This is the News Analysis Segment of the Voice of Biafra International  (VOBI) broadcasts.  

For October 4th, 2003 .  

You have heard the news; now, the analysis…  

Fellow Biafrans:  

We take this opportunity to remind you all of the first post-Biafra War International Conference on Biafra , to be held on October 18, 2003 , in the city of Greenbelt , in Maryland State of the USA . We are expecting all Biafrans there, as well as Biafran friends and sympathizers. Those who cannot be there physically (and we appreciate the fact that there will be quite a few), we urge you to be there in spirit. We ask everybody to pray for a successful meeting, because that is our only goal.  

At the same time, we urge you to pray for the misguided persons among us who had the poor judgment of deliberately sending out false information contrary to our plan misinforming our people that the conference would not hold this year, thereby causing great confusion and consternation among our people. These misguided persons and the group they represent went as far as claiming—and lying—that MASSOB was against the conference. The MASSOB leader, Ralph Uwazurike  has asked that we relay the following  message, in his own words, to all MASSOBians (and to all Biafrans and the rest of the world for that matter):  

“MASSOB does not own any site as massob.biafranet.com  As a matter of fact, MASSOB does not own any web site.  

We find it extremely confounding that some people can ride on our back to joke with the struggle that has claimed hundreds of our members.  

MASSOB is in full support of the International Conference On Biafra. And MASSOB will be represented at the highest level at the event.  

We warn mischief makers of the consequences of making a mockery of the Biafra struggle.  

Best Regards.  

Chief Ralph Uwazuruike

MASSOB Leader"

We are thus compelled to use this opportunity to remind those Biafrans who were there, and to inform those Biafrans who were born later that it was actions of sabotage such as this that cost us the Biafran War. Our troops received  illegal and contrary orders from highly-placed renegade Biafran officers to abandon their strategic positions, thus allowing the Nigerian vandals to just walk in without a shot being fired. As the facts show, whenever there was a pitched battle, our Biafran troops performed extremely well and very bravely, even though we were fighting against major world powers who had sided with Nigeria . We do not and cannot understand what depth of grievance these misguided officers must have had that would have motivated them to ignore the potential consequences of their action to the collective, Biafra . Did they know that their action would result in our current plight of over 30 years in bondage and slavery under Nigeria, and the occupation, raping and exploitation of our nation, Biafra, by Nigeria, all these years?. This past week, history has repeated itself in a small but significant and symbolic way, when, for reasons best known to them, and unconcerned about the potential consequences of their action to the collective, Biafra, these persons formulated the contrary idea and hostile action  to send out wrong information, attempting to cancel a genuinely scheduled meeting on Biafra, a schedule which they did not originate in the first place.  

There is a lesson for Biafrans in all this, which we have to learn now. Only Biafrans can stop Biafrans. Only Biafra can defeat Biafra . As such, we would like to advice Biafrans to learn how to disagree as brothers and sisters without overreacting. We want to advise all Biafrans to think about the potential consequences of their actions to the collective, Biafra . We would like nothing better than that our people would learn how to handle grievances and disagreements—which are inevitable—better. And for those of us standing by or forming the audience, let us be quick to recognize actions and reactions capable of harming the collective, and then, neutralize such actions. We neutralize a harmful action by refusing to be part of it, and by maintaining our course. in spite of the difficulties posed by contrary actions. Our people say that the elder dies a spiritual and moral death when he or she recognizes obvious and evident evil and does nothing about it, while the youth perishes when he or she receives genuinely good counsel but refuses to follow it.  

What we are saying is that all Biafrans should now become more vigilant, because our salvation is at hand. Our salvation is coming at the hands of God, not by the plans of man. Any Biafran who has any kind of agenda that might hurt Biafra let him or her deliberate on that potential for harm and hurt to the collective, Biafra, and let him or her have a change of heart, and desist. Any Biafran who becomes aware of such agenda and or action, let him or her speak up and speak out against the agenda, and let him or her refuse to support such. Above all, we must all keep moving in the direction of Biafra , never stopping because of threats of, and actual, contrary action. Let us all learn to isolate deliberate and implacable contrary ideas and hostile actions that have the potential to hurt and harm the collective, Biafra, even in the same way as our living human body isolates and walls up harmful and irritating substances as abscess, to be disposed of as pus, while not allowing the duties and functions of the body to be distracted and consumed by the irritant. And, while we will be dismayed and shocked and embarrassed by such contrary and hostile actions, ideas, and activities, we are never to allow ourselves to be paralyzed by depression and self-pity and by the doubt of our fitness to have and run our own nation. We must always put these feelings and reactions aside and continue moving, because we are looking up to God and working out God’s plan for our salvation, as it unfolds in Divine ways. If God does not actualize Biafra , in vain do we labor. As such our inspiration and sustenance comes from God, whose good pleasure it is that we should have Biafra .  

