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

For May 3^rd, 2003  

You have heard the news, now, the analysis…  

Fellow Biafrans:  

We start by congratulating our Biafran men and women living in Germany who recently concluded a successful Biafra rally and demonstration in Dusseldorf , Germany . Pictures taken of the occasion show Biafrans in front of and beside large life-sized Biafran Flags waving free. Placards read: “Biafra Now is the Time”; Biafra is our Right; Biafra deserves a Place in the MAP; We are Biafra ; Biafra World Hear Us; Amalgamation We say No.” We say to you, fellow Biafrans in Germany : we are all behind you, and we all feel the same way as you do. We thank you for reminding the world, for pricking the conscience of a passive world, and for stirring the hearts of oblivious Biafrans in Diaspora, that Biafra is here to stay, that we, Biafra, shall never be forgotten, and that we shall succeed in actualizing Biafra. One placard correctly stated: “ Nigeria is a country of injustice.”  

And thus, speaking of injustice, let us visit the current events in that country of unspeakable injustice, a country thriving on hideous evil and pure fraud, a place where Obasanjo and his cronies and PDP are tripping all over themselves in celebration of what they call victory at the polls. What a farce. It would be funny and amusing but for the fact that the rest of the world appears to be getting hoodwinked into going along with this crime. And even the likes of Mandela are joining in the chorus of men and women who are too eager to dismiss or overlook facts and truth—for what? The rest of the world is eager to acquiesce once again to evil and fraud. How many times has history taught humanity the lesson that there are certain things that you just can’t sweep under the rug; that there are certain things based on principles that you just cannot accept out of expediency?  

Now, “they” say that the elections in Nigeria were successful because the elections were relatively peaceful. We ask, relative to what?  And, how was that “relative peacefulness”  achieved? Does the world want to forget that Nigeria deployed more armed men in the cities in Nigeria during these elections than the US deployed soldiers in the Iraq War? There were at least two hundred and fifty thousand fully armed men—by Nigerian government admission—against an unarmed hapless population; to keep what peace?  

It is clear from all reports that this “Electoral Army” was not keeping the peace, but was actually a partisan armed force doing the bidding of PDP and Obasanjo and doing the rigging of the elections for them. This Force constituted an Intimidation Army influencing the voting exercise in favor of Obasanjo and PDP, and doing so openly for the most part. What price, peaceful elections? We ask Mandela and the rest of world, is this acceptable, in the name of “peaceful” elections?  

By the way: let us pose a simple question: what is the purpose of elections, anyway? What is the goal of elections? Does the fact that “peaceful” elections are held mean that elections have been successful? If we understand it correctly, elections are meant to convey the will and choice of the people. That is the sole purpose of the electoral exercise. In the case of these recent elections in Nigeria , what really happened? This is what really happened; we know it for a fact because it was quite obvious. Regardless of how the people voted, the results—the figures—were already decided on and made up. Yes, the peoples living in Nigeria did brave the rain and stand for hours to vote. But, the votes they cast did not count towards the final results. INEC, in cahoots with PDP and Obasanjo wrote in their own figures, recorded their own numbers that they had made up beforehand, in favor of themselves and their party; and then published them to the world as tallies of the peoples’ votes. After all, did not the world see the glaring cases were such figures were produced by INEC when even witnesses agreed that there was no polling at all?  

We ask Mandela and the rest of the world: why do you congratulate Obasanjo and PDP and INEC knowing fully well that the purpose of suffrage was entirely defeated, and the essence and substance of democracy were indeed truly raped by these entities by the conduct of these elections in Nigeria ? We ask you: what does it matter now that the exercise was done “in peace” when there was a deliberate and calculated effort which was well-planned and well-executed, designed to substitute and legitimize fraudulent results in place of the people’s will and choices?  

Thus, the world, by her acquiescence, lays the foundation for a deeper cataclysm to befall Nigeria , by conveniently and expediently forgetting the purpose of elections when she (the world) accepts the fraudulent results proffered by Obasanjo and PDP and INEC. Now, if the world thinks that she can get away with this, she deceives herself again, because when the day of reckoning comes for Nigeria , the same bells will be tolling for the rest of the world. History has amply proved this point.  

Woe unto those Nigerians celebrating with Obasanjo, PDP and INEC today, for tomorrow, they will themselves be consumed by the evil which they have committed, and which they have let loose in the lands of the nations that live in Nigeria . For, if they get away with it today, how will any future elections in Nigeria be carried out without fraud as its trademark, without fraud as its tradition? Good thing, there is no future for Nigeria . No so-called country that wallows in this much evil and revels in this much fraud can survive.  

