Saudi Arabia-led Islamic Military Alliance To Fight Terrorism – A Diversionary Non-Starter!

by Eze Eluchie

Considering that Nigeria, like some of the West African countries mentioned as members of the 'alliance', is a secular State with a minority Muslim (or as is the case for some of the African countries purported to be part of the alliance, sizable non-Muslim) population;

And further considering that Islamic countries with majority Shi’ia sect members (Iran and Iraq) and Syria were excluded from the so-called Saudi Arabia-led Islamic Military Alliance;

And also considering that the announcement of Nigeria’s membership of the Sunni Muslim (Saudi Arabia)-led Islamic Military Alliance was made a day after Nigerian soldiers slaughtered dozens of Shi’ia Muslim adherents in Zaria, Kaduna State, northern Nigeria:

And ultimately considering the opaque and largely non-committal stance of the Saudis, thus far, in efforts at curtailing extremist Islamic terror;

Would Christian or Muslims of the Shi’ia sect or persons of other faiths (not Islamic), serving in the Nigeria military (or the military of the other 34-countries purported to be part of the alliance), be expected to participate in this Saudi Arabia-led Islamic Military Alliance?

Would such a refusal to be deployed or serve under such a Saudi Arabia-led Islamic Military Alliance amount to conscientious objection to serve?

Would the Nigerian National Assembly or other legislators of other secular states or states with substantial non-Muslim populations really serve under such Saudi Arabia-led Islamic Military Alliance?

The pertinent question in the face of realities and the solo-announcement of the alliance by just the Saudi Foreign Minister (without any of the coalition partners present) is: was the Saudi announcement of an ‘Islamic anti-terror Military Alliance/Coalition genuine or merely diversionary?  

The idea of a Saudi Arabia-led Islamic Military Alliance is a diversionary non-starter from the very onset!

Picture: Saudi Deputy Crown Price and Defence Minister, Mohammed bin Salman, who announced the ‘alliance’.

The Slaughter of the Shi'a by Nigerian troops: Opening Fresh Vistas of Violence

by Eze Eluchie

Having perused the accounts of the authorities of the Nigerian Army on the slaughter of Shi’a Muslim followers of Sheikh Zakzaky in Zaria, Kaduna State (North Central Nigeria), which sought to justify the use of life bullets and mass slaughter of several dozen Shi’a protesters who blocked a road, denying the Chief of Army Staff passage, one is forced to wonder if there was no other alternative resolution to the impasse created by the blockage than to kill and maim so many.  

When one realizes that during the electioneering campaigns preceding the last presidential elections, the convoy of the then sitting President, Goodluck Jonathan, which had much more fire power and reason to unleash lethal force on a mob after been pelted with stones by an enraged mob, opted to hastily seek alternative routes to avoid what would have been a massacre in Bauchi, one is forced to inquire as follows with regards to the carnage which played out in Zaria:

1. What was so important on that particular trip by the Chief of Army Staff as to necessitate the wastage and maiming of so many?

2. Faced with clear consequences of shooting into an unruly mob, why did the convoy of the Chief of Army Staff not either turn back, seek alternative routes or solution than to resort to the mass slaughter?

3. After having cleared the road to enable the Chief of Army Staff ‘safe passage’, was it also necessary to extend the pursuit of the fleeing Shi’a to the residence of their leader, where more causalities occurred?

4. Considering that the rise in Boko Haram terrorism is attributed to the killings by our security operatives of the erstwhile leaders of the then Boko Haram Islamic organization, was it wise to have gone on another killing spree when Nigeria is still striving to contain the consequences of earlier killings?  

5. Was it deemed conducive to kill so many Shi’a merely on account of the fact that they are a minority Islamic sect?

6. Would a similar action have been taken if those ‘blocking the safe passage’ had been members of the Sunni sect, the dominant sect amongst the Muslim population in Nigeria?

7. Will the killings in of Shi’a adherents in Zaria by our military authorities not unwittingly expose our already stretched facilities by unwittingly importing the fratricidal Shi’a-Sunni rivalry, currently playing out in the Middle East, into Nigeria?

8. Considering the continuing terror activities in the North-East zone, the threats to return to the creeks and violence of the Niger Delta militants, the ongoing quest for self-actualization and sovereignty in the South-East, and the wait-and-see attitude adopted by the South-West to committing to the Nigeria project, is it really wise for the military to open a new vista of discontent?

To the Nigerian Army, these killings were unlawful, unconscionable, unnecessarily provocative  and wrong. Caution, caution and more caution is advocated.

Let us peacefully restructure and renegotiate the Nigerian polity whilst there is yet time.

Picture: Corpses of some Shi’a followers of Sheikh el Zakzaky killed in Zaria (13th December 2015). 

Killings of Biafra Activists: Restructure and Renegotiate Nigeria Now!

by Eze Eluchie,

Today, 16,764 days after the ‘official’ end of the Biafran genocide on the 15^th of January 1970, the very first person of Igbo nationality to be killed by bullets of Nigeria Government security forces in the quest for a renegotiation and restructuring of the Nigerian contraption and the actualization of Biafra, 20 year old Miss. Anthonia Nkirika Ikeanyionwu, will be laid to rest today at Amaolu, Adazi Unukwu in Anambra State.

Several others were killed and others maimed by bullets, alongside Miss Ikeanyionwu, in a vicious crack down by security operatives on peaceful demonstrators in Onitsha, Anambra State (within the territtory of the erstwhile Republic of Biafra) on 2^nd December 2015.

Over 2 million Igbos had been killed during the Biafran genocide which occurred in the course of the Nigeria-Biafra civil war from  6th July 1967 to 15th January 1970.

The well publicized comments by Nigeria’s current ruler and former dictator, Alhaji Muhammadu Buhari, to met out unequal and unfair treatment to peoples who gave him ‘5% votes’ during the last presidential elections (a category to which the Igbo nation belongs), has further exacerbated tension along ethnic lines.

May we not repeat the mistakes of times past.

Let us peacefully restructure and renegotiate the Nigeria contraption whilst we can.

Video of one of several atrocities committed by Nigeria troops during the Biafra genocide:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yb7Z_7AiGr8

Nigeria President, Muhammadu Buhari’s resolve to unfairly treat areas of Nigeria which gave him ‘5% votes’ during his (s)election.

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZYUBTU2ZgFY

Picture: Obituary announcement/Burial program for the late Miss. Anthonia Nkiruka Ikeanyionwu: