NIDAL MALIK HASAN, A DOCTOR TURNED MASS-MURDERER OF FORT HOOD!

'No faith justifies the killing of the innocent' and with those words, President Barack Obama led Americans as they mourn the 12 soldiers and one civilian police officer killed in a senseless act of violence in their homeland, in Fort Hood, Killeen, Texas, United States of America! In President Barack Obama's own words, "It's difficult enough when we lose these brave Americans in battles overseas. It is horrifying that they should come under fire at an Army base on American soil." Icheoku mourns alongside and blames this act of cowardice on the political correctness of our society which tries to accommodate every faith, some of which in their traditional native homelands, persecutes and even kill people who profess other faiths? But should the Muslim faith be prohibited or banned, no, not when we have freedom of worship enshrined in our constitution; but let these other countries be held to reciprocate our magnanimity of freedom of religious worship?

But like it is being suggested that this murderous extremist manifested series of anti-American sentiments while at the same time benefiting therefrom, he should have since been put under surveillance and peradventure his terrorist-act would have never come to fruition but nipped in the bud. But his was not the first? In April 2005, Sgt. Hasan Akbar, another Muslim, of the 101st Airborne Division, was sentenced to death for a grenade attack on his comrades in March 2003 in Kuwait, at the beginning of the Iraq war.
Sergeant Akbar was convicted of premeditated murder and attempted premeditated murder after he threw grenades into tents and then fired on soldiers, killing two officers and wounding 14 at Camp Pennsylvania in Kuwait. Akbar was a Muslim fanatic and a rogue member of the United States Army in a forward operating base in Kuwait. In June 2009 another Muslim convert targeted a US military recruitment center in Arkansas killing a US soldier; so what else does anyone need to understand that these guys' hatred of our ways and means of life is deeply entrenched and neither education nor exposure could change them for good? The killings at Fort Hood, by an Army psychiatrist who also is a Muslim now begs one question; why are these guys this violent towards anything and everything America? While agreeing that 'suicide bombing is an Islamized kamikaze', both involves someone sacrificing his/her own life to take another's life in whatever they believed in that motivated such self emolation; we make strong exception that unlike the Japanese Kamikaze, Islamist suicide bombers are surreptitious and are not clearly identifiable through the apparatus of uniforms for the purposes of activating any and/or all available defenses by the attacked to checkmate them.

Eight years down the road since Operation Swift began and inside a United States military base in Fort Hood Texas, another fringed out Muslim, Major Nidal Malik Hasan, once again acted out his 'vengeance' against the United States by violating the sanctity of their military base. Armed with two handguns, he strolled inside a unit where unarmed soldiers were getting their final briefing preparatory to deployment to Afghanistan and unleashed another Islamic violence against their fabled 'SATAN?' Icheoku says, and these people still live here among us instead of moving back to wherever their brand of lunacy called religion holds sway; maybe somewhere in the middle east?

Regrettably indoctrination of any kind is such a mind-altering hallucinogenous drugs, which when taken, fanatically, and despite the taker being a medical doctor/psychiatrist, turns loose the animal in that person into a ravaging beast. This was what Major Nidal Malik Hasan transformed into last Thursday November 5, 2009, a murderous dog who himself was a victim of Islamic brain-washing? How could such a highly educated man methodically and coldly execute his fellow comrades in arms who are getting ready to ship out to a battle theater in Afghanistan? What went wrong and caused a psychiatrist who should ordinarily be helping soldiers through their traumatic conditions now himself beyond repairs, that he chose to let off his fatal steam on his colleagues? Icheoku asks, why didn't this guy commit suicide or just go AWOL? Why didn't this murderer pretend or act to be insane and be excused from deployment by reason of insanity; rather than the abominable approach he undertook? The many whys are just too numerous to enumerate here, but permit Icheoku to say that this rabid-dog fully appreciated his available options but the boiling anger and hatred of a country that gave him the most break out of life made him do it. Simply put, Major Nidal Malik Hasan was blinded by a misplaced rage which his mind holds against America!

What could make a highly educated PhD holder become so convinced that his Allah wants him to take these innocent lives that armed with two short guns, he started blasting away is fellow soldiers? Except of course he buys into the notion espoused by the Islamist terrorists which sees America as the problem, hence anything and everything America is a fair target. Army psychiatrist, Major Nidal Malik Hasan, whose duty is to treat mentally depraved soldiers, found himself afflicted with such a great mental sickness and breakdown which he cannot and could not treat himself. But unlike other similarly situated mental patients, he did not seek counselling or sought the desired help that would have possibly prevented the oddity of what was witnessed at Fort Hood, Texas!

That Major Hassan was chanting some invocations of "Allahu Akbar," during his mayhem in Fort Hood, as he opened fire with two handguns on clusters of soldiers who were waiting for medical examinations and other processes in the base's Soldier Readiness Processing Center; preparatory to deployment to Afghanistan translates the tragedy into a religious one! Icheoku says, it is the pig Hasan who introduced religious element into this incident and if any Muslim suffers any backlash as a result, he is the responsible party. The good news however is that Muslims make up less than 0.3 percent of America's 548,000 active duty military forces, with 2,500 Muslims, 1,500 of them on active duty. Compared to 105,000 Roman Catholics, 99,000 Baptists, 1,800 Jewish, 2,500 atheists and more than 101,000 without any religious affiliation.

President Obama summarized the mood of many Americans very appropriately when he said, "It's difficult enough when we lose these brave Americans in battles overseas; It is horrifying that they should come under fire at an Army base on American soil." It is instructive to note that soldiers at Fort Hood don't carry weapons unless they are doing training exercises. Also it is the same neck of the wood where on Octeober 16, 1991, George Hennard smashed his pickup truck through a Luby's Cafeteria window in Killeen, Texas, and opened fired on the lunchtime crowd with a high-powered pistol, killing 22 people and wounding at least 20 others; before taking his own life. No other shooting at a military base in the U.S. has been anywhere near as deadly as It is also the most deadly shooting in any recorded history. In 1993, a gunman at Fort Knox shot five civilian co-workers, killing three, and then fatally shot himself. Located half-way between Austin and Waco Texas on a 339 square miles space, with 52,000 stationed troops, Fort Hood is the largest active duty armored post in the United States. Fort Hood, opened in September 1942 as America geared up for World War II, was named for Gen. John Bell Hood of the Confederacy. It has been used continuously for armor training and is charged with maintaining readiness for combat missions.

Major Nidal Malik Hasan, 39, a 1997 biochemistry graduate of Virginia Tech University and a PhD in psychiatry lived at 11300 block of Connecticut Avenue in Kensington, Maryland. He is an orphan, single and had no children; he has two brothers and is admittedly straight not gay. But he is also a fanatical Muslim who got his brainwashing at the Muslim Community Center in Silver Spring, Maryland. Hopefully this is not evident that Al-Queida has finally and successfully infiltrated the US army through these Muslim-soldiers in the US army! Should they be fired or re-assigned to merely office duties, Icheoku does not know but a far-reaching action need to be taken to forestall such dastardly act from ever happening in the future. Also talk-radio show hosts should reduce their rhetoric of hate so that these non American Americans can feel fully Americanised enough with vested interest herein, not to hate Americans with so much passion as to motivate this type of daring high scale violence. And if what he allegedly said that Muslims should rise up, holds true, why have they not risen up against all the tyrants of the Middle east and stay there instead of abusing our hospitality here in America? How so deranged this killer is that he forgot that the Iraq war is almost over and that US troops have since withdrawn from the cities of Iraq? Where was his sorry arse when Saddam Hussein was grinding his fellow Muslims Iraqis in a meat grinder for daring to open their dirty mouth to complain about his regime's atrocities?

Like the popular aphorism of a doctor cannot heal himself, this army psychiatrist who had been treating soldiers returning from Iraq for post-traumatic stress, and alcohol and drug abuse problems found himself afflicted with a debilitating meantal disease which he could not treat, resulting in the carnage at Fort Hood, Killen Texas! If according to stories making the rounds also that Major Nidal Hasan "was making outlandish comments condemning our foreign policy and claimed Muslims had the right to rise up and attack Americans;" Icheoku asks why didn't the authorities do something drastic about him before this tragedy which would have since taken care of this emblematic Major Murderer Nidal Malik Hasan? He reminds Icheoku of the notorious hijacker, Abu Nidal of the PLO, they both share Nidal. Major Hassan was simply put, an enemy within, a green snake in a green grass lying in wait for the right opportunity and moment to exact a vengeance; which he saw and took on Thursday, jumping with joy at the opportunity to shed so many American blood.

If we buy into his warped logic that America should not have been involved in the war in Iraq in the first place, Icheoku queries since when did Major Nidal Malik Hasan transmutate from an army-man who should robotically carry out the wishes and orders of the commander in chief to now, a policy wonk formulating policies and deciding which wars America should fight? Nobody forced Nidal Hasan into the military, our all-volunteer United States military; so why the complaints about America? That such a wacko who had openly contemplated strapping bomb on himself and detonating same in Times Square was allowed to still remain in the military after such remarks was a serious cause for concern and a case where oversight supervision of the military authorities failed the military rank and file and its entirety? Why did Hasan dread going to Iraq so much that he would rather kill to stop his shipment? Why was moving into the real battle field a nightmarish experience for this uncircumcised mallam who freely enrolled into the military, accepted their scholarships through college and the university; only to now cowardly want to chicken out? Was it out of cowardice or what? Was he a lilly-livered girlie man who could not man up at about the hour his training and the investment made on him was called upon for service or pay-back time? Since Major Hasan was born in the state of Virginia, a U.S. citizen, of Palestine-Jordanian descent and having never lived outside the United States, one wonders how, where and why the legs of his anti-American fanaticism sprouted from? What founded his fanatiscism?

But it is an aberration from a sick demented mind to equate suicide bombing with the heroic example of a soldier who used his body to shield his comrades from a lobbed grenade. While in the later, the soldier sacrificed to save lives; in the suicide/homicide bomber, the bomber selfishly used his body as a weapon of multiple destruction; they merely took lives. Icheoku strongly disagrees that the war against terror is tantamount to war against Islam. Admitted the 19 terrorists that brought down the world trade centers' twin towers as well as partially pentagon are all Muslims from the citadel of Islam Saudi Arabia; but that without any official approval from the house of Saud as custodians of the Muslim faith, does not make it purely a Muslim issue. So America is just going after the bad guys who are also slaughtering their same faith brothers and sisters in Pakistan, Iraq, Afghanistan and God knows where? It is ridiculous as it is laughable for a man with so much knowledge to try to equate or link the war against terror to war against Islam. Permeating the mind of a killer is such a difficult task but Icheoku says, 'when a supposed healer turns into a rabid-killer, who then shall save mankind from itself and his environment? In the words of one commentator, 'the 39-year-old Army psychiatrist emerged as a study in contradictions: a polite man who stewed with discontent, a counselor who needed to be counseled himself, a professional healer now suspected of cutting down the fellow soldiers he was sworn to help.' Icheoku says, halla!

Whether major Hasan was harassed, teased or taunted, it is just not enough reason for taking the lives of many people; and Icheoku does not buy it that a 39 year old man, a PhD in psychiatry will fall so easily and become so bewitched to a crass brainwashing of Islam; that he will commit such heinous madness as was witnessed in Fort Hood. So far, Nidal's action has only been praised by one radical American imam of Yemen origin, Anwar al Awlaki, who had some contact with two of the 9/11 hijackers? He called Major Nidal Malik Hasan a hero? In his words of praise for Nidal, Awlaki said, "Nidal Hassan is a hero. He is a man of conscience who could not bear living the contradiction of being a Muslim and serving in an army that is fighting against his own people." Icheoku says, what a stark lunacy, calling a bloody murderer a hero? That shows the fallacy of the Islamic religion which supports such tragic, bloody and horrific outburst of violence which killed 13 and wounded 31 of our finest and bravest friends of freedom. May God help us all get through this madness that was the massacre at Fort Hood.

Among the killed victims are Francheska Velez, 21, of Chicago Illinois, and pregnant; Capt. John Gaffaney, 56, of California; Pfc. Aaron Thomas Nemelka, 19, of Salt Lake City Utah; Pfc. Michael Pearson, 21, of Bolingbrook, Illinois; Spc. Jason Dean Hunt, 22, of Frederick Oklahoma; Michael Grant Cahill, 62, of Cameron, Texas; Sgt. Amy Krueger, 29, of Kiel, Wisconsin; Pfc. Kham Xiong 23, of St. Paul, Minnesota; and Juanita Warman, 55.

KEN SARO WIWA, HIS LESSON WAS LOST IN THE NIGER DELTA STRUGGLE?

When on November 10, 1995 the then Foreign Minister Tom Ikimi was confronted by a journalist in far away Asia, demanding to know why his government hurried the execution of Ken Saro Wiwa, his mouth dropped in awe as he was totally sidelined and left in the lurch over the execution? But did he resign in protest for the embarrassment of being informed of such a high profile execution in far away Asia? No; such an idea is an aberration and a very strange option for Nigerians and anyone who shares in their DNA!

It was the midget of Kano, Sani Abacha who ordered Ken Saro Wiwa hanged for daring to raise his voice against the oppressive Hausa-Fulani controlled central government of Nigeria which has been pillaging resources from his people of the Niger Delta ever since 1958 when oil was discovered at Oloibiri Rivers State? A trumped up charges of murder were levelled against him and eight others, tried before a kangaroo military tribunal, convicted as scripted and summarily executed in the middle of the night; without regard to his right to appeals or overall fair trial in deference to due process? However those are but historical facts and nothing can bring him back to life; the world that remembers him can only have him immortalized in their memory. Ken Saro Wiwa is long dead, his body allegedly dissolved in sulphuric acid and dumped in an unmarked grave; but on this occasion of the 14 anniversary of his gruesome state murder, Icheoku joins the millions world over in remembering a man who stood up for what he believed in and in defence of his peoples' right to their resources and paid the supreme price for it! Today, November 10, 2009 marks the 14th anniversary of that November 10, 1995 ugly incident.

