By Collins Ughalaa KSC
If Government must fight insecurity to a standstill in Imo, all hands must be on deck. We must play our different roles because security is everyone's business. If we look the other way, or give covert support to non-state actors because our opponent is in power, we may be riding on the back of the tiger. This is why we get worried when people who should know better begin to say things that are unbecoming, by making incendiary comments, glamorizing acts of terror or pummelling government each time there is operational pushback against non-state actors. Journalists have a lot to do in this regard.
A good example of what a journalist should not do in time of insurgency is the kind of article written on Thursday, August 4, 2022, by the State Correspondent of ThisDay newspaper, Amby Uneze. Captioned "The unmasking of the unknown gunmen", Uneze made claims that distort recent history. He gave himself out as someone acting a script, by calling for the disbandment of Ebubeagu Security Outfit after he gravely mischaractersized the group. Uneze's claim that the term "unknown gunmen" became popular in the wake of banditry in Orlu, when the Governor sought the help of the Nigerian Army to fight insecurity in the area; and that Imo was generally peaceful before that time, is false.
Anyone peddling this kind of falsehood is likely to suffer from amnesia, pernicious propaganda or lives in a fool's paradise. If the goal is not to make Governor Hope Uzodinma look bad before his people, why would any sane person suggest the disbandment of a security outfit established by the government to fight banditry and restore normalcy? Or why would anyone distort facts to fit into a preconceived narrative?
The term "unknown gunmen" was not popularised in Imo under Governor Hope Uzodinma, or after the Army's intervention in the fight against banditry. In fact, a Nigerian movie called WAR FRONT, produced in 2001 and directed by Teco Benson, had used the term "unknown gunmen" in a news report inside the movie. The term is also used across Nigeria to describe perpetrators of security breaches. In the wake of nefarious attacks by Boko Haram in 2011, it became almost gospel among journalists to moderate the use of the name Boko Haram in media reports, especially after the dastardly attack on ThisDay newspaper building in Abuja. Journalists found other ways of describing the group and created the moniker, "unknown gunmen".
In Imo State, the term resurfaced in media reports because journalists and media houses were afraid of liabilities should they accuse any group of being responsible for attacks in the State. On the other hand, journalists were not keen on exposing the perpetrators of crime in Igbo land for purposes of avoiding consequential federal government responses, especially because of the legal status of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB). They thought that crediting acts of terror to them would mean putting them in harm's way. By the time Uzodinma became Governor on January 15, 2020, the term "unknown gunmen" had gained much traction in the media space. For example, on August 23, 2018, while Okorocha was still Governor, www.vanguardngr.com in its report captioned: "HOODLUMS BURN IMO COURTS", noted that "unknown gunmen" burnt files and record books of Chief Magistrate Court 1 and Senior Magistrate Court 2 in Orlu.
Uneze's claim that Imo enjoyed peace for the eight years of the Okorocha administration because it parleyed IPOB is also false. The Okorocha administration was rather notorious for arresting, detaining and arraigning over 100 IPOB women in court. If Okorocha parleyed IPOB each time they issued a threat, it's obvious such method did not yield fruit and should be jettisoned. Recommending a parley with bandits who commit all sorts of atrocities and challenge our sovereignty amounts to covert support for non-state actors and state sabotage. Okorocha was overwhelmed by insecurity, and he did not bequest a safe state.
Imo did not enjoy absolute peace under Ihedioha either. The Ihedioha administration launched a security operation codenamed Operation Iron Gate to fight insecurity. The suggestion that insecurity worsened following Ihedioha's removal by Supreme Court is to introduce politics into the narrative and divert attention. However, the Ihedioha administration had its own dose of security challenges. On October 21, 2019, The Guardian newspaper reported that the administration was worried by insecurity and related problems in Ohaji/Egbema and Oguta LGAs. The government proposed a security meeting for October 25. On October 25, Vanguard reported Engr. Gerald Irona, Deputy Governor at the time, to confess during the summit that "Available statistics show that the most prominent criminal activities in the area include cultism, kidnapping, oil bunkering, banditry, rape, armed robbery and proliferation of arms".
On June 26, 2019, Irona, addressing stakeholders in Agwa, Oguta LGA, during a working visit, raised the alarm that community leaders were arming youths in the communities. He was reported to say: "I am aware that some of the youths causing trouble here were armed by some of the leaders. One of the dangers of arming any youth to do your bidding is that at some point he would become too strong for you to control and he would be doing his own bidding". He described Agwa as a "war-torn" community. Apart from security breaches in the oil producing communities, the Ihedioha administration had to contend with security challenges in Umuokeh Community, Obowo LGA, over killing of a young man on July 1, 2019, which led to attack on the Divisional Police headquarters in the area and carting away of arms from the station.
Furthermore, to suggest that Ebubeagu was responsible for the killing of seven people in Orogwe is to lead Imo people by the nose. Police authorities, for example, identified the killers of the seven people in Orogwe to be IPOB/ESN. In it's disputed report, Punch did not even say that Ebubeagu killed the youths, rather it said that Ebubeagu arrested someone, which led to "retaliation" from the killers. How did Uneze arrive at his own report?
EndSARS protests no doubt worsened insecurity across Nigeria. Gruesome murder of innocent people, attack on businesses and government facilities increased in frequency and magnitude in 2021. In the face of all this, the State Government invited the Army in January 2021 to help quell the insurgency. Buoyed by unprecedented politicization, glamourization of insecurity, the hoodlums intensified their activities: attacked police formations, custodial center, Governor's house in his hometown, etcetera. The bandits introduced cannibalism and tried to capture Owerri but government stopped them. Ebubeagu was therefore born to help the security agencies in the fight against insecurity. Those who now castigate Ebubeagu and call for its disbandment once boasted that Ebubeagu would not stand a chance against "unknown gunmen".
For people like Amby who prefer to call a dog a bad name to hang it, they should find another story to tell. His intentions were impure and political and even the blind could see that the reason he embarked on the tortuous journey of distorting history was to find justification to call for the disbandment of Ebubeagu. But he has failed already, because protecting Imo State is a priority. It is bigger than Amby Uneze and his political interests.