This is the News Analysis segment of the Voice of Biafra International broadcasts  

For November 15th, 2003  

You have heard the news; now, the analysis…  

“My peoples and my nations shall not be sacrificed for the sake of preserving a worthless idea called Nigeria .” So speaketh the Lord. And so it is.  

“The peoples and their nations must live and thrive, though the name and concept of Nigeria die. The peoples and their nations must not, and will not be allowed to perish just to save a dying Nigeria .” So says the Lord.  

Fellow Biafrans, the above is God’s promise to you, to Nigeria , and to the world, for that matter. We must place our faith in the words of our God Almighty.  

This week, we join in the mourning of our dearly departed Hero of Biafra, General Philip Effiong. Just 4 weeks ago, at the first postwar International Conference on Biafra , on October 18^th, 2003 , in Greenbelt , Maryland , USA . a plaque—a small token of our huge appreciation for outstanding bravery and service to Biafra —was awarded to General Effiong in absentia, and was to be taken home to Biafraland and delivered to him in person. The plaque reads:  

“To General Philip Effiong:  

With profound gratitude for your service in defense of Biafra from 1967-1970.”  

October 18^th, 2003

We commend his soul to the bosom of the Good Lord, where at last he shall find the greatest praise and reward of all, and freedom unfathomable. We are in sympathy and empathy with his family and pray God console them and us all.  

We are still in mourning over the passing not too long ago, of another quintessential Biafran, our Great Biafran Commentator and Radio Announcer during the Biafran War, the peerless Okoh Okon Ndem. We trust that the Grace of the Almighty is sustaining his family, while his soul now echoes for eternity the comforting Voice of God.  

Fellow Biafrans: this is a time for reflection. These two Biafran giants stood their ground and exemplified Biafra ’s dignity even after the shooting war was over. They never compromised their Biafran scruples or credentials; rather, they remained steadfast in their conviction that Biafra declaration and fight were and are still the right things to do. Given the present state of affairs in Nigeria, their stance has been borne out, even as General Effiong, formally articulated that the conditions leading to the Biafran War are still prevalent today. And, as the keynote speaker of the  WIC Convention in 2001, he would give Biafrans the wisest counsel yet:

“Agwo ka no n’akirika.”  

We therefore ask every Biafran, young and old, those that were there during the war, and those born later, to emulate these Biafran stalwarts: maintain your dignity; keep faith with Biafra and with the ideals of Biafra . Never compromise your morals—you owe it to your self, and to the Biafran spirit. As such, when the time comes and we must give an account of our life to the Giver of Life, we can with honesty and with pride say:

“I did my best, and I stood by my principles. I never sold out my people in the moment of their ordeal; I never abandoned them to hopelessness and to despondency, but instead, held on to Biafra and held up Biafra as the staff of hope and staff of salvation."

We ask all Biafrans today to take a stand on Biafra , and to not hide their stand on Biafra. We urge all Biafrans to be proud of their heritage as Biafrans, and to express it freely, even in the face of oppression and persecution. And we urge all Biafrans to do so each and every single day of their lives, for we know not which day will write the last page of our temporary existence here on earth.  

Adieu, our Brothers, Philip Effiong and Okoh Okon Ndem; adieu our Fathers; our Uncles, our Friends, for such you are to us.
Rest easy in your graves, because even in death, you have continued to inspire Biafrans. Now every Biafran has been reminded that it is time to speak our mind, no matter the consequence; in any case, such consequence is usually an exaggerated and perceived fear.  

Today, another Great Biafran, the Leader and himself the personification of Biafra, Dim Odumegwu Ojukwu, from the land of the living, joins in telling it like it is, right there in Nigeria, in Biafraland. We appreciate Ojukwu’s forthrightness and are encouraged and enlightened by his candid and accurate assessment of Obasanjo and Obasanjo's regimes. We know that his assessment is accurate because for years, we have been articulating the same things after arriving at similar conclusions about the man, Obasanjo, and his regimes.  

We are particularly glad to have Ojukwu once again remind Nigerians and others who have ears that Biafra did not die in 1970, and that a people fighting for their survival with barely nothing, against vandals who have been armed to the teeth and buttressed by two World powers and several other countries, such a people—the people of Biafra—have in fact not lost a war when they hold out for almost three years against such formidable evil forces. The mere fact that we are still here today, although we lost millions, and that Biafra is being chanted today by Biafrans in Nigeria-occupied Biafraland, is proof that at worst, we lost a battle in 1970 in a long war which continues in 2003, and which has no other way to end but in a complete and final victory for Biafra.  