Should Icheoku be mad at this guy for his atrocities against the Igbo people of Biafra during the civil war and continuing immediately thereafter, when he championed with a fury from hell, the abandoned property saga on behalf of the Nigerian federal government to get at the Igbo nation? No, because it is a waste of time fighting with a dead man who cannot rebut or defend himself. Moreso his pettiness then and supposed romance with the feudalistic north did not pay him any meaningful dividend, as he who rode tigers over the whole place against the Igbo was eventually, himself eaten up by the tiger. Ken Saro Wiwa, for instigating and taking sides with the Nigerian government during the Biafra struggle, against his rightful people have earned him a not too favorable place in the hearts and minds of so many Nigerians of the South East as well as the South South. He was a renegade and a traitor whose sins against Biafra is now forgiven since a dead man should be left alone? In this tribute to his memory, we shall try to foray into his trials and tribulations, examine his life and times; querying if the present lacklustre, disjointed and uncoordinated activism in the Niger Delta as presently championed by the motley of militants, truly represents what a living Ken Saro Wiwa would have identified himself with? Would Ken have approached the struggle differently or accepted amnesty and turned tail against his people?

Are they doing the memory of Ken Saro-Wiwa, Adaka Baro any good with the way they are bargaining with the Hausa-Fulanis over the resources underneath their land? Icheoku says, no; and reiterates that it is a sign of weakness to negotiate with a stranger over what belongs to you. It was an American general who once said, give me liberty or give me death but this guys chose to mortgage their freedom and they still are visited with deaths. In other words, their cowardice emboldens their oppressors who have now denied them a say on how their resource would be allocated and appropriated. So on this day, November 10, 2009 we urge the people of the Niger Delta to unite and be more organised for the future of the Niger Delta and for the sake of their children and children's children. It is for the future and no amount of militants camps and fractious militias without a central political authority will be able to bring about the type of change desired in that neck of the wood in Nigeria. Should Ken Saro Wiwa be allowed to die in vein by not continuing his fight for equitable participation by his people of the Niger Delta in the distribution of what belongs to Niger Delta?

He founded the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP) in 1990 which brought the Shell’s destruction of the Niger Delta environment to international audience. A year later the Ogoni nine were arrested on what were widely regarded to have been trumped-up charges. The men were tortured, beaten and then put on trial in front of a military tribunal and without recourse to regular courts or legal representation. They were sentenced to death and executed in the middle of the night. Ken Saro Wiwa and eight others were hanged for what is generally agreed to be trumped-up murder charges by the military dictatorship of General Sani Abacha. His real crime was leading a group that was protesting the devastation of the Ogoni people's lands by Shell Oil and the oppression and marginalization of the Ogoni people themselves by the military government who profited from Shell's oil business. Peradventure, Ken Saro Wiwa lives on , taller in death than the midget of Kano who killed him and whose own death, no one remembers now. But is there no one to hold accountable for the sins of that ignominious government? Icheoku says, Jeremaih 'Jerry-Boy' Useni is still alive, the governor of Rivers State then, Oladipo Diya as well as Abdulsalam Abubakar, are all alive and these are people who served and partook of the evil that was Sani Abacha! They should all be taken in for questioning and purposes of holding accountable for the madness of November 10, 1995? May Nigerians hold these guys accountable on behalf of their master, Sani Abacha for their sins of omission to stop the extra-judicial murder of Ken Saro Wiwa and the Ogoni 8!

With over 90 oil fields across the country, Shell which have been in Nigeria since 1958 impacts the local environment adversely through their unfair oil exploration and exploitation practices which is decimating a people who depend on fishing and farming for sustenance. Also affected by their activities is the world's third-largest mangrove forest which they clear indiscriminately just to make way for their pipelines without regard to the suffering of the indigenous wildlife and a gravely endangered ecosystem as a result? There were frequent oil spills and oil flares which devastated the countryside and made it barren? But conversely Icheoku does not entirely blame Dutch oil company, Shell, for their role in precipitating the hanging of Ken Saro Wiwa and co? The culprit here is the Nigerian gestapo military junta regime of Sani Abacha who had to kill his people just because a foreign oil company said so. How can a sane head of a people kill his citizens because it fits the desire of foreign oil mercenaries who have no interest of the country at heart and would rather kill off the citizens just for what lies beneath their lands? It is as absurd as it is abominable and should be condemned by all men of good conscience. The problem with African leaders is that they do not care about the people they govern as they do not love them, otherwise why not tell the instigating oil company to take a hike or go to hell or even revoke their license for musing that idea?

Finally as we end this tribute to a freedom fighter and a man who died defending his peoples right to a meaningful existence in Nigeria; a people wallowing in poverty amidst their God-given natural resources which is denied them by the feudalistic cabals up north, may we share with you two of his statements. One was made in pursuit of his fight to stop the ecological disaster which is Niger Delta of Nigeria and the other as closing statement before a dead-set tribunal which formalized his conviction and eventual hanging. According to Ken Saro-Wiwa, "Whether I live or die is immaterial. It is enough to know that there are people who commit time, money and energy to fight this one evil among so many others predominating worldwide. If they do not succeed today, they will succeed tomorrow. We must keep on striving to make the world a better place for all of mankind - each one contributing his bit, in his or her own way."

Before the tribunal that sent him to the gallows, thus read his closing statement:- "We all stand before history. Appalled by the denigrating poverty of my people who live on a richly endowed land, distressed by their political marginalization and economic strangulation, angered by the devastation of their land, their ultimate heritage, anxious to preserve their right to life and to a decent living, and determined to usher to this country as a whole a fair and just democratic system which protects everyone and every ethnic group and gives us all a valid claim to human civilization, I have devoted my intellectual and material resources, my very life, to a cause in which I have total belief and from which I cannot be blackmailed or intimidated. I have no doubt at all about the ultimate success of my cause, no matter the trials and tribulations which I and those who believe with me may encounter on our journey. Nor imprisonment nor death can stop our ultimate victory. With the preceding Ken Saro Wiwa registered as a man of letters, brave even to the point of death, and ridiculing his traducers in the process. Icheoku therefore says, sleep on brave one and may what you lived and died for not be in vain; hopefully the Niger Delta activism will take on a new lease of life someday with a clearly defined set of uniform objective, direction and means of achieving same, under one unified central political authority. So long KSW!

THE TWO GLADIATORS ARE AT IT AGAIN, OJUKWU AND GOWON SPIT FIRE!

The unfinished business that is the Nigeria-Biafra civil war got a new lease of life recently, as the two protagonists in chief of the war stoked embers of violence once again? Such personal antgonism forces the question, has the Biafran war actually ended or have this two personalities now so personalized their animosity that an ordinary harmless statement by one will attract a rabid response from the other rival? Animosity which started since their days together in the Nigerian army and which technicaly led to the Biafran war, now seems to be continuing and subsisting in their golden years; which begs the question, does old wound really heal?

Icheoku says, the answer appears to be no; and that has been buttressed by the recent exchange of fiery rhetorics between these two old foes, who have since personalised more what it was between them that first led to the Biafran war? Their bitter exchange shows that the long gone but still smothering civil war has the propensity to rekindle anytime, someday and possibly not in too distant future. Icheoku says, the only way this war could conclusively come to an end is for the issues that led to the war to be fully addressed or for the principal protagonists thereto to make their transitions out of this world and leave Nigeria alone. But until then and as long as they live, so shall little flashes like the recent war of words continue and possibly someday, it might spark off another confrontation. As always, war of words usually precedes war of fire-fight?

Icheoku asks once again, did the Biafran civil war ever conclusively end? This question has become more imperative with the spitting of fire by two old Nigerians, nay a Nigerian against his Biafran old nemesis; men who are now jostling and repositioning themselves for yet another opportunity to go at it, and somehow finish an unfinished business? A final showdown, the mother of all confrontations, may be? Ikemba Nnewi Odumegwu Chukwukwuemeka Ojukwu and Birom-man Yakubu Gowon who squared off during the last Nigeria/Biafra civil war, are once again, barking and threatening another showdown! But will Nigeria allow them? Icheoku does not think so, more-so since both men are nearing their graves and are even too old now to lift AK-47 rifle? But why are they personalising a struggle that encompassed so many millions of people including non Igbo Biafrans and none Northern Nigeria, then Nigeria? Our theory is a bloated ego run amok; which suffers both men greatly as to make them completely delusional as to their followerships and abilities?

The genesis of the spitfire was Odumegwu Ojukwu figuratively expressing the resistance that will follow, should the Nigerian cabal through the aegis of the Court of Appeal, try to forcibly foist Andy Uba as governor of Anambra State; a state in which he has so much vested interest and wherein he comes from. Ojukwu said, such action will force a civil war in Anambra State and which he will gladly lead as a commander in chief? But as dumb as Yakubu Gowon is, despite holding a supposed doctorate degree, he jumped into the affray, boisterously beating his chest on how he starved Biafrans into a scripted surrender in 1970? A genocidal maniac who sent several millions of Biafran children to their untimely graves through an earth-scorching blockade of the area then known as Biafra and who refused even very essential goods including medicine and infant formulae from reaching milions of malnutritioned mouths in Biafra? The famed Kwashiokor set in and the rest is now history.

The enveloping hardship and deaths forced the hands of leaders of Biafra to decide to end such a vicious, atrocious and heartless Yakubu Gowon's vengeful prosecution of his war against unarmed men, women and children of Biafra. For this particular ignoble line of action, Icheoku has not forgiven and will never forgive Yakubu Gowon as well as his then economic adviser and later finance minister Obafemi Awolowo, who prescribed 'starvation as the best instrument of warfare' which the scoundrel Gowon bought and gleefully implemented to a crushing bitter end? But Biafra survived and Niger Delta part thereof, is today once again proving to Nigeria that they did not actually win that war and that nobody is afraid of the north! Not then, not now and not in the future. But does Icheoku support another civil war in Nigeria; not this time as the polity has become so much fragmented that the regional bonds holding entities together no longer exists or are too distended to form any meaningful cohesive platform to achieve a given objective like secession? So why start what you cannot finish and why a war when the objective is almost non-realistic or cannot be easily realisable?

But Chief Odumegwu Chukwuemeka Ojukwu was only being figurative with his referenced 'civil war' and here lies our beef with Yakubu Gowon for flying the kite of animosity once again? Icheoku expected all intelligent observers and watchers, including a PhD-holder like Yakubu Gowon to see it for what it is - a mere figure of speech called hyperbole; but he chose instead to play to the gallery of hatred! What did Ojukwu say to trigger such a response from this known bully of Birom, Yakubu Gowon? A man who perpetually reminds Icheoku of that everybody's most hated high school bully, who usually will not hesitate at any given opportunity to remind one how he is the head honcho here and how you are subject to his taunting and many a times, smacking? Gowon has a dog-catcher mentality and he has been short-changed for it in today's Nigeria where the real northerners, the Hausa-Fulanis are riding the rest of the minorities of the north, including Yakubu Gowon like donkeys. They have not fully forgiven him for his role in the coup that killed their Muritala Mohammed? Also the other good news however is that Yakubu Gowon is even hated more in his native Birom Jos chiefdom, which made him lose woefully to an ordinary high school teacher during Babangida's Option A4 presidential primaries? Yes, what did Ojukwu say to deserve Gowon's uncalled for acerbic response?

Yakubu Gowon, like a bird of prey waiting to strike, lost his deranged head again, (the first was during Biafra) stating that 'he was ready to rise up and defend the unity of the country if any body or group of persons threatens to cause disunity or another round of civil war in the country.' Icheoku says, shame on you Gowon as your hurtful wish can never again come to pass in today's Nigeria where your Birom people are part of the latest new minorities in Nigeria, with your Solomon Lar recently declaring that you guys might start your own version of a civil war or secession; and you wonder along which lines of geography? The configurations are so fundamentally changed now that should another unfortunate war erupt, it will surely not be the same result as was in 1967 as so many Biafrans are now in Diaspora ready to breach whatever economic or political blockade your ilks might contemplate imposing once again. But there will not be another war, no more wars Nigeria! Nigerians have too many yokes holding them together now and the Igbo of Biafra have also grown too smart now to let another group in Nigeria reap where they did not sow, as was the case with abandoned property saga of yore! All Nigerians shall tough it out together as one nation state, undivided and still hating each other with passion!

Icheoku takes strong exception to Yakubu Gowon, not because he fought against Biafran secession, no, but for the starvation of millions of Biafran women and children through a forced blockade of the region called Biafra during the civil war. This blogger was a victim and was flown to Gabon as a refugee; so he knows for a fact and first hand, what went down in a blockaded Biafra; all courtesy of the evil machination of Yakubu Gowon, who technically started the war by assuming a position which he was not rightfully entitled to being a very junior officer and could not but encouraged the genocide against the Igbo ethnicity? It was very callous of him to starve millions of unarmed and hapless women and children to death, and may God remember this for him when finally he takes his last breath on earth. Now hear this Jos man speaking, "I am ready to fight him as I did in 1967," adding that Ojukwu's statement was an empty threat from an old man. Icheoku says, look at a pot calling kettle black, a Yakubu Gowon who also is also being priced by Mr. Death, here calling Biafran war-lord and Igbo hero, Ikemba Nnewi, old? Gowon, it shall not be well with you! Also remember that your promised 3Rs of reconciliation, rehabilitation and reconstruction has not yet been fully implemented forty years down the road since armed hostilities ended. Nigeria since 1970 has not witnessed any reconciliation but mere tolerance of and by the different tribal ethnicities therein; no rehabilitation as the people of then and still Biafra are still being treated as strangers in their supposedly native country Nigeria; and there is no meaningful reconstruction as infrastructures, especially roads and bridges, are at their most dilapidated condition in Nigeria's south east, the area formerly known as BIAFRA.

