My sour experience of the army, others’ operations in the South East

I write to the Chief of Defence Staff, the Chief of Army Staff and the Director of State Security Services to inform them of the shock I experienced during my visit to the South East during the last Christmas celebration, about the approach deployed by the Nigerian Army and other security agencies in a joint security operation in the South East.

I was in my home in Mbaise, which is not too distant from the Amahohuru Nguru, where the army arrested one of the kingpins of the ESN alleged to have been involved in the killing of several innocent persons in Imo State.

After the arrest of the suspect, the army proceeded to attack many innocent citizens in the area and set many houses on fire, thereby destroying the lives and livelihoods of many more. 

I learned during my stay that the army has deployed the same scorched earth method against other communities in the South East where its men have had a confrontation with criminal gangs, leading to the loss of innocent lives and destruction of property. The people suffer double jeopardy as the criminals attack them as saboteurs while the security agencies also attack them as sympathisers of terrorists.

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While commending the efforts of the army in ridding the country of terrorism and insurgency, attacking non-combatant civilians and unarmed citizens in the name of collateral damage is not only against international conventions on conflicts, but it would dent the image of the army, deny them valuable intelligence and civilian support.

I plead with the army and other security agencies to treat the South East as part of Nigeria and treat the people with compassion as has been seen in various medical programmes in communities of the zone to accelerate the early resolution of the ongoing violent conflict.

Uche Edozie wrote from Dallas, Texas, USA