Biafra: TEN PROPAGANDA ORCHESTRATED BY THE LAGOS-IBADAN MEDIA AGAINST BIAFRA

October 25, 2016

Public Enlightenment Series:

  

Propaganda #1: Biafra is only about the Igbo-speaking people mainly in the unconstitutional Southeast geo-political zone of Nigeria.

There has been systematic pidgeon-holing of Biafra into Igbo by the Lagos-Ibadan media. In doing this, they implanted into the subconsciousness of both foreign and local observers that the quest for Biafra is an “Igbo thing.“ But they failed to inform their audience that the man who piloted the affairs of Biafra after General Odimegwu-Ojukwu travelled to Ivory Coast was not from the Igbo-speaking area of Biafra. The Lagos-Ibadan media intentionally failed to let the world know that, during the war of genocide on Biafra, there were high-ranking military and civilian Administrative Officers who were not from the Igbo-speaking area of Biafra working for their nation of Biafra. Fortunately, the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) through the media arm – Radio Biafra London (RBL) – has exposed this lie being peddled by the  Lagos-Ibadan media. Now, the entire world has come to know that Biafra is not all about the Igbos. As a matter of fact, Igbo is only a language spoken by some people in Biafra. IPOB through RBL has proven beyond reasonable doubt that Biafra is a people and Igbo is just a language.

Propaganda #2: Igbos do not love themselves.

This is another lie from the pit of hell peddled by the Lagos-Ibadan media. It is on record that the Igbo-speaking people of Biafra and known for identifying their people from different villages and grooming them into successful business tycoons. Also, Igbo-speaking Biafrans are known for setting up Town, Community, and Village meetings in far away places outside of their homelands. On the other hand, there have been very disastrous and gut-wrenching communal clashes between Ife and Modakeke or between Tivs and Jukuns. There have been genocidal clashes between Katafs and Fulanis or between Beroms and Munchi people. Despite these communal clashes that have led to the loss of hundreds of thousands of lives, the Lagos-Ibadan media have remained mute but rather keep hammering on the notion that Igbos do not love themselves. Thanks to Chukwu Okike Abiama for the emergence of IPOB and RBL. Now, we know that Igbo-speaking Biafrans love themselves and they also love other Biafrans who are not from the Igbo-speaking area of Biafraland. This propaganda by the Lagos-Ibadan media has once more been defeated and thrown into the abyss.

Propaganda #3: Igbos love money more than anything else including their freedom, and they love money more than other tribes love money.

This propaganda was initiated immediately after the end of the genocidal war waged on Biafra by Buhari and his Northern brothers. The Lagos-Ibadan media championed this fallacy and kept bringing it into cartoons and comedies and successfully made it a national mantra. However, events in the contraption called Nigeria have proven unarguably that those who stole Nigeria blind were never from Igbo-speaking area of Biafra. Umaru Dikko, Tafa Balogun, Bola Ahmed Tinubu a.k.a. Jagaban, T. Y. Danjuma, Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida, Sani Abacha, Atiku Abubakar, Muhammadu Buhari, Aisha Buhari, and the list goes on and on, are some of the numerous names of those who stole stupendously from the public treasury. These “Ali-Baba’s“ were never prosecuted but rather celebrated, and one of them is presently the president of Nigeria. We are glad that IPOB and RBL have exposed them for who they are and comprehensively deconstructed this propaganda by the Lagos-Ibadan media. The Lagos-Ibadan media always paint the Igbo-speaking Biafrans in a bad light but see nothing wrong in the thieving people from the Western and Northern areas of the British criminality called Nigeria.

Propaganda #4: Igbos will dominate other tribes in Biafraland, hence these other tribes should distance themselves from the restoration of Biafra.

