The plans to down Radio Biafra

Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), on Saturday, July 26, won another battle as its Radio Biafra came on air once again in most parts of Biafraland. In addition, its satellite communication was equally restored to its listeners.
The station had gone off affair as result of a careful plot by Nigerian government to stifle it broadcasts, which has come to be known as the “voice of the Biafran people”. The plot became effective on Saturday, July 15, when the Radio went off air in most of Biafraland, as well as got knocked out of its satellite transmission worldwide.

The plot

The Nigerian government had considered the plot necessary as the visit of its President, Muhammadu Buhari, to the United States of America (USA) became imminent. They had reasoned that the station, which has been exposing the rotten underbelly of Nigeria to the outside world, must be stopped before the Buhari’s visit.
Nigerian government has announced the visit as an expedition to purchase arms to battle Boko Haram. But Biafrans saw it as a “begging mission” to acquire arms which would be used to suppress them whenever they decide to march for their freedom.
Now, The Biafra Times investigation revealed that the Fulani led Northern Nigeria (Buhari is a Fulani) concocted the plan to finally put a lasting stop to Radio Biafra broadcasts. In fact, information pieced together from various sources made it obvious that the Nigerian rulers’ plan was to first buy off the satellite company that hosts Radio Biafra signals, which is Satlink; and jam the FM stations in Biafraland. Also as part of the plan, there would be a media blitz that would demonise the radio station as well as the Biafran struggle so as to make the coming brutal repression seem justified in the eyes of the people. The Nigerian rulers equally banked on publicizing the arrests (either real or imagined) so as to scare people that have been massively pressing into the struggle.
Further revelations showed that this particular plan was chosen out of many others under consideration because, even though they describe it as “illegal” and “pirate” radio, it was established on solid legal grounds. They knew it was almost an impossibility to approach the planned downing through legal means.

Executing the plot

With the plans laid out, execution was next. First Buhari empowered some government fronts and agents masquerading as businessmen to buy out RR Media, a company based in the USA, which was registered in 1981. The Biafra Times gathered that Aliko Dangote, the cement and sugar trader was the point man for the deal.
In June, the deal was sealed with a whopping sum of 19 million Dollars. After that, more funds were released, which was to acquire Satlink, the Radio Biafra signals carrier. In buying RR Media, they hid its shareholders not to raise the suspicion of the Israeli owners of Satlink.
Finally acquired, the next line of action was to yank off Radio Biafra signals. They wasted no time in doing just that on Wednesday, July 15, 2015. Obviously, in yanking off the signals, they did not reckon with the fact that it would be viewed by the Biafrans as breach of contract.
The media propaganda bliss, to demonise Radio Biafra and the Biafran struggle, equally took off successfully (still ongoing in some quarters currently) before going to the press. From all sectors and all quarters, voices where heard discussing every other thing, but the fact that the station was in agitation for the sovereignty of Biafra.
Some went as far as deceptively comparing Radio Biafra to Islamic State of Syria and Levant (ISIL); Boko Haram in Nigeria; or even the Rwanda genocide. They obviously reasoned that such comparison would scare away Biafran activists, and portray the Nigerian state as justified when it starts its planned repressive action against the Biafran people.
They hid the fact that it had been the Nigerian state that always performed violence against the Biafrans. They did not state the fact that it was Nigeria in 1967 attacked Biafra and killed nothing less than 4. 5 Million Biafrans. They did not tell their audience that since 1999 when Biafrans started none violence agitation, that the Nigerian state that has murdered nothing less than 2,030 Biafrans.

Lagos/Ibadan Media

As usual, the manipulative Lagos/Ibadan media, spearheaded the media attacks. Opinion articles, commentaries, interviews, Vox-pops, and several other media fares were used to dish out lies and propaganda against Radio Biafra and Biafrans. While some were active on the traditional media, others ran riot on the social media.
Some names that were prominent were: Abike Dabiri, a former member of the House of Representatives; Libros Oshoma, a lawyer; Shade Yemi-Esan, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Information; Ben Bruce, owner of Silverbird television; Awalu Sallihu, Director of Public Affairs, Nigerian Broadcast Commission (NBC); and several others.
Even people with Biafra names, many of whom were suspected to be fake, and many others fathered or mothered by Hausas and Yorubas, joined in campaigns. Among them were such names as Rochas Okorocha, Governor of Imo State; Joe Igbokwe, All Progressives Congress (APC) Spokesperson in Lagos State; and a certain Ozodiobi Osuji, who claims to reside in the United States of America. Others include Chika Omeje; Kelechi Deca; Jeff Eme; Ndubuisi Ojimadu; and several others.
As part of the campaigns, they dubiously branded the radio as “pirate” or “illegal”, and found faults with its style of presentation. This is in spite of the fact that they know the Radio was a freedom fighting outfit that should not be equated with conventional radios. They did not tell the people that Radio Biafran operators were known and not in hiding and that their addresses were known to the world. Hardly were the ignorant and uniformed Nigerian populace told that Radio Biafra was duly registered in the United Kingdom; render accounts to her majesty’s government; and also pays taxes to it.
They refused to acknowledge the fact that IPOB was a body of established and responsible Biafrans residing in  many parts of the world (in more than 88 countries of the world), and that they were engaged in a legitimate aspiration in accordance with the Rights of Indigenous Peoples as recognised by the United Nations (UN) in 2006.

