The menace of Fulani herdsmen in the South East has been an old story and old problem Igbos had had to grapple and bore with resignation and sorrowful equanimity for over a decade now, having somehow got used to the inertia of security agents and the apathy of Igbo leaders in finding a solution to the daily doses of killings, raping and kidnapping activities by herdsmen with unrestrained liberty all over the South East. To a great extent, Igbos have come to accept the herdsmen debacle as an evil and danger they have to live with, trusting only in God for their daily survival and existence. It had certainly come to that stage which nobody can controvert.

What many Igbos did not anticipate was that the insecurity level, as ominous bad as it has been, will so soon grow from bad to worse, as worse as what we have heard from  North East and North Central geo-political zones. And this is exactly what appears to be happening today in Igbo land, a situation that can be correctly described as a siege on Igbo land by insurgents, now re-baptized by the Nigeria police and other security agents as “unknown gun men” and which appear to be more fearful than the dreaded Fulani herdsmen.

Again, no one can confute the description of the current situation in Igbo land as a siege by unknown gun men. The character and frequency of armed attack on predominantly police locations and other places by gun men have all the traits of a siege.

Not that the people of the South East had not been apprehensive and indeed timorous about an impending conflagration of violence in the region in the absence of a reliable security structure. On the contrary, there has been a massive clarion call by individuals and Igbo groups across the land and the Diaspora on the South East governors to take proactive steps to provide security for lives and property of their people.

The long period of inactivity on the part of Igbo governors and Ohaneze Ndigbo in the face of increasing security threats in the South East attracted wide scale invective against Igbo leadership from across Igbo land, notably the Ieader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu and his executive, who had been at daggers drawn with South East governors and Ohaneze Ndigbo since the proscription of IPOB by the governors and Ohaneze three years ago and subsequent declaration of IPOB as a terrorist organization by the Federal government with the perceived support and connivance of Igbo governors.

The recent siege on the South East by unknown gun men the identity of whom has been subjected to diverse conspiracy theories has reopened the wounds of anger and despise for Igbo governors arising not only from the new wave of insecurity in the region but also from the governors’ continued desultory response to the grave security situation. Even more importantly, from the continued bad faith exhibited by the governors towards the IPOB initiated Eastern Security Network (ESN), for the purpose of providing security in Igboland  and her citizens in the absence of any meaningful plan by South East governors but which the Igbo governors have branded illegal and unlawful.

However, in the wake of the emerging and deteriorating security alert in the South East, the Ohaneze Ndigbo is showing signs of wisdom and expedience by subtly and tactfully recognizing the potential of Eastern Security Network in the task of providing security in Igbo land. In a recent statement by the Ohaneze President , Professor George Obiozor, in reaction to the recent formation of Ebube Agu security network by the South East governors, recommended a synergy between the newly formed Ebube Agu security and IPOB’s ESN in the face of new security challenges.

Addressing a press conference,  Amb. George Obiozor ruled out the possibility of any clash of interest between the Indigenous People of Biafra’s Eastern Security Network, ESN, and EBUBEAGU set up by the Southeast Governors, saying that Ndigbo have a common interest of securing the zone.

Reacting to comments on why governors of the region established a new  security outfit instead of supporting the ESN, Obiozor said governors of the zone have the mandate to secure the South East and their decision should be respected. He however, said that If the ESN have come out to protect lives in the region, they must corperate with Ebube Agu and not cross boundaries. “We have common goals and different methods”.

Elder statesman and Chairman, Ohanaeze Ndigbo Elders Council – Chief Emmanuel Iwuanyanwu, towing the line of Ohaneze president, called for synergy and collaboration between the newly floated South East Security Outfit code named Ebube Agu and the IPOB’s Eastern Security Network (ESN) to tackle the current security challenges in the region.

Iwuanyanwu, who spoke to newsmen in Owerri said that it is imperative for the Ebubeagu whose idea was jointly mooted in  2019 by the leadership of the  Ohanaeze Ndigbo and governors of the Southeast to establish an intelligence department.

The elder statesman advised the two security outfits to share information with the South West, South South and other neighbouring  regions of the  South east, and invest heavily in  intelligence gathering to find  out  reasons  behind persistent insurgence in the  region.

“The elders of the Ohanaeze Ndigbo will work towards getting the IPOB-ESN to work with the Ebubeagu because we want a situation where all hands should be on deck to protect the region from bandits and terrorists. I would not want to believe that IPOB-ESN is responsible for what is now happening in the South East because IPOB ESN is made up of Igbo and as such, they cannot just come and start killing their fellow Igbo men”.