This was the propaganda used to divide Biafra and cause mutual suspicion and hatred between the Igbo-speaking people of Biafra and their kit and kin who speak other languages in Biafra. The Lagos-Ibadan media cunningly avoided revealing the facts that the Hausa-Fulani alone own 90% of the oil resources in Biafraland including those they claim will be dominated by the Igbo-speaking people. They also denied their audience the opportunity to learn that the seaports in Biafraland have been concessioned to only Hausa-Fulani people. Furthermore, the Lagos-Ibadan media refused to tell the world that Ken Saro-Wiwa, Isaac Adaka Boro, Chief Harry Marshall, Chief A. K. Dikkibo, Chief Alfred Rewane, and so many other illustrious sons of Biafra were all killed by Hausa-Fulani or Yorubas. Even recently, Olusegun Obasanjo massacred almost every human being in Odi community in Bayelsa State. Again, IPOB and RBL have exposed this propaganda by the  Lagos-Ibadan media. The Igbo-speaking people of Biafra have never dominated any group. Instead, the Hausa-Fulani and their Yoruba counterparts are the groups dominating others including the Igbo-speaking people of Biafraland.

Propaganda #5: The safety of investments/assets of Igbos in other parts of Nigeria will not be guaranteed if Biafra leaves Nigeria. Hence these asset owners should not be part of Biafra restoration process.

This is a scare-mongering propaganda aimed at putting fear into those Biafrans who have invested heavily in cities outside Biafraland. The Lagos-Ibadan media are spreading false information that Biafrans would lose their investments if they support the emergence of the nation of Biafra. But they failed to inform their audience that there is hardly any prominent Hausa-Fulani man, including Muhammadu Buhari, who does not have a house in London. Same thing for every single wealthy Yoruba man. Why is it that their properties are not in danger in London and why is it that it is only properties of Igbo-speaking Biafrans that will be in jeopardy in what remains of Nigeria when Biafra is gone? The well-researched work of IPOB and RBL has taught Biafrans that their assets and investments are very secure in Nigeria even after the exit of Biafra. 

Biafrans were informed by IPOB and RBL that the reason why some properties were lost by Biafrans after the war of genocide was that the case was between the individual asset owners and the Nigerian state. But in the case of the independent nation of Biafra, it will be a case between Biafra and the country that attempts to tamper with the assets of Biafrans. For instance, if Oduduwa makes any move to jeopardize the assets of Biafrans in Lagos, it will be a case between the nation of Biafra and the nation of Oduduwa and surely victory shall be that of Biafra. Hence the Biafran asset owners will have nothing to worry about. Therefore, the propaganda by the Lagos-Ibadan media has fallen flat, courtesy of IPOB and RBL.

Propaganda #6: Igbos have intermarried with people from other parts of Nigeria, hence no need for an independent Biafra nation because of this inter-marriage.

This is one of the most grotesque of all the propaganda orchestrated by the Lagos-Ibadan media. There are many marriages that are intercontinental, yet one country did not collapse into the other because of that marriage. Even the great Nelson Mandela married the former First Lady of Mozambique. Why did Mozambique not collapse into South Africa because Mandela has now married their former First Lady? Should inter-marriage between Biafrans and other people prevent Biafrans from seeking their independence? Governor Adams Oshiomole married outside Nigeria, therefore, that country from which Oshiomole married should be taken over by Nigeria! What a shame to the Lagos-Ibadan media!!

Propaganda #7: Igbos want Biafra because of oil and gas in the so-called Niger-Delta/South-south.

The Lagos-Ibadan media have used this propaganda to sow a seed of discord and suspicion between the Igbo-speaking Biafrans and their brothers and sisters in the so-called Niger-Delta or South-South. But they corruptly denied their audience the fact that the oil and gas resources have been controlled by the Hausa-Fulani from inception till date. They also refused to enlighten their audience that oil and gas also exist in the Igbo-speaking area of Biafraland. If the Igbo-speaking people of Biafra are after the oil and gas of their kit and kins, what of the Hausa-Fulani who have been stealing this oil and gas resources in broad daylight since 1956? Major infrastructures were built in Lagos and Abuja with money from oil and gas in Biafraland. 

