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

 

For March 19th, 2005

 

You have heard the news; now, the analysis…

 

We want to make it absolutely clear to the Nigeria State Security Services (SSS) that its ongoing exercise of detention of MASSOB members in Biafraland or anywhere else, for that matter, is both immoral and illegal. No one or department, not even Obasanjo and his presidency—even though he is getting away with it—has a right to act above the law, as the SSS is doing. The Law of Self-determination is Supreme.  Even the constitution of Nigeria, as flawed as it is, stipulates civil and human rights that must be respected by every agency or person purporting to be upholding Nigeria. The SSS, in its sadistic zeal, is breaking all these laws. We want to make it abundantly clear that on the day of reckoning, all SSS personnel who were involved in these inhumane acts against MASSOB members and other Biafrans will answer to appropriate charges, individually. In case they have not read or heard, the excuse of “I was only following orders” is no longer tenable in courts of justice.  The leaders and instigators of these unconscionable acts will not escape justice either.

 

The SSS has now moved its nefarious operation to Ebonyi State. Their leader there has made arguments against MASSOB; let us take up those arguments and see how they stack up. Keep in mind that the last time the SSS tried this approach in Owerri, and Mazi Onyeagocha responded to their argument with a superior counter-argument, the SSS later invited him for questioning. We know the SSS never plays fair, but we will examine their points. Let’s not forget that even in Obasanjo’s National Conference, only 2 groups have been booed so far: the military and the SSS. 

Mr. Tayo Amu, the SSS director, is reported to have:

“…appealed to traditional rulers and major stakeholders of the local government to dissuade their children and others to shun the activities of MASSOB…”

Since when does a Yoruba or Awusa Nigerian security officer tell Igbo-Biafrans how to raise our children? Has Mr. Amu advised Yoruba rulers to ask their children to shun OPC, or Awusa rulers to ask their children to shun Arewa?

Says Mr. Amu:

“[He pointed out to them that] the movement [MASSOB] was concerned about splitting Nigeria, which would not augur well for both Igbos and the rest of Nigeria, noting that such campaign is retrogressive and would go a long way in dislodging the Igbos who have business stakes in all the parts of the country…”

MASSOB is not “concerned about splitting Nigeria…” MASSOB is committed to Biafra actualization.  Nigeria is, for all intents and purposes, already split (always has been), save for the ongoing hypocrisy and dishonesty of the likes of Mr. Amu and those whose interests he serves and defends.

Nigeria, as was before, as is now, and as it may be in the future, does “not augur well” for Igbos—that’s a fact. As a matter of fact, Nigeria does not augur well for “the rest of Nigeria,” either. It’s just that the Igbos are worse off, selectively targeted; and but for the Igbo’s survival-ability, the Igbo would have been totally annihilated by Nigeria by now. The Igbo have Oil, but cannot benefit from it. We have Gas, but we cannot benefit from it. We used to have industries, but lack of electrical power and lack of water have killed such industries. All this is due to Nigeria’s deliberate policies against the Igbo. We have airports, but no international airport, though we make more international trips, while the North alone has at least four to six.  We have no roads; the Niger Bridge is a cemetery-passageway awaiting validation. Our schools have been destroyed; our graduates lack education and lack jobs. How could we do any worse? Mr. Amu, how could the Igbo do worse?

There is nothing “retrogressive” about seeking and getting self-determination. Let Mr. Amu tell us that he would rather live as a slave than die a freeman—that’s good for him, maybe; but that’s not for Igbo-Biafrans. “Retrogression” is actually what happens to a gifted race and nation of talents when it allows itself to suffer what the Igbo-Biafrans have suffered at the hands of Nigeria and yet does not want to get out.

Oh yes: we hear the (by now familiar) refrain. All over Nigeria, they are singing the same song: “the Igbo’s have business stakes in all parts of the country…” and hence could not, should not, and cannot afford to leave Nigeria. Well, did Mr. Amu, by any chance, forget the chorus to that refrain? Why is he not telling you that all those so-called business stakes owned by the Igbo all over Nigeria are in constant peril, even as we speak? Whose business stakes are currently being destroyed in Abuja by official fiat, right now? What about in the past four to eight weeks? How many times have Igbo businesses and markets been burned down all over Nigeria, in the last year alone? How many times closed without warning? How many of them have been forced to close because Obasanjo himself banned the goods of trade, in continuation of well–known anti-Igbo, anti-Biafran policies which ban and or criminalize the goods?

Mr. Amu’s next argument is amusing—no pun intended:

“…Instead of joining the movement of MASSOB, Amu advised the people of Ezza North local government area to accentuate their agitation for Nigerian president from Igbo extraction in 2007...”