On the other hand, the formation of Ebubeagu Security Network, which incidentally has identical acronym with IPOB Eastern Security Network has also been subjected to various conspiracy theories, most of them bordering on Federal government and Fulani agenda with South East governors against IPOB and ESN.

The Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria, HURIWA, described he Ebubeagu scheme as an “outcome of a meeting in Owerri between Igbo speaking governors and the following Northern Muslims:

Maj-Gen Abubakar Maikobi (GOC, 82 Division, Nigerian Army)

Air Vice-Marshall ldi Arnin (Air Officer Commanding), Yusuf Ishaku (Director, DSS Anambra)

A. J. lbrahim (Director, DSS Abia State)

H. E. Abdullah (Director, DSS Ebonyi)

 B. Likinyo (Director, DSS Enugu)

 Baba Tijani (AIG, Zone 9, Umuahia)

Awosola Awotinde (CP, Ebonyi State)

Ahmadu Abdulrahman (CP, Enugu State) and Rabiu Ladodo (CP, Imo State).

“We note with dismay, that most of these officers who hold the instruments of security in the South East of Nigeria are mostly Fulani. None is Igbo. We also note that there is no other part of the country in which the Igbo are allowed to hold security authority.”

On his part, the IPOB  leader, Nnamdi Kanu  urged Igbo youths to ignore Ebubeagu as he believes that the Eastern Security Network, ESN is enough to tackle security challenges in the area. IPOB had in a statement signed by the Media and Publicity Secretary, Emma Powerful, Tuesday, warned Igbo youths against being members of the new security network, threatening to deal ruthlessly with anyone that might serve as a spy on its activities for Ebube Agu.

IPOB insisted that there is no security outfit that can be thrown up in the zone aside from the ESN that would not be resisted by the people. IPOB’s Media and Publicity Secretary, Comrade Emma Powerful told The Guardian: “Any security outfit other than ESN in the old eastern region by the governors will incur the wrath of the ESN. Where were these governors before now? Our people have rejected them and their mode of security. We were easily killed and throughout last year, the   people kept asking them for protection, but what did they do? They were busy protecting those killing their people.

“Now, the IPOB has said no and has formed a security network that is moving into the bushes and villages fishing out terrorists who masquerade as herdsmen and they have come with Ebube  Agu. What are they trying to achieve? To come for a challenge? They will be rejected by the people. The governors are a failure and would continue to fail.”

Board Chairman of World Igbo Peoples Assembly (WIPAS), Mazi Chuks Ibegbu, while regretting that it has taken the loss of blood in Ebonyi and Enugu states for Igbo governors to come with Ebube Agu outfit, he praise the setting up of the security outfit, but warned that it should not be used to confront the ESN. What they are doing now could have come earlier but it it is still a step in the right direction since it is better late than never.

“That is not the spirit M.I. Opkara and Sam Mbakwe presided over Alaigbo. These governors and senators who call themselves leaders in Alaigbo are antithesis of our founding fathers; they only react when it is already too late. Whatever it is, it is commendable that they have woken up. I hope they will be serious with it. I hope they will mean it. I hope it will not be used for politics.

It had to take the ESN to wake them up. I want to advice them never to confront ESN. If they are out to leverage on what ESN is doing, that will be fine but if it is to confront ESN, they should do a rethink. ESN are Igbos, Ebube Agu they are setting up are Igbos, they should have a synergy. ESN is protecting our people and our purpose is to secure Igboland.”

Also reacting, leader of the Movement for the Actualization of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB), Uchenna Madu, said: “We salute the courage of our governors to eloquently approve and establish the Southeast regional and indigenous security outfit. We support this tactical move. We shall work with them for the security of lives and properties of our people if they are willing to partner with MASSOB.

“Ebube Agu is a welcome development. Our governors should not give room for any intimidation, subjection or private harassment from the Federal Government. The people of Biafra are solidly behind our governors. “MASSOB however warns that our Southeast governors should delete their political party interest, personal political interest and personal ego and work together as one Igbo family to achieve the goal of Ebube Agu.”

Indeed, the decision reached at Owerri yesterday was not new. As far back as 2019, after the general elections held in February of that year, the first meeting of the Southeast governors in Enugu resolved that it would float an integrated security network to oversee the zone. The arrangement would involve setting up of forest guards in the states and a centre for Southeast Integrated Security Monitoring/Intelligence gathering to be centrally located in Enugu.

