This is the News Analysis Segment of the Voice of Biafra International Broadcasts.  

For January 18^th 2003  

You have heard the news, now, the analysis…  

Fellow Biafrans:  

We start this week by referring to an item of last week’s news analysis because we consider this very important. We made reference to the fact of a new crop of Members of MASSOB being detained by the Nigerian security apparatus, but we placed the incident at the Cameroon-Nigerian border. The group called CENTER FOR ADVANCEMENT OF DEMOCRACY, SOCIAL JUSTICE, CONFLICT RESOLUTION AND HUMAN WELFARE. (welfareNGO) center, who initiated the original report, contacted us to point out that the arrest incident was at the Seme border of Nigeria and Republic of Benin . The correction is well taken. We laud the work of this group who reported this incident to the African Commission for Human and Peoples rights and also to the United Nation. Only by ongoing vigilance and action can we begin to scratch the surface of the untold hardship and inhuman treatment that Nigeria has subjected and is still subjecting Biafrans to.  We want to emphasize that this type of treatment is illegal under the UN Charters. It is a crime for Nigeria to treat Biafrans in this manner. It is completely immoral for Nigerians to treat us and continue to treat us this way. It must stop. General Obasanjo, you must order the release of our fellow Biafrans of the MASSOB wherever you and your men are holding them.  

Fellow Biafrans, do ask the question: why should anybody be arrested for flying the Biafran flag? When it comes to flags, don’t Muslim Northerners routinely burn the American flag in Nigeria ? How many times have these Northerners been arrested for this act? Why should anybody be arrested for carrying a Biafran or MASSOB identity card? Why should anybody be arrested for carrying Biafran money? How many Nigerians with money enough to carry about do not have US dollar currency on them? The continued hounding and imprisonment of Biafrans of MASSOB can no longer be tolerated. There are groups in Nigeria that import arms, and use them to kill and injure and wage war on Nigeria and Nigerians. The Nigerian government responds to these violent groups by turning a blind eye and looking the other way. But, they will immediately jump on the non-violent movement, MASSOB and arrest them, and put them in jail to rot and languish there. This must stop.  

Yes, the typical excuse that the Nigerian government agents use is Nigerian national security. But, do you know who is really jeopardizing the security of Nigeria ? And, Nigeria should not pretend that they do not realize that. Those that jeopardize the security of Nigeria include General Obasanjo himself who out of selfish interest refused to allow a better qualified candidate to emerge as PDP Presidential candidate. Instead, he and his self-succession machinery used intimidation and blackmail and bribery to secure the position. And yet, every day he will talk loudly to the peoples living in Nigeria about God and urge them to live in the fear God; while he goes around doing those things that even angels would fear to do. He will then proceed to demand to lead Nigerians in prayer for Nigeria . What hypocrisy! This is what is destroying whatever national security Nigeria has; it is not MASSOB members.  

General Obasanjo, a Yorubaman from Ota, has used the instruments of the power and position of presidency to do the pettiest things, with arrogance and with no sense of impropriety. He established a Dialysis Center in Ota recently. Not in a qualified Teaching Hospital. Not in a centralized Hospital. Not in a logistically logical health institution. None of that—it had to be Ota, because he, the General, the President of Nigeria, is from Ota. He moved a Power plant destined for Biafraland and installed in—yes, you guessed it—Ota.  And, the same Obasanjo has commissioned a refinery or a similar facility to be built in Ota. When he banned imported frozen chicken, General Obasanjo’s very own Ota Chicken Farm stood to reap the benefits.  

These are the things that shall surely destroy the national security of Nigeria —no, they have completely eroded any national security left in Nigeria . It is not MASSOB members.  The Northern Generals and ex-rulers of Nigeria who have endorsed Sharia and who have sworn to implement Sharia all over Nigeria , they are the ones that have destabilized Nigeria , not MASSOB. The Northern leader or leaders who publicly instructed all Muslims to not vote for non-Muslim candidates, they are the ones that have breached the national security of Nigeria , not MASSOB members. When the Nigerian people and the Nigerian media failed to seek public accountability from these so-called leaders for their statements and activities, they aided in the destruction of Nigerian national security. It is not MASSOB members that are causing these breaches. Those that are responsible are getting away with it, and they are either ex-rulers, current rulers, or aspiring rulers of Nigeria . Can we have some justice here?  

Speaking of ex-rulers--actually, those who misruled Nigeria --it was reported recently that Buhari and Babangida made peace with each other, and with Shagari. These guys were apologizing to each other for their coups and countercoups, for (personally) upsetting one another. See how they carry on as if the real subject, the so-called Nigeria , was totally immaterial, and all that mattered were their own personal feelings? See how they carry on in this exercise as if, in their calamitous adventures or misadventures, it was their personalities and personal fortunes that were at stake, rather than the entire peoples and nations living in Nigeria ? They apologized to one another—didn’t they? Did they apologize to Nigeria ? No! Have they apologized to the peoples and nationals living in Nigeria whose lives they ruined? No way. Oh yes, to them, it is all about feudalism. They are the masters; the entire populations of peoples living in Nigeria are their slaves, and Nigeria herself was their footstool. Is this not reflective of their feudalistic culture? Aren’t they the ones whose motto was “Born to rule Nigeria ”? Without shame, without any sensitivity at all, definitely without sensibility and without a sense of propriety, Buhari has the guts and temerity to return to seek to rule Nigeria again? And the Northerners are willing to crown him? This is what has contributed to the erosion of Nigerian national security. It is not MASSOB.  