We can only hope that the misguided and the ignorant regarding historical facts will take note. Anybody or organization or media using the term “warlord” in describing Ojukwu is truly misguided, and they can either be naïve or they have simply failed to grasp simple, unhidden facts, or are merely propagandists. How can an intelligent or knowledgeable person use such a term in the context of Biafra-Nigeria war? The same goes for the use of the expression, “rebel leader” in reference to Ojukwu, or “rebels” in reference to Biafran soldiers. Whom did we rebel against? Nigerians did not want us in their midst; they killed us in the hundreds of thousands to prove the point—in Northern Nigeria in 1966 and 1967; and some in Western Nigeria; they murdered all the Igbo military officers they could find in the Nigerian Military in 1966; they drove us out of every corner of Nigeria and we were forced to limp back to our own ancestral land, out of sheer necessity for our own safety. Bereaved, bruised, smarting from sheer terror and grieving, we huddled together in our own land for our own survival, suffering from the shock of our bloody and violent rejection by Nigeria . When Nigeria wanted to finish us off—to annihilate us—we, with no preparation and no time to do anything else, did what anybody that’s cornered by a vicious, malicious, murderous and determined enemy would do. We defended ourselves. How does that make us “rebels”? How does that make our leader a “rebel-leader”? How does that make our leader a “warlord”?  We say, Shame on anybody using those terms. And for now,  mostly, we thank Ojukwu for reminding Obasanjo and the rest of Nigeria ; and for speaking up and speaking out to give our side of the story.  

We thank Ojukwu for reminding the world that Obasanjo’s present government is in fact, illicit. We know that Obasanjo and his PDP party rigged the April 2003 elections. Perhaps, Nigeria wants to accept this and keep quiet. That does not change the fact that the elections were a massive fraud against the peoples living in Nigeria , by Obasanjo and his PDP party, following a premeditated and well-orchestrated criminal act using the military, the police, the security agents, and even INEC itself. The rest of the world wasted no time in proclaiming the elections a fraud. So-called INEC, following initial denials to the contrary, finally came out and admitted publicly that in fact, the elections were flawed and marred by massive rigging. We have harped on this on every opportunity; it is great to hear Ojukwu lend his voice, too, though others want to keep quiet. Keeping quiet in the face of evil always leads to more evil, more victimization of the victim, more misery, and finally, loss of morals and loss of hope—just prior to death. History and experience have taught us that. No more shall we keep quiet; thank you, Ojukwu, for reinforcing that we must not keep quiet—not any longer.!  

Even as we speak, the effects of poor governance, bad governance, non-performance in governance which have characterized Nigeria since 1970 have continued to come to roost. We learn of the existence of Reports of Commissions of Inquiry set up to investigate massive corruption in so many forms  in the past, including the reign of Obasanjo as a military dictator and later, as a civilian dictator.  Most of these reports are not being made available to the people, but are locked away by the governments—now, by General Obasanjo’s government. It took persistence and determination for the public to gain access to the report of the Christopher Kolade Commission of Inquiry into failed and non-performing contracts awarded between 1976 and 1998.  Note that this includes Obasanjo’s military regime era. The level of corruption is staggering!  To think that Obasanjo and his administration had access to this report, and yet were ready to falsely blame poor Igbo engineers working for the federal government for the sad condition of roads in Igboland-Biafraland, is a crime in every sense.  

Then, there is the Pius Okigbo Panel Report on the $12.4 billion Gulf oil windfall of 1991 a report which indicted the former Nigerian military ruler, Gen. Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida. This report has not been released to the public yet by the Obasanjo administration. In the meantime, Nigerians failed to question the sudden wealth of Babangida, who in turn has made every effort to show off his ill-gotten wealth by making himself the god-father and financier of every major political process. It is not only that Babangida has gotten away with this, but he now wants to run for the presidency of Nigeria come next election (which hopefully, will not come)! And, It is not just that Obasanjo is protecting Babangida, but he also advised Babangida and other soiled presidential aspirants to “wait their turn” because “before they know it, 4 years will be here,” and they, too can rig their way into the throne and continue the tradition and history of misruling Nigeria. Shame!  

Who wants to live the rest of their lives in this sorry rat race called one-Nigeria, in this den of thieves with ever-worsening, outrageously poor performance and corruption?  

Fellow Biafrans: Biafra is the only answer. Biafra , NOW.

Biafra lives! by God’s pleasure; Biafrans are, because God Wills it. Be the Biafran that you are created to be by God!

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

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