Ebonyi State Governor, Dave Umahi, who is the chairman of the governors’ forum in the region, had said after the meeting that they resolved that forest guards would be established in each state and roads cleared up to 50 meters into the bush to have a clear view of roads ahead.

They had mandated their State Houses of Assembly to begin the enactment of the needed legislation that would give legal teeth to the security outfit. It was at the height of kidnappings and attacks by herdsmen on farmers and the people had heaved a sigh of relief that with the coming on board of the outfit, which would be homegrown, security would be guaranteed in the zone.

But it never happened. Dilly-dallying took the centre stage. How the outfit would run became a challenge. They did not agree on funding and the name it would bear, among others. They rather went back to their various states and continued with individual security arrangement that was in place in the communities.

Few months after, the recently dropped Inspector General of Police, Mohammad Abubakar, sold the federal government’s idea of community policing to the Southeast governors. At a meeting held with Abubakar, the governors and Igbo leaders in Enugu early last year killed the idea of a regional security outfit for the zone and rather embraced the community policing template of the Federal Government.

While residents waited for the community policing initiative to berth to no avail amid the incessant threat posed to the overall security of the zone by activities of herdsmen, IPOB floated a security outfit christened Eastern Security Network (ESN). Leader of the IPOB, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, while justifying the security outfit had declared that it was the failure of Southeast governors to secure the lives and property of Igbo people led to its formation.

A typical representation of this perception can be seen in a post by one Israel Atukum in which he made a sweeping insinuation  that Igbo governors, politicians and Ohaneze are pure mercenaries against their own people, ant that  “the only  reason why the South East governors formed the new security outfit called Ebubeagu is to express their full disdain  and retaliation over Mazi Namdi Kanu And ESN”.

“To their chagrin and nightmare, the Igbo youths are not listening to them, rather they take orders from MNK whom the governors  consider as an enemy, whom they tried to kill  but escaped thousands of  miles away into exile”. For Israel and people who think like him, and they are many, Ebube Agu security is is a case of the the crafty  Fulani trying to use brother against brother.

As far as Israel is concerned, the Nigerian government  has realized that IPOB is impenetrable and their zeal totally undying because no matter how many of them are killed or jailed, they would regroup stronger and more formidable . So Ebubeagu is a joint plan by the Federal government and South East governors to oppose and weaken the ESN.

The issue here is not whether Israel is right or wrong but that his view represents  the line of thinking of most Igbo youths, to whom Ebube Agu remains eternally suspect and loathsome.

A recent statement by a Pan-Igbo sociopolitical pressure group, South East Revival Group presents a bird’s eye view of the Igbo period of unfulfilled quest, hopes and expectations of Igbos for an indigenous regional security, particularly since the bold initiative of South West governors to secure their people against the marauding Hausa Fulani herdsmen and bandits in defiance of the dictates and whims and caprices of the Federal government and its police.

In reaction to recent killings in Ebonyi State and other parts of the eastern region, the South East Revival Group in a statement signed by its President and National Coordinator, Chief Willy Ezugwu, said that “Igbos should hold the South East governors responsible for the ongoing loss of lives and property in the region due to security challenges.

The group has accused South East Governors of playing politics with the lives and property of Ndigbo for not taking decisive actions to prevent the takeover of Igbo forests by criminal elements.

 “We recall that at the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic, the South East Revival Group had severally urged the South East governors to launch a central body to coordinate both relief efforts and security amid the pandemic when it became obvious that the federal government was not providing the needed palliatives and security to curb influx of strange persons into our forests.

“We advocated a tougher security measures in the South East, particularly when we saw the obvious invasion of the region by some suspected killer herders coming. Our call was after reports that some unknown persons were strategically taking over South East forests. As usual, the South East governors never adhered to the advice but only mouthed a phantom plan to set up a security network for the zone.

“In fact, the then Chairman of the South East Governors Forum and Governor of Ebonyi State had announced that by April 2020, the governors were to announce the establishment of a security outfit for the region. That has already been sacrificed on the alters of political convenience at the expense of the lives and property of law abiding Igbos. While other regions were busy working to ensure the security of lives and property of their people, the South East governors were more interested in strategic plots to outsmart each on who would be favoured for presidential or vice presidential slot in 2023. Shamefully, the primary responsibility of government, which is the security of lives and property, became the victim of political positioning that have seen one of the governor jump party ahead of the next general elections”.

