By Amgbare Ekaunkumo, Yenagoa
The continuous existence of the indivisibility of Nigeria has come under serious attacks by dissatisfied ethnic nationalities in the country.
These attacks are manifesting in the forms of agitations for resource control, self determination and separatist identity.
Notable of such agitations to exit from Nigeria is the Indigenous People of Biafra clamour for Biafra Republic and Oduduwa Republic Movement led by Mazi Nnamdi Kanu and Sunday Igboho respectively.
The Igbo and Yoruba ethnic nationalities are two of the major tripod upon which Nigeria exist as a country. The agitations rocking the country are danger signals capable to sound the death knell of our dear country which the Federal Government should respond with tact and diplomacy to contain and calm frayed nerves.
The actions of Federal Government in handling the crises by criminalising some groups while tolerating others that are more deadly and have caused greater havoc to lives and property is the root cause of the unending upheavals in the southeast and other parts of the country.
In a bid to quell these agitations, Federal Government has deployed soldiers and police crack units to the Southeast to flush out IPOB and members of the Eastern Security Network.Well meaning Igbo leaders have condemned the violent activities of these agitators.
Professionalism of the security operatives in their modus operandi to identity IPOB and members of the Eastern Security Network has been called to question by concerned Igbo leaders as incidence of reported cases of extra-judicial killings of Innocent and unsuspecting persons whisked away by soldiers at ungodly hours from the comfort of their homes, illegally detained and on extremel cases were not returned by the soldiers.
It is an undeniable fact that each time soldiers and police officers are drafted to go after criminals in trouble spots in Nigeria, they compound the situation and cause greater havoc by burning houses and kill innocent citizens.
A case in point was the Odi massacre in Bayelsa State and Zakibiam in Benue State and other incidences too numerous to mention.
There have been reports of the Military and other security agencies arresting suspected IPOB members from their houses in the South-east and South-South especially after the Oyigbo and Orlu crises.
In the same vain, recently a notable pharmacist in Yenagoa, Bayelsa state capital, Ikechukwu Nnaemedo onyegbuna, was victimized, hounded , prosecuted by the security operatives of the Federal Government for his alleged association with the IPOB.
The harassment and threat to his life have led the young man to go into hiding, and could no longer conduct his thriving business which is now in limbo.This has become the fate of several Igbo indigenes in Nigeria.
The cry from the Southeast is for Federal Government to call the security operatives to stop the carnage on innocent citizens but go after the real criminals and bring Igbos to the mainstream of governance at the centre through key appointments into the nations security architecture and other critical federal agencies in order to give them a sense of belonging.
It is better to remain as one nation bounded in tribe and tongue than go separate ways.