Now share with Icheoku, a very intelligent piece on the ongoing maelstrom, generated by the lack of understanding of what Ojukwu actually said. According to the piece, "War is not only when you carry arms. War comes in different forms. Ojukwu was only speaking in hyperbole. How can these dullards and buffoons think that Ojukwu can engage in lethal war with the federal government when he does not command any battalion of armed soldiers? These so called PDP members should examine their knowledge of English. I deeply sympathize with them for their ignorance. What is wrong on what Ojukwu said? Anambra people will never change. The bad name we the Igbos have today is because of the people of Anambra. Anambra people don't have conscience. They don't have respect for any authority except worshipping ill-gotten money. Andy Uba is going nowhere. This man and his brother made Anambra ungovernable for eight years, now he wants to be the governor of the state. Yet people are supporting him. I wonder the kind of children you people have and their future. (Armed robbers, Kidnappers, drug barons, assassins, etc.). Ojukwu seems to be misunderstood by ex Biafran warlords and PDP. He didn't call for a civil war. He was only envisioning the implication of a court of appeal ruling against the highest court of the land- Supreme Court. What Ojukwu saw 40 years ago is what is being addressed today. Ojukwu is a visionary. We should stop castigating our very best. We should not equate the issues of the civil war with that of the Niger delta. Finally, let us pray that the Enugu appeal court will deliver good judgement". Icheoku doffs our heart to men and women who know how to correctly and properly string the words of the English language together; and this writer wrote well.

Finally Icheoku advises all those pontificating in Nigeria, who are now playing the devil's advocate, being both umpire and judge over the statement credited to Biafran warlord and Igbo hero, Dim Odumegwu Chukwuemeka Ojukwu and Ikemba Nnewi, 'to just back off!' If they have nothing else to do, they should go back to school to get more conversant with the English language; and get used to the art of nuanced contextual speaking, which literature still accommodates. They should also be aware that they are differing rules of interpretation and that literally rule is not the only one; and that figures of speech include hyperbole. For example, that someone said he/she saw hell does that mean that the person paid a visit to Lucifer and came back to earth? If someone said he/she will kill you, it does not mean that the person have suddenly metamorphosed into a serial killer like the nidget of Kano, Sani Abacha? It is just a figure of speech and it would appear that this Eton College scholar, Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu has again fooled his arch enemy, Yakubu Gowon, into making a fool of himself once more. Gowon literally assumed what was not contemplated and prematuredly challenged his old nemesis to another duel, based on his erroneous understanding of the purport and intent of what Ojukwu really meant with his statement. Icheoku will like to assure Gowon that Ojukwu is not the enemy and the earleir he gets out of his head this phobia, the better his sanity will be. Ojukwu has since moved on with his life, away from the distractions of a Yakubu Gowon that Gowon should look for something to dot or hate but definitely not a Ojukwu!

Now to the vampire, Yakubu Gowon, Icheoku advises you to take a course in the English language literature so that you may be better and more properly grounded in the art of a more nuanced speaking. It will help you appreciate communications better and not take everything literally on its surface. Look for another foe to pick your fight with but please know that the Ojukwu of 1967 has for long accepted his membership of Nigeria when he vowed to fight the next time only to keep Nigeria as one. If you remember correctly, no one from Biafra wanted the war then which was forcibly trust upon them by your misteps as juvenile head of state and they only defended what was dealth to them?

Be that as it may, Icheoku posits that Nigeria will not fight another civil war because circumstances are now completely different than it was in 1967 when regional bases existed; also that Nigeria will never break up because there is no clearly defined fault-lines along which it could properly break and achieve its objectives? Imagine even your Plateau State now contemplating the idea of a civil war and secession and you wonder what was Solomon Lar thinking? Admitted, Nigeria will not forever remain as it is now, something must be done to address the apparent inequities and injustices militating against a more cohesive Nigeria where all the tribal ethnicities will feel wanted and very desirous of its membership! But until that el-dorado comes to fruition, Icheoku says, Yakubu Gowon should just hush or die off; but must stop reminding Biafrans of the millions of their women and children he starved to death! What a callous blood-sucking beast of burden he is, one not deserving of any meaningful high place in today's Nigeria! This is a man who maitained studied silence when the war of foreigners and natives between the Fulanis and his Birom people broke out and was raging in Plateau State not too long ago? He was probably too afraid to speak lest the lords of the manor, Fulani/Hausa, will revoke his pardon for his alleged role in the coup against Muritala Mohammed; all of a sudden this mogrel now jumped at an innocent speak of Ojukwu? What a bastard son of a desolate mother and despondent father!

NNAMDI IHEANACHO UCHE, DEATH OF A NIGERIAN YOUNGSTER IN USA!

MR. NNAMDI IHEANACHO UCHE

(August 26, 1978 – October 18, 2009 )

May his gentle soul rest in peace, Amen!

Signed:

www.Icheoku.com

for and on behalf of our friends in Abia-State-Union, USA!

ANTHONY SOWELL, LIVING WITH DEAD AND DECOMPOSING WOMEN!

Sounds like a plot in a Stephen King's novel, may be; but this time it is not a dramatic fiction but a true life story in Cleveland, Cuyahoga County, Ohio, USA! Weird, the stuff Halloween tales are made of. Eleven dead and decomposing women stowed away inside a home in a residential neighborhood of Cleveland with only their male host, Anthony Sowell!

Icheoku says, if this man is not acutely mental, with a burnt-out olfactory lobe, fried by hard drugs; then the whole world must be filled of happy, caring and loving people? But how could a neighborhood not have perceived the stench of death, oozing out of this dwelling place and for as long as it lasted? The putridity of death was so overpowering that a neighborhood that could not sniff it out might as well be a highly dysfunctional neighborhood, populated by stoned-out crack heads who zones-out from facts under their nose? How can any piece of humanity be this indifferent to a his neighborhood that a pungent smell coming out of the next door house was not taken cognizance of and hence did nothing? Addicts, who are daily, merely levitating through a life of mystery and hardship; to whom death smell meant nothing but instead have become their new normal?

Many of the bodies are in various stages of decomposition, yet nobody smelled any foul in the air? It is most improbable? Icheoku says, this is the real life 'Little House of Horror' in Cleveland Ohio. Several decomposing bodies scattered around the three story house from upstairs bedrooms, the living room, a crawl space, a shallow grave in the backyard and another grave in the basement? What a strange infatuation with morbidity by this crazed-out fellow, Anthony Sowell and why was his ghoulish activity not discovered earlier which could have saved some lives? According to the police, "the stench of decay was overwhelming, the closest I got was 15 feet from an open door, and it was more than bad enough. I can't figure out how the neighbors didn't know something was wrong." Icheoku says, if the stench coming from the house of horror was as overwhelming as alleged by the police, why didn't somebody smell it earlier?

Strangely-looking; a Tasmanian devil look-alike possibly? He is in short, spooky with those mean piggy eyes which pierces through anything? A cold heart of steel alleged murderer. Rapist-Killer Sowell, 50, was released from prison in June 2005, after serving a 15-year prison term for choking and raping a woman. He preferred to kill black women whom he strangled after having his way with them, using extension cords and neckties, his choice instruments of strangulation? The scene of the horrific murders is his cream-hued duplex premises, situated at Imperial Avenue and East 123rd Street Cleveland. It is in a blighted east-side neighborhood where gunfire and drug-use are part of the daily social landscape; a neighbourhood where most residents are not strangers to tragedy? What a life of a reversed American dream, unfulfilled and despondent!

Acting on a woman's complain that she was raped by Sowell, a convicted sex offender, inside his home on Sept. 22 2009; the police had gone to Sowell's house last Thursday, October 30, 2009 to investigate. But Sowell was not home. However the officers were caught by the pungent smell coming out from Sowell's house, which prompted their curiosity to explore the source; which in turn yielded the carnage. They uncovered six decaying bodies of women who were strangled - and the number subsequently swelled to 10 on Tuesday and the police continued their investigation in Sowell's home culminating in Sowell being taken into custody on Sunday. Icheoku wonders why the police had to wait for almost one month before they moved in on the suspect on October 30 for a reported case of rape of September 22? Some neighbors also claimed they thought the odor was coming from backed up sewers or that a nearby Ray's Sausage company was producing the foul smell. But none of them investigated any further?

Anthony Sowell was charged to court yesterday, Wednesday November 4, 2009 on five counts of aggravated murder, rape, felonious assault and kidnapping. He appeared in court shackled and wearing a blue jumpsuit, usually reserved for suicide risks. He was convicted for 15 years in 1989 for the rape of a three months old pregnant woman, whom he choked but who managed to survive, escape and told authority. Sowell was a former Marine!

According to the presiding judge, Judge Ronald Adrine, "In my 20 years of being on this bench, this is without question, the most serious allegations that I've ever faced." Icheoku concurs and adds, only a deranged monster is capable of proximately sharing his living space with several dead and decaying bodies; -what an insane obsession with morbidity! Anthony Sowell is indeed one strange freakish fellow! To the victims, may you never rest until a lethal injection brings justice to this monster, Mr. Anthony Sowell.

NOVEMBER 4 2009, ANNIVERSARY OF THE DAY HISTORY WAS MADE!

It was exactly one year ago today that Americans rose up in unison and did the unexpected, they put a 'nigger' in their White House! Millions of Americans who, believing in the 'Hope and Change' themed campaign of then candidate Barack Obama, trooped out enmass to give him the much needed tail-wind that pushed him into the presidency. Their only motivation, a young, ebullient and eloquent African-American with an exotic sounding name, who talks like someone well intentioned to carry out what was promised this time around? However, one year down the road, people are beginning to wonder aloud whether they gambled wisely or got a lemon in the bargain?

Icheoku says, President Barack Obama will only have himself to blame if he fleets away the goodwill of the American people that propelled him into the White House. His Democratic Party has controlling majority in both House of Representatives and the Senate and no one can ask for anything more to perform? The president's handicap is that he seems to defer so much to so many people, who he considers his political senior or who he feels somewhat somehow indebted to? Icheoku says, President Barack Obama, you do not owe anybody anything as the American people unconditionally voted for what you represented; and will not buy into any contrary argument for any possible failure or your none performance. The president have no reason not to deliver on his mandate and must be prepared to break some legs if need be, just to deliver on the 'Change We Can Believe In' as the American people cannot 'HOPE' forever. It is called having a 'BACKBONE' and if it means firing your present chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, or any under-perfoming member of your cabinet, so be it; but you must not fail or disappoint the many millions of Americans who hope and trust in you to bring the change they can believe in.

The American people are aware that efforts are being made by your government to fix the economy; but a jobless man cannot appreciate economic jargons until he can secure a job? A popular saying goes "show me the money!" Tangibles speaks more volumne than intangible projections and this is why it appears that your government is sleeping on the wheels of governance? Since these jobs are taking time to come and not materialising soon enough, may be you should adjust your strategy and focus on other areas that could easily translate to more visible and tangible results. Just order Guantanamo prison closed and let Americans see the gates shuttered forever? That is an example of a tangible achievement that journalists could fly down there to confirm that at last, President Obama had performed as promised with the closing of the terrorists vacation home in Cuba? Any terrorist that his home country cannot or refuses to take back should be flown to that country in the middle of the night and dropped off somewhere in the country to find his way. Just like the CIA infamous rendition; but this time a reversed rendition. if such marked terrorist is ever found again or captured in any battle field anywhere, let the operatives summarily deal with him. On Iraq, you can order the troops home now and let Americans watch their military start to bring their troops and equipment home; drastically reduce the stationed troop in Iraq to under 100,000 and do it now for effect. On Afghanistan, give General McCrystal his needed 40,000 troops and let him be the fall guy on that front; and in any event that mission fails or did not succeeded as envisaged, you can always blame that on the military since you gave them all they demanded and you cannot personally go down to the trenches yourself?

On the proposed missile shield base in Poland that is now scrapped on your orders, may be such was conceded without anything in return? The Iranian nuclear malady would have been extracted from the Russians as what the have to pay to play, before the final announcement scrapping the proposed missile shielf? It is called quid pro quo, trade off; what I get for what I give? May be some firm ultimatum could be given to the Iranians to behave or have some bombs dropped on those Natanz sites? Or the North Koreans could be told in a firm unequivocating terms that enough is enough with their bullshiting the world? Whatever it is , just do something that American people can visualize as your government doing something with the mandate they gave to you on November 4, 2008. Also, consider hiring someone like James Carville and give him the full authority to play the role of an attack dog for your government since your well-intended pacifist Washington seems not to have been well received by the other side. It is about time trenches are dug for the shooting-war for the hearts and minds of the American people to really begin? Shake up something, talk tougher, make threats, issue ultimatums and drop some bombs somewhere if you must; but let us see some movement from your government. If the health care reform is not working, summon the party officials and let them know what you promised the American people and the loss of face its failure will bring on everyone. Just do something?