Oh yes, Mr. Amu: like the Igbos did in 2003, when your Kinsman, Obasanjo, bribed Ohaneze through Iwuanyanwu, using our Oil money—by the way—to buy his way into the presidency? And when that was not enough, didn’t Obasanjo rig the same election? How we forget so soon! By the way: what did Obasanjo do when he came to “campaign” in the East for the 2003 elections? Did he not deliberately heap insult on all the Igbo and all other Biafrans, even in their own communities? Gratuitous arrogance, and totally unprovoked insults—and he got away with it, too! And who can forget what happened when Odumegwu Ojukwu tried to campaign in Northern Nigeria for 2003? Did not the Nigerian police and the government teargas orderly supporters and officials, for no reason, and without any provocation at all, thereby forcing the termination and dispersal of Ojukwu’s supporters’ rally? As far as 2007 is concerned, is Mr. Amu pretending that he does not know that Obasanjo has ruled out any Igbo even running, never mind winning the Presidency? Have the North not claimed that it is their turn—again—even though they have no qualms about featuring Babangida, a known raper of Nigeria? Has the PDP, now under the full control Obasanjo and his fellow retired general, not zoned the Presidency to the North?

Apparently, Mr. Amu does not know when or where to stop.

“…He noted that prominent Igbo sons and daughters are currently members of the delegation who are deliberating on how to better Nigeria at the on-going political reform conference in Abuja and stressed that these representatives would project a better deal for Igbos in the Nigeria project...”

Oh, how you wish, Mr. Amu; how you wish! Allow us to educate you on the obvious. The governors in Igboland or Biafraland do not have the electoral mandate of the people and have never represented the people. (Big hint: APGA victory. Another hint: massive election rigging by Obasanjo and PDP!). How, then, would the governors’ appointees represent Igbo interests in Obasanjo’s conference? Ohaneze pretended to be looking for Igbo Presidential candidate in 2003 while the chairman of Ohaneze Political Committee charged with that task, without shame and without remorse, joined Obasanjo’s campaign, only to be rewarded later by another committee chairmanship by Ohaneze. How could the people now trust Ohaneze to represent them in Obasanjo’s conference? Since when did Obasanjo appoint anyone who had the Igbo’s real interest at heart to any meaningful engagement? Can we overlook the currently happening Anambra saga? The Igbo attending Obasanjo’s conference do not represent the Igbo, and we made it clear earlier. Even now, see what fools they make of themselves by now dropping key issues and due rights such as resource control and devolution of powers and even true federation and regionalism; instead, they are dancing around pledging “indivisibility of Nigeria.”  Is this how these efulefu are going to “…project a better deal for Igbos in the Nigeria project…”? Of course, not!

Continuing:

“…Amu reminded the people to reflect on the entrepreneurial skill of the Igbos and imagine what they would lose at the balkanization of the country, as they have made other parts of the country their home…”

The same entrepreneurial skills that led to an Igbo man building the first African car in Nigeria, yet he and his invention are spited and ignored—just because he is Igbo? (Remember Ezekiel Izuogu?) The same Igbo homes in other parts of Nigeria which are under constant threat by the indigenes, and which are destroyed and razed even with the hapless and beleaguered Igbo family-occupants still in them, at the whim of the indigenes? Oh yes, Igbo have made homes for themselves all over Nigeria, but is Mr. Amu going to pretend that the Igbo are living without fear of harm and hurt by their indigenous neighbors?

Any unbiased party will have to conclude that Mr. Tayo Amu, the Director of the SSS for Ebonyi, has actually made the case for Igbo-Biafrans pursuing their own destiny outside of Nigeria; and for Igbo-Biafrans to continue to support the spearhead of the agenda and holder of the mandate for Biafra actualization, MASSOB. Thanks, Mr. Amu: you didn’t fool anyone—you just reminded us of why we should be doing what we are doing, in case we had forgotten why we are doing it. Not that we needed your help, Mr. Amu: no one and nothing can stop us from actualizing Biafra, and from supporting and being MASSOB.

We understand the position that the local government officers are in Ebonyi and in the rest of Biafraland. But, they should not allow themselves to be intimidated and to be used by the SSS to do SSS’s dirty job. If any Igbo or Biafran soils his or her hand with the blood of a MASSOB member or another Biafran, or is linked in any way to their suffering, by the act of working with the government or with the SSS, let that person know that:

we swear a solemn oath under the sun, with God and Man as our witnesses, that such a person will be held responsible and accountable for this crime, in his or her lifetime, or even in death.

The people of Biafra hold the person responsible and accountable. Oha Biafra hold him/her responsible. The Town will hold him responsible. The Clan holds him responsible. The Village holds him responsible. The Ama holds him responsible. The Compound holds him responsible. The Family holds him responsible. The Men, Women and Children hold him responsible. The Land holds him responsible. Our Chi holds him responsible and accountable. Iiighia!

