This is the News Analysis segment of the Voice of Biafra International broadcasts
For November 22nd, 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: Count on God’s promise! Have faith in the Word of God. It shall most certainly come to pass.
Yes, indeed, Nigeria has tried to sacrifice Biafra and the people of Biafra , and for what? Because of sheer envy and jealousy on their part, directed against Biafra and Biafrans; because of their hatred of our Igbo-ness, our Biafra-ness. Nigeria feels threatened by our Igboness / Biafra-ness; Nigeria is afraid of Biafra , afraid of Biafrans, because they have an idea of the indomitable spirit and will of the Igbo-Biafran. And, because they have seen the natural wealth of Biafra . Well, we have a piece of advice for Nigeria : What we are, we are, because God made us that way; when you hate us, you hate God. When you attack us, you attack God. You can remain certain of one thing: God is not going to unmake what God has made; therefore, we shall never change our Igboness-Biafra-ness. And, you will fail, sooner than you think, for Biafra is—always has been, always will be, a veritable creation of the Almighty. On our part, we Biafrans bear you no ill-will, Nigeria and Nigerians, except when we react to your relentless, unjustified bloody and unGodly cruelty towards us. If you, Nigeria and Nigerians are honest enough, and in your sober moments, you will admit that nobody has built up Nigeria more than Igbo-Biafrans; nobody has integrated Nigeria more than Igbo-Biafrans; nobody supports Nigeria more than Igbo-Biafrans. No one has loved Nigeria more than Igbo-Biafrans; and no one else has sacrificed more for Nigeria than Igbo-Biafrans. For all our effort, you, Nigeria and Nigerians, have returned evil for our good. We sprayed the healing salve on your chest to make you better and heal faster; but in return, you, Nigeria and Nigerians choose to spray the irritant salve in our eyes, to inflict pain and blind us. Well, God has promised that this shall no longer continue. We shall have Biafra —we have Biafra .
How many ways can we recount the cruelty of Nigeria and Nigerians to Igbo-Biafrans, even today, as we speak? We read a recent account of a road trip to Igboland-Biafraland, and if we don’t get literally swallowed up by the potholes and pits and gullies along the roads, we could just as easily drown in our tears. How much more cruelty can you subject a people to? And in fact, our people have died in the hundreds from physical trauma resulting from vehicular accidents on these roads--no, deathtraps called roads. Others have died from exposure to the biological disease-carrying agents infesting those so-called roads.
Consider that 99% of Nigeria ’s income is generated by the Oil in Biafraland. Yet, 100% of the neglect is visited on Biafraland by a deliberate policy of Nigeria designed to allow the infrastructure to rot in our land while the other regions, using the resources from our land, are made to thrive. What injustice!
So, today, we take to task the so-called Igbo-Biafran leaders who continue to support Nigeria , who support Obasanjo, who support PDP, without as much as challenging these tormentors of Ndigbo-Biafrans. Instead, efulefu’s like Orji Uzor Kalu would want to go crawling to Obasanjo and to the Northerners to beg for forgiveness on behalf of Ndigbo, (as if we, the victims, did anything wrong in the first place), rather than demand justice and equity. It is easy to say that vain personal political ambitions have blinded Kalu and made him mad; but we must have the discipline to bring him to order when the time comes—and that time, in fact, has come. How can he sit there, see what is happening to our roads, and be content to fly to his homes in Northern Nigeria ?
And we ask efulefu Iwuanyanwu: are you enjoying the Judas-pay that you received from Obasanjo for betraying the trust Ndigbo-Biafrans placed on you? When you sit down and survey the land, to see the condition of the roads in Igbo-Biafraland, are you perfectly content that you are doing the right thing—first, having put the enemy in power over our people, and now, not raising even a tiny whimper of protest over the shameful state of the roads in our land? How do you face your children?
Ekwueme, now that PDP and Obasanjo are wooing you again, will you go back and join them in their merriment, considering what is continuing to happen to our people as a result of your staunch support for a system which you know first hand is evil, and which you know too well is designed to harm Igbo-Biafran people? Will you finally say, No! to them and, Yes! to Biafra? Will you wake up in time enough from your slumber, aroused at last by the shameful condition that the infrastructure in Igboland-Biafraland has been kept in for so long?
