Opinion: When Herdsmen will be Branded Terrorist Group?

Fulani herdsmen parade AK-Rifle on the road

By  Onoriode O. Okion

By Days ago Nigerians woke up to hear the unilateral outlawing of the
Independent People of Biafra(IPOB) led by the firebrand and loquacious
Nnamdi Kanu who is said to be their self -styled leader of the
organization whose sole aim is to fight NON VIOLENTLY for the
emancipation and the independence of the South Eastern part of the
Country from Nigeria via peaceful methodology as enunciated by the UN
charter and those of  many other International body’s would wide.

According to the Nigeria Military, the IPOB through a military
fiat/or do we call it decree (?) in a democratic setting  is
proscribed and outlawed  for been non-violent and added to the
proscription  for been a non-nviolent body   is  the toga of  a
terrorist group  to compound it.

Terrorism  as defined in the Oxford Learners Dictionary is the use of
extremely violent  action in other to achieve a political or religious
aim, by this simple definition one is at a lose  as to how Nnamdi Kano
IPOB  that at every forum does not fail to speak about getting his
Biafra Republic out of Nigeria through a non -violent methodology as
enunciated by all known world organization but used the same
methodology been used by several other nonn-violent group in the world
in fighting  for their independence;

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To now turn to classify this same group in the fold and toga of
groups like Boko Haram, ISIS etc  is standing logic in the head and
like pushing a non-violent man to embrace violence if not how does the
military that is so fast to declare by fiat an organization that has
not been seen or heard of going with Arms or killing anyone in the
several years of its existence a terrorist organization  in the same
clime and country where groups like the Fulani Headsmen represented by
the almighty  Miette Allah  that has killed overran estimated 4.000
people, women and children and still going about with sophisticated
weapons like a colossus still free from any toga near Terrorism? Is
shocking to note that the  same drastic military actions has till date
never been taken against the herdsmen who openly through their
umbrella body Me yeti Allah  severally come out to claim
responsibilities for several of the killings and carnages as revenge,
where even serving Governors had also come out to confirm that the
killings were done by herdsmen who are paid to stop it yet they have
not, where serving governor openly said an offence like cow killing is
a debt that would be paid even years after with human lives, yet this
killer organization still exist and go about the killing spree every
passing day with no Kind of Python dance or crocodile tears to stop
them, Is it that there exist two different laws in a country like
Nigeria or like the renown constitutional lawyer Mike Ozekhome
‘’that in Nigeria the Government with the right hand pats herdsmen
who are confessed killers  in the back for jobs well done and with the
left attack non-violent group like the IPOB  with guns and troops for
nothing other than choosing to be non-violent”.

Until the Federal Government and the Nigerian Military do the right
thing by launching an operation Python Dance or whatever against the
killing field that the North Central has become in the hands of the
Fulani headsmen and their Umbrella body proscribed then it would truly
be said that two sets of rules and laws are operational in Nigeria.

Onoriode  writes from Asaba