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Now, I did say the worst part of Mr Ogunye’s polemic in that first part of his piece was his attempt to redefine the meaning of insurrection so as to justify the military operation in the South-East, even though the President and the Armed Forces have not said they are there to quell an insurrection. This argument is crucial for him, even though he somewhat tried to straddle both sides as he went along because he wants to find an extraordinary reason for the military being there. I mean, he started off strongly claiming there was an insurrection in the South-East that triggered the President into acting on the basis of section 217(2)(c) of the Constitution. He made out that the only question was not whether there was an insurrection, but whether the President has any parliamentary check on his powers to deploy the military at that point. He assures us that “a calm and sober reading of the provision of Section 217(2)(c) does not yield a meaning that unless and until the National Ass...

Nnamdi Kanu In an article he titled “Operation Python Dance II In South-Eastern Nigeria Is Legal and Constitutional”, Mr Jiti Ogunye presented his view as though he was doing this on behalf of himself and others. He did not name these others because the article only bears his name, but he indicated throughout that he was speaking for more than himself. Or is this just his own formal way of addressing himself in the plural sense? Anyway, whatever his reason(s), I will, in addressing this, treat it as solely Mr Ogunye’s view until the contrary is stated. Mr Ogunye chose to address what he said are two legal questions. This is how he presented them: “Does the president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, acting alone as commander-in-chief of the Nigerian Armed Forces, or through the chief of defence staff or any of the chief of staff of the three arms of the Armed Forces, have the statutory and constitutional power to deploy the military to any part of Nigeria, to quell an insur...