Fellow Biafrans: Nothing more to wait for! You have heard Nigeria’s arguments. None of them has any moral justification, never mind basic honesty. Now it’s our turn: to Biafra actualization; to Biafra, a place prepared for us by God.

Biafra alive!

 

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), now with the summary of the News Analysis in Igbo language.

 

 

Ndi Biafra, ekele e o-o!  Anyi e kelee unu.

 

Nke a bu akuko nke anyi na a kpo News Analysis si na Voice of Biafra International radio di na Washington DC na ala Amerika na a bia ra unu na abali a.

 

Anyi na a gwa ndi SSS ka ha ghota kwa na ihe ha na e me ndi MASSOB wu ihe aru, ihe odida-iwu; na, sote-sote, ha ga e nwetariri ugwo oru ha. Onye isi SSS na Ebonyi State a na a kpo Tayo Amu ji ndi MASSOB na nga. O na kwa a gwa ndi local government Igbo na ha a kwadoghikwa la MASSOB maka MASSOB na a cho mgbakasi Nigeria. Ma anyi na a gwa ha na Amu na MASSOB na a cho nweta Biafra; o nweghi ihe ga a kwusi anyi i nweta Biafra. Nigeria a gbakasiala agbakasia—ndi Nigeria a marala nke a.

 

Nwokem a na a kpo Amu si na ndi Igbo i hapu Nigeria ga a joro ndi Igbo njo, ma anyi na a gwa ya ka ya kwu e ezi okwu, gwa nu anyi otu ihe siri mara ndi Igbo mma na ime Nigeria ta ma o wu kwanu echi gara a ga?. O wu nu na ihu na anya ndi Nigeria hu ru ndi Igbo, ka o wu nsopuru ha na a sopuru ndi Igbo? O wu kwa mgbe na ile ka ndi Nigeria na e gbu ndi Igbo, na a kuwacha ngwongwo ulo na ngwongwo ahia ndi Igbo? Na Abuja tata, o wu kwa unu a mara la na ndi government na a kuda ulo ahia na ulo obibi ndi Igbo?

 

Onye aru onye isi nde SSS ya na a si na ndi Igbo kwesiri i hapu ihe MASSOB na anyi na a cho na nweta Biafra, ka ndi Igbo chowa okwa President Nigeria na afo 2007. Nke a na a kpasi anyi iwe na na a kpa kwa anyi ochi. Na election nke 2003 mbge ndi Igbo choro okwa President, gi ni mere? Mgbe unu wu ndi Biafra turuchara APGA vote, o wu kwa Obasanjo na ndi PDP gara zuo votu ahu na ile? A na e kwu godu maka election 2007, o nwere onye Nigeria putara kwu e na ya ga a kwado onye Igbo i wu President Nigeria? O nwere onye na ime ha ga a turu onye Igbo votu na election? Anyi ma na ndi Nigeria wu ndi ihu-abuo na ime ihe owula gbasara ndi Igbo. Anyi ma na ha wu ndi Nigeria ga e nye Babangida votu ha kama ha ga a turu ya onye Igbo.

 

Ihe na ile Amu na e kwu wu asi ka o na a si. O maghi na ihe o mere wu i ji nyere anyi aka ka anyi na e cheta ihe mere anyi ji na a cho Biafra, na a cho si ya ike tata. Ya na ndi Nigeria kporo ndi Igbo ugwu rie nne. O nweghi ihe ndi Igbo choro ndi Igbo ga e nweta na ime Nigeria: o wu so o so ihe ojoo ka Nigeria kwadorola ndi Igbo na ime Nigeria. Maka nke a, o wu naani Biafra wu ebe ndi Igbo ga ebi na obi oma na udo na oga-na-ihu.

 

Onye Igbo ma o wu onye Biafra owula nyere la ndi SSS na government Nigeria aka i ji gbuo onye otu MASSOB ma o wu onye Biafra ozo, ma o wu i ji tuo ya nkporo, onye ahu mara kwa na o nweghi ma o wu ala ma o wu elu ka e che ta ya nche maka ihe ga a da kwasi ya—ma owu na ndu ya, ma ya o nwuru a nwu. Nke a wu nkwa anyi kwere ha, na ihu mmadu na Chineke.

 

Nde Biafra: O nweghi ihe ozo foro ka anyi me e na a wugi nweta Biafra. Ka anyi me ya ugbu a.

 

Biafra, ndu gi! Biafra, ndu gi!! Biafra, ndu gi!!! Ma ka Chineke nonyere la gi!

 

Ndewo unu!

 

 

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