Operation Python Dance: IPOB issue should be solved with dialogue, not military tactics - OPC

- The Oodua People’s Congress has condemned the ongoing Operation Python Dance campaign of the army

- The group stated there there was no national security threat in Umuahia to warrant such display of force

- OPC urged the government to be cautious as the tense situation may dissuade foreign investors from putting their money into the country

- The group challenged the federal government to prove its sincerity by restructuring the country as it stated that Nigeria’s most serious challenges would be solved by restructuring

The Nigerian army’s ongoing Operation Python Dance campaign in the southeast, has been condemned by the Oodua People’s Congress (OPC).

According to reports, the group made its comments in a statement signed on Thursday, September 14, by its publicity secretary, Yinka Oguntimehin.

Describing the campaign as an “obvious attempt to arrest the growing influence of the Nnamdi Kanu led Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB),” the group stated that instead of employing military tactics to address the IPOB issue, the federal government should rather engage in dialogue with the pro-Biafra group.

The OPC stated that the situation in Umuahia, Abia state, was not a security threat which would demand the deployment of soldiers.

The group called for caution as it stated that the IPOB agitation has attracted international support and sympathy.

It said investors may be dissuaded from investing in the country if they feel like there is a civil war going on, and reminded the government that history does not favor the suppression of agitating groups.

The OPC stated that “all efforts must be made to guide jealously the hard earned democracy which individuals and groups fought hard to enthrone.”

It questioned the sincerity of the federal government as it noted that Nigeria’s democracy is being threatened daily by injustice, security and the economy.

It said these challenges could be solved without bloodletting, if the government would simply restructure the country.

It further advised the federal government to “take conscious effort to ensure that the incessant bloodletting in the country is arrested instead of aiding it through unnecessary militarization of the country like is being done in the southeast.”