Biafran voices

In spite of the media bliss to demonise Radio Biafra, many Biafrans remained adamant in their quest for Biafra, refusing not to be intimidated. Among them was Nonso Ejirika, a senior official of IPOB, who responded to some of the dubious claims of Nigerian government and its agents.  He wrote: “Radio Biafra is a legal entity and dully incorporated under the laws of Great Britain with its broadcasting studio in the business district of London. If Nigeria feels it has been wronged by Radio Biafra it should bring a legal action to that effect otherwise using violence to destroy the property of a legal entity has far reaching consequences … Nigeria should take a legal action against Radio Biafra so that Nigeria will have a glimpse of the champions of free speech of the world.”

The plan failed

From all indications, that plan has failed. Satellite broadcast is back, FM broadcast is fast returning in many towns and cities, and the start of television broadcast will be within weeks. Radio Biafra is now the number one radio station in the world. Some IPOB members who spoke with The Biafra Herald, said the plan failed because the Nigerian authorities did not reckon with or envisage the fact that IPOB and Radio Biafra operators had a superior technology and the wherewithal to quickly come back on air within 24 hours.
The Nigerian authorities did not also reckon with the fact that the Biafran struggle was a mass movement, and that the people have developed a network of communication that they are no longer dependent on the Nigerian lying media. They have equally perfected a “twittering prowess” and the use of the Internet that sends out an avalanche of information to the world (most especially world leaders) on any issues about Biafra.
According to them, it was this that enabled them to easily dispense with all the lies that the Nigerian government and its agents peddled. They insisted that it was this that made them (the Nigerian authorities) desists from acting on the plot to apply repressive actions against the people, knowing that if they engaged in any such action, the world would be put on the know within an instant.
Evidence of the failure of the plan is the fact that before the plot by Nigerian government Radio Biafra was only on one Satellite Company, but today it is in two. The management has secured a new contract with another company, INTELSAT. The Radio Biafra signals can now be received through: INTELSAT 20/K 68.5 degree east, frequency 12521v27501. They have also secured a contract with Yamil 20/C band 55°E, frequency 11045 V 40000. The same satellite houses prophetic TV, CVV; TV, Loveworld Sat; Glovv TV, Racing int yml.
Carol Munday, an official had this to say about the new platforms: "If you can get Emmanuel TV, you can get Radio Biafra. All things happen for a reason. If you are already on this satellite or if you are already receiving the above channels all you have to do is to press, 'TV/Radio' button, on your remote and scroll down to see Radio Biafra. Remember to re-scan your decoder."

New plots

In spite of the failure of the plan, investigation shows that Nigerian authorities are not resting on their oars. In fact, new plots are being hatched. Nigerians are considering getting Nnamdi Kanu killed either through poisoning of whatever form, sniper shots, murder at Police checkpoints, or even arranged road accidents.
But Kanu has a replied for them, advising them to learn lessons from what happened to Mohammed Yusuf the founder of Boko Harm. It was after Yusuf was killed that Boko Haram went haywire. Kanu therefore informed them that Nnamdi Kanu may have consideration for peace, but that many behind him do not have such an option.
In conclusion, Ejirika tells the Radio Biafra story: “May I pose this question: when was the last time a Hausa/Fulani indigene who beheaded an Igbo man, woman or children was held accountable for his/her action? This reflects the hundred years’ experience of the Igbo in Nigeria. The first recorded killing of the Igbo by the Hausas and Fulanis was in 1908 during the construction of the Kaura Namoda Railway Line. The Igbo Work-Crew were slaughtered for cutting woods and grassland that were reserved for feeding cattle. The follow-up question is: “has this killing stopped?” The answer, he said, is that there are no prospects of these killings ever coming to an end.
“In summary, this is the crux of Radio Biafra's Story.”