You should also remember that you have no co-presidency with anybody, not Hillary Clinton, not Joe Biden, not anybody; the buck stops squarely on your desk. If you need to fire anybody, just do that but let the engines of your administration start to roll. Our greatest fear is that if this trend of appearing to be 'doing nothing' continues, President Barack Obama might regrettably, be another President Jimmy Carter waiting to happen, a one term president? But he still have the benefit of three more years to prove he can do what he promised the American people: - fulfil their hopes and bring about the change the can believed in, which motivated them to troop out exactly one year ago today to put you in the White House! Failure to fire up the engine of your administration and now, will make the possiblity of your one term very probable and a great may be? But never say never as President Obama may yet again survive a re-election, being the amiable masterful politician he is? However, these attempt at pleasing everybody must stop as compromises does not win elections; keeping and fulfilling election promises does and this is the only thing that matters now. President Barack Obama should look no further but to the promises he made during his election campaign and should strive to keep them.

The American people had previously weighed the options of Senator John McCain, Hillary Clinton, Joe Biden and a motley of others before deciding that you are the best and elected you as their president. You had no qualifying surrogate then and should not fear or feel like you have one now, just go full trottle and do what you were elected to do. Firm your back and start presiding as a duly elected democratic president of the United States of America and nothing more. Trying to woe the people who did not vote for you in 2008 is not a good strategy as they failed and refused to vote for you not because of the message but the messenger, who does not fit their template of 'their' White House occupant? As far as they are concerned, the message not withstanding, once it is coming from 'that one' makes it unpalatable and untouchable. Try as you may, they will always view you with jaundiced eyes as 'that one' and there is nothing anyone can do about it to change mindsets, already ingrained in the stone of skin coloration?

One year after, the hope we voted for is still just hope? The change we can believe in, is still incubating and who knows when it will hatch if ever? Remember, no drama Obama and please roll up your sleeves now and go to work as the days of pandering or trying to be too nice to too many people including the opposition should be over. You did not get into the White House with their approval and hence you do not need their approval to govern. If the baseball bat needs to come out, so be it; but Icheoku says, you must get back your mojo and start governing. Americans need tangible things they can point to as pointers that their Obama is delivering on his election promises. Whether you will pivot from your current approach to governing or win a re-election lies in the womb of time; but your once charged supporters are nearly crest-fallen, wondering what is holding their BO. As we wait for you to finally roll out full steam, may we felicitate with you on the occasion of the anniversary of your earth-shaking and all ceiling shattering, election victory of November 4, 2008. Happy one year anniversary President Barack Hussein Obama, and may the Almighty God continue to protect you and guide your actions, our dear 44th!

CHIDI UZOMAH, A NIGERIAN STALKER IN HOLLYWOOD?

Icheoku says, he was probably tired of the incessant phone-calls from motherland, always asking for MTCN without ever inquiring about how things are going on with him in America? For the phone-callers, he is after-all in America picking off dollar-bills from the tree-tops, and that's all that mattered? Now under enormous pressure to perform and show cause, a frustrated Nigerian, and a United States Army Special Forces reserve, decided to seek fortune and make it big in America?

For him, Hollywood is the key to the kind of fortune he seeks and must, he would force himself through their proverbial Carmel's eye gates? However his pursuit of his 'American dream' took him down the wrong road of infamy as he was arrested and is currently being held in custody for felony stalking? His victim is the talk-radio show host and television personality who also hosts American Idol, DJ Ryan Seacrest!

Mr. Chidi Uzomah was arrested last Friday, October 30, 2009 as he stormed inside the building wherein Ryan Seacrest hosts his daily radio/television program, demanding to see his secret crush, Ryan? According to sources, Ryan Seacrest was in the building at the time Uzomah invited himself to see him? It is equally instructive to note that this was his repeat attempt at meeting his 'darlying' Ryan Seacrest as he had accosted and allegedly choked Ryan Seacrest's bodyguard last month outside an Orange County hospital, where Ryan was hosting a charity event. He pleaded guilty to three misdemeanors battery, assault and possession of a switchblade; and was sentenced to 15 days in jail with 4 days credit for time already spent behind bars, ordered to stay away from the Children's Hospital and Mr. Ryan Seacrest and a three years probation.

According to the story, Ryan Seacrest had just finished making his appearance at the charity event when Chidi Uzomah approached him and asked for an autograph? Ryan obliged him and as he walked off to his car, Chidi Uzomah blocked his way. The security guard tried getting him off but Uzomah then started a fight, choking the guard in the process. He was however over-powered and the responding police took him away.

Icheoku says, but things of the heart don't always follow the way of any scientific calculated pattern; as not withstanding the previous restriction order, Uzomah once again set off to assuage his heart desire to have a rendezvous with Ryan Seacrest? According to the story, Mr. Chidi Uzomah, who is 6-foot-4 tall and weighs 200 pounds menacingly went into the lobby of E! building in Hollywood, demanding to see Mr. Seacrest; wherein the building security conversant with the previous stalking incident called in the police. A member of the fearsome US Army Special Forces is such a well trained awesome lethal machine that any seeming threat from such quarters is always taken very seriously. Icheoku says, a man looking as disturbed as these pictures shows, is rather crying for urgent attention for medical help and should be immediately checked into a lunatic asylum instead of a Sheriffs' custody. Mr. Uzomah would be a good candidate for the 'Cuckoo's Nest' assuming they are still presently auditioning; but he needs his faculties back?

Lt. Col. Nathan Banks, an Army spokesperson, confirmed that Mr. Chidi Uzomah is one of their own and had since apologised to Ryan Seacrest for the embarrassing incident. Chidi Uzomah is currently in the Army Reserves in Upland, California. He was trained as a front line soldier and assigned to the 426th Civil Affairs Battalion, a part of the Army special forces, which is attached to the Green Berets. Before that he had served in the California Army National Guard from April 2005 through April 2009. He was honorably discharged and then transferred to the Army Reserves.

Chidi Uzomah was also training at the Secrets of Acting studio under coach Charles Tentindo to be an actor? According to the coach, commenting on his little knowledge of Mr. Uzomah, "he seemed very sad and depressed and had a sort of dark cloud over him?" Icheoku says, nobody really understands how the matters of the heart works, including this mad crush for Ryan Seacrest by Nigerian born Chidi Uzomah. However what he needs is series of dates with a shrink or even a psychiatrist to help resolve whatever conflicted personality that might be afflicting him; and not the penal system he is being processed through now. Oh well and dandy for a man in pursuit of his proverbial American dream in Hollywood now turned a convicted stalker!

BUHARI AND ATIKU, GIMMICKRY OF A NATIONAL DEMOCRATIC MOVEMENT?

Nigerians, Icheoku urge you not to believe the hype that these two despicable and desperate men are what the doctor ordered for Nigeria at this particular time. Whatever you do, please do not fall into their trap, do not buy the fake goods they are selling because both are spent corrupt people who can only do more harm than good to Nigeria! Their souls are restless and a restless mind cannot direct a restless Nigerian society; therefore they must be stopped by any means necessary before or at the gates of Aso Rock.

According to Governor Aliyu Babangida of Niger State, it is an Islamic tenet, perspective and guidance on the selection of leaders, that those who desperately seek leadership should not be considered for leadership positions!” Icheoku says, Governor Babangida spoke very well for Nigerians and Nigerians must hearken to him and reject this duo as too desperate for any leadership position again! We categorically state that 'never in the history of Nigeria has anybody been this desperate for power as is the case with Muhammadu Buhari and his fellow traveller, Atiku Abubakar? Regrettably, both are supposedly Muslims but chose to ignore the injunction on leadership desperation. The crucial question is why the desperation, especially of Muhammadu Buhari whose 'terroristic-tenure' at Dodan Barracks left so much to be desired and the memory is still sore. What about Atiku Abubakar, who was described by a person who should know and a former boss as "too corrupt to be allowed to preside over the affairs of Nigeria?" What a damning referral indeed. As for Atahiru Bafawara, Icheoku will not waste precious time discussing such a localised politician of Sokoto State without any tangible or reasonable national stature and/or presence. We shall therefore, confine our discussion here on Buhari and Atiku; and their mad quest to wrestle power once again. The premise being that they were once there but did not render any worthy account of their stewardship.

So we ask, what is the hullabaloo that these two conniving and contriving despicable men are once again scheming to weasel their way back to power. Should Nigerians allow them to again get hold of the levers of power? The answer is a resounding big NO, except of course they want to do it at a great peril to whatever holds and keeps them together as one state? The duo of Buhari and Atiku are not what any moderate Nigerian should wish for the country and particularly not this time when there is a continuing seismic movement on the tetronic plates of the Nigeria state. Icheoku warns Nigerians to be very wary of these strangely odd bed-fellas who are both as deceitful as they are conceited! They tried in 2007 to ride on the back of the South East into power but failed and they were advised against the futility of over-challenging the charade that put President Umaru Yar'Adua in office but they will not listen to any counselling until the resulting disgrace at the Supreme court. Atiku Abubakar is the worse of the two regarding the election challenge because he is himself a master-rigger who twice rigged himself with Obasanjo into power in 1999 and 2003; and you wonder why his complaint in 2007? Now that the election of 2011 is around the corner, both men have made a u-turn to the South West seeking their 2011 bride in the waiting. Where were both men when one of them, the midget of Kano, Sani Abacha was methodically exterminating the people of Yoruba of the South West? But for these men to now go back to the same land of Oduduwa seeking their hands in political marriage towards 2011 smacks of a desperate desire from Hell to step into Nigeria's White House or Black House aka Aso Rock, This should raise every Nigerian's sixth-sense and we shout from the roof-top of our existence, it is very ominous!

What Buhari could not do while he had all the dictatorial, unquestionable powers of a military maximum ruler, he now wants to attempt to do as a civilian president? A dispensation which must defer to the wishes of Nigerians, by listening to their representatives at the National Assemblies? Olusegun Obasanjo proved to Nigerians that once a dictator always a dictator, and that a soldier is always a soldier; which by implication, means that a Buhari will not be any different.

Which Nigerian wants to go once again, through the experience of the hellish eight years witnessed under Olusegun Obasanjo infamy? Definitely not those ones we know and we bet you are thinking the same. A man who would kill Barthlomew Owo and two others for an offence which they committed before it was made a death penalty offence? This highly emaciated-looking angry army man from Daura Katsina State, promulgated a death decree after Batholomew and co had already been arrested for illegal drugs dealing and retroactively applied same to their case; and executed them despite deafening outcry against the injustice of such retroactive death-decree? But like the trait he displayed when his political party ANPP counselled against going to court to challenge the election of President Umaru Yar'Adua, and went ahead anyway, he did not listen then. A typical Islamist fundamentalist, Buhari does not accommodate differing viewpoints since he believes he is directly wired to his Allah who talks directly to him and directs his actions. Nigerians you are warned, be very scared and wary of Muhammadu Buhari because he is not a civilian nor a democrat and desperation to get back to power tells a lot about his intention. He may not only embark on Islamisation of Nigeria but may re-introduce his signature draconian actions such that every Nigerian would desperately wish and pray for the "good-old" days of Olusegun Obasanjo to come back?

Buhari's co-traveller in this self-effacing journey of no convictions, Atiku Abubakar is another Nigerian, who were Nigeria a functional country, would have since been locked away and forgotten in a prison cell somewhere in Nigeria desert north. His friend in the United States, former Louisiana congressman William Jefferson is awaiting sentencing and possibly could go away for a very very long time for alleged business deals with Atiku Abubakar? Whether he has paid back his overdue bank debt to Nigeria banks, Icheoku does not know; but suffice it to say that any man who would use his privileged position to take out loans he did not intend to pay back until forced by the public odium that unearthed his indebtedness, might as well not be good for a Nigeria leadership.

Atiku helped rig Olusegun Obasanjo and himself to power twice in 1999 and 2003 respectively; and now he is preaching democracy and ganging up to steal power if need be? Icheoku says, if only President Umaru Yar'Adua had guts, he would have since arrested and tried these two men for breach of public peace or even treasonable felony for unnecessarily creating public tension in the land? Both men have severally increased apprehension in Nigeria by categorically stating publicly that Nigeria is a failed state which may soon cease existing? If this is not enough to cause apprehension and panic amongst Nigerian citizens, then nothing known to Icheoku has such capabilities. These two men's sordid past say a lot about the kind of bleak future they will bequeath on Nigeria if allowed or given the opportunity; therefore, they must and should not be allowed to venture back near the presidency! Both men have ulterior motive for so desperately seeking and coveting the office of the presidency of Nigeria and must be stopped forthwith.

While addressing his NDI, Muhammadu Buhari said, "The leaders of the new movement are propelled by the need to urgently salvage the Nigerian nation from collapse and are left with no option than to answer the call of duty “and accept the burden of history” and initiate and give leadership to a process of extensive consultation on the way forward. The emerging coalition is hinged on the principles of federalism and multi-party liberal social democracy and “we believe in and will always promote laissez-fair economic policy that is fully grounded in state welfarism.” Like the South Carolina hillbilly, Icheoku screams, You Lie!

First of all, you are not a known democrat but an unrepentant mean dictator who killed innocent people based on a retroactive decree. You also recently would not listen or accommodate a different opinion on your former party's way forward. You also allowed your then ADC Major Jokolo to bring into Nigeria 53 suitcases which content nobody knows; while you were pontificating and prosecuting your then war against indiscipline (WAI). Buhari, Icheoku says, may be you can start your democracy initiative and movement by first apologising to Nigerians for your coup against democracy in 1983? Thereafter, apologise for the affront on rule of law for killing three innocent Nigerians based on a retroactive decree? Following which you then pay compensation to the families of Bartholomew Owo and co; and finally explain to Nigerians the content of those 53 suitcases. Do this for your absolution, and then may be, Nigerians will be prepared to hear what you want to tell them.

