Operation Python Dance: Army declears Jihad against South East- rights activists

HUMAN and pro-democracy activists have faulted the Operation Python Dance launched by the the Nigerian Army in the South East  to provide security in the zone, describing it as a declaration of Jihad against the zone.

The Chairman of International Society for Civil Liberties and the Rule of Law (Intersociety), Nze Emeka Umeagbalasi, in his  reaction said the “amry  of occupation” tagged Operation Python Dance  was  nothing but to subject the entire South East to untold hardship, torture and extortion.
He said that with all the massacre the Fulani Herdsmen had perpetrated in the country, especially Southern Kaduna, the Federal Government  and the Nigerian Army have not set up any operation to checkmate their excess.
The activist noted that the road blocks already created by  the soldiers  on major and  strategic expressways in the east are already creating hardship for the people even before the yuletide.
He said at the Onitsha Head Bridge in particular, where the Nigerian Army has increased road blocks both at the Asaba and Onitsha ends, long  traffic gridlock has emerged on the bridge which  brought in its wake untold suffering, waste of several man  hours, which is affecting the economy of the zone.
Umeagbalasi who said his group  would come  out with comprehensive statement  on the matter urged the Federal Government and the Nigerian Army to immediately dismantle the road blocks in the South East, saying that Army’s internal security does not translate to Psychological war against a particular ethnic group, especially at a period it is known they return home to celebrate yuletide.
But Dede Uzor A Uzor who was embittered by what he  called a declaration of war against the South East said that he would  lead a protest against the resurfacing of road blocks by the Nigerian Army, saying that Operation Python Dance was an attempt to punish the South East.