November 19 2005

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

For November 19^th, 2005

You have heard the news; now, the analysis…

Fellow Biafrans:

If Nigeria thinks that we are going to stop our non-violent protests against the ongoing injustices selectively visited on the Igbo and other Biafrans in Nigeria, then, Nigeria is making a huge mistake. Our men will protest. Our women will protest. Our youth will protest. Our Elderly will continue the protest. Even our children—born and unborn—will protest. And for that matter, on December 6, 2005, we have planned a total sit-in protest, specifically demanding the release of Uwazurike and other Biafrans/MASSOB members; every Igbo and every Biafran is expected to participate, and we will. Our ultimate and only goal is the fruit of the exercise of our God-given right: the right to choose to be ourselves—to live as Biafrans, to live in Biafra—our own sovereign and independent nation of Biafra.

Every single day, more injustices against us by Nigeria continue to pour in. Consider that the MASSOB leader and six fellow-MASSOBians now under illegal detention by the SSS, were not arraigned in court until 13 whole days after Uwazurike’s arrest? 13 days!

Then, consider that these men had no legal representation on the day of arraignment, because, their accusers, the Nigerian SSS and Nigeria, refused them the chance to see their legal counsel during all this time, even though MASSOB had provided a lawyer, and the lawyer had asked to see them earlier and was refused by the SSS. Yet, it was no lesser official than the Attorney-General of Nigeria himself who came to court to formally press the charges against our MASSOB brothers. How is it that an Attorney General of a so-called country willing participates in this blatant travesty, in a process so basically flawed and shoddy that any law student would be insulted to be part of?

Consider that Uwazurike and the six MASSOBIANs / Biafrans had protested their continuing detention in SSS dungeon-cells to the judge before they left the court, stating that they were “maltreated, detained underground and chained.” They requested, not bail, not dismissal, but that they be remanded in prison custody instead of the secret SSS cell where they have been held for at least 13 days—in solitary confinement. The presiding judge, Justice Binta Nyako, who was well aware that these same accused had been arraigned in her court without being allowed legal counsel before and at the beginning of the proceeding, showed her “outrage” by simply ignoring their plea. Oh, but she ordered that they be given access to their doctors and lawyers (read: these men were not allowed access to medical care, either). Thusly, Nyako technically condemned them to these inhuman conditions for another 4 weeks by adjourning the case to December 6. We are willing to bet that the chances of the case being taken up on that date are very slim; based on the modus operandus of the SSS and the Nigeria police who can refuse to bring to, and present the accused in, court. Justice Binta Nyako: we fervently pray that you will always meet the same “justice” which you and the SSS and the Attorney-General of Nigeria have so given to Uwazurike and the six other MASSOBians in your court. So, we ask: how, in the light of this, can anyone expect Biafrans to stop their move to actualize Biafra? Months after the well-known MASSOB-53 case was supposed to be in the resolution stage, do you know that 6 members are still in jail, and the government-jailers refuse to bring them to court for scheduled legal proceedings? These remaining six Biafrans have names:

1) Sunday Nwaibe; 2) Ikechukwu Agbome; 3) Chinedu Ogbuji; 4) Monday Okorie; 5) Stanley Ike; and 6) Uche Udeoha.

How do you expect anyone to want to belong in a country full of such injustice? It is not enough to weep and sob and cry: you have to do something. That is precisely and exactly why we must get Biafra. That’s “that something” which we are doing today.

Here is another example of “justice, Nigerian style,” from this same past week. The Delta State Commissioner of Police could not wait, and was so proud, to parade an Igbo Biafran, Igwe Clement of Akwuru quarters, Mc-Dermot Road, Warri as his prisoner, in front of the public and the Nigerian Press for the “offense” of possessing Biafra currency. For that “offense,” our hapless brother was arrested by the police sometime in October (by the admission of the police); has never been charged to court, never tried and never convicted, but is usually taken in shackles everywhere by the Nigeria police, dragged out, paraded and presented to the public as a “prize”-catch of the Nigeria police, and no lesser official than the Commissioner of Police himself makes this “presentation.” The utter darkness of the sheer brazen injustice of the Nigeria police to an Igbo / MASSOBian / Biafran was, this time around, to be out-shined by a bright candlelight which came in the form of Mazi Clement Igwe’s response to the press at this “parade”: “I have no regrets. I cannot deny Biafra, I am a staunch MASSOB member, I am a freedom fighter.” Yes, our Brother: we are Biafrans. We have no regrets and should not, because we have committed no offence—only in a land of injustice could anyone accuse us of committing an offence for being who we are:—Igbo–Biafrans–MASSOBians. We are Biafrans, and nothing is going to change that.