The consolation for Nigerians however is that none of these 'conspirators' ganging up under the National Democratic Movement (NDM) has any serious followership in Nigeria anymore; as would be a cause for serious concern? They are all marooned politicians trying desperately to find some degree of relevance in today's Nigerian polity and invent one if need be? Luckily enough, Nigerians have severally in the past told these two men, thanks but no, thanks! But like an old penny nobody wants they keep recycling themselves back into national discuss each time.

But just for the heck of it, lets sift through the pile of spent Nigerian politicians in this movement:- who is Atahiru Bafarawa, Olorunnimbe Mamora, Prince Tony Momoh, Tonye Princewill, Ben Obi, Olu Falae, Duben Onyia, Mike Ahamba, Great Ogboru, Usman Bugaje, Buba Galadima, Tom Ikimi, Lawal Keita and Supo Soyibare among the others to cause sleeplessness in Aso Rock? Our answer is none, as they all appear to be nomadic political leftovers seeking for some fodder and shelter? Of all the poeple in Western Nigeria, only old man Olu Falae of the the SAP notoriety could they mobilize? From the Niger Delta South-South, of all the people there only the man whose government killed Ken Saro Wiwa, while he was serviving as then foreign minister, Tom Ikimi and a coup plotter Great Ogboru are all they could mobilize? And when you check the people with some followership from the north, only Bugaje and Bafawara were their best options? From the South East, Dubem Onyia; and you ask yourself which followership does this Dubem of a man command in his Enugu State or even village, talkless of the entire South-East? And same goes with Senator Ben Obi and Lawyer Mike Ahamba too? The NDM conveners are really very serious indeed, except they only allowed 'yes people' who will not constitute a barrier to their selfish ambition to rule Nigeria at any and all cost payable? Echoing the PDP, Icheoku agrees that "these participants are adventurers and an assembly of bad loosers with unstable agenda and futility of ambitions."

Icheoku reiterates the alert of PDP "on the “instability of character of the principal conveners of this charade who have consistently displayed a lack of principle, discipline and patriotism by their nomadic political nature." Instead of trying to reinvent and rebuild their already formed and existing political parties the Action Congress (AC) with two states and All Nigerian Peoples Party (ANPP) with five states, these charlatans, Muhmmadu Buhari and Atiku Abubakar are busy trying to create a private fiefdom where their words are the command and where they will not have any strong voice to question their dictates? Nigerians should first find out why these despicable men abandoned the ship of their respective parties AC and ANPP and are now venturing out again to form a new political party? What went wrong with where they were previously making the need for a new one suddenly imperative? Could someone out-there please help Icheoku tell these guys that democracy is about dissenting opinions!

Icheoku predicts that the NDM if it makes it into a full fledged party will eventually split into two groups, along the fault-lines of Buhari and Atiku? Like 'the moribund Mega Party idea that found itself embroiled in mega confusion,' the NDM will soon find itself being tugged apart by the irreconcillable conflicting interests of Buhari and Atiku? In the words of PDP national chairman Vincent Ogbulafor, “surely they shall gather, but surely they shall scatter because they are strange bed mates.” Icheoku says, the PDP chairman spoke wisely and correctly articulated both men as the strangest of all strange bedfellows ever to seek to forge a common alliance in Nigeria? Both Buhari and Atiku have different character, personality, temperament and political background; such are the glaring disparities that Icheoku queries, how can oil and water easily mix and very well?

Icheoku asks, what does these two men know which the rest of Nigerians does not about the "imminent or impending total collapse of Nigeria into a failed state?" May be the SSS and other security agencies of the government should invite them or take them in for questioning? If the country did not collapse during Biafra or when the infamous midget of Kano, Sani Abacha, attempt to kill off Nigerians of the South-West, Icheoku says, never again and not a million man army of Buhari and Atiku combined can accomplish that now. Their needless fear mongering is just to make Nigerians capitulate and in their fear call for their knight in shinning armour to come and rescue save them? What a weapon of fear-mongering being deployed by these men to force a concepted situation into play and for their benefit.

Icheoku says, the present shenanigan of the duo is not borne out of any patrotic zeal or sincere attempt to forestal a possible collapse of Nigeria; no, it is out of their selfish feeling of self-importance, which both men have arrogated to themselves, that they cannot be ignored or permanently consigned into the dustbin of political irrelevance in Nigeria. So, they have to scream lungful that Nigeria is on the verge of collapse; but does anyone in today's Nigeria really care if Nigeria goes to hell in a hand's basket?

Now listen to Atiku Abubakar addressing his NDM gathering, “That is why a number of us Nigerian leaders have come together to try to build a broad mass-based movement of committed democrats and patriots to save this country from imminent collapse. We must leave behind a country that our children would be proud of; a country whose best and brightest do not have to run to other countries in order to find good education and well-paying and professionally and personally fulfilling jobs; a country where citizens will be free to move about without the fear of being kidnapped; a country whose leaders understand the centrality of electrical power, education and health in economic development and job and wealth creation; a country whose citizens do not have to take up arms in order to secure justice and equity; a country whose leaders would be found in the company of other world leaders as they try to deal with the key challenges facing the contemporary world.” Icheoku says, easier said than done; this is the same Atiku Abubakar who with Olusegun Obasanjo sent Nigeria adrift for eight long hellish years, now trying to cash in on the very short memory Nigerians are notorious for? When was his epiphany, that he now preaches democracy that Nigerians can believe in? Icheoku says, do not believe the hype of a marooned politician still seeking relevance in his enstranged island of political oblivion! What a gimmickry of the highest order!

The irony of this gang up is that it is just Katsina, Sokoto and Adamawa that are represented in this "Operation Save Nigeria National Democratic Movement?" If indeed it is national in outlook as its name seem to suggest, why the geographical restriction of the major stake-holders to just north east and north west; with the remaining four geographical belts in Nigeria sitting in the lurch? Icheoku surmises that it is just another vanguard of divergent northerners desperately scheming for relevance and playing their usual political chess game against the rest of Nigerians? They are so infatuated with power that whatever gets it for any of them, is oh well and dandy and including the devil? If it is a national opposition to the seating PDP, what happened to the rest of the opposition? Why did they not invite Ikemba Ojukwu's APGA or Orji Uzor-Kalu's PPA or even the Labour Party to give them that sense of a Nigeria that is more inclusive? No, they are just looking for 'yes men and women' to dominate and ride their backs back to power. But they shall be disappointed as Nigerians have known what this two men, Buhari and Atiku represent and their gang-up shall not be allowed to prosper but shall woefully fail. Our advise is for this two men, Muhammadu Buhari and Atiku Abubakar, to just quit politics and disappear from the Nigerian political scene for good; they now constitute avoidable nightmarish eyesores just like Olusegun Obasanjo and Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida!

OASIS OF THE SEAS, A BEHEMOTH OF A CRUISE SHIP!

Icheoku welcomes the mother of all cruise boats, The Oasis of the Seas, the largest cruise boat ever made as it makes its maiden voyage to sea, en-route Florida. Just when you thought that it cannot get any bigger, science and technology says, not just yet!

At a cost of $1.5 billion and standing about 20 stories high, the ship is five times larger than the world famous ill-fated Titanic. It is nearly 40 percent larger than any present day biggest cruise ship still sailing the seas of the world.

Oasis of the Sea which was built by STX Finland for Royal Caribbean International Florida USA; has seven neighborhoods, an ice rink, boutiques, restaurants, bars, four swimming pools, a golf course, a 750-seat outdoor amphitheater, a 1,300 guests indoor theater, volleyball and basketball courts, a youth zone with theme parks and nurseries for children. It also has 2,700 cabins and can accommodate 6,300 passengers and 2,100 crew members.

Icheoku says, what a behemoth floating city on the seas, brought to fruition through the ingenuity of the human brain. Safe sailing Oasis of the Sea!

GAVIN NEWSOM, SIMPLY TOO LIBERAL FOR CALIFORNIA?

It is with sadness that Icheoku received the news of the sudden withdrawal of the Democrat governorship candidate wanna-be and mayor of San Francisco, Gavin Newsom, from the race. We say with sadness because on the surface, Gavin looked like the ideal candidate for a California governor, both in his looks and progressive brand of politics; but it would appear that California may not really be what it appears to be and hence Gavin's bid could not take flight. Gavin Newsom, a man who I have personally met, shook his hand and had a conversation with; appeared and sounded like a man with the right type of vision for California. But like all tides of men, he possibly came ahead of his time as California is not yet liberal enough to give a safe passage to their governor's lodge, a man who thinks and acts like Gavin Newsom. This unreceptive crowd of Californians forced Gavin's hands and he jumped-out; what a sudden exit!

To many uninformed observers, California is a very liberal state? But to those who know better, California is not just the Bay Area of Northern California, the home of unapologetic liberal politics. To the informed mind, California is geographically, politically and religiously three states lumped into one, technically speaking? There is the liberal San Francisco Bay Area Northern California and some parts of Los Angeles 'state'; there is the conservative San Diego area of Southern California including some outer areas of Los Angeles 'state'; and then the Modesto to Sacramento hinterland valley-axis of ultra right wing conservatism 'state!' That is the nature of a state which has been intra-fighting itself to death over practically every issue; and goes both ways in its electioneering politics. Republican and Democrats alike, can win elections into California's governorship lodge anytime one of them out-mobilizes the other. The same State that produced Nixon, Reagan, Djukemejian, Arnold Schwarzenegger, the father and son Brown duo, Gray Davis as governors, a mixed-bag of both parties. California is notorious for always dragging issues out as disparate people who populate the various parts of the state always have different things they would rather is done with the state's money. So now you know why the squabbles and sometimes shutting down of government that constantly goes on in Sacramento? That is the nature of the state that Gavin Newsom tried to woe for her governorship, but which gave him a cold shoulder, forcing his sudden exit from the endeavour.

His campaign ran out of steam so early that to continue in the face of what was obvious would have been foolhardy; - no cash and no favorable opinion polls, the two most import must-haves in American electioneering politics. He has the looks and the gait, I have met him, but that alone was not sufficient as was proved in the past with the defunct pretty face and good haired Senator John Edward's presidential campaign? To be successful, one must in addition have the needed 'mojo' which cash-money and high favorable ratings provide, which supplies the needed air beneath the wing of politics. Icheoku asks, but why did Gavin Newsom's campaign flop-out so early in the game since we refuse to buy into the political-speak, in which he tried to explain away why he aborted and called off the effort as family and city hall issues-related?

In Gavin Newsom's own words, "With a young family and responsibilities at City Hall, I have found it impossible to commit the time required to complete this effort the way it needs to - and should be - done?" Icheoku says, what a typical politician not forthcoming with the truth and real reason why he hurriedly threw in the towel? He met and married Ms. Jennifer Siebel, got her pregnant and now have a daughter with her; so he had always known that he has a 'young family' before he stepped forward to offer himself to serve. He is also the elected 2nd term mayor of San Francisco and so fully aware of the 'responsibilities of the City Hall' long before he threw his hat into the ring? It is also not for 'lack of time' that Gavin pulled out, no, as he was fully aware and possibly anticipated the rigorous time-consuming effort a governorship run would be in California before he said, please send me to Sacramento! He is not a political neophyte, after-all he was a former supervisor and now in his second term as a Mayor, so he had a good insight on what demand on his time the governorship run will entail? Somebody is not telling all here. Icheoku postulates, it was because Gavin Newsom found out that he is not marketable in a state-wide election in California; and that no investor was willing to part with his cash and burn it in an un-winnable candidate, that forced him to abruptly end his sputtering campaign!

It was the same virus that killed-off opposition to Prop 8 that also fatally afflicted his campaign effort - his advocacy for an unfettered right for gay men and women to freely marry! Gavin Newsom instantly became a polarising political figure in California the day, the hour, the minute and the second he declared 'whether you like it or not, gay marriage is here to stay' and threw the gates of San Francisco City Hall open for the flood of marriage of homosexuals witnessed in 2004. The conservatives and christian right wings Californians saw him as drawing a line on the sand and immediately marked him for elimination, politically. Having earned the title of their 'Enemy Number 1,' all their resources and battle tanks were trained on him ever since, waiting for any opportunity to exact their vengeance; including his now failed governorship-run. First they pushed Proposition 8 through; and have fought off every attempt to overturn it ever since up to the states Supreme court and the legislature. They have the money and political muscle to do a duel with Gavin Newsom and now that he has quit his governorship bid, is it a fair assessment to say the christian right wing Californians have extracted their pound of flesh? But where were the GBLT with their money and why did they not fiercely back a Gavin Newsom, trying to become governor of California and most likely would have signed into law their right to marry? Why did the gays, bisexuals, lesbians and trans-genders of California not reciprocate a well earned favor to a guy who placed all his future political aspirations on the line just to help them gain the right to marry whoever they chose and love. Where was the quid-pro-quo? Why did they fail to rally around his effort at the governorship? Why did they abandon Gavin Newsom in his greatest hour of need, forcing him to jump ship mid stream with his quest for California's governorship?

