Chief of Army staff, Gen. Tukur Brutai had on Friday in Borno announced that the operation, otherwise known as “Egwu Eke 3” will commence across the country because of security challenges in some parts of the nation. But Ohanaeze and MASSOB berated the military for the exercise saying that it was designed to annihilate the people of south east and rig the general elections.
The Igbo apex sociocultural organisation, Ohanaeze Ndigbo and the Movement for Actualization of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB), yesterday alleged that military’s Operation Python Dance 3, which commences on January 1, 2019, was primarily designed to intimidate the people and rig the forthcoming general elections. Chief of Army staff, Gen. Tukur Brutai had on Friday in Borno announced that the operation, otherwise known as “Egwu Eke 3” will commence across the country because of security challenges in some parts of the nation. But Ohanaeze and MASSOB berated the military for the exercise saying that it was designed to annihilate the people of south east and rig the general elections.
They urged the military to take the Egwu Eke 3 to places in the country where there are security problems as, according to them, there was no security challenges in Igbo land to warrant the exercise in south east. Speaking to Sunday Telegraph in Abakaliki, National Publicity Secretary of the Igbo socio-cultural organisation, Comrade Uche Achi Okpagha said: “The Federal Government has lost touch with currency, they have just lost initiative. We have lost a lot of soldiers, the recent one is very shameful and they are talking of Python Dance in the south east where there is no violence.” MASSOB, on its part, alleged that the exercise which it also said had been on in Igbo land was aimed at annihilating the people. But security experts, yesterday, said Operation Python Dance 3, as a psychological deterrence, will make some impact when launched.
One of such experts is the President of Association of Industrial Security and Safety Operators of Nigeria (AISSSON), Dr. Onah Ekhomu, who noted that the launch of Python Dance 3 will add credence to the country’s deplorable security system. According to him, though the Operation Python Dance 3 is not going to do anything special; but it’s a strategy in deterring crime in a country like Nigeria and others. “Let’s not be confused or weary with the semantics. What the military is trying to do is to announce its presence in that locality. It’s not as if they are going to collect more intelligence, or come up with better equipment. “They just want people to know that they are around and that will prevent some people from committing crime or planning crime.
That’s why they announce it and made it public so that people will know about their operations there. “In the security, it’s said that the strategic security starts with psychological deterrence. Everybody is scared of America because of psychological deterrence. It’s not as if when anybody musters courage to attack America, he can’t successfully attack it, but America’s psychological deterrence has put fear into people.”