Those who witnessed the emergence of Boko Haram in the North East and experienced the havoc they wrecked on the region warned about the tendency of IPOB's agitation morphing into a wider terrorism and chaos in the South East. Sad it is playing out exactly as warned.
When the infamous unknown gunmen were attacking military outposts and police stations, some of us noted it had IPOB/ESN written all over it. A lot of you on this app swore it couldn't possibly be IPOB/ESN. That IPOB/ESN is peaceful and Nnamdi Kanu is a freedom fighter
In fact, a lot of people here turned it into an "Odanz hates Igbos and wishes the region evil" debate. As usual, plenty insults, plenty blocks, bridges burnt. But again, it was a legitimate concern, a legitimate observation based on an experience of a similar trend in the NE.
IPOB bears all the markings of a terrorist organisation. If you witnessed th rise of Boko Haram, you can't just help but compare. The only difference is that IPOB's separatist agitation is fuelled by politics/ethnicity and Boko Haram's agitation was fuelled by religion.
But it is very similar in almost all other area. Nnamdi Kanu reminds me of Mohammed Yusuf. Similar messianic delusion, similar use of radio to garner followers, similar hatred for opposition and perceived "saboteurs", similar totalitarian views. Lots of comparisons
And of course the two groups all started off peacefully and gradually leaned towards violence with time. From attacking security forces to attacking Government facilities to attacking civilian "saboteurs" and then full-blown indiscriminate attacks. It is a pattern
And one thing is just axiomatic: if you allow non state actors to have access to weapons under whatever guise, it always leads to chaos. The original intention doesn't matter. It almost always degenerates into a wider violence and chaos. It's that simple.
The only good thing from this whole charade is that a good number of people in the South East are quickly acknowledging that IPOB means no good for them. That's a good sign and it will help, in the long term, go dislodge these terrorists from the region.