Further, former President Bill Clinton's recent endorsement may have done-in Gavin Newsom's governorship aspiration. That blessing of Clinton may have served to remind many California's Obama supporters that this Gavin Newsom went rogue and pitched his tent with the Democrat old brigades during the last Democrat presidential primaries when he sided with Hillary Clinton instead of his fellow youthful and ebullient Barrack Obama. Could this endorsement have proved lethal to his now botched campaign by provoking a people still seething at Gavin Newsom for then taking the wrong side, who now decided to pay him back by maintaining a deaf ear to his message and not opening their wallets for his campaign effort? Icheoku believes that Gavin Newsom, a youth, erred in not supporting a fellow youth, then aspirant Barack Obama and that it played a major role in his campaign loosing traction, derailing and finally ending in its today's moribund state. Californians could not have technically rejected him because they considered him too young or over-ambitious since youth is now in, and they overwhelmingly voted for President Barack Obama!

The only consolation is that he is still young and may be appointed into a position in the future or wait long enough for Dianne Feinstein to quit politics and Nancy Pelosi upgraded to the senate, so that he may try his hands in an opened house of representative seat. His political territory now, for all intent and purpose, appears restricted and confined only to the Bay Area of Northern California where his views, vision and brand of liberal progressive politics are shared by the majority. But his chances at a state-wide office seems diminished; but at least he still have a job, being the mayor of San Francisco which will subsist till January 2012.

Whatever he chose to do thereafter, Icheoku wishes him good-luck; but the two decisions he made which made him a polarising political figure in California will haunt him for a long time if not forever. His unabashed support for gay marriage and not supporting President Barack Obama during the primaries are two errors of judgment which any clever politician would rather wish he never made. In politics, every action has its consequences and although they may seem forgiven but are never forgotten. His attempt to suddenly portray himself as a candidate of change and largely targeting his appeal to young voters with a heavy Internet presence and online fundraising failed because when the youths were pushing through the brick-wall of the establishment Democrats trying to get Obama through during the last primaries, he abandoned the bloc and went with the old hacks - the then Hillary Clinton squad. Now he wanted to reap where he did not sow, invoking a bloc of the Democratic party he never identified with during the primaries and he got a resounding rejection! With a Field Poll showing him 20-points below his prospective rival, who has not even declared his intentions; and a war chest also suffering 7 to 1 disadvantage; he had no option but to throw in the towel and quit. Icheoku believes that he did the right thing by deciding not to spend the next seven months in a primary contest he couldn't win. It is our well considered position that anybody thinking that Gavin would have done otherwise, is not a calculating person and must be living in the land of wishful thinkers. At least the smarts in him correctly read the political landscape and he decided to cut his losses and run away, which is the only meaningful thing to do under the circumstances and he just did that. We wish him the best of luck.

One of the lessons of the now defunct Gavin Newsom's attempted run for the governorship of California is that California is not as liberal as it appears to be; and also that San Francisco and Los Angeles areas do not correctly reflect California. Any attempt to try to read California using data collated from these two geographical areas would most likely result to a faulty statistical sampling as they do not correctly represent the entire California landscape. Gavin's rejection also shows that hot-button issues like gay marriage should not constitute any politicians mantra, but should be merely caressed by such politician who still have plans for future state-wide office. Finally it marks the end of the political gravitas of former President Bill Clinton, a man who could not even put his wife Hillary into the White House; and now his endorsement of Gavin Newsom could not provide the shot in the arm needed to avoid the end which was just witnessed. But whether Gavin Newsom was simply too liberal or too radicalised for governorship of the state of California, Icheoku cannot categorically state, but his rejection does not sure look good for obtrusively liberal progressive politics in a motley, diverse, varied and multi-cultured state like California. Once again, good-luck Gavin with all your future endeavors!

AS BODE GEORGE REPORTS TO KIRIKIRI, ANY LESSONS LEARNED?

Icheoku have for so long, resisted the temptation to join the lynch-mob, calling for the head of Chief Olabode Ibiyinka George over his 'dereliction of duty' while overseeing the affairs of the Nigerian Ports Authority as its chairman from 2001 to 2003? Total tab involved is said to be about 85 billion naira? He was not accused of stealing the sum or misappropriate it for himself; no, his crime was 'by-passing the Hausa-Fulani man in charge of the Ministry of Transportation to award such a huge contract?' Really? So their thinking was, 'how dare you develop such an independent-streak and audacity not to get a clearance from us, the Hausa-Fulani overlords of Nigeria before discharging the duties of your office? Chief Bode George is a southerner, from Yoruba west; so what gave him the impetus to act without first checking with the feudalistic north, before awarding contracts of such amount? This is the crux of the matter, the big deal for which he was indicted and now sentenced?

Icheoku does not carry water for Chief Bode George and our disdain for his then boss, Olusegun Obasanjo and aversion to corruption is of general knowledge. But what we are against is using someone of his personality as a sacrificial lamb to show a pretended appetite to fight corruption by the north controlled EFCC, Ministry of Justice and the Presidency? The heat is on them after Hillary Clinton's umbrage, to prove that Nuhu Ribadu was not removed simply because of his 'effectiveness and that he was over-reaching into forbidden territory' but that Madam Farida is as well competent? If Bode George had corruptly enriched himself with the 85 billion naira sum in question, Icheoku would have called for his being tied at a stake and with a barrage of lead, dispatched to the world hereafter. So the question is why would Bode George be imprisoned for just 'doing the right thing but following a wrong procedure;' when so many northerners, looters of the national treasury are oppressively holding sway in the country with wealth stolen from the national treasury with impunity and suffered no consequence as a result?

Who have held Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida accountable for all that he took from the Nigerian coffers particularly the $12 billion Gulf war oil windfall? Who has held Abdulsalam Abubakar accountable for the 16 billion naira power supply contract which he failed, refused or neglected to execute after collecting 91.1% of the contract sum as mobilization fees thereto? Who held Muhammadu Buhari accountable for the $2.8 billion missing oil money which he helped himself with when he was NNPC chairman under Olusegun Obasanjo's first missionary journey to Nigeria's seat of power at Dodan Barracks? Who has held Atiku Abubakar accountable for all that he stole while at Nigerian customs and excise and as vice president of Nigeria? Who held Senator Jubril Aminu accountable for the $12 million dollars SIEMENS bribery scandal? What about Olusola Saraki and FESTAC 77 and the unbridled looting that was witnessed then purchasing buses and coaches at hyper-inflated prices? Should we talk about NPN's Umaru Dikko and the scandalous rice contracts he embarked on as Transport Minister during Shehu Shagari's lacklustre government of yore? Barkin Zuwo's bedroom banking of state's money is still fresh in memory? How about the sugar merchant Aliko Dangote and the list of other northerners bilking Nigeria goes on and on ad infinitum! And if that was not already enough pilfering, recall that Nigeria has recieved as income an amount in excess of $700 billion dollars since coming of age in 1960 and that northerners has been in charge for more than 39 of Nigeria's 49 years of existence, so where is the money, Nigerians? So why Chief Bode George?

The gist of the matter is that all Nigerian public officials have sinned and fallen short of glory; so it does not make sense to just single out Chief Bode George under the circumstances just because some uncircumcised northerners said so! Admitted that some apologists will refer Icheoku to the last name of the judge who convicted the NPA6 to say it does not sound northern; but to this group we say, the north have perfected playing southerners against one another. But who the heck are these northerners that preach holier than thou, when their only job or clearly defined business/means of livelihood is fleecing and scheming Nigerian coffers; either as ten per-centers or brazenly dipping their filthy hands inside the coffers of the Nigerian treasury? Chief Bode George is corrupt and so what; at least that was not the charge for which he was tried and now stands convicted? Is he the first or only corrupt person in Nigeria and why not start with the north whose penchant for stealing from the government in Nigeria is widely acknowledged? If really Chief Bode George is corrupt and 'embezzled' 85 billion naira, why only the two years imprisonment slap on the wrist sentence? Where in such pitiable sentence lies the deterrence? Where is the intended statement that corruption is frowned at, being made by such conviction and punishment? What amount was he asked to refund back to the government as restitution? How many of his assets were confiscated or seized or asked to be forfeited? In short, the sentence does not fit well or support a crime 'committed' by Chief Bode George and Icheoku encourages an appeal under the circumstances.

In a more advanced and law-abiding country, where deterrence is always the objective of judicial punishment, a person who messed with 85 billion naira and was convicted on 47 counts out of 63 counts charges, will not just receive a mere two years imprisonment? No, such sentence as was handed down here is apologetically infinitesimal and proves there was more than met the eyes. What about two years each for every billion naira resulting to a total of 170 years? How about two years for each count resulting to 94 years? What about ten years for each one billion resulting to 850 years behind bars? Talk of deterrence and the United States of America proudly comes to mind of a place where criminals often receive 1000 years imprisonment; and politicians alike such as the former Louisiana governor who is serving 400 years imprisonment for embezzling $400,000 dollars? Also remember the imprisoned Republican Congressman Duke Cunningham of Southern California who had everything with his name on it or some semblance of his ownership taken from him and auctioned off; from a Rolls-Royce to floor carpets just to make reparation for his corrupt enrichment? Such is what we are talking about and which Icheoku envisages for a Nigeria that is serious with fighting corruption and punishing corrupt public officials who misuse what is trusted in their care by reason of their office.

If Chief Bode George fretted away 85 billion naira, then justice demands that he at least get one year for each billion which would have put his prison sentence to at least 85 years in addition to an earth-scorching restitution order, with a lien of forfeiture levied on anything bearing his name or any close resemblance. Whatever it takes, just make that statement that Nigeria is tired and cannot continue to aid and abet corruption within the system. May be 85 life sentences or possibly 850 years would have been a preferred sentence to compensate for the 85 billion naira but surely not two sorry years? But is the proverbial half bread better than none true in this case of Chief Bode George, a yesterday's man of power now convicted and gone to prison? Icheoku does not buy into the argument that the gist of the conviction lies in its symbolism and that it far outweighs the severity of any sentence that would have been otherwise imposed under the circumstance? That it says so much for a previously untouchable Nigerian to now forever carry, barring a successful appeal, the toga of a convicted criminal? That Chief Bode George being otherwise denuded and defrocked is worth more psychologically, than his thousand years behind bars? Which ever side of the divide you find yourself, our position is that majority of past and present Nigerian leaders are very corrupt and severally corruptly over-enriched themselves; that a more soul-searching introspective steps ought to be taken to rout out the endemic and entrenched corruption in Nigeria. It has to be total and complete covering all past people in leadership positions especially in Northern Nigeria!

In his judgment convicting Chief Bode George and co, Justice Olubunmi Oyewole said: "When public office is abused, the entire populace is assaulted. This must not be condoned or treated with kid gloves. If the quality of service in our public life is to be altered to the appreciable standard of the civilised world, the right deterrent should be given. For the right deterrent to be served, therefore, sufficient firmness must be demonstrated." Icheoku says, what a complete hogwash that this judge raised his hand like a giant only to flop it like a weakling midget. He was high in pontification and sounding the right tone, only to chicken out in handing out his jelly-sentence of two and half years? Why raise the hopes of millions that finally, a king who does not know Joseph has ascended the throne and called for rendering of account by Chief Bode George and co, only to just slap their wrists with such a baby-sentence? Icheoku asks this Justice Oyewole, where in his two and half years prison sentence was his suggested "not treat this matter with kids gloves" factored in? Was two years the "right deterrent" for a 85 billion Naira scam-contracts? Icheoku concludes that Justice Olubunmi Oyewole did not show any firmness with his two and half years prison sentence for Chief Bode George and co; which we believe is sure to be overturned on appeal for being too light a sentence or better still for not being meritorious?

Continuing the judge said, "The penalty for disobedience to lawful order is a maximum of one year imprisonment. I hereby sentence all the defendants to six months imprisonment ... and to two years for each of the abuse of office convicted counts of contract splitting and inflation." Icheoku queries, why did the judge make his order to run concurrently instead of consecutively, if he is serious about providing deterrence? Who in corrupt Nigeria would not readily head to prison for two and half years after such a 'massive loot', if that is all it takes to keep such spoils of corruption; after-all in Nigerian prison you can buy yourself any amount of freedom including conjugal visits with your spouse or a paid service-provider, once the right amount exchanges hands? Conviction on 47 counts for just two and half years rather sounds as ridiculous as it was too demeaning to the psyche of that Nigerian that strives to be upright and do good? Also why did the judge not make the sentence in addition to payment of fine; after-all the objective is to deter future abuse? If they are being sentenced for abuse of office and fraud, is it not the proper thing to do to at the same token, deny them the spoils of such abuse? So where is the restitution order, Mr. Justice Oyewole?

Conviction on 47 out of 63-count charge of conspiracy, disobedience to lawful order, inflation of contracts and contracts splitting just received two and half years imprisonment? Tell it to the marines! It is also instructive to note that this was one of the fastest trial proceeding ever recorded in a Nigerian court, notorious for its frustrating judicial logjam, which is sometimes perpetrated by conniving lawyers to wilfully and purposely obstruct and delay justice for the opposing side? Just under one year, from October 29, 2008 to October 26, 2009 bearing in mind that the framed suspects in Pa Rewane's 1995 murder, are still languishing in prison ever since, awaiting indictment which seems not to be coming and five of them are known to have so far died in the prison custody? So what happened to accelerate Chief Bode George's trial and conviction; or are the north trying to land the big fish, Olusegun Obasanjo as recently predicted by El-Rufai?

Since the sentence will run concurrently, each man will spend two and a half years in prison instead of at least the more reasonable one hundred and seventeen and a half years, unless an appellate court overturns Justice Oyewole's verdict. Icheoku reiterates that the six convicted men were not accused of making any profit or unjustly enriching themselves by their action at the ports authority; no, they were merely accused of not following bureaucratic orders? Could this probably explain the two and half years sentences given to each of them, which will probably be overturned on appeal for lack of merit?

