Opinion leaders from the South East have condemned the military action.
Chairman of International Society for Civil Liberties and Rule of Law (Intersociety), Emeka Umeagbalasi ,has chided the Nigerian Army over its Exercise Positive Identification and the Python Dance now renamed Egwu Atilogwu Udo ,saying that the Army has derailed from its constitutional responsibilities.
He said as obtained in other parts of the world, Nigerian Army or the military is trained and charged with the responsibilities of combating and managing the internal violent conflict or war and defence of the country’s territory against external attacks or aggressions.
He described the Nigerian Army as “Interlopers in matters of control and management of street crimes”.
“In September 2017, the Army led Nigerian Military to faked and camouflaged a military operation for the Southeast which turned out to be a coordinated massacre operation, leading to death of multiple hundreds and injuring of hundreds of others.
This time around, the Army is likely going to fake and camouflage. Cases of indiscriminate raids, arrests, detention without trial and torture by soldiers and Police in various parts of Igboland are torrentially being reported presently.
Also, the trio of Ekwenche Research Organization, Persecuted Christian Alliance International and Biafra Genocide Survivors International, all based in the United States, have described the military and police siege in the Southeast and the South-south as acts of unprovoked war and genocide against defenceless people of the two regions.