Onitsha Massacre And Shame Of A Nation

 

Buhari would proba­bly go down in histo­ry as the worst viola­tor of human rights and by consequence the most un­democratic president ever to walk the shores of this blighted land. It is ironic that one day after the regime cel­ebrated democracy day and its one year anniversary on the 29th of May with much pomp, pageantry and fan­fare, feeding the public with fanciful tales of its commit­ment to democracy, the rule of law and much propagan­da on what it claims to have achieved in one year; the next day being the 30th of May, heralded an unpro­voked bloodbath as the in­famous Nigerian army treaded the familiar path of killing more than 50 IPOB and MASSOB adherents who were peacefully mark­ing the 49th anniversary of the declaration of Biafra.
The most fundamental at­tributes of democracy are the freedoms of expression, association and dissent. De­mocracy in effect gives cit­izens the largest unrestrict­ed space to air their views no matter how unpalatable—to assemble for what they be­lieve in and above all to ex­press dissent through peace­ful means. In nations where democracy is practiced as it should, citizens express themselves freely and organize frequent public pro­tests to register dissent. In none of these countries are citizens arrested or killed for expressing their opinion or for organizing public pro­tests. In rare occasions where possibly because of violence the security services deem it necessary to terminate such protests; civil means such as tear gas and water cannons are employed to disperse protesters. It is thus para­doxical that one day after celebrating democracy day, the army is unleashed to kill peaceful protesters who are exercising the most funda­mental right that democra­cy affords them. More so when as has been reported, IPOB and MAS­SOB had actually written the Anambra state commission­er of police, formally notify­ing him of their upcoming rally, for which the police should ordinarily have pro­vided security while they carried out their peaceful rally as is done in true de­mocracies. How can an ad­ministration celebrate the virtues of democracy and at the same time kill unarmed peaceful protesters? Is their own definition of democra­cy different? How come the same administration that has refused to act and in fact maintained a studied silence while Fulani herds­men slaughter people across the middle belt and South is ever so quick to kill peaceful IPOB/MASSOB protesters? By these contradictions Bu­hari has again demonstrat­ed his deliberate refusal to align with democratic ten­ets. After decades of strug­gling to have democratic governance and 17 years in a supposed democracy, these blatant suppression of rights and extra judicial executions only serves to indicate that Nigeria has returned to full blown despotism.
If people cannot in a sup­posed democracy assem­ble and peacefully express their dissent, and if they must be killed for doing so; then for whom is this de­mocracy? Is the democra­cy for corpses or is it only for those ensconced in gov­ernment houses? If a dem­ocratically elected govern­ment can be as sadistic as to have so much disregard for the lives of the citizens he was elected to serve, then of what purpose is the gov­ernment and the supposed democracy? Can a lead­er who has scant regard for the lives of his citizens ever provide good governance? I say this with all sinceri­ty, because given the rising mood of gloom and disap­pointment, the time is com­ing when Nigerians might as well decide to do away with a supposed democracy and change government that has turned out to be worse than military rule.

The only sin of the pro­testers is their struggle for self-determination and the actualization of Biafra. But none of that is inconsistent with the practice of democ­racy. Article 1 of the Unit­ed Nations Charter clearly states that “all peoples have the right to self-determination. By virtue of that right they freely determine their political status and freely pursue their economic, so­cial and cultural develop­ment.” Likewise article 20 of the African Charter on human and people’s rights states that “all peoples have the unquestionable and inal­ienable right to self-determination. They shall freely de­termine their political status and shall pursue their eco­nomic and social develop­ment according to a policy freely chosen.” The right to self-determination is there­fore a cardinal principle of international law incorpo­rated into all regional stat­utes of law including the UN and African Charters to which Nigeria is signatory.
On the basis of the right to self-determination, sev­eral countries have regis­tered political parties ded­icated to independence or self-rule. The Scottish Na­tional party (SNP) in Scot­land, Plaid Cymru in Wales, Parti Quebecois in Canada and the Basque separatist party in Spain are just some examples of the democratic exercise of the right to self-determination without any intimidation, persecution or suppression. Some of them have gone on to hold refer­endums. In 2015 the Cata­lans held a referendum on self-rule in Spain, while Scot­land held a historic referen­dum on self-rule in 2014. If individuals and groups can have political parties dedi­cated to self-rule and indeed hold referendums within their democratic systems, why can’t IPOB/MASSOB advocate self-rule and hold peaceful rallies without mo­lestation in our own demo­cratic system? Was Buhari in another planet when the peo­ple of Scotland held a refer­endum for self-rule in 2014? If war and killing of de­fenceless citizens is the way to keep a nation united why didn’t the British with their arsenal of nuclear weapons enough to destroy the whole world go to war with Scot­land to prevent them from advocating and or holding a referendum on self-rule?
Why has Buhari in spite of the change mantra with which he came to power chosen to keep Nigeria on the dark and primitive side of humanity? Why must our nation be amongst those ac­cursed places where citi­zens are randomly killed at any pretext by those who are supposed to protect them? Why must our nation con­tinue to be amongst those where human rights and fun­damental freedoms are bru­tally suppressed? Why must our nation be amongst those where poverty is endemic, where there is scant regard for human lives and where deprivation of all sorts is the order of the day? Why must our nation be one where we thrive only in wickedness, hate, injustice and inequal­ity? Why can’t we for once join the civilised world and make the black race proud by upholding all fundamental freedoms? Why can’t our na­tion be one where the dem­ocratic system affords every­one all rights, including the right to self-determination and where all differences are settled through democratic processes as obtains in civ­ilised climes?
Why can’t nation building, inclusion and justice rather than violent suppression of dissent and free speech be our basis for constructing the nation? Why must our story in Nigeria and Africa always be a story of pover­ty, deprivation, mass killings, suppression of fundamental rights and tyranny? Can’t we for once raise our heads and join the comity of civilised nations? When will massa­cres like that in Onitsha and the consequent shame of a nation end? God help us!
Source