Icheoku queries, since when has disobedience to ordinary administrative authority or bureaucratic orders, which did not result to any financial crimes, amount to a criminally prosecutable offence? What these convicts allegedly did was simply exceed their authority but they did not flagrantly enrich themselves or profit from whatever it was they did? So where lies the crime except in the wombs of time, when the appellate court will uphold their convictions or just throw the damn thing away as ridiculous and laughable? But until the later happens Chief Olabode Ibiyinka George stands a convicted criminal of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (CCFRN)! What an award to get in one's golden years! It will be recalled that Chief Bode George was chairman of the Board of Directors of the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) from 2001 to 2003 and also Director-General of the then Yar'Adua-Jonathan Presidential Campaign Organisation in 2007. He was also the former South West National Deputy Chairman of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

Now as he sits in Kirirkiri maximum prison in Lagos awaiting the outcome of his appeal, whether the stigma of a convict stays with him will depend on the its outcome, otherwise what a way to finish a career that saw him in charge of a naval command as well as a post retirement good run in politics, including a public office! What a sorry lesson in the ephemeral and fleeting nature of power, that this former governor of Ondo State, former naval commodore, a PDP chieftain and former chairman of Nigeria Ports Authority now sits in prison, a convicted felon?

CHIEF (DR.) AUSTIN CHUKS-ORJI, A TRANSITION!

Bay Area Nigerian community of Northern California, United States of America, with heart filled with sorrow, announces the departure to eternity of one of her founding member!

Chief Dr. Austin Chuks-Orji passed on, following complications from surgery, at Kaiser Hospital, Antioch, California, USA; on Monday October, 26 2009.

Until his death, Austin Chuks-Orji, a businessman, was a prominent member of Nigerian community in Northern California. He was also the Ogbuenyisiogu II (High Chief) of Obe town in Nkanu, Enugu State, Nigeria.

Arrangements for his final and last journey, and rites of passage to join his ancestors in Nigeria; including a USA wake-keeping, will be announced in due course.

Signed: Attorney Dozie Ezeife

Son-in-law

USA

tel:510.706.4741

THE DAUGHTER OF "YOU'RE FIRED", GETS "HIRED!"

As a wife, that is! Her name is Ivanka Trump, daughter of Donald and wife number 1, Ivana Trump of New York; and she is beautiful. She came of age as a woman on Sunday October 25, 2009 when she said her 'I do' to Mr. Jared Kushner of the Kushner family, also of New York. Jared is the publisher of New York Observer and also a principal in his father, Charles Kushner's real estate conglomerate.

It was a high society wedding, before five hundred of their nearest-and dearest, carefully chosen guests; made up of family and friends. The vows took place under a large Jewish tent, huppla before the reception at the Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, New Jersey. Jared had popped the question, 'will you marry me' in July this year, after a two year dating of Ivanka.

Ivanka wore a Vera Wang wedding gown, which was inspired by Grace Kelly's wedding gown which she wore during her 1956 wedding to Prince Rainier III. She also had on a $265,000 dollars worth of jewelry from her own collection, including a $45,000 hair clip, $130,000 diamond drop earrings and a $90,000 Art Deco-inspired bracelet? What an exhibitionist display of the obsessively super-duper rich and famous! Her wedding outfit was described by one observer as simply "majestic" and "demure." The wedding planner and floral designer is the world famous Preston Bailey.

Jared, a Jew, made Ivanka convert to Judaism as a pre-condition to their marriage; which Icheoku does not find objectionable as it has already proved who is on the driver's seat between this two millionaire kids and children of billionaires. In other words, it showed that Jared Kushner is not a girlie-man; but a man who wants to remain a man, whether or not he is married to the daughter of a man who derives joy in telling his apprentices, "You're fired!" Jared's manhood is still in tact and was not put away in a testicles lock-box; Rush Limbaugh, please accommodate the steal!

At 27 and 28 years respectively, the couple have pretty well come of age. Icheoku wants to believe they thought it real through and were not just two infatuated 'high school' sweet-hearts on a fantastic fairy-tales voyage to find their 'princess and her Knight in shinning armor?' In her Tweeter message, Ivanka had tweeted, ".....everything is simply perfect"; Icheoku prays that her married life stays as perfect! Admitted her father, The Donald, is on his third marital voyage from Ivana to Marla to now Melania; but you never know? Congratulations Mr. and Mrs Kushner.

OJUKWU OR UWECHUE, WHO IS THE BIAFRAN-WAR VILLAIN?

It is not quite very often that Nigerians hear such 'frank' assessment of what transpired in Nigeria, especially coming from one of the poker-players of Nigeria; a man who should know? Just recently, Mobolaji Johnson fired a salvo at Ojukwu accusing him of causing the Nigerian civil war; now shortly after, Chief Raphael Uwechue has thrown another below-the-belt punch at Ojukwu, blaming him for losing the war? What a double whamy, bilateral attack on a man who is widely regarded by many Igbo folks for stepping in when every other person was no where to be found, in defense of the Igbo nation? According to the Ogwashi-Ukwu, Delta State high chief, former Nigeria ambassador to Mali and President General of Oha-n-eze Ndigbo, 'Ojukwu's over-bearing attitude botched the attempted secession of Biafra from Nigeria!' In other words, Chief Raphael Uwechue said, 'but for Ojukwu Biafra would have succeeded;' or better still, 'blame Ojukwu for the failure of the Biafran struggle?'

Icheoku says, for Chief Uwechue to make such disparaging remarks about and concerning the person of Generalissimo Ikemba Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu, and in such a public way, chronicled in a published book and questioning his war efforts leaves so much to be desired; as it could exacerbate the disunity among the Igbo nation. Ojukwu to so many Igbo sons and daughters is a war hero, who when duty called, showed up and answered the call to stop an orchestrated extermination of Igbo people in Nigeria. They revere him as the man who stood between them and an assured annihiliation; telling them to their face, ENOUGH! It is Ojukwu who said to Igbo sons and daughters throughout Nigeria, come home and I will guarrantee you safety! To so many Igbo sons and daughters, Chief Raph Uwechue is the President General of Oha-n-eze Ndigbo; prior which his fame or acclaim is limited to only the many who are knowledgeable in the politics of Nigeria and may be his local community of Ogwashi-Ukwu and environs? Now the million dollar question is, who will the Igbos believe in this war tales or who would they follow into battle, assuming duty called again? Icheoku asks, who between Ojukwu and Uwechue is the villain here; and whose effort or lack thereof caused Biafra to capitulate?

Should Chief Ralph Uwuche be forced to recant his written statement or resign the office of Oha-n-eze Ndigbo President General, which he holds in sacred trust for the Igbos, now that he has denigrated an Igbo idol, a war-hero? What is the best way out of this woods which Chief Uwechue's suppposedly letting the cat of the box, had placed the Igbo unity? Icheoku does not fully know the logistics of the Bafran war or the other subterranean reasons why it was 'the only war of survival to fail' in recent recorded history? Who did what and how did it impact the effort so negatively that it compromised an otherwise worthy cause? Should the Igbos or other participants in that war of survival now regurgitate what transpired over forty years ago and not just leave it for history to judge? But should the story be told now, then it requires accounts from both sides of the divide - that is the only way for the Igbo nation to truly know and understand what sabotaged the Biafran war efforts. The chief protagonists of the war and its alter-ego, Ikemba Odumegwu Ojukwu should therefore shed more light on the war effort and tell the listening world how such an oportunity was let go; so that the Igbos could know how their war of survival was really managed and what or who caused their defeat therein which ripples they stilll suffer from in today's Nigeria? Added that the three Rs of reconcilliation, rehabilitation and reconstruction were never fully implemented after the war which continues till today?

If what Ralph Uwechue has started, being himself a solid Igbo son is not checkmated forthwith, it may give rise to other vicious attacks, especially from the other side of the war-divide; which will now feel empowered and licensed to start piling-down on Ikemba Nnewi and who knows how it will end? Only Ojukwu's forceful rebuttal of the vituperation of Uwechue, is capable of putting the fire out, otherwise the present skirmish may linger for so on without a foreseeable resolution? But will Ojukwu accept the gauntlet from Uwechue for a fight of the century, who knows? According to Chief Uwechue, "ego and quest for absolute control by Chief Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu ruined Biafra." It was his assesment that Ojukwu assumed the cloak of a maximum ruler and no one else mattered to him and before him. In the words of the high chief, “By keeping Ojukwu constantly enveloped in an atmosphere of superiority, it made him, as a matter of habit, distrustful and disdainful of other people’s judgment, impatient with their opinions and finally simply authoritarian.” Continuing, the President General of the Pan-Igbo socio-cultural organization, Oha-n-eze Ndigbo said, “It is a sad but instructive irony that Lt. Col Odumegwu Ojukwu, one of Africa’s one-time most brilliant political promises, was the man that led his own people with such a lack of ingenuity into what was clearly a foreseeable disaster.”

Some of the other charges Chief Uwechue levelled against Ojukwu include, alienating so many talented Igbo, using iron hand to establish his authority; missing out on numerous opportunities to use diplomatic front to market the cause of Biafra, shunned so many wise counsel and advice on the way forward especially on the need for a compromise? Also that Ojukwu shunned the second best option to a total seccession, confederacy; which was earlier agreed upon at Ghana's Aburi accord; and which arrangement is more agreeable to majority of other African states! Instead Ojukwu demanded the resignation of the Igbo think-tank who had counselled such action. For him, 'Ojukwu lacked tact, never took advice, suffered what could pass for inferiority complex and was simply power drunk.' His verdict, "Biafra could have survived if only Ojukwu were smart enough to understand the politics of alliances in the country?" But who had the magical crystal ball to know what would have happened in any event? Not Icheoku and sure not this Ogwashi-Ukwu high chief, who took over forty years to now tell the world how Ojukwu dropped the ball on Biafra? But is anyone listening and should we believe what he is saying concerning Ojukwu's handling the Biafran war?

Icheoku says, whether Ojukwu would have gone for a more tactical route of settling for what is available or most likely to succeed, a confederation; is now irrelevant as the cause of Biafra is stagnated and in a suspended abeyance. Who knows whether the same parties with interest who strafed Biafra-land and killed millions of women and children with their MIGs, F-14s, including Britain, Russia, Egypt etc would have allowed even a confederating Biafra to stand? We understand the politics of the war was as religious as it was economics; so not even Chief Raphael Uwechue was in a position to read the minds of these soldiers of fortune to know what was motivating them? Mercenaries who waged a war of attrition against the people of Biafra, causing them the humiliating defeat which they suffered and which psychologically still affect them still today, in a Nigeria, still smarting from their so called war-victory against the Biafrans? Our position is that Chief Uwechue should tread cautiously as his present trajectory might only succeed in widening the gap of mistrust amongst the Igbos of west River Niger and those on the eastern side. Let the house of Igbo not be divided to forestall a collapse, as disunity among the Igbo has already deprived them a lot so far, of what they were ordinarily entitled as a matter of right, being part of the entity called Nigeria.

Whether Biafran war effort fell victim to youthful exuberance or lack of a clear vision and a determinate war-campaign strategy, which questions the rational of the campagin west of river Niger to Ore and the rest of the Midwest; will be a matter for another day's discussion? Why didn't Biafra saturate the Biafran nation with their troops and not dissipate their energy adventuring into the Midwest; were they trying to conquer Nigeria rather than securing their territory? What was the objective, both short and long term of the incursion into Midwest? There are simply too many 'whys', 'if' and 'buts'; but now is time to look forward and not be yoked down in what has since become an un-salvageable part of the Igbo man's history. Icheoku says, the way forward is how to manage the Igbo nation's unity, preparatory to their full re-intergration back into Nigeria with a Nigerian presidency of Igbo extraction come 2016.

The Hausa-Fulani north as well as the Yoruba west are more deft in politics as they reconcile divisions to achieve a common objective or interest more easily than the Igbos. This saw the Yorubas supporting one of their most derisive sons, Olusegun Obasanjo throughout his eight ignominous years in office? The Hausa-Fulani have also since forgotten that Buhari's coup was against their Shagari; that Babangida moved against one of their own Buhari; even the slaughters of the Middle Belters during the failed coup against Muritala and again during Orkar's failed coup seem to have been put in the back burner? Therefore, if these other disparate groups could understand the permanency of interest and not necessarily who did what, in politics, Icheoku asks, why not the Igbos? Also the names dropped by Chief Uwechue including Dr. Nnamdi Azikwe, Dr, Kenneth Dike and Dr. Mike Opara are all dead with no one to either collaborate or rebut the assertion that Ojukwu bungled Biafra; this begs the question, why now, Ralph?

The only plausible explanation may be just to join issues with the peoples' Ikemba Nnewi Odumegwu Ojukwu and instigate another tussle for supremacy among the Igbos of the west and the east of the Niger! Our opinion is that Chief Raph Uwechue would have let the sleeping dog lie and let matters concerning who did or did not do what in Biafra rest; in order to allow the Igbo nation to galvanize, move forward and strategize for their emerging political rebirth in Nigeria. Only a united Igbo can get into Aso Rock in 2016 and this divisive allocation of fault about a defunct Biafra will not cut it. Such is what the detractors and antagonists of the Igbo nation crave for, so that they can find a crack through which to come in and botch the seeming unity coming back to Igboland. Our dear Ojukwu, please ignore joining issues over this matter so that it might die a natural death in the interest of the greater Igbo unity. The Igbo's pre-occupation now should be how to support one of their own march into Aso Rock come 2016 and any other thing should be seen for what it is - a DISTRACTION!