The group reiterated its call on South East governors to immediately set up a special zonal vigilante group to flush out hoodlums from all forests in Igbo land as the constitutionally guaranteed Chief Security Officers of their respective states. It called on all Igbo sons and daughters, at home and in the Diaspora, to hold the governors of the South East accountable for all loss of lives and property of our people.”

From another perspective, the perception of the Igbo governors’ attitude to regional security by the Igbos is well articulated and reflected in another write-up by one  Judex Okoro.

In the write-up, Okoro equates the recent jittery reaction by Governor David Umahi of Ebonyi State and his co-South East governors  to near emergency level of insecurity in the South East to the classic songs written in 1963 by Bob Dylan titled “Blowing in the Wind”, in which the artist raised some pertinent issues concerning oppression and liberation of humanity.

Blowing in the Wind is a protest song that simply berates those in authority who don’t listen to the people’s cries and clamour until the ruled begin to revolt against the system that has made life short and brutish.

Dylan wondered how many ears those in authority should have before they can hear people’s cry and how many deaths will it take before they know that too many people have died. According to Dyalan, “the answer is blowing’ in the wind”, suggesting insensibility on the part of leaders.

This old song aptly resonates in Umahi’s and Uzodimma’s ongoing cry to the federal authorities that Ndi Igbo have become an endangered species in the present day heterogeneous Nigerian federation. To Umahi, the chairman of the South East Governors’ Forum, the Igbo nation is living in the most turbulent and dehumanizing times after the 1967-1970 holocausts as the security situation in the South East has become intractable.

Recently, the South East region has been engulfed in the crises of insecurity, which started with some Ebonyi communities where herdsmen killed over 20 people and property worth millions of Naira lost in the process. Ditto for Enugu and Anambra. Imo is worst hit with the recent destruction of the police headquarters, the bombardment of the Nigeria Correctional centre and subsequent release of inmates there.

The latest is the torching of the country home of Governor Hope Uzodimma in Omuma.

Following the development, Umahi believes the situation in the South East must be nipped in the bud. Thus, the recent alarm raised by him alleging plots to incite war in the South East. Speaking during one of the breakfast shows on a national television, he said: “Of late, we have bandits that are now doing a lot of evil and saying they are ESN members.

“They commit a lot of crimes and say they are IPOB members and most times, IPOB will come and say ‘we have no hands in this. But we have the command of the law to protect lives of our people and we would not allow illegality to thrive in our land. Conflict will not resolve conflict.

“The problem of this country is that people will leave their problems and make your problem their problem. But what some of these people are doing is to incite the South East into war and step aside, and we are not going to buy into that; we are not going to be deceived again,” he said.

According to him, the governors of the zone would no longer allow criminals have their way and assured the people that the establishment of Ebube Agu would tackle insecurity in the region.

No doubt, Umahi’s statement is a wakeup call taking into consideration the mayhem in Imo, Enugu and Ebonyi in the last couple of weeks. It is a clarion call for unity of purpose among Ndi Igbo and to confront the rising wave of insecurity ahead of 2023.

To some political observers, Umahi’s disclosure is a paradigm shift and a new realization on the part of the governors, who hitherto used to be docile and reticent when issues of national importance crop up for discourse.

They argue that, before now, SE governors hardly assert their authorities so as not to draw sword against their political god-fathers from other regions. To them, for Umahi to be so emboldened as to accuse outside forces of trying to destabilize the region goes beyond personal political interest but a readiness to protect Igbo land from further outside attacks. Again, they see it is an indication of the South East governors’ preparedness to take up the gauntlet against those fanning the ember of insecurity or discreetly sponsoring insurgency in the zone.

Analysts agree that the cry of Igbo marginalization has rent the air; that Igbo nation has been faced with economic strangulation as seen in the present administration’s anti-Igbo policies, just as they have been politically asphyxiated. Therefore, many feel that now is the auspicious time for Igbo leaders to go a step further to find a common ground on how to tackle the myriad of issues confronting Ndi Igbo in the present ethno-religious Nigeria.

In the estimation of critical observers, Ndigbo should prove to their critics that they have become more united than ever and have the courage and political will to liberate their people from the stranglehold of its current oppressors as well as tackle the rising wave of insecurity headlong.

