
capture of those who kidnapped the Anambra Legislator, Hon. Justice, but this
turned into sadness because they had already murdered the man after depleting his purse to the tune of N100m.
However, others had asked why it took the Government so long while some still
worry about possibility of highhandedness and mistaken identities in the urge
to quickly restore sanity.
My first reaction was on
the provision that any person who performs any sacrifice, or dumps on any
road or thrown into any water any charms, substances or items of sacrifice for
the purpose of accumulation of wealth by supernatural means Is liable on
convention to imprisonment for a term of 6 years with an option of N20m fine or
both. As a behavioural scientist, I declared that it was very difficult
to enforce as it would be almost
impossible to capture all fetish agents, who would in any case go underground or cross the bridge to Asaba; they can even
operate online. But the main issue is that you do not outlaw behavoiurs and
attitudes; rather, we should begin from the beginning and undertake
attitudinal repositioning and moral rearmament. This will start by finding out
why people patronise those charlatans and the roots of peoples’ desperation for
wealth now-now and why
people despise hard-work but want to live big. Some people took it from another
dimension; that it infringes on the freedom of worship and why fake and quack pastors
were not captured. The emphasis is on
the fetish route to fast-cash, which
implies that one could do other native doctor things, including herbal medicine.
Such people are also requested to go and register though it will be difficult
for those not initiated to understand what the purveyors of fetishism are up
to.
However, the
greatest issue revolves around the controversies that trail some of the
activities of Agunechemba. The demolition of a hotel where 30 graves and
shrines were said to have been
discovered at Oba is a case in point. The alleged owner had declared that what
they had upstairs were fishponds and not graves. You may wonder why fishponds
should be in the last floor of a hotel just as you may also wonder how operational graves were located at the last
floor. The most recent one at
Owerre-Ezukala has even been more controversial as some craftsmen from Isuofia who had gone there to
do their work were allegedly shot. There
were demonstrations at Isuofia over this particular incident. There might have
been mistaken identity but there also might have been dual identity! The
Agunechemba operatives owe us convincing explanations. Asari Dokubo gang has been dragged into the
matter as the operatives were alleged to be speaking Ijaw. There was also
somebody who was allegedly arrested as an UGM but was later released. We cannot
afford this COSTLY errors.
The late Hon Justice, one of the murderers aged 20; his philosophy? No peace for the Government
Now, where do we go from
here? On the criticism that the
programme came in late, our people say
that taabugboo; it is never too late. One politician said that
security outfit is actually SoluDo_ga_chi( Soludo will rule
again), strategically established for
his 4+4 campaign( we all know what armed gangs do during Nigerian elections). I
doubt if the government would wait these years and ignore the deaths and other consequences
of the insecurity just to use improved
security as a campaign issue. I don’t know how the minds of politicians do work
but this would be extreme wickedness-if it were true. Some people have even raised fears about the
return of the bloody Bakassi Boys
I believe that this is farfetched for now. On alleged shoot now and ask question later
modality, there is need for those in charge to undertake action with
caution. Thorough investigations should be undertaken before people’s
investments are destroyed and shooting should be a last resort, when they are
under attack. There is also the temptation for whistle-blowers to blow poisoned
whistles, especially as regards to where unholy things are happening or
somebody living big without any
source of livelihood.’ People can use this to settle scores! The
ubiquitous village people can weaponise these aspects of the law
to wreck more havoc than they have been
doing through real or imagined remote control. The operatives
should be trained in the rudiments of
criminal psychology and interpersonal dynamics so as to enhance their emotional
intelligence and imbue them with the appropriate orientation. Let them be
terrors to the criminals, not to the general public.
Costly Mistake:Allegedly arrested and released
It is good that ANSG has taken the fight to the criminals, though I am
not among those saying that ALL the criminals in Anambra State have been vanquished.
However, there is need for further finetuning and action with caution! This Agu should chee mba, not intimidate
mba!
What promised to be an
epic showdown has suddenly fizzled
out. Elder AB, who had refused to listen
to anybody suddenly listened to Ooni of Ife et al and decided to discontinue
the matter. DF who had insisted that he did not ask anybody to beg on his
behalf appeared to have accepted the outcome of this begging. Good; we don’t
gain anything by troubling the waters. However, I had wanted to get to the
bottom of this matter, because DF continuously insisted that he knew what he
was saying. I also wanted to know whether the strongarm and backdoor processes
involved in this matter were right and proper. Bimbola
Adelakin has also wondered what
become of Supreme Court Justices, who were also ‘defamed’ But that is all by
the way. Some people say it was a soft-landing for DF. I disagree and rather STRONGLY believe that it is the other way
round. I did not say so; I just believe so and surely, a belief, which is
intangible and invisible CANNOT be defamatory!!!
-
“Find a great mentor, someone who has already been through the many challenges of being an entrepreneur..” -Jodi Levine
Entrepreneurship in Practice: Cases, Challenges and Lessons By IK, MUO PHD is now available on Amazon, since 14/5/21. Click here to view Available for order +2348033026625 | Delivery: Worldwide
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