MUKTAR TAHIR writes to justify the recent action of the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) in nibbing Radio Biafra’s broadcast excesses in the bud.
Last week, when the news broke that the Nigeria’s broadcasting industry regulator, the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) has jammed and confiscated transmitters being used by the Radio Biafra across the South east, is to say the least a good development by the current administration and most Nigerians received the news gladly.
Also, in a bid to effectively neutralizing illegal broadcasts from the radio station, Emeka Mba, the Director General of NBC said the brains behind the radio station are currently being interrogated by security operatives. Mba added that the commission was working to stop the transmission through the internet.
“The Commission has also worked with other agencies to remove the transmissions of the illegal station from the satellite, and this has put paid to the divisive and disruptive transmissions. We are working on the Internet transmissions.
“The National Broadcasting Commission wishes to appreciate the concerns expressed by Nigerians over the seditious activities of the illegal ‘Biafra Radio’ transmitting hate messages that are unfortunately designed to create disunity among Nigerians and mislead young people in a deliberate act of subversion. Nigerians do not need another round of heartache and bloodshed.” The DG noted.
Verily, the clampdown on the station and hounding of the sponsors of the pirate broadcast station was a strategic step in the right direction because these behind the hosting of the station does not have the best interest of the corporate existence of Nigeria at heart.
However, the Director of the controversial Radio station, Nnamdi Kanu had come out debunking the claim in his message on the radio monitored in Aba, Abia State on Saturday, saying nobody can jam or put Ra¬dio Biafra off the air, not in this digital age.
One thing for sure is that whatsoever it is the days of the Biafra Radio is numbered.
According to him, “we are live and we are di¬rect, nobody can jam us or put us off the air, not in this digital age. We know that government was doing everything to put us off the air because Ra¬dio Biafra has been exposing the corruption going on in high places in the country and the maltreat¬ment of the Biafran people of the South astern Nigeria, put they can’t succeed.”
On the contrary, Radio Biafra was floated by some Nigerians in the south east of the country. While its backers say the radio caters for the needs of people from the region, the network is also known from propagating the ideology of the former secessionist Republic of Biafra.
This radio has not only changed its mode of operations, it seems to have raised the bar in terms of its bloodcurdling rhetoric. The proprietors of Radio Biafra claim it is “dedicated to the defense of (the) rights of the indigenous people of Biafra and ultimately the actualization of the Republic of Biafra.” And the way they have gone about actualizing their aims leaves much to be desired.
Now is the time to nip in the bud the activities of Radio Biafra and self-theatricalising promoter, Mr. Kanu who deludes himself as a “liberator” and “God Sent”. From the bitter experiences of the tragic theatre in Boko Haram, we can’t allow this current menace that defines promotion of identity in the annulment of the other to fester.
To actualize his aim, Mr. Kanu, ensconced in the comfort of Europe, where a relative culture of tolerance guarantees his liberties and freedom, has reportedly asked his listeners to annul those same values at home, and destroy certain individuals and groups not supportive of his murderous ideology.
For a nation with the bitter history of a fratricidal carnage on the tragic scale of the civil war, the challenges of continued unity and development are not helped by such distractions like Radio Biafra.
Yet it will not be enough to simply ignore Radio Biafra. Just like Boko Haram, Radio Biafra once again challenges the foundations of justice and equity in the architecture of the Nigerian nation. Beyond wielding the stick and simply treating this as a national security issue, it is also important for the government to interrogate the reasons that throws up centrifugal forces that tend to undermine the unity of the country but make national cohesion and progress impossible.
Tahir wrote from Abuja