There are Biafrans living in various areas who think that only Igbo-Biafrans are being victimized by Nigeria . We urge them to wake up, seeing how the Bakassi Injustice is being handled. Now, let them see for themselves the reasons being now given by the former Nigerian Foreign Affairs Minister, Professor Bolaji Akinyemi, obviously a Yorubaman, to justify and insist on Bakassi being handed over to Cameroon . While his reasons are contrived, his reasoning despicable, and his morality lacking, we must still respect his candor in a situation where General Obasanjo chose to lie and confuse the people of Nigeria by saying what the people want to hear in public, while secretly handing over Bakassi to Cameroon as planned, without contest. Cowards, both! Mr. Akinyemi says that Bakassi people, by insisting on their land and their right of citizenship in Nigeria, want to draw Nigeria into a war with Cameroon , a war that he is certain that Nigeria will lose badly! He tries to scare other Nigerians by justifying this reason with his conviction which he states as fact that France will back Cameroon militarily and Nigeria with no foreign backing will be defeated, in the event that Nigeria goes to war with Cameroon over Bakassi. Well, at least we now know that the Nigerian Military is a paper tiger—just like Nigeria ’s claim to be the giant of Africa only makes sense when the giant has clay feet. When it comes to mowing down unarmed civilians and looting the resources of Biafra , the Nigeria army, under the command of General Obasanjo, truly shines.
Next, Mr. Akinyemi states that if Nigeria was “dragged” by the people of Bakassi into war with Cameroon , in the light of the ICJ ruling, the UN and the Security Council will all be against Nigeria and impose sanctions on Nigeria . Mr. Akinyemi: let us point out to you that today, Nigeria is harboring Charles Taylor, a man indicted and wanted for crimes against humanity by the UN. Has your feared Security Council sanctions against Nigeria materialized, given such an egregious act by Nigeria ?
Then, Mr. Akinyemi, displaying the typical lack of vision that characterizes Nigeria and Nigerian leadership states that there are only 2 possible solutions: war or give up Bakassi, and he wants Nigeria to give up Bakassi. Obviously, he has never heard of settling out of court, and other types of extra judiciary negotiations. Obviously, he does not understand that the people of Bakassi, independent of, and in spite of Nigeria and Cameroon , and the ICJ ruling, can petition the UN for a plebiscite. This Akinyemi is the person who was made a Foreign Minister? No vision, no skills, no creativity! Tufiakwa!
When he argues that the ICJ ruling is the decision of a competent court and therefore, final, Mr. Akinyemi got it half right; the other half is that the Nigerian defense was incompetent, and in every respected court, the finding of incompetence of the defense team usually leads to a re-hearing of the case, this time, with a competent defense.
Next, Mr. Akinyemi says it will cost Nigeria too much monetarily to pay to “buy back” Bakassi from Cameroon . We ask this man whose reasoning is so foolish and shortsighted: where does so-called Nigeria ’s money come from in the first place? Isn’t it one hundred percent coming from Biafra Oil revenue, and isn’t Bakassi part of Biafra ?
This insensitive man goes on to say that Nigeria got something back—parts of Northern Cameroon . Yippee! What a catch! He probably has no idea of history to recall that Northern Cameroon in the 1952 plebiscite wanted to stay with Nigeria , anyway. So, now, the Northerners have gotten their own prize, and Biafra has paid for it by being forced to cede Bakassi. We ask you: could you imagine the Northerners accepting the situation if it was the other way around?
This interview was published in Vanguard ( Lagos ) on November 15th 2003 , and posted to the web on November 17th, 2003 . We urge you to read it.
We want all Biafrans to note that at no point in this interview is the legitimate right of the people of Bakassi and their loss and feelings ever brought up except for an insensitive, insincere remark by Akinyemi about his understanding the emotional feeling of the people. All the time, it was about saving the Nigerian army from defeat by Cameroon ; saving Nigeria from the imaginary wrath of the UN and Security Council, and saving Nigeria money. Yes, that’s spoken like a true Nigerian when it comes to issues concerning any part of Biafra .
So, we once again challenge the elite of Biafra , and the leaders of all areas of Biafra : can you not see that we are not part of Nigeria —that we do not belong in Nigeria , except as disposable and dispensable slaves, whose land even can be given away or traded at will by the Nigerians? We ask you: when will you see to accept the obvious? When will you come out of denial so that you can support us in our quest to reclaim our basic right of existence in the sovereign nation of Biafra , as Biafrans? When? When? When?
The reminder of the condition of the roads today in Igboland-Biafraland is a symbolic event signifying a catalytic threshold to which we have now arrived. The tenacious defense by Akinyemi of the deliberately heartless, senseless, careless, immoral, amoral, cowardly and unconscionable act of Nigeria in giving away Bakassi to Cameroon , against the wishes of the people of Bakassi and other Biafrans (and even the majority of Nigerians) is a serious reminder and indicator of the status of Biafrans in Nigeria . Anybody that still needs convincing that Nigeria is not for us and we are not for Nigeria has a major illusion which he or she can discard right now.
Biafra remains the only option for us—we can all see that clearly now, even if we didn’t before. Let us all then proceed with one mind and pursue the Biafran cause: actualization of the Sovereign State of Biafra .
Biafra is, by God’s pleasure; Biafrans are, by God’s will. Nothing Is going to change this.
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)