BIAFRA: A Reality? Feds Are Concerned.

[Honeybunnie]

Hmmmm....Is it just me, or is it getting kinda hot in herre.

[Prince]

Maaaaaann, I thought you were asleep, Hb.  Daag!

[Susia]

@ Yvonne, i know it had to be you!!!!!!

[Honeybunnie]

:lol:  :lol:  :lol:  :lol:  :lol:  :lol:

[Honeybunnie]

Last Updated: Tuesday, 22 March, 2005, 14:06 GMT  

Nigeria treason footballers plead

Footballers belonging to a banned Nigerian secessionist group have pleaded not guilty to treason for playing in a youth football tournament.
It was organised by the banned group Massob, which is campaigning for a separate eastern state of Biafra.
Biafran secessionist calls led to a three-year war in the 1960s in which more than one million people died.

The 53 men have been in custody for six months...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/4372409.stm

Hopefully they get a fair trial.

[Prince]

I hope God hears your prayers.  A fair trial for them is a distant and remote possibility.

Regarding this MASSOB campaign, this fever is gaining momentum and the FG, by responding to its every action, helps to fan the flame.  I\'m afraid the genie is difficult to stuff back into the bottle once it is let out.

I\'m exceedingly proud ot our youths who, irrespective of the oppressed freedom in Nigeria, have courage enough to go this far.  Even if nothing becomes of their efforts, they will always command my admiration.

[sly]

I agree with u prince. Kudos to ur young men who still have the courage to stand up for what they believe in. It will take time b4 we know any justice in that country. What has the FG done to other pressure groups like the OPC, MOSOPand all the other radical groups in nig. None of them have been charged to court of arrested.

[Prince]

Hallelujah!  Finally, Sly agrees with me.  I thank you for that, and I mean it.

[Prince]

Freedom, Obasanjo Version:  The Saga Continues

Following is a post in the BNW forum submitted by Nwa-Afor (Username)

What Type of Injustice Is This?

Dokubo and his terror group are known to have weapons and have caused violence and threaten to cause more violent, what did Obasanjo do. He sent the presidential jet to bring him to abuja where he settled them. These are people that have innocent blood on their hands.

When some crazed Islamic entities from Arewa threatened to cause mayhem if there demand for an Islamic secretary, in the ongoing fool-the fool dialogue, instituted by Obasanjo in abuja. What did Obasanjo do, quick quick he gave in to their demand. These are people with history of killing innocent civilians and destroying govt. and individual properties.

When Chris Ubah, Obasanjo\'s brother in crime, sent thugs to burn and destroy state infrastuctures in Anambra what did Obasanjo do? looked the other way and till date no one has been held accountable.

Now innocent young men, who want to decipate energy through soccer have been kept in jail for months, and like play like play, they may be tortured and eventually killed. Just because they belong to a peaceful, non violent organization demanding equal right and treatment, with no history of violence. I trully wonder how Obasanjo will face his maker.

I seriously believe that his days are drawing to a close. God let evil to happen for a greater good and purpose. This is sure one of those times. God help us all!

The Picture of, and news about, the detained soccer players, one of whom is feared dead, can be seen at: http://www.comcast.net/data/news/photoshow/html/int_news/88610.html

[okey]

The war ended 35 years ago, and today there is scant physical evidence of the futile effort to create the independent nation of Biafra. No war cemeteries, no monuments, no veterans\' organizations.

Except for a small museum that contains a few fading photographs and rusting weaponry, the Nigerian government has banished memorials to the war, one of the first to be seared onto the world\'s consciousness by television.

Ralph Uwazuruike, who was 9 years old when the war began in 1967, says he will never forget his younger sister Mary dying in his arms from malnutrition while his mother desperately searched their village for medicine.

\"So many other children died as my sister died,\" said Uwazuruike, 46, a lawyer.

Six years ago, Uwazuruike became fed up with what he considered the continued humiliation of the ethnic Ibo people, the dominant tribe in the eastern Nigerian region that had declared itself independent. He formed an organization called the Movement for the Actualization of the Sovereign State of Biafra, daring to use the name that the Nigerian government had officially expunged from maps.

