'How we stopped Python from dancing in Abia'

The Nigerian army commenced an operation which it code-named ‘Python Dance II’, on September 15, 2017.

According to the army high command, ‘Python Dance II’ was launched in Nigeria’s Southeast to quell the activities of kidnappers, cultists, armed bandits and violent secessionists.

The operation immediately dominated the news for all the wrong reasons, not least for its strong arm tactic and brute force.

Dirty dancing

In the days before its official launch, ‘Operation Python Dance II’ was accused of killing five members of the Indigenous People Of Biafra (IPOB) and brutalizing journalists who were watching the drills from the office of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ).

‘Python Dance II’ also unwittingly led to reprisal attacks from IPOB and ethnic groups alike in most geopolitical zones in Nigeria.

By the end of the week, Abia had become a war zone of some sort.

However, calm has since returned to the restive Southeast State following sporadic flare-ups.

'Calm is here'

Mr. Sam Hart, who is the Senior Special Assistant to the Abia State Governor on Public Communications, says the relative peace in the State this week came from some intense horse-trading at the highest levels.

“There’s calm in Abia State at the moment”, Hart said during an exclusive chat with Pulse.“We’ve constituted a joint security task team that comprises Army, Navy, Civil Defense, DSS…all of them. So, they are on constant patrol to make sure that they are no issues. It’s more like cautious optimism, if you may.

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"People are back, gradually moving around, but everybody is still looking over their shoulders. There’s still a state of tension. To a large extent, normalcy has returned, markets are open, shops are open, banks are open; unlike what was obtainable last week when banks were closed, shops were closed.

“As of today, things are gradually returning to normal. Everybody is still looking over their shoulders though; for the slightest sign of eruption”.

Hart also disclosed how the meetings between the State government and the army high command panned out before a truce was reached.

“Python Dance is still in force but you know the Governors held two meetings in back-to-back: One on Friday, one on Saturday and the GOC 82 Division, a Major General, was invited to the meeting and we made it very clear to him that you guys cannot act as if there’s war going on.

“You can’t be aggressors in a state of tension. You all should coordinate yourselves properly. So, the GOC said Python Dance must continue…so we said, Ok if Python Dance must continue, there are military operations that do not involve the destruction of livelihoods".

'Dance in the barracks'

Hart added that: “So, the concession we’ve gotten from them is that ordinarily, the original plan involved heavy patrols, marches and actual military rigmaroles in the streets. So, we’ve agreed with them that those cannot hold on the streets. That they should limit their paroles, displays and all what not to their barracks.

“Especially since it’s a military drill anyway. Military drills have no business taking place in open fields because it creates a heightened sense of tension. So let them restrict those to their various barracks.

“So, Python Dance is continuing, but they are dancing the dance in their barracks. Python Dance is in their barracks and no longer on the streets. That’s the concession we extracted from them.

“As of yesterday, the curfew has ended. A security meeting is ongoing as we speak”, Hart said.

'Not an invasion'

In a related development, the federal government says the deployment of troops to Abia shouldn’t be called an ‘invasion’.

The Special Assistant to President Muhammadu Buhari on Prosecution, Okoi Obono-Obla made the point in a statement.

Obono-Obla also said as Commander-in-Chief, Buhari has done nothing wrong by deploying troops to a part of the country where there's been sustained periods of unrest.

“It is axiomatic that Abia State constitutes part and parcel of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and the President, Commander-in-Chief, President Muhammadu Buhari, has the power to deploy the Armed Forces to any part of the territory that constitutes the Federal Republic of Nigeria, to maintaining and securing public safety and public order," he said.

“It follows that by Section 8 (3) of the Armed Forces Act, the president, in the exercise of his powers to determine the operational use of the Armed Forces, can direct the deployment of any branch of the Armed Forces for the purpose of maintaining and securing public safety and public order.

“This is precisely what the president did when he deployed the Armed Forces to Abia State of Nigeria to maintain and secure public safety and public order. Put differently, the president can, in certain circumstances, deploy the Armed Forces of Nigeria to perform police duties.

“Examples of the use of the Armed Forces to maintain law and order sometimes in this country abound; so why are detractors of the Federal Government suggesting that the deployment of the Armed Forces to Abia State or the South East region amounts to invasion?"

Citing provisions contained in Section 217 subsections 2 (a) (b) (c) of the Constitution, Obono-Obla posited that “grammatically or literally or contextually the description or branding of the deployment of the Armed Forces of Nigeria to Abia State to maintain public safety and public order as an invasion, in the face of threat by IPOB, is absolutely wrong.

“The pertinent question is, what is an invasion? An invasion is a military offensive in which large parts of combatants of one geopolitical entity aggressively enter a territory controlled by another such entity, generally with the objective of either conquering, liberating, or re-establishing control or authority over a territory, forcing the partition of a country,” Mr. Obono-Obla lectured.

Operation Python Dance II is not the army’s first 'show of force' exercise since Buhari became president. See the others here.