There was not enough light, though, to counter another dark injustice hurled against MASSOB and Biafrans by the same Delta State Commissioner of Police who announced to the Press and in public, with unusual relish and fanfare, that henceforth, his police would treat all MASSOBians as “armed robbers.” Now, let’s make sure you understand the implications. The Nigeria police actually run away when they encounter real armed robbers, for at least one practical reason: the police themselves swell the ranks of armed robbers in Nigeria, and the Nigeria police provides the arms for them—as both General Obasanjo, the president of Nigeria, and the Inspectors-General of Nigerian Police, have stated in public, and this is on record. So, when the Nigeria police claim that they have dealt with armed robbers, it invariably means that: 1) the victim is unarmed; 2) the victim is not a robber; 3) the victim was shot and killed or maimed by the Nigeria police in a one-sided show of lethal force for any reason but; 4) the victim’s body will never be recovered; 5) there will be no accounting by the police; and, 6) more often than not, the victim is Igbo-Biafran. Here, in fact, the Nigeria police has finally tipped its hand, and the world knows what the Nigeria police does (which we all suspected in the first place, anyway), and how it does it. Imagine the Police Commissioner announcing publicly that his police would find an unarmed MASSOBian (MASSOB is a non-violent organization and the members do not carry any weapons), statistically making the intended victim most likely Igbo; kill him, parade his corpse in public as an “armed robber”, then dump his body in an undisclosed, unmarked location—and that will be the end of it! Just how are you going to prevent Igbo and other Biafrans from leaving this hellish setup and building their own nation of Biafra? Lest you think the foregoing is overstated, we bring up the now well-publicized case of the so-called “APO-6” of Abuja. Originally labeled as an “armed robbery” case by the Abuja Nigeria police, and so-announced publicly by the Inspector-General of Nigeria police, this was later discovered to be a well-planned cold-blooded murder of unarmed and innocent five Igbo-Biafrans by the police; a sixth was injured and escaped, but was later hunted down and, though injured, unarmed, and pleading for help, he was shot to death on the spot in the streets of Abuja, the capital of Nigeria, in broad daylight by his same Nigeria police-hunters. The hapless Igbo men’s lady-friend met with an even more heart-wrenching and gruesome fate: killed with the bare hands of the ranking Nigeria police officer at the scene by having her neck twist-snapped: Horror! Oh Horror! It was even more horrible when the same police fabricated the charge of “armed robbery” against the seven, with “throw-down” weapons to boot, and the charge stuck—until the local Igbo community protested violently, resulting in the discovery of the truth.

Now, imagine the endless injustice of it all when the same Nigeria Police accused MASSOB members on a protest rally in Onitsha recently of burning down Nnamdi Azikiwe’s monument in Zik’s compound—AND THE PRESS AND THE REST OF NIGERIA takes the word of the Nigeria Police over the word of MASSOB? It is the habit of the Nigeria police to tell lies in public and to the press, and are so happy to do it, and they make no bones about, most often doing so to show off their power and what they can get away with, especially when the intended victim is an Igbo-Biafran. So, we ask: What manner of collective injustice allows the Nigerian Press and Nigeria who already know that the Nigeria Police has no credibility, to vilify MASSOB for an offense MASSOB could not have committed, based on the say-so of the police? Especially when everyone knows that MASSOB is a non-violent organization? MASSOB protests were carried out non-violently in dozens of towns across Biafraland and the entire Nigeria: if MASSOB was intent on violence or destruction, how come Nigeria was not burning on that day, and its streets littered with broken bodies?

We of course see the Police mounting a sophisticated operation, borrowing from the Nigeria SSS recent despicable act of disguising themselves as, and using the structure and facilities of, the a-political, non-militarized neutral youth operation, Nigeria National Youth Service Corp (NYSC) as a Trojan Horse to penetrate and capture Uwazurike. Copying this, the Nigeria Police were convinced that it could set Zik’s monument on fire and blame it on MASSOB, at once to draw the ire of fellow Igbo against MASSOB, and to pin MASSOB with the charge of mayhem and arson. To think that the Nigerian Press (and even some Igbo) would buy this without first considering the profile of MASSOB versus that of the Nigeria Police, and without waiting for the results of further investigations and inquiry! That’s injustice multiplied.

Injustice turned nauseous when Nigeria all of a sudden started feigning interest in the well-being of Zik’s monument after neglecting it and surrounding areas for all these years, just so to score what they think is a cheap point against MASSOB now. It became even more pathetic when persons—both Igbo and Nigerians—started exhibiting sham emotion and assuming a mourning and or sycophantic posture for a monument—regardless of its symbolic value—when the same persons had shown little or no interest in the ongoing killing of and injury to the living—injury to Igbo and Biafrans, injury to non-violent MASSOB; when the same persons ignored the Nigeria’s policy-driven ongoing persecution and dehumanization of Igbo-Biafrans which has led to MASSOB formation and sustenance, and ignored the present injustices dished out daily to the Igbo-Biafrans in Nigeria. Do these persons really think that wherever Zik is now, that he would approve of what Nigeria is doing to Igbo-Biafrans today, or approve of the fact that many Igbo-Biafrans have chosen to keep quiet about this mistreatment, only to now start shedding crocodile tears about his destroyed material monument? Do these persons really think that if Zik were still alive today, he would keep quiet while Nigeria and its agents ravage and annihilate the Igbo, well after he, Zik, took a chance during the Biafra war and handed the Igbo back to Nigeria, thinking that Nigeria would treat the Igbo fairly and brotherly? Not Zik! Zik’s torment is not that his monument was burned down, but that he had misplaced his trust in Nigeria to treat the Igbo with justice, fairness and equity; that he had led many Igbo to trust him regarding Nigeria, so much so that the Igbo have become submissive and accepting of Nigeria’s selective injustice to the Igbo. Beware, then, mourner of Zik’s monument. Ask yourself: how would Zik respond to the brazen injustice to the Igbo by Nigeria vis-à-vis his wrecked monument?

