This is an Igbo expression, the name given by the Governors of the South Eastern States of Nigeria to the security outfit they are proposing to launch. The expression means ‘the glory of the tiger’ or ‘the majesty of the tiger.’ There could be other definitions. But it means that at long last these Governors have woken up from their slumber and done what they should have done at least a year ago. Nigeria is being overrun by all sorts of evil including Boko Haram, ISWAP, bandits, killer Fulani herdsmen, kidnappers, cultists, ritualists, armed robbers, rapists, human traffickers and so on. Some of these evils have existed for years but not on the present scale. But of late they have gone berserk.
One would ask why it would take the Governors of the Igbo States this long to launch their own security outfit long after the Governors of the South West launched their Amotekun security outfit. Did they not notice what has been happening in Kano? There they have the Hisbah vigilante who unfortunately are carrying out religiously inclined operations destroying traders’ wares that they decide are forbidden by Islam. They have been destroying trailer loads of beer being sold by Christians and impoverishing them. Islam is supposed to be against the consumption of alcohol but apparently not against collection of the states’ share of value added tax on the same alcohol! Unfortunately too there are many non Muslims residing in Kano. What the Hisbah is doing is to infringe on their fundamental human right to drink alcohol. But this is Nigeria where anything goes as long as the people on the receiving end are abandoned to the whims and caprices of the group. But this is by the way.
Each of the Governors of the South Eastern States has his own agenda. Obviously they do not want to offend the Fulani rulers of Nigeria hoping that one of them will be given to opportunity to be president of Nigeria come 2023. That is obviously why they have allowed themselves to be treated like babies. They were cajoled by the retired Inspector General of Police to key into the silly community policing supervised by the Police. Of course that was a colossal failure. Now they have been stampeded into having Ebube Agu. Ebube Agu is an instant failure. Any organization that has been launched to act only as intelligence gatherer for the useless, underfunded, undermanned Police is a waste of time. It will not solve the problem of crime as long as the outfit is not armed.
These security outfits, Amotekun, Ebube Agu, Hisbah and whatever name they go by, are all a waste of time in the face of the dangerous situation Nigeria is in. Those ruling Nigeria know what will solve the problem of insecurity but will not do the needful because it will harm their interest. Those of us who are being ruled know the answer to this problem. It is the immediate introduction of fully armed state police. But we have no power to introduce state police because it means amending the constitution. And those ruling us have their people controlling the Senate and House of Representatives in their pockets and these people will not push for the amendment of the constitution. And that is why we are beating about the bush, chasing the shadow while the elephant is within full view, setting up toothless Ametekun and Ebube Agu. And in the meantime the Fulanis of the Sahel are swarming into Nigeria and wiping out citizens and taking over their homes. After all they say Nigeria has been bequeathed to them and we unfortunate people who are here now are watching helplessly. And the Fulanis ruling us are happily supervising the genocide. God save us.