Woe unto those persons and or organizations and or entities who have witnessed this fraud today, who have recognized it as such—fraud and evil—and who are not challenging it and protesting it in any manner at all. By keeping quiet, they have aligned themselves with evil, and they have thus condemned themselves to reap the fallout of evil and fraud.  

Fellow Biafrans: “they” advise aggrieved parties cheated out of the people’s choice and the people’s will to seek redress in Nigerian Courts. Excuse me!? Time and again, haven’t we seen these courts bow to Obasanjo’s will, either by being “settled,” blackmailed, intimidated, or by the throttling of theses courts accomplished with the deliberate withholding of finances due the courts? So, it is in these courts that one would seek justice? We know that all that will happen is that the courts would legitimize the fraud committed by Obasanjo and PDP in these elections. Let’s not forget that it is the same courts that allowed the elections to proceed even though INEC did not have the voter-registry process completed sixty days prior to the election, as demanded by the laws that govern INEC’s functions and electoral responsibilities. Without accurate or reasonably accurate voter registration, how can anybody conduct a meaningful election? Any wonder, then, that the results of the elections are generating so much heat? An independent court would have asked INEC to abide by the rules.  

Oh yes, “they” have also recommended that affected parties go to the INEC’s Electoral Tribunal or commission to present their cases. What a stupid idea! Here is INEC celebrating what INEC has claimed is “very successful elections.” In spite of neutral observers, in spite of objective reports, in spite of the poor voters’ experiences and reports—all to the contrary, INEC is giddy with pleasure in its self-acclaimed and self-professed success at conducting free and fair elections. Is it this same department that aggrieved parties are supposed to go to in order to obtain justice and redress? We can all be honest to ourselves and agree that this recommendation will only result in going through the motions because the result is fixed—just like the elections being protested.  

The frustration awaiting those who are willing to go to the courts or go through the Tribunal to challenge these fraudulent elections is huge enough to set off a massive popular protest and perhaps, other collective action. If these aggrieved ones and sympathizers (and who aren’t sympathizers—well, except for Obasanjo, PDP and INEC) are compelled in this path of collective action, then, Nigeria and the rest of the world are in for shocking times.  

Fellow Biafrans: there is an opportunity to go down the route of Sovereign National Conference (SNC) at this time, where Sovereign and National refer to the independence and sovereignty of the Nations that live in Nigeria. Let us all now push for this. We have to capitalize on every single opportunity that presents itself. The current crisis in Nigeria caused by election fraudsters and riggers can still spiral out of hand. SNC can at once preempt that and make it unnecessary for peoples to kill and maim one another.  

Why SNC? Let us remind everybody of the reasons for SNC at this time. For once, the major representatives of the peoples living in Nigeria have agreed on one thing. The AD / Afenifere in the West; the Arewa / ANPP / in the North, the Easterners—Biafrans (including so-called South-south)— APGA have all declared the elections massively rigged and fraudulent. Everybody knows that everything is wrong about the results and about the conduct of the elections. The choices of reactions are not that many. If the results of the elections are allowed to stand, then a foundation is being laid on quicksand; the edifice called Nigeria shall surely crumble and collapse and injure the peoples in and around it. The shaky edifice can also be brought down by mass-action by masses no longer willing to wait for time to finish off Nigeria.  

Second, we know that even if Nigeria was to survive the immediate crises, the seeds, trees and forests of inter-ethnic-national distrust, mistrust, and infighting, are thriving more than ever, thanks to the events and results of the elections. We shall never get along any more, not even on the usual pretense level.  

Thus, it is time to go to SNC and release Nigeria from her misery. It is time to deprive the political class of the oxygen of a centralized system that sucks up power and money from the hapless, despondent peoples living in Nigeria, and a political class whose only product is fraud and evil. It is time to break the structure which allows these unscrupulous politicians and their PDP party to steal the wealth of Biafra, with which to stock up their foreign bank accounts and increase their foreign holdings while leaving us in wretched conditions. SNC will solve all of that.  

SNC demands that we remain united as a people—the nation of Biafra—and that we remain in solidarity. SNC demands that we speak with one voice, and act as one sociopolitical unit. That’s why we are supporting APGA and Ojukwu totally through all this. In staying united and in solidarity, and in expressing our unity by our full support of APGA and Ojukwu, we are doing our part in God’s plan to save and liberate Biafra and Biafrans.  

SNC can fetch us Biafra—now. God has Biafra in His hands. God has Biafran actualization in His Plan. We must do our part!  

Biafra lives! Let’s all live Biafra, just like the Biafrans living in Germany.  

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) broadcasts continues (http://www.biafraland.com/vobi.htm). Thank you.