South East Insecurity: A Reporter's Experience

In a broad sense, free movement has never been so encumbered as it is in Nigeria of today. With little or no variation, the situation in the Northern East, North West, etc, remains as fluid as it is in the South East where mainly arising from the discontent over marginalization, young people opted to up the demand for a more accommodating polity that allows fairer representation for the region. 

Radicalized by the entry of tne Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, led by Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, and and further compound by the ultra nationalistic fervor of the Eastern Security Network, ESN, led by Simon Ekpa, the discontent has since taken a more rebellious nationalistic colour, part of which involved the imposition of a sit-at-home order that seeks to compulsorily sequester everyone within the region at home every Monday. Outright and summary execution are sometimes the verdict for anyone found in default. 

In more ways than one, the sit-at-home order became the cardinal driver of the discontent and general state of insecurity in the region. On the one hand, it pitched agitators against federal authorities while on the other undermining those of the region's five states against the nationalists. Often left as hapless victims, residents became the ultimate losers. 

While on a mission as part of a fact-finding team sent to assess the extent of the region's ecological disaster, this reporter did not only witness the helplessness of the populace, he also found himself in the heart of how a regular Monday often unfold. 

Monday, November 27, 2023, our team was scheduled to take a tour of a part of Enugu state, headquarters of the old Eastern Region. It was on a day generally recognized and reluctantly accepted as a sit-at-home day. The acceptance is so widespread that amidst official assurances that the state was largely insulated in the general sense, counter revelations by individual state officials indicate it is wiser to err on the side of caution. Secretly, they never fail to inform whoever cares to listen not to venture into certain communities no matter the level of security cover. As a matter of fact, some of these officials insisted the team must not visit certain areas, even with the best of security cover. That was the situation as the team left the state capital on the first trance of its assignment. 

The team moved in a three-vehicle convoy via the Enugu-Port Harcourt road, to Mpu, an agrarian community in Aninri local government area. It also doubles as a border town between the state and neighbouring Ebonyi. It wasn't long before the first sign that the sit-at-home order was still in force became manifest. There was no school child within sight on a Monday morning everyone of them ought to be in school, outside of a public holiday. Neither was there any school observed to be opened for business along the route, even as human and vehicular traffics within the metropolis were boisterous. However, the team inched its way away from the city centre, both eased out almost as a matter of course. This was most evident on the Enugu-Port Harcourt expressway where the number of vehicular traffic could be counted on the fingers. 

Being embedded in a three-vehicle convoy comprising one Sports Utility Vehicle, SUV, two Hilux Jeeps, one of which was made up of security personnel, did not help assuage the ensuing state of apprehension this reporter felt. The near deserted stretch of the road, up to the point the team branched off onward to Mpu, and later, Onoli, didn't help matters either. Neither did the fact that the road was more populated by security check points, manned by well appointed army personnel, Armoured Personnel Carrier, nearby. If they were not self evident signs of the fluid security situation in the area, obviously, nothing else would. Happily however, nothing untoward happened in Mpu, the home town of former Deputy President, Senator Ike Ekweremadu. 

From Mpu, the team returned to the Enugu/Port Harcourt road, onward to Onoli. It was only in this community this reporter saw school children in uniform, apparently returning home after normal school day. The sight was relieving and reassuring particularly so because it suggested that the presence of ESN operatives, the enforcement arm of IPOB was obviously minimal. Or so it seemed. Yet, it was also in the same community that it got the first taste of the dread the people felt about the group. It was also an indication that no where was safe from their reach. 

At the first stop in Onoli, there was no incident. Light hearted and boisterous, the team interacted with members of the community and proceeded to the next stop, a primary school, of about 700 or so metres away. But as quickly as the convoy turned into the school compound, pandemonium broke loose. School children, their teachers and every other person within sight, took to their heels, some jumping through the window and any other available space, and beating a fast getaway. Not sure of what was amiss, this reporter did a quick assessment, believing that the untoward was about to unfold. Somehow however, calm returned, children and their teachers conveniently peeping from afar, trying to ascertain those in the convoy whom they initially mistook for members of the dreaded ESN. 

That ascertained, they eventually made their way back, to the relief of everyone. 

Although, there was no further incident that spoke of the fluid state of insecurity in, for instance, Enugu, on that sit-at-home Monday, the Onoli incident was enough to drive home the point that much remains to be done to calm people's nerves in the South East generally. With the judgement by the Supreme Court overuling the Appeal Court order, over the release of Nnamdi Kanu, there is hardly any doubt that insecurity in the region will rise notches higher in coming days.