By Ahmed Musa Husaini
The problem is not Nnamdi Kanu and his army of Ipob loonies currently hunting down Hausa-settlers in the South-east, the problem is the legion of Igbo intelligentsia legitimizing this madness by erecting a false us-against-them binary. At the risk of generalization, I have never seen a leadership more un-strategic.
We will not forget how South-east leaders, with Ohaneze as their umbrella, watch gleefully as Nnamdi Kanu continue with his campaign of hate and dehumanization against other ethnic groups while at the same time crying over counter-reactions from Arewa groups.
Only when Kanu threatened the elections in Anambra that the region's political leaders remember that they have a responsibility to rein Kanu in.
By feeding their people on a steady diet of ethnic propaganda in order to distract attention from their own failures, the South-east leadership must take disproportionate blame for the present situation.
The irony is, the Igbos cannot be the most persecuted ethnic group and at the same the most geographically spread nationally, with Igbo men and women eking out a living in all obscure corners of the Nigerian space.
By choosing hate and incitement, Kanu and his Ipob cheerleaders have proven that they are intellectually and temperamentally incapable of leading a nonviolent self-determination.
Their struggle is borne out of political blackmail and therefore devoid of any moral legitimacy. They do not represent the Igbos and do not know how to do any of those things that are of benefits to the average Igboman.
Ipob thrives on hate and incitement. But human beings and nations cannot live on hate and incitement alone, yet hate and incitement are all that Ipob has to offer.
But this can neither fix their present level of social and developmental malaise nor bring the South-east any political gain. It can only lead them to self-destruction with its utter, unspeakable consequences.
Since its resurgence on the back of Jonathan's 2015 election defeat, the Nigerian state has tolerated Ipob more than it did any other rogue group.
Ipob cannot be more-Jonathan than the ND militants who have moved on from 2015 elections and embraced the initiatives pursued by the FG through Vice President Osinbajo.
Given the choice between order and anarchy, the Nigerian state has no option than to put Nnamdi Kanu where he belongs no matter the price.
The only victims, as in every conflict situation, are those who are unfairly targeted on both sides. That is why we need to draw a line between the average law-abiding Nigerian Igbo wherever he is, and Ipob thugs bent on stoking an all out ethnic war.
There is no moral equivalence between the Nigerian security forces and Ipob thugs. The Nigerian security must do everything to protect civilians from Ipob terrorism in the South-east and possible reprisals elsewhere. They must avoid any act of collective persecution that will feed into Ipob's narrative of collective Igbo victimhood.
I believe this tumult will subside and Nigeria will move past this distraction. Time will help us put things in their proper perspectives. But those who support evil out of primordial allegiances have their consciences to live with, and if they don't have any, they cannot escape its consequences. That much I know.
By Ahmed Musa Husaini
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