There is only one response now to ongoing injustice by Nigeria against Igbo-Biafrans: Protest! protest! protest! until we have successfully and completely pulled out of Nigeria, and are living in our God-given the Sovereign Nation of Biafra.

Biafra alive! For, God makes it so.

That’s the News Analysis for the week. Thank you

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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 wu akuko nke anyi na a kpo News Analysis si na Voice of Biafra International Radio, di na Washington DC, na ala America, na a bia ra unu na abali a.

Anyi ga na e me ngaari-iwe na oge na ile tutu mgbe ndi Nigeria ga a hapu Uwazurike na ndi mmadu isii ndi MASSOB ndi SSS ji na nga. Anyi ga na eme ngaari-iwe tutu anyi ga e nweta Biafra. O wuru ma ndi Nigeria ha na e che na o nwere otu ha ga e si a kwusi ihe ndi MASSOB na e me na otu ha wu ndi MASOB si na edu anyi na i nweta Biafra, o wu onwe ha wu ndi Nigeria ka ha na a ghogbu. Na otu aka ahu kwa, anyi na a gwa unu na na ubochi isii na onwa ikpo-azu afo ya—onwa iri-na-abuo (December 6 2005), anyi wu ndi Biafra e kwekoritala na anyi a gaghi a pu ezi; kama anyi ga a no na ime ulo anyi, i ji zi na iwe di anyi nke ukwuu maka otu Nigeria siri jide Uwazurike na ndi ozo na nga. Onye o wula cheta kwa ubochi ya, mee ihe anyi si na anyi ga e me.

Mgbe gi le chara anya hu nu otu ndi Nigeria si na e megbu anyi na oge na ile, i ga e kweta na o nweghi zi kwanu ihe ozo foziri la anyi i me na a wughi kwa i na a cho uzo anyi ga e si e nweta Biafra osiso. Maka mmegbu na mkpaari ndi Nigeria na enye anyi wu ndi Biafra a kariala.

Ndi Igbo juru ajuju na ilulu na a si na ”A na a ragbu nwunye nwambe na utu e sighi nwambe nne?” Anyi a gaghi e kwe ka ndi Nigeria na e megbu anyi oge na ile maka ha kariri anyi ghie nne. Nkea so na ime ihe mere anyi ji cho i pu na ime Nigeria, ihe mere anyi jiri mara amara na anyi ga a putariri na ime Nigeria ga wa na a ala nke anyi, ala Biafra.

Iwe di anyi maka na ndi Police Nigeria na a kpaari anyi, jiri ugha na e bo ndi MASSOB ndi Igbo ndi Biafra ebubo na oge na ile, we re ebubo ugha ya maa anyi ikpe tinye anyi na nga ha, na e jighi ikpe ahu ga cotu. Ha si zi na ha ga a kpo ndi MASSOB “armed robber,” we re zie otua ahu na a gbagbu ndi MASSOB oge soro ha. Ha wu ndi police a tuo la asi atuo mgbe ha boro ndi MASSOB ebubo na anyi suoro ulo Zik oku, ma na eziokwu wu na o wu ndi Police wu ndi suoro ulo Zik oku. Unu mara kwa na Zik, ebe o wula o no—ma owu na ndu ma o wu na onwu—Zik a gaghi a cho i ji anya ya hu ka ndi Nigeria si na e megbu ndi Igbo taa. Ihe na e wuta Zik, ebe o no taa, wu na Ndi Nigeria na e megbu ndi Igbo mmegbu oge na ile; na o nweghi ihe ndi isi ndi Igbo na e me gbasara mmegbu ya; n wuta Zik a wughi na a kporo ulo ya oku: kedi kwa nu ihe ulo wu mgbe a na e kwu okwu ndu mmadu—ndu ndi Igbo – ndu ndi Biafra na ile? O wuru na i na a sopuru Zik na eziokwu eziokwu, gaa so ro ndi na a cho i kwusi mmegbu a ndi Nigeria na e megbu anyi: bia so ro ndi MASSOB—so ro anyi—na ochicho na nweta Biafra. Maka otu Chineke anyi siri mee ya, otu o si kwara soo Ya wu Chineke anyi, o wu so-o-so Biafra wu ala anyi. Biafra ga a diri anyi—Biafra a dirila anyi.

Biafra, ndu gi! Biafra, ndu gi!! Biafra, ndu gi!!!—na ndu anyi kwa. Maka Chineke nonyere la gi—nonyere kwa ra anyi!

Ndewo unu

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Voice of Biafra International (VOBI) broadcast continues

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