Is Afghanistan Scenario Playing Out In Nigeria? By Enzo Osawe

I watched a lot of interviews and videos last night on Afghanistan and the Taliban and I tried to make sense of why the Afghan military was defeated in less than 24 hours in relation to the case of The Nigerian government vs Biafra, southern Nigeria. I discovered that the scenario is not different from what will eventually play out in southern Nigeria if the ESN had weapons and the right sort of backing.

1. The Afgan locals complained of oppression and victimization from government troupes. This is not far from the case in the southeast of Nigeria, where there are obviously clear stories ( false or not) of people going out to buy things or moving about and being arrested and paraded as ESN the next day by the Nigerian security forces without investigation or proof.
2. Widespread acceptability. The fact that the Taliban was widely accepted by most of the locals and only pretended to follow the government troupes order for reasons which I would attribute to “The man with the gun”.
At the moment in the southeast, the Monday “sit at home order” which has been widely accepted by the easterners clearly shows that should there be an uprising, the security forces would easily down their weapons and flee as fast as their legs can carry.
3. The security forces in the southeast are currently seen as more of enemies than the ESN. and they are more of protectors to the politicians instead of protectors to the people.
4. The Fact that the government has actually shown its hatred for the southern region of Nigeria with its skewed appointments to favor only one region of Nigeria has made every single policy down south be looked upon with suspicion.
5. The arrest of Sunday Adeyemi ( igboho) and Mazi Nnamdi Kanu
For asking for a referendum or self-determination and killing of Ipob members over time for simple things as remembering their dead heroes and church thanksgivings, while Boko haram and Fulani terrorists are arrested, rehabilitated, and compensated, is another factor that would also show that the current administration won’t stand a chance with the people of southern Nigeria if the Afghan scenario had to play out.
The government only has authority if the people accept it. As it stands today, the government authority in Nigeria is only on the barrels of their gun, and should there be any counter force, the government of the day won’t stand a chance. The only solution today is to start reviewing its policies, start showing that there is no hatred for any part of the country and treat all terrorists the same way according to the law and finally start a genuine reconciliation policy.

Enzo Osawe writes from the United kingdom.