BNW Magazine: Biafra Nigeria World :: A Certain "Biafra House" Self-Promotion and Self-Authentication: the Abuse of Cyber pseudo-Anonymity:: Chioma K. Ezeilo @BiafraNigeriaWorld.

Ezeilo Uncensored

Self-Promotion and Self-Authentication: the Abuse of Cyber pseudo-Anonymity:

Part 1
A Certain "Biafra House"

Everyday, we encounter warnings about the dangers that lurk on the Internet. Most of these warnings are geared toward parents and children who need to guard against child molesters and other similar characters, pornography and other inappropriate material, Internet fraud involving financial instruments and identity theft, computer hackers and viruses; the list goes on.

However, there is one danger that we do not often discuss, namely the fraud of self-promotion and self-authentication in cyberspace. Sometimes, the fraud is perpetrated by individuals. Other times, it is perpetrated by groups.

Cyberspace is a wonderful place. It allows us the freedom to reinvent ourselves in ways that we can never hope to achieve in real life. We can become the person(s) we have always wanted to be, or become someone else entirely, simply by adopting a "handle." Indeed, many who participate in discussion forums that cater to Nigerians do so with pseudonyms. That type of self reinvention is harmless enough, unless it is taken too far. The type of abuse that I am concerned about here is the pseudo-anonymity type. This latter type preys upon the presumption that most people would not take steps to verify the qualifications that some in cyberspace claim for themselves or the information that individuals and groups put in the public stream.

This abuse disturbs me greatly because 1) those perpetrating this fraud are not being held accountable, primarily because most readers of their "literature" are unable to investigate the information being propagated online, and 2) the activities of these gangsters have deadly consequences for some ill-informed persons back in Nigeria who rely upon that information to take to the streets "in support of Biafra" or some other cause, or to set the parameters for their own ambition. Therein lies the danger. Thankfully, the means has not yet been invented to hide buildings, and for the most part, our ability to verify claims of education, social status, and other various types of credentials have been greatly enhanced by the very Internet, which these scammers are using against us.

When we venture online, we are plagued, absolutely plagued by claims from individuals who assert that they are doctors and engineers, etc. Some, who indeed do have doctorate degrees in subjects like psychology suddenly promote themselves to the status of "Professor," when in fact, all they do is teach the Igbo Language to some high school students. Or better yet, those individuals who leave Nigeria, travel to the US or Europe, enroll in some lesser version of an academic program, and then claim that they are in the upper echelon of that field?

As I previously indicated, sometimes, the fraud is perpetrated by individuals. Other times, it is perpetrated by groups. In this two-part series, I will look at two instances, one of each kind, of this peril in our midst.

Part I: A Certain "Biafra House"

Some time ago, a scandal broke out in the Igbo and Biafra communities, both in the Diaspora and at home regarding the opening of a house dubbed "Biafra House" in Washington, DC. At the time of the opening of the said house, everyone was excited and impressed by the achievement of those who had apparently worked so hard to make the opening of this house a reality. I recall that some even marketed that "house" as the "Embassy of Biafra." People were so excited that they were spurred to help financially and in other ways in furtherance of the goals to be accomplished by this house. But, Alas! There was no house.

Luckily, in this rare instance, the truth came out not too long after the well orchestrated ruse of an opening, and the myth of the grand "house" opening was debunked. The house turned out to be nothing more than a broom closet in a downtown office building. For those who supported the cause financially and otherwise, it was too late to save them from becoming victims of the fraud that was perpetrated by those who orchestrated the "Biafra House" opening scam. Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu, his wife Bianca, and others who were invited to the event were carefully manipulated to a different room, which did not belong to the perpetrators of the "Biafra House" scam. With the truth coming out, the rest of us were saved from making a similar mistake. Even now, after the truth has been revealed, leaders of this house shamelessly continue to dissemble. They claim to have several "branches" of Biafra House in the United States and are opening several more "branches" in Europe.

The saddest shortcoming of this nefarious "Biafra House" is in its leadership, or lack thereof. Those who claim to be in charge crave recognition and relevance so badly that they go so far as to write on their website that they are not a "keyboard" organization.

In the grand scheme of things, they are, in fact, not a keyboard organization. It takes a certain je ne sais quoi to achieve a level of organization with nothing but a keyboard. Because the leaders of "Biafra House" lack that certain something, they fall well short of being an organization, keyboard or otherwise. Instead, they remain in the realm of fantasy. They are nothing more than a phantom organization, existing only in their own deluded imaginations while claiming to have locations in Washington, DC and several other places throughout the US, with additional branches coming soon in Europe.

They have managed somehow to put themselves on the sidelines. All that interests them is raising money, for what I cannot say. For I have seen no evidence of their ability to effect anything. They brag about being in DC one block from the White House. What has that done for them? Perhaps they enjoy coffee with Bush once a week or perhaps they frequently visit the First Lady for tea at the Rose Garden, just a block away. What next? An office a stone's throw from Buckingham Palace, or maybe around the corner from the Kremlin. They also tout a radio program that is allegedly broadcast once a week in Nigeria. No one that I have ever spoken with has ever heard a broadcast of this phantom radio.

Today, if Ndi Igbo could be said to be apathetic to the Biafra cause, the phantom "Biafra House" and its perpetrators are some of the best reasons why. Now, we hear that the same group of conmen who raised the "Biafra House" hoax are at it again. They say they are forming a government in exile, and they will soon be announcing shadow ministers, shadow ambassadors, con-artists and aggressive panhandlers all, to once again assault us in the name of "fighting for Biafra."

The question I have now is: what is real and authentic about "Biafra House?" Why do they use cyberspace to try to deceive us into believing that they are something that they are not? Perhaps they want more money from a public over whose eyes they once pulled the wool; or perhaps it is now a question of competition. After all, there are many actual organizations out there today that actually work hard toward Biafra. It is no wonder that faced with these very real organizations, the virtual walls of the "Biafra House" would come tumbling down.

The above example barely illustrates the depth of this crisis. The problem of self-authentication goes even further than that. For instance, I was conducting research on a piece that I wanted to write, and I was referred to the website emeagwali.com whose owner, Philip Emeagwali, was a potential person to be included in that piece. I visited the website, and initially, I was impressed, until a few things began to seem slightly off. At that point in my research, I still wanted to include him in that piece, so I dug a little deeper, trying to get a better sense of what I was reading at his website.

Eventually, I had to abandon the notion of including him in my piece because I had no choice but to conclude that emeagwali.com was an instrument for one of the worst cases of self-promotion and self-authentication I have ever seen in cyberspace. Part 2 of this article will look at the self-proclaimed "Father of the Internet."

This piece is the first in what I hope will be a long relationship with BiafraNigeriaWorld and my column, Ezeilo Uncensored.

Part II: "Father of the Internet" (Coming November 9, 2003)