The expectation is that Umahi and his colleagues would be willing to play the politics this time; go the whole hog and empower Ebube Agu to operate in the mould of Amoketun. Doing so at this auspicious time would go a long way to prove to the whole world that the SE Governors’ Forum led by Umahi has come out in full force to counter the alleged external forces trying to destabilize Ndi Igbo.

It would also prove critics who felt that his statement was just to pacify some interests or hurriedly made to defend the forum for lack of action in the wake of killings in Ebonyi and wanton destruction in Imo, totally wrong. The calculation is that their actions or inactions today, would determine the place of Ndi Igbo in the political calculation ahead of 2023 as sitting on the fence in times of need is not a hallmark of good leaders.

Corroborating Umahi’s views, the President of Ohanaeze, Cross River State Chapter, Ugoji Nwabueze, said the current security situation in South East is sponsored to disorganize the current determination of Ndi Igbo to take over power in 2023, adding that the South East Security Network, ESN, cannot be responsible because the determination of Ndi Igbo to produce the presidency of the country is collective aspiration which must be pursued by all.

Nwabueze said: “The South East Governors must quickly rise to the challenge of securing the zone to ensure the protection of life’s and properties. Igbo Governors have been trailing behind when it should rise up like other regions to the formation of a regional body just like other regions.

“The high level of insecurity in the country calls for sober reflections, it calls for the Presidency to once more assure Nigerians of the unity and oneness of this country. Governor Umahi is right in his position by giving the needed information on security to his colleagues. What is expected of them right away is to get down to works because the ultimate task ahead of them is 2023.”

But taking a swipe at Umahi’s outburst, the Ebonyi State publicity secretary of PDP,  Silas Joseph Onu, said he was somewhat amazed at the governor’s latest volte face after he had accused ESN of being sponsored by outsiders to destabilize Igbo nation.

Explaining that one of Governor  Umahi’s problem is that he sees politics in everything and an opportunity to launch verbal attacks on  perceived opponents, Onu averred that the kite of outside sponsors attempting to destabilize the SE had already been  flown by two of his commissioners -Information and Internal Security, respectively. According to him, it would be counter productive for governors to pay lip-service to security and rather use insecurity to advance their political brinkmanship. He kicked against the alleged outsiders’ sponsorship to destabilize Igbo states, insisting that Governor Umahi needs to be clear and name those said to be behind such acts. He said: “Umahi’s statement is, at best, self-serving. He doesn’t have the interest of the collective at heart. The statement is driven by ambition. Such an incredible ambition that blurs his reasoning to the extent that nothing is too much or too great for him to do in pursuit of such a dream. Umahi’s pretentious concern is not a clarion call for anything.

“So, whoever takes Umahi’s words seriously does so at his peril. Umahi does not know when not to embark on propaganda. I can tell you he cannot name outside sponsors as alleged. He has no names to give, except those of opposition members he wants to eliminate by setup.” Onu again disagreed that Umahi’s statement had any political undertone ahead of 2023 as Ndi Igbo are already facing an existential threat as a people, adding that it is high time insecurity was addressed and then we can all begin to play politics.

In the same vein, the Izu Umunna Cultural Association of Nigeria (IUCA), an Umbrella body of Igbo residents in the 19 Northern states, in a press statement signed by the President, Dr. Ugo Ihekuna, and Secretary, Chief Tony Egwuonwu, called for investigation into insecurity in SE, adding that it is not enough for Umahi to rush to the media and claim that the attacks on SE are sponsored by external forces.

However, a few political observers have also argued that the SE Governors Forum, which Umahi leads, is not politically sophisticated and united as their colleagues from other zones. To these people, the present crop of Igbo governors have left much to be desired as they have been at daggers drawn with one another when it concerns taking a common stand for her people. They are rather enmeshed in fighting for their political interests ahead of 2023. For instance, when the issue of RUGA came up, other zones, especially North central and South West, took a stand but our governors became reticent and spoke in discordant tones. A gain, in 2020 when Ohanaeze and governors agreed to set up a regional security outfit similar to that of Amotekun, the governors backed out when the Presidency drafted the former IG to Igbo land to dissuade them from going ahead with it. So, what is the guarantee that the same scenario would not play out when the chips are down?”

The above treatise represents a perfect synopsis of the general Igbo perception of the present panic utterances of Igbo governors which many people regard with a sneer and a jeer and at best apathy. For most Igbos, the South East governors are directly responsible for the current security emergency in the region which is the price Igbos are paying for the governors’ lackadaisical approach to regional security.