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Late Chief of Army Staff, Lt. Gen. Mohammed Attahiru.

By Sunny Igboanugo
(The Tiny Voice)

I recall once interviewing Kenneth Idiodi, the Head of Rosae Crucis (AMORC) in Nigeria some 20 years ago, as a journalist working in Enugu.

He told me about how those who committed the Asaba massacre and other atrocities before and during the BIAFRAN campaign also died violently, including the late Murtala Mohammed, believed to be the main arrowhead.

His point was that someone’s actions, good or bad must return to them in the equal measures, as he lectured me on the law of karma, the cardinal principle of the Rosicrucian faith.

Since the death of Ibrahim Attahiru, the Chief of Army Staff yesterday, I’ve followed some trend of thoughts on the social media and couldn’t help observing that some people are actually rejoicing.
As an Igbo, I know that nothing reconciles enemies more than death. Sworn enemies come together to mourn the dead in Igbo culture in fulfillment that keeping malice doesn’t stretch to death (a di eroriro n’onwu).

But why is it that these people rejoicing have decided to jettison this well-established tradition? I’m not even talking about Christianity, which I know that majority of the people of the South, particularly, the South East profess, rather, I’m talking about an embedded norm which even the idol worshippers observe.

Of course, they’re in the minority. But why would anyone, even one person rejoice over the death of an enemy, not to talk about such a national tragedy?

But I began to read that the late COAS was the General Officer Commanding (GOC) 82 Division, Enugu that prosecuted the Operation Python Dance. I won’t even check the veracity of this claim because I know that any GOC in Enugu in the last six years or so, like he once was has a lot of atrocious allegations hanging on his neck. That took me into the inner recesses of the mindset of these people.

You may not understand fully if you didn’t hear the stories of the atrocities that followed that exercise. You heard of how scores of Igbo youths were given mass burial at the Onitsha military formation, how even those who managed to escape the hail of bullets that rain on a crowd of people, whose only weapons were BIAFRAN flags, were traced to the hospitals, yanked off from their beds and similarly dismissed with their parents denied the privilege of giving them decent burial.
You may have also seen the video of men in military uniform invading the venue of a primary school in Aba, where the youths, devicing another means we’re holding prayers: kneeling down like during a shooting range practice, taking aim and opening fire.

It was the same video President Muhammadu Buhari waved aside derisively during an interview on Aljazeera and refused to watch when his interviewer wanted to play.

Now, amongst the social media community are the relations of those youths so brutally killed, who probably would have been praying for some sort of ‘justice.’ Assuming the late Attahiru was guilty as charged, would you toe a different line if you happened to be a parent or relations of those victims?
Obviously, the late COAS wouldn’t have been at the scene of the mass slaughter, but the perpetrators were his men and he shared in their actions directly or vicariously with the buck stopping at his table.

Indeed his elevation to the top of the military hierarchy may even be a reward for how he prosecuted that mission in Enugu.
Yet, there are still many unanswered questions? Could he have done otherwise? Remember he also took orders. If indeed his eventual fate was the handiwork of karma, what about those who perished with him in that ill-fated flight? What offence did they commit? What about his superiors that assigned the job, have they been similarly compensated? Are they going to get their recompense eventually? I hardly have any answers.

But what I know is that God’s ways are not our ways, God’s thoughts are not our thoughts. Whatever it is, mankind must learn the abiding lesson – nobody lives forever. There’s a superior being in charge. No matter how powerful you think you could be you’re worth nothing before Him. Who knows the verdict on those 12 souls by now. Who knows what their thoughts would be as they boarded that ill-fated flight.

Bottomline: This world is not your own. You’re just mere mortal, a mere passenger. Don’t fear those who could only kill the body, fear Him instead who could cast body and soul in hell fire. May the soul of Ibrahim Attahiru and others who perished with him in Kaduna on May 21, 2021 rest in peace! Amen! – The Tiny Voice