And with that, we .call on everybody to get ready for, and attend, our International Conference on Biafra on October 18^th, 2003 , in Greenbelt , in the state of Maryland , USA . And, why shouldn’t we attend this conference this year? Is there any Igbo or Biafran who has not felt a new sense of urgency about Biafra and Biafran actualization, considering the ongoing serious mishap that continues to befall our people in the cursed entity called  one-Nigeria?  

Yes, consider the circumstances surrounding the death of Okadigbo. In life—at least in latter life—he was severely abused and humiliated by Obasanjo and the PDP machinery. The humiliation did not stop, but actually continued, culminating in his being tear-gassed to death.  In fact, he died in humiliation and by humiliation at the hands of one-Nigeria Police / Security agents who sprayed gas in his face. We do not hear any expression of outrage by that greatest and worst of all hypocrites—the mother of all hypocrites—General Obasanjo himself. We only read weak statements emanating from ANPP, whose only concern is for the people “to remain calm..”  If the situation were reversed, and Buhari was to die under similar circumstances while attending a rally in Enugu, Aba, Owerri, or in any other town in Biafraland, at the hands of Igbo-Biafran Nigerian Police or Security agents, would anybody be talking of “remaining calm?  Ask your self these questions, and then, you don’t have to be convinced that a meeting on Biafra must take place soon.  

We learn another lesson here. Mr. Okadigbo gave his all to one- Nigeria . We do not have any evidence that he supported Biafra actualization overtly or even covertly in the last several years.  For his service of one-Nigeria, what did he get? What a colossal waste! For his devotion to one-Nigeria, what did we, Igbo-Biafrans, get? Humiliation, of course, as we watch, subdued and subjugated while he is carried away to his grave, we being unable to challenge one-Nigeria, the cause of his plight—our plight. What shame; what sadness!. Oh yes, the newspapers write about how “colorful” he was. And then, they write great eulogies. Do you see them asking the serious question of Nigeria —like: why did this venerated Igbo man die in such deliberate humiliating circumstances? Do you see them taking to task the Police and the Security Apparatus of Nigeria, even as the Police Chief is now trying to dismiss and discredit eye-witness accounts of the event?  Do you read them screaming for justice? The Igbo and other Biafrans must come to terms with the fact that they may tightly embrace one-Nigeria, or like Orji Uzor Kalu, beg Nigeria to forgive Ndigbo-Biafrans, but they will die in humiliation at the hands of one-Nigeria, like chicken and like flies. As they die off in the service of one-Nigeria, they also condemn every Igbo-Biafran to the same fate. We must have our meeting on Biafra on October 18 this year as scheduled; obviously, there is plenty to talk about; and we can’t wait.  

We are calling on all Igbo today. We are calling on all Biafrans today. Wherever you are, whatever you do, you owe it to yourself, to your family, to your daughters and sons to support Biafra so that we can have our own nation today. Support Biafra openly and with all your heart today, for tomorrow may be too late. Make a contribution to our conference on October 18^th this year by being there in body and or spirit or by sponsoring someone else to go, or by sending in ideas for Biafra actualization.  

We are calling especially on Ndigbo who are holding political offices in Nigeria , and those who are receiving the perks reserved for Igbo-Biafran head-slaves in Nigeria . We are calling on Igbo-Biafra elite especially those living in Nigeria and whose intellectual property is being stolen, exploited and wasted by Nigeria . We are calling on them to rethink their attitude towards Biafra and Biafra actualization, and to rethink their relationship with one-Nigeria. We urge them to consider everything that has happened, everything that is happening, and start supporting Biafra and Biafra actualization, starting today. Tomorrow could be too late.  

The worst thing that we can do is to do nothing, or to be neutral or even worse than that, to be anti-Biafran. The time for all that has passed. There is the smell of death in the Nigerian air, and it is you and I, the Igbo and other Biafrans, who are slated to die by Nigeria and in one-Nigeria.  We shall not let this happen. Support Biafra now. Think Biafra actualization now. We shall see you one way or another on October 18^th, 2003 , in Maryland , USA .

Biafra lives, because God has willed it so.  

God bless and keep Biafra ; and you, until our next broadcast. Voice of Biafra International (VOBI) broadcast continues. Thank you. (http://www.biafraland.com/vobi.htm)