“Block the sale of warplanes to Nigeria”: What is missing in an otherwise excellent editorial from the New York Times, Wednesday 18 May 2016

Herbert Ekwe-Ekwe

At last, a major news organisation in the United States/West has come out to challenge the deafening silence that has pervaded across the West World over the genocidist Muhammadu Buhari regime in Nigeria installed in office in March 2015 by the David Cameron and Barack Obama administrations. 

Today’s (Wednesday 18 May 2016) New York Times editorial (http://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/18/opinion/block-the-sale-of-warplanes-to-nigeria.html?_r=0, accessed 18 May 2016) has unambiguously called on the US government not to sell war planes to the murderous regime. But it completely misses the compelling geographical focus of the crime against humanity being perpetrated by Buhari: it is not northeast/northcentral region of Nigeria in some “war” with Boko Haram/Fulani militants. No, itsn’t. Buhari is not “at war” with Boko Haram/Fulani militants. On the contrary, Buhari is an integral component of Boko Haram/Fulani militants.

Free-fire zone...

Muhammadu Buhari’s war, since his March 2015 imposition, is to the south of Nigeria – in Biafra, occupied by Nigeria since 13 January 1970. Buhari has continued the Nigeria state genocide against the Igbo people, fully supported by Britain, which he, himself, as a lieutenant then in the genocidist army has been a ruthless active participant right from launch date, 29 May 1966. 3.1 million Igbo people or one-quarter of this nation’s population were murdered in the three phases of the genocide (foundational genocide of post-[European]conquest Africa) prior to 13 January 1970 and hundreds of thousands have been murdered subsequently, including those murdered since Buhari’s current position in power, especially beginning November 2015 and has continued unabated.

During this period, Buhari has essentially turned Biafra into a free-fire zone where his occupying troops and adjunct forces Boko Haram and Fulani militants have tactically picked and chosen where and when and what targeted firing range to murder the next Igbo child, woman or man as the grim record of the committed murders by the tripartite amalgam in the following population layouts in Biafran cities, towns and villages attest chronologically: Onicha … Igwe Ocha … Ubulu-Ukwu ... Asaba … Oka … Enuugwu … Aba … Igwe Ocha … Asaba … Enuugwu … Igwe Ocha … Onicha … Uzo-Uwani ... Onicha ...

Ban all arms sales/transfers to Nigeria

Buhari will surely use any US planes in his armoury against Biafra. Nowhere else. Buhari is very much aware of the sheer savagery of the carpet-bombing campaigns that Igbo population centres were subjected to (during October 1966-January 1970) by loaned Egyptian pilots flying Nigeria air force Soviet-supplied MiGs and looks forward, eagerly, to a repeat performance. 

Besides denying Buhari planes to murder Biafrans, the New York Times and other public institutions and the US public in general should now intensify a principled demand on their government to ban all US arms sales/transfers to Nigeria. Any American bullet, pistol, rifle, grenade, rocket, bazooka, helicopter gunship, naval gunship, the fighter aircraft, the bomber, the tank… – each and everyone of these items sent to the Buhari regime would be more likely than not deployed to murder Igbo people, one of the world’s most peaceful and resourceful peoples. The United States can no longer remain bystanders as this orgy of murdering is brazenly carried out in Biafra day in, day out.

(Booker Little Sextet, “We speak” [personnel: Little, trumpet; Julian Priester, trombone; Eric Dolphy, alto saxophone; Don Friedman, piano; Art Davis, bass; Max Roach, drums; recorded: Nola’s Penthouse Studios, New York, US, 17 March 1961])

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