OPERATION PYTHON DANCE II

OPERATION PYTHON DANCE II

Our national conversations are impoverished at once by stubborn prejudices and imperfect information. And neither of these is easily overcome. For example, ‘Fulani’ has gained currency as a metaphor of supposed Northern domination or the “marginalization’ of the South or the Southeast or other parts of our country. The metamorphosis of this metaphor is interesting. First, it was ‘Hausa’(60s-70s), then it became ‘Hausa-Fulani’ and now plain ‘Fulani.’  A few days ago on another the forum, I attempted to provoke an interrogation of the notion of ‘second class citizen,’ another common phrase in our national dialect today that mocks the Constitution’s guarantee of equal national citizen. Who precisely is a second-class citizen? What does the term mean in the first place? What is marginalization? As one gets to understand quickly, these phrases carry far more emotional baggage than substance. Even the most obvious in-your-face facts simply go unnoticed. For example, even if President Buhari serves out two full terms, by 2023, the South would still have had more presidential years (13) than the North (11) in the present republic. And President Buhari has only been in office for merely two of a possible eight years.

2. Any productive assessment of the criticism of the ongoing military operation in Abia State must separate criticism focused on the legality of the operation from legitimate concerns about possible excesses of the military, in particular, abuse of civilians. The former are legalisms which, if constructed on the legal texts, will have some difficulty discounting the express language of the Constitution that grants competence to the President as Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces “to determine the operational use of the armed forces of the federation” (section 218(1)).  But the latter concern, about possible civilian abuse during the Operation, deserves close attention. The information available is imperfect partly because independent observers are so far limited and partly because social media channels are suffused with manipulated information, often calculated to mislead. We know for certain, however, that the violence was not one-sided and that civilians were victims of violence by the military as well as by fellow civilians. The other thing we are certain about is that neither Mr. Nnamdi Kanu nor his immediate family in the same residence was hurt (or, perhaps, even directly assaulted). Because Mr. Kanu’s brother told Channels TV that his brother was safe in an undisclosed location. So far as one can safely tell at this time, most of the casualties appears to have resulted from military-civilian encounter on the streets.

3. When the armed forces are deployed for police or internal security operations, use of force must be limited to law enforcement mode. They cannot lawfully engage an armed conflict mode in such operations. Briefly, when the armed forces are engaged in armed conflict (international wars or a civil war), they may lawfully kill enemy combatants and destroy any military objectives (which may sometimes include civilian objects) even where it is possible to neutralize or capture them instead. The only exceptions are enemy combatants that are hors de combat (who are injured or shipwrecked or have surrendered). A direct attack on civilians is prohibited. In internal security operations, on the other hand, especially where the opposing party is not an armed group, the military must limit their firepower to defensive purposes and employ non-lethal force as much as possible. In addition, not only must the civilian population not be directly attacked or subjected to terror, no military offensive must deliberately put the civilian population at risk of serious harm.

4. Initial observations appear to indicate that excessive use of force by the military in the ongoing Operation Python Dance II may have put the civilian population at risk of serious harm. It is imperative that the Armed Forces conduct a full review of the Operation so far to account for humanitarian lapses, if any. Any soldiers found to have tortured or intentionally killed civilians, or wantonly destroyed civilian property must be made accountable. By the legal doctrine of command responsibility, their immediate superiors or officers commanding specific affected units are equally liable.

5. There is no basis at all for allegations of war crimes (because such crimes require a war nexus), crimes against humanity (widespread or systematic attack on a civilian population with discriminatory intent and in furtherance of a preconceived plan or policy) or genocide (acts done with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group). However, there is some clear evidence of torture. The Army itself has acknowledged the existence of a wide-circulated video of civilians forced at gun point by persons in army uniform, presumably soldiers, to wallow in mud and unhealthy water and other indignities. Torture is any act which causes severe physical or mental pain or suffering (other than pain or suffering inherent in lawful punishment or sanction) inflicted by a person in official capacity. Torture is absolutely prohibited by the Nigerian Constitution (section 34) and by international law. The right is not subject to any derogation whatsoever in Nigerian law and in international law and applies equally in normal times and in periods of emergency.

6. The Police should investigate and bring to justice all persons involved in civilian-on-civilian violence.

Solomon Ukhuegbe