These infrastructures are still maintained till date with money from oil and gas from Biafraland. It, therefore, means that the Lagos-Ibadan media don’t want Biafra because they want the Hausa-Fulani and their Yoruba counterpart to maintain the status quo of continuous stealing of the oil and gas resources in Biafraland.  But this will not happen again because IPOB and RBL have educated Biafrans enough that we will no longer be deceived by this blatant lie by the Lagos-Ibadan media.

Propaganda #8: Seeking Biafra nation means war, in other words, Biafra restoration is equivalent to war hence Igbos should remember what happened to them between 1967 and 1970.

This is another way of imparting morbid fear into Biafrans by reminding them of the genocide meted out to them by Muhammadu Buhari and his Hausa-Fulani brothers between 1967 and 1970. But what the Lagos-Ibadan media failed to understand is that the world has changed a lot from 1970 till date. Several countries have emerged without war. The Indigenous People of Biafra are pursuing the restoration of their God-given nation of Biafra in the most civilized manner. For this reason, IPOB remains peaceful and law-abiding. 

The government of Buhari has tried every means possible to provoke IPOB members into violence, but they have failed. Biafrans are not warmongers and do not want war. Biafrans will never be drawn into any war. Therefore, the attempts by the Lagos-Ibadan media to associate Biafra restoration quest with war is dead on arrival. IPOB and RBL have taught us that we do not need to engage Nigeria into any war for Biafra to come. The reason is that Biafra restoration is divinely ordained and is unstoppable, hence war is not necessary.

  

Propaganda #9: Biafra is land-locked and therefore not viable as a sovereign nation.

This is the most laughable of all the propaganda by the Lagos-Ibadan media. First of all, it is not true that Biafra is land-locked. Secondly, there are land-locked countries that are performing much better than Nigeria that has access to the sea. The performance or viability of a country is not based on access to the sea. Somalia is not land-locked, but it is a failed state. On the contrary, Zambia, Lesotho, and Botswana are peaceful countries with economic and political stability. Biafra is heavily endowed with human resources which are the greatest gift any nation can have. Therefore, this hogwash on being land-locked by the Lagos-Ibadan media is like singing off-key in music and which does not resonate with any rational thinking.

Propaganda #10: So-called Igbo elites do not support the Biafra restoration process, so why should the masses continue working towards the restoration of the nation of Biafra.

This very lazy argument falls flat on the ground that nation-building is not an affair exclusively reserved for the elites. The Lagos-Ibadan media should understand that Biafra restoration process is a “bottom-up“ process in the sense that the masses are the key players. The Indigenous People of Biafra is a mass-movement comprising ordinary Biafrans from all walks of life. IPOB is not an elitist organization but a grassroots movement. On the other hand, the Lagos-Ibadan media are good at sampling a few Biafran turncoats especially those from the Igbo-speaking areas known for wheeling and dealing with the murderous Muhammadu Buhari. 

By the way, who are these elites? Is the Lagos-Ibadan media defining Igbo elite as somebody who can read and write in the employ of Nigeria or is it somebody who lives in Lagos and Abuja with a chieftaincy title? So where were these elites when Gowon went scot-free after the massacre of over five million Biafrans? In which country on earth are a bunch of good-for-nothing collaborators referred to as elite? Is the Lagos-Ibadan media implying that those in the leadership of IPOB are not educated enough or financially comfortable enough to be considered to be elites?  The Lagos-Ibadan media will soon find out that, at the appropriate time, these turncoats will proceed on self-exile while the masses will occupy Biafraland. Therefore, the so-called elites are of no consequence in the scheme of things in Biafra restoration process.  The Lagos-Ibadan media must know that IPOB and RBL have educated, enlightened, and energized the masses extensively and they are ready to restore their nation with or without the so-called elites.

Analysis by:

Barrister Emma Nmezu       

Dr. Clifford Chukwuemeka Iroanya

Spokespersons for IPOB