NextierImage Credit: Southward
The friction between Biafran agitators and Nigerian security agencies boiled over once more on August 23, 2020, at Emene, Enugu state and led to the loss of two security operatives of the state and twenty-one members of a Biafran agitation group, the
Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB). This number adds up to the loss of lives in previous episodes of the encounter between different Biafran agitators and state authorities. In May 2008, other groups of pro-Biafran agitators, Movement for the Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB), alleged that the Federal Government had killed 2,020 of its members. Amnesty International also reports that between 2015 and 2016, security forces killed 150 pro-Biafran protesters across Southeastern Nigeria. In addition to the hard-nosed use of force on the groups, the government also declared IPOB, which is presently the most vocal among the pro-Biafran groups, a terrorist organisation in September 2017.
However, the pro-Biafran sentiments and activities remain undiminished even if suppressed. The most recent clash between the IPOB and a combined team of
security agencies in Emene Enugu state invite a need for a different voice to the option of engage and defuse. This policy remains the best strategy for addressing secession and restiveness issues.
