... analysis of the activities of unknown gunmen in the fight for freedom
By Chike Nnamani
Haganah, known in Hebrew as "The Defense", was a Zionist paramilitary organization formed in 1920 to defend Jewish settlements from Arab attacks in Palestine. At some point, Haganah aligned with British Mandate authorities in Palestine to fight the Arab revolt of mid 1930s - against Jewish immigration - which resulted in the death, injury or exile of over 10 percent of adult male Palestinian Arab.
However by 1939 the British introduced restrictions on Jewish immigration to Palestine - at a time the Holocaust was at its peak. And by the end of World War II in 1945, Haganah allied with other Jewish militants groups such as Irgun and Lehi to coordinate increasing guerilla attacks aganst British rule in Palestine, culminating in the deadliest attack on the British administrative headquarters for Palestine in Jerusalem in June 1946 which killed 91 persons and injured many.
Haganah was dissolved and crystalized into Israel Defense Forces (IDF) when the State of Israel was formed in May 1948.
In apartheid South Africa, uMkhonto we Sizwe (MK), meaning the "Spear of the Nation" was the Africa National Congress (ANC's) militant wing co-founded by Nelson Mandela with a mission to fight against the South African government. It was formed in 1961 after the 1960 Sharpeville massacre - where hundreds of protesting blacks where shot, killed and injured by the police.
uMkhonto launched coordinated attacks including bombings on government installations from 1961 when it was formed, and was subsequently classified as a terrorist organization and banned. The groups guerilla warfare continued even after Mandela and Walter Sisulu were arrested in 1962. Oliver Tambo, one of its founders and President of ANC coordinates the attacks from his London base where he was exiled.
In 1976, Solomon Mahlangu (pictured in the article), a 22-year old ANC fighter, joined uMkhonto we Sizwe after being displaced from school during the Soweto uprising. He wy trained in sabotage, guerilla tactics, among others in Angola, before being armed for the revolution.
Mahlangu became widely known after he was arrested by the South Africa government and sentenced to death by hanging in 1979 for the killing two white men. He is celebrated in South Africa today.
The ESN
Known as the Eastern Security Network (ESN), the militant wing of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) which was unveiled in December 2020 by its leader, Nnamdi Kanu, with a mission to curtailing the activities of the terrorist Fulani herdsmen in the region has its moto as "An eye for an eye."
No sooner had the security outfit been unveiled than the Nigerian security came against it. It is interesting to note that several killings by Fulani herdsmen had occurred in the East with little or no effort by the Nigerian security to apprehend them.
Besides the herdsmen killings, the Nigerian government had come against several IPOBs peaceful protests with brute force - shooting and killing armless innocent protesters.
Hundreds were shot dead at Nkpor in Onitsha in 2016, a primary school field in Aba, and many other places were protests were organized to press home their demand.
The most brutal crack down occurred in 2017 during an exercise of the Nigerian army known as Python Dance, in the East. Many protesters were killed in cold blood. Inshot, no less than 28 persons were murdered in the house of Nnamdi Kanu, their leader. In all these, the IPOB members never killed a soul.
The Insurgency
The leadership of IPOB may have painstakingly taken the decision of the South African ANC during apartheid.
According to Mandela, in his famous "I am Prepared to Die" speech, given during the Rivonia trial, he said:
"This conclusion was not easily arrived at. It was only when all else had failed, when all channels of peaceful protest had been barred to us, that the decision to embark on violent forms of political struggle was made."
Although many people have linked the activities of Unknown Gunmen in Southeast to IPOB. The groups leadership has repeatedly debunked it saying its security outfit, ESN, concerned itself strictly with the mandate of chasing away the terrorist Fulani herdsmen from the zone and not for the killing of Nigerian security agents.
Fifth Columnists
Apart from the killing of security agents, there appear to be activities of fifth columnists in the region. It appears that criminals, kidnappers, estranged business partners have exploited the rising insecurity and resorted to killing business partners and opponents to make it look like IPOB did it.
A Think Tank Unit
IPOB should not have a one way structured leadership, if they would want to carry the people of the zone along and neutralize the activities of fifth columnists. There should be a research unit manned by scholars, researchers and intelletuals sympathetic to the group which would be coming up with better ideas.
IPOB should understand that not every of their elite including politicians are against them. Some are sympathetic to them but will not come open for fear of Abuja, and IPOB should understand them. These are the areas a think tank unit would advise.
Chinua Achebe headed such unit during the Biafra war in 1967. His committee was made up with intelletuals, including Cambridge trained PhDs.
Finally, now that it has been deduced that establishment of a security outfit - when all avenues have been explored - helps in actualizing a freedom, it is pertinent that secessionist groups coordinate their activities tactfully to ensure least casualty among their people whom they are fighting for, including their sympathetic political elite.
- Chike Nnamani is a writer, scholar, and public affairs analyst.
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