It was a nauseating performance, these three and their personal reconciliation dance. But, what motivated the reconciliation is even more perverse, ominous and hypocritical. These men have closed ranks for the sole purpose of getting Presidential power back into the hands of these Northerners. In so doing, they have ethno-regionalized the so-called “democratic” socio-political process. This, of course, is no surprise. What is so blatantly hypocritical and nauseating is to hear Buhari speak of centralizing even more the federal powers and structure of Nigeria , as if he and his friends and his people have ever really practiced the one-Nigeria which they have forced on other regions of Nigeria .  Yes, Buhari will step out tomorrow and campaign on the platform of “a-tribal” (whatever that means) one Nigerianism.  

Fellow Biafrans. listen up! You know, the likes of Buhari and Obasanjo and the rest of Nigeria come to Biafrans and they talk of one Nigeria and the need to keep Nigeria one. But, every single time a true test of this comes, they are the first to play their ethno-national or regional cards. And usually, it is to the detriment of Biafrans. It is always the Biafrans who badly and desperately want to behave and be one Nigerians, abandoning their own brothers and sisters, their own region, their own interests, all for the sake of one Nigeria. In the meantime, the other Nigerians laugh at us. Do you need an example? Look at Ekwueme. By his own account, he has been duped many times by his Nigerian colleagues and Nigeria ’s Igbo-Biafran-killing machinery; 1999 was bad enough; 2003 was pathetic. Yet, he, Ekwueme, declares that he is staunchly one Nigerian, still. And, what about the Igbo governors?  

Look, the West will mostly—if not all—vote for General Obasanjo, not because they like him or because he has performed well—all to the contrary, and they do not deny that. But, the West will vote for him because he is from the West. The North will likewise vote en masse for Buhari, not because he has any managerial or executive skills, nor because he can accomplish anything of substance for so-called Nigeria ; in fact, during his earlier regime, the lots of the masses in the North did not change, though he squandered the wealth that Nigeria stole from Biafran Oil on the North. But, the North will vote for him precisely because he is from the North.  

Now, take a look at Biafraland. You see Biafrans fitting perfectly the profile drawn about them by the Westerners and Northerners: dysfunctional, buyable, lacking direction, lacking cohesion, lacking in leadership skills, lacking in political skills, unable to unite for common purpose due to selfish and heady pursuits and  so on and so forth.  

Fellow Biafrans: the rest of Nigeria is laughing at you. They are mocking you. They call you fools; most times, to your face, and they have learnt from experience that you cannot, will not do, anything about it. Do you realize that the rest of Nigeria has already discounted APGA and Ojukwu? Read the Nigerian press. They only speak of the impending political battle between General Obasanjo and General Buhari; they have already planned to award all the spoils to either the North or the West, depending upon which of them comes out ahead. By ignoring APGA / Ojukwu, the rest of Nigeria is really making a statement: “As far as Nigeria is concerned, the Igbo-Biafra do not exist and do not count. The Igbo-Biafra do not deserve to be counted or to be reckoned with. The Igbo-Biafra are a nonentity.” Folks: that’s what they are saying about YOU!  

Fellow Biafrans, for once we shall unite and prove them very wrong. Once and for all, we shall teach them a lesson. The last time that we were of one mind, it took the combined forces of Britain , Russia , Egypt , the Arab nations, and a genocidal blockade 3 years to stop us. They had provoked us then. Now, they are insulting us again. We do not have guns and bombs, nor do we need them, nor need to resort to them today. All we need is our resolve and our determination to be of one mind, to act as one. Principle, principle.  

Swear today to show support and one-mindedness for Igbo-Biafra by going out and supporting APGA and Ojukwu. Do not cast even one single vote outside of this Igbo-Biafran party system. Send Nigerians a message that you are not the fools that they have taken you for. It is really up to you, Biafrans, not up to them!   

APGA and Ojukwu: swear an oath that you shall run your campaign on the platform of true re-structuring of Nigeria .  

Remember, once we can show that we can be of one mind, we are right at the doors of Biafra ! All we would have to do next is to open the door and walk right into our Biafran Nation.  

Biafra lives!!!  

That’s the news analysis for the week. Thank you

God bless and keep Biafra ; and you, this New Year, and until our next broadcast. Voice of Biafra International Broadcast continues (go to http://www,biafraland.com; follow “Voice of Biafra” link for the web version).