The Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary – General, to West Africa and the Sahel, Dr. Mohammed Ibn Chambas, visited Nigeria 29 October – 8 November, 2017, to consult with the Nigerian government and stakeholders on the peace and security architecture of the country. The UN Special Envoys consultations in a welcome development were broadened to include meetings with various regional/zonal political, regional leaders and other stakeholders and focused on the heightened political and ethnic tensions across the country.
The decision to broaden the consultations the with the Nigerian authorities to include other stakeholders was largely in response to a letter written to the UN Secretary General by, Chief Nnia Nwodo, the President General of the Ohaneze Ndigbo, in which he drew attention to the Quit Notice issued by the Northern youths and the implications for peace and security in the country. A catalogue of other centrifugal tendencies; the hate songs and the Operation Python Dance II in the South East Zone of the country, further heightened the concerns of a possible ethnic conflagration.
The consultative meeting between Chief Nnia Nwodo, President General Ohaneze Ndigbo and Dr. Mohammed Ibn Chambas, the UN Special Representative, which took place on Thursday, 2nd November 2017, was significant for the primary reason that it was a tacit acknowledgement on the part of the UN that the concerns expressed by the President General of a possible ethnic pogrom against Ndigbo had been duly noted by the global organization. The meeting also provided the UN an opportunity to establish direct access to regional, political and religious and traditional stakeholders across the country and in the South East zone in particular. The consultative forum equally recognized the important role of other stakeholders in the peace and security architecture outside the framework of government. It also provided an opportunity to hear directly from all concerned and to understand and appreciate the issues from their perspective. It meant that the official narrative of the government on peace and security had to be considered alongside the narratives of other stakeholders including that of the Ohaneze Ndigbo.
The secessionist agitations of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) in the South East zone, the military action against IPOB styled operation Python Dance II, the declaration of the IPOB as a terrorist group, that threatened to convulse the South East in particular into deep political crisis were critically and exhaustively examined. Chief Nnia Nwodo, linked these issues with the burning yearnings for political reforms and inclusiveness in the Nigerian political space. He underscored the fact that the under-performance of the Nigerian economy and the centralization of power in the federal government at the center, gave vent to the internal contradictions that threatened the peace and stability in the country.
The point was made that contrary to the irredentist ethnic narratives, the Igbo did not, as an ethnic group, constitute a threat to the peace and security of Nigeria. The Igbo have made invaluable contributions to the development of Nigeria and indeed other countries across West Africa that they have made their places of business and residence. Chief Nnia Nwodo pointed out that an inclusive government that provided all Nigerians an enabling environment to flourish and develop their individual and group potentials, as well as, guarantee and protect their human and civil rights were issues essentially at the heart of the political crisis in Nigeria.
The President General Ohaneze Ndigbo, disclosed that the growing advocacy for Restructuring in the country was relevant because it provided the most realistic panacea towards permanently resolving the political restiveness across the country and underperformance of the economy. What was required, was the political will of the government to convene an all-purpose national conference/dialogue that will seek to bring Nigerians together and to amongst other things, discuss modalities on how to reset the country back to its original federalist path.
The UN Special Envoy, Dr. Chambas, noted that the tense political situation in Nigeria was a source of concern to the UN Secretary-General and indeed the international community. He commended all political stakeholders for averting an outright outbreak of hostilities in the country. He noted that the concerns raised by the President General Ohaneze Ndigbo in his letter to the UN Secretary General, converged with the three pillars under which the UN global peace engagement were built.
These pillars prevention of conflict and crisis management, sustainable economic and social development and human rights protection and good governance informed the decision to consult all stakeholders across the political, ethnic and religious divides in the country. Both the Chief Nnia Nwodo and the UN Special Representative, Dr. Ibn Chambas, agreed that the three pillars provided a platform for further cooperation between the Ohaneze Ndigbo, and the UN in the search durable and sustainable peace and security in the country.
While the UN should be commended for responding to the distress calls and early warnings of a looming ethnic conflagration, it is equally important, that the UN should further engage Nigeria on the more critical issue of internal political and economic reforms which are, at the heart of the crisis bedeviling the country. Above all, the UN should enquire into the circumstances under which the Nigerian army was unleashed against unarmed civilian population in the South East. The UN should equally seek to ascertain the number of persons killed in the exercise and the gross violation of human rights of protesting civilians that took place during the exercise. Very importantly, the UN should not shy away in the interest of justice from bringing, those found guilty of perpetrating these crimes, to book.