At first, not many people took MASSOB seriously. The group hung Biafra\'s red, green and black flags from cell-phone towers and power lines, and erected a \"Welcome to Biafra\" sign on a bridge crossing the Niger River. The government tore down the flags and signs and arrested MASSOB members in confrontations that sometimes became violent, even deadly.

Last August, the rest of Nigeria took notice as the outlawed group organized a one-day strike that virtually shut down Africa\'s most populous nation. The following month, authorities arrested 53 people at a soccer game sponsored by MASSOB, charging them with treason, punishable by death.

\"At first people said, \'Look at this small boy\' - they ignored me,\" Uwazuruike said in an interview in the organization\'s new headquarters here, a fortified mansion surrounded by 15-foot walls topped with tightly coiled razor wire. \"But this thing is strengthening us, making us stronger every day.\"

Uwazuruike insisted his group is nonviolent, saying he is inspired by the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Mohandas K. Gandhi. But the organization has some militaristic appearances. Its security forces wear camouflage fatigues. Its internal command is governed by a group called the \"Biafra Liberation Front.\" And Uwazuruike, while talking about plans to build a museum to the civil war, refers to the 1960s conflict as the \"first\" Biafran war.

http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/news/nation/11540418.htm

[okey]

Biafran pound still being spent ... at Togo, Benin Republic border towns ?It?s N270 to Biafran ?1?Presidency, CBN, Ohanaeze react

Gbenga Osinaike, just back from Togo and Ghana

The currency spent in the defunct Republic of Biafra during the Nigerian civil war (1967-70), Biafran Pound, has surreptitiously crept into the currency market, serving as the legal tender in some communities along the West African coast.

Investigations carried out by Sunday Punch showed that the money is being spent in the border town between Togo and Republic of Benin, while some currency hawkers also exchange it for the naira and other currencies in the border town between Ghana and Togo.

One Biafran pound still bears the signature of Dr. Syvelster Ugo, the then Governor of the Central Bank of the defunct Biafran Republic and the picture of a palm tree. Its back has the coat of arms of the republic with the inscription: ?peace, unity and freedom.?

What is, however, baffling about the currency is that it has more value than the Nigerian naira and it is openly accepted as a legal tender in the affected communities.

When Sunday Punch visited the Ghana and Togo border town, known as Aflo, some of the money vendors were eager to sell the currency. They, however, insisted on selling one Biafran pound at N800. The scenario at the Togo/Benin Republic border, known as Helakondi, was different as the vendors willingly sold one pound for between N200 and N270 to our correspondent. Some food vendors in Togo were telling passersby that they were willing to accept Biafran pounds.

In Ghana, the vendors were discreet about the trade. One of them, who identified himself simply as Tony, told our correspondent that the money was not accepted as a legal tender in Ghana, but that Ghana was a transit route for the currency.

He said: \"We get the money from some Igbo people in Nigeria. They bring it here for us and we cherish it so much.

?That is why the value is higher than the Nigerian naira. This is the money that is being spent by some Igbo communities in Ivory Coast. Many of them are travellers. On their way to other parts of West Africa, they stop by and exchange the currency for the naira with them. They are the only people who buy the money from us.\"

Tony, who said he had lived in Ghana for about 15 years, told us that some of the notes were just printed. \"I think the Igbo are trying to make a statement with the money. It may surprise you that some of the people, who have the money, are not willing to sell it because they are looking forward to a time when the Biafran Republic will come to stay.\"

While displaying some ignorance about the defunct Biafran Republic, he said: \"I know they are about to create a Biafran Republic. I know it will not be long from now. We are all waiting to see the Republic.\"

Another vendor, A Ghanaian, who identified himself as Albert Leigh, said the Biafran pound was brought by one Igbo man called Emeka. He said: \"It is one Igbo man that brings the money here. Whenever he is travelling, he stops by and hands over the money to money changers. I was fortunate to be around the last time he came and also got my share. What surprises me is that many of the Igbo travellers come to ask of it. I had about 500 pounds with me. I have exchanged everything for naira. I\'m now left with one pound. That is the extent the trade has gone.\"

http://odili.net/news/source/2005/jun/5/537.html