FYI:- For more 'earth-shattering', 'unbelievable' and somewhat 'outlandish' claims and assertions, please read Chief Ralph Uwechue's book titled "Reflections on the Nigerian Civil War – Facing the Future."

EDWARD HINDS, THE MURDER OF A CATHOLIC REVEREND FATHER!

When the news broke that the pastor of St. Patrick's Catholic Church in Chatham, Morris County, New Jersey, United States of America was dead, many observers wondered what went awry? Icheoku speculated whether Reverend Father Edward Hinds was a gay-man, killed for a gay-love gone wrong; or a pedophilia priest whose past eventually caught up with him?

However, now that the janitor of the same St. Patrick's church has been nabbed for his murder, Icheoku waits to see whether 64-year-old murder suspect, Jose Feliciano is a scorned lover of the priest or an abused parishioner or a former molested alter-boy who decided to take his revenge on the priest? Was he possibly just a cuckoo-nest inmate who just lost it and decided to take it out on the priest in a random act of violence?

The murdered priest was last seen alive around 11 p.m. on Thursday night, October 22, 2009; and when he failed to show up for his usual morning mass on Friday, it became a cause for great concern, owing to his reputation for punctuality. A search party found his bloodied body around 8.00 a.m., still wearing his black clerical robes, black garb and white collar, in the rectory kitchen of his northern New Jersey parish house. According to the investigation, there was a significant amount of trauma and injury to the body; Edward Hinds was killed with a knife following an argument, he was stabbed 32 times! Icheoku says, what a rage killing to stab a person for 32 times and queries what were the two men arguing about? Forensic analysis could only point at one direction, a love gone awry and a scorned gay lover who would not take it any longer or be just dished like that? It is possibly a lover's rage that made Janitor Jose stab Reverend Hinds repeatedly for 32 times; an over-kill meant to send a message?

Late Reverend Hinds, 61, was born in Morristown, New Jersey; was ordained priest in 1974 and had been at Patrick's parish since 2003. He was the vice chancellor of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Paterson and secretary to the bishop from 1978 to 1985. According to one parishioner, "Everybody loved him;" but Icheoku retorts, except for the killer?

According to one Monsignor Kenneth Lasch, Hinds had left instructions for that he deliver the eulogy in the event of his death? Icheoku asks did Reverend Hinds have a premonition of his impending death, or had reason to suspect that somebody was going to whack him so soon; that he implored an older retired monsignor; who by age, ordinarily, supposed to pre-decease him, to deliver his eulogy? If so, what did he do to become a marked man with a bulls-eye put on his back? What infractions earned him the cross-hairs? These are some of the questions facing the homicide team as they try to unravel the motive behind this gruesome killing by Jose Feliciano? It will be recalled that this murder was the first violent death in Chatham, a ten thousand people of/from New York community west of Newark, since 1990? A safe community it has been for so long, until Jose spilled the blood of the holy man of God, Edward Hinds.

Like everything else in life which abhors a vacuum, the Diocese of Paterson has already appointed another Reverend Father Owen B. Moran, to take over from where death stopped Reverend Hinds. Icheoku wishes the St. Patrick parish God's guidance as they seek courage and strength during this sad and difficult time, and solace to bear the loss! We also pray for the repose of the soul of the departed man of God; may the soul of Reverend Father Ed Hinds now rest in peace.

For additional information on late Reverend Father Hinds, you please visit the church's website st-pats.org/

THE OBAMA FAMILY PORTRAIT, WHAT DO YOU THINK?

They sure look good, the First Family, that is! The kids, especially Shasha looks very smashing in her pose. First Lady Michelle looks resplendent too. Malia appears happy and President Barack Obama looks well settled in. Icheoku says, photographer and portrait taker, Ann Liebowitz once again proved why she is simply the best; - one of a kind.

CHINYELU SUSAN ONWURAH, A FEMALE OBAMA OF THE UK?

Icheoku says, the wind of change which blew over the United States of America last November 4, 2008; seem to have gone off-shores; and now blowing the world over? From Russia to Italy and now to the United Kingdom, people of African descent are becoming more audacious and proactive in participatory politics in their "white" countries, despite all racial obstacles strewn in their paths. Thanks to the miracle of President Barack Obama last November 4, 2008 in the United States of America. In a loud shrill voice, another feline has hollered, "Yes I Can" as she threw her hat into the race to become a British member of Parliament (MP), representing Newcastle central district!

A Nigerian descent and British citizen, Ms. Chinyelu Susan Onwurah, is running for the House of Commons, to become the first black female member of parliament from Newcastle! The Labour Party (LP) has selected her as their candidate, to represent Newcastle Central district; in the 2010 parliamentary elections. Icheoku says congratulations CSO; and hopefully this Amazonian will win and add extra impetus to the raging wildfire of the new order, the "YES WE CAN" battle-cry which is infecting the world like epidermal virus; at a rate never imagined nor forseen? Happily enough the world is believing with them. Possibly, another Margret Thatcher in the making?

The 44-year-old Chiyelu Onwurah was born in Newcastle upon Tyne, of a Nigerian father from Awka Anambra State and a second generation Irish mother. She is running for the seat being vacated by retiring veteran MP Jim Cousins; who is leaving after 22 years in parliament representing Newcastle central district. The engineer-turned politician, studied Electrical Engineering at the Imperial College of Science and Technology and also holds an MBA from Manchester Business School. Icheoku does not know much about her private life; but it would appear she is a UK version of America's Condolezza Rice, to whom career meant everything; and men and family can wait? And like President Barack Obama of America, Chinyelu Susan Onwurah has an African father and an white mother. Obama's father is Kenyan who married Barack's American white mother while Chinyelu's father is from Nigeria and married Chinyelu's Irish descent white mother.

Chinyelu is among the over 80 blacks and other minority ethnic candidates from the main political parties who are running for office in various constituencies throughout UK in the next election. Icheoku prays that the good Lord who swept President Barack Obama into America's White House will also provide Chinyelu Susan Onwurah the much needed tail-wind to get her into the chambers of the British House of Commons! Admitted that she hardly knows Nigeria, but Icheoku like many other Diaspora Nigerians and people with some connection with Nigeria, are rooting for her success in the forthcoming election. It is one heck of a "can do" spirit in display and she will surely do it! When she wins, it will be a strong message, loud and clear, that the genie let out by President Barack Obama in the most audacious manner, can no longer be put back into the bottle. Once again, congratulations and God's speed, Chinyelu Susan Onwurah! Chinyelu can do it, YES SHE CAN! So vote for Chinyelu Susan Onwurah for parliament!

BENUE STATE, THE BAN OF OGOGORO?

Russia and majority of Eastern Europe is known for their vodka? Scotland is known for their whisky? France is known for their cognac-brandy and bubbly drinks including champagne? California is known for their wines? England is known for their gin? Jamaica is known for their rum? Now therefore, could any government officials of Benue State, Nigeria tell Icheoku what is wrong with Nigeria being known for Benue State's local gin, OGOGORO?

Icheoku says, instead of the prohibition on ogogoro, the government of Benue State should regulate their production, distribution and consumption; and tax the activities as may be deemed appropriate for revenue for the state. Also they can start an out-reach program to educate the locals on the dangers of over-consumption or advise them to dilute the 'pure' alcohol with water before quaffinf them down? There is nothing wrong with any alcoholic beaverage including ogogoro, provided it is consumed as expected; and its prevalence does not in any way result to social disharmony! As was proved in America during the days of prohibition, whenever government seeks or attempts to legislate out such activity, they usually succeed only in driving it underground, thereby creating a source of untold wealth, for men with heart who will then embark on the underworld trade in the product; and like the mafia, will then become ruthlessly wealthy from such racketeering? The solution therefore is to let the sleeeping dog lie, at most regulate and tax it.

According to reports coming out of Benue State, Ogogoro activists in the state have gone to court to challenge the "Local/Illicit Gin (Ogogoro) Prohibition Law 2009" which purports to make illegal, the production, distribution, transportation, possession and consumption of the clear-liquid, the vodka of Nigeria, Ogogoro! Icheoku condemns this thoughtless government's excessive intrusiveness into a purely private affair/sector of the people of Benue state; which activity has been with the people as long as memory could recall, preceeding the state's creation and will sure outlive these present government trying to outlaw it? It is our position that the state should have encouraged rather its present acts of chastisement and indignation of an activity which means a lot for the people. But whether Governor Suswan has signed the legislation into law and what pushed his hands is not yet within our knowledge?

Why disturb this small scale industry which employs quite a handful of Benue State people and saves them so much money as well as foreign exchange which would have ordinarily been spent on imported foreign counterparts? What happened to Nigeria made goods, including drinks and Ogogoro? Did this confused government officials in Benue state think through their action, regarding employment opportunities, and the attendant consequences of the current prohitbition, including the millions engaged in production, distribution, transportation, sales and consumption of the clear-liquid? Where would they now go; and do what? Ogogoro, also known as ethanol, dry gin, moonshine, homebrew, akpeteshe, Sapele water, jembele, Kparaga, kai-kai, push-me-I-push-you, crim-kena, kin-n-kana, Sonsé should just be left alone and not be prohibited. It is highly beneficial for its extensive use and could be another source of revenue generation for the state! With 60% alcohol content, who says this Nigerian homebrew could not be made an export-market product to help generate needed foreign exchange? Also what about the spirits of the land that drink only ogogoro during offerings and brides, whom it is used for their wedding/marriage libation? What will happen to these group of disproportionatly affected people now that ogogoro is prohibited? It is simply not a good law and should be reversed or not signed into law by the governor, if not yet signed! There is no palliative remedy which this law seeks to urgently achieve.

If some people over-dosed on the alcohol and died as a result, so what; after-all it is not the first thing to have ever killed people? People die in airplane accidents yet planes are being manufactured and still flown in? Guns kill people yet gun-manufacturers have not ceased doing business? Food poisoning also kills, so why the fuss about ogogoro killing four alcholics? What needed to be done is to regulate its production to ensure compliance with quality controlled chemical compositions; and dilute and water it down to a tolerable and acceptable percentage may be to about 40%. Just treat it like any other alcoholic beverages from anywhere in the world and there will be peace in the land of ogogoro. That four people died as a result of alcohol poisoning is not enough reason for the wholesale ban of the product; people die everyday and even from motor accidents and yet motor manufacturers are still doing business. To ban ogogoro in this way is not the solution to avoid future poisoning, as it is akin to throwing the baby away with the bath water. It is too broad and so over-reaching; since because of just four deaths, several millions of other ogogoro-loving peoples' happiness is now being mortgaged. The law is just another colonial mentality legislation, which brands everything Nigerian inferior while anything foreign is superior? What is the difference between ogogoro, gin or vodka; but in labelling and their country of origin? Even the process of fermentation and distillation are practically the same; especially with America's moonshine? Pour three of them in a glass cup and you wont know the difference?

But to win the present case, the plaintiffs need to prove more than just 'challenging the powers of the House of Assembly to pass such an unfriendly law?' They will not succeed on this ground since the legislature reserve the right to pass any law which they may deem fit as geared towards maintainingg law and order; and which may generate revenue for the state? The grounds for the action would have been undue economic hardship which would adversely affect their means of livelihood. They could also raise the issue of deprivation of revenue to the state in form of taxes which hey pay on income from their engagement in the ogogoro business? That there is no over-riding public interest for the law; or social disorder the new law is meant to curb or protect against? Further they could generally plead 'unconstitutional and over-reaching as it violated their right to life as it jeopardises their means of livelihood since a hungry man is guarranteed to die of hunger; and such other fanciful forensic grounds as may weigh favorably on their side and persuade the trial judge to see with them.

They can also specifically plead that they are being specifically targeted due to different political viewpoints which they hold against the PDP government of the state? Better still, a political dimension wherein they pursue the matter through the electorates and constituencies might be a better approach? But as far as we know, "the Benue State House of Assembly has the legislative power and competence under the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria to make the law banning the brewing, consumption and trading in Ogogoro or any other alcoholic or intoxicating drink." So, these ogogoro dealers must find another convincing evidence to persuade the court to do their bidding. Admitted that if the new law conflicts with an existing federal legislative list already covered by the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) Act 2004, and other relevant laws regulating alcoholic drinks; then maybe, they may have very good ground to canvass untra-vires; provided of course there is no lacunae in the federal law that accommodated the states action?

That ogogoro is cheap, inexpensive and readily available may be a strong point weighing against the drink in the eyes of the Nigerian oppressors, Benue State chapter; who derive joy in seeing the common man suffer and languish in pains? Also may be some foreign alcoholic beaverages manufacturers, smugglers and importers lobbied the legisalture for the ban in order to take over the market, being vacated by the ogogoro dealers? If anything calls for civil disobedience, Icheoku says, this prohibition sure looks like one and the people of Benue State must not allow their government to unduly restrict their use of the only thing that still makes them happy in these days of so much want in motherland. Statistics shows that ogogoro has not killed any more people than any other drinks taken in excess; or even the hardship or road accidents in Nigeria; so why single that out for prohibition? Further, ogogoro has other beneficial use being an anti-cholesterol agent, used in washing pig meat (pork) to reduce the cholesterol level and to prevent arteriosclerosis. It is also used in washing snail and dog meat to remove their slim; Ogogoro is a choice-drink for both the old and the young people of Benue State and a 'good source of energy' to farmers who use it as energy-booster during their farming season? Icheoku says, ogogoro being an 'energy-drink' is somewhat debatable; but hey, we have "Redbull", "Monster-drink", etc; so why not?

According to one commentator, "once the liquor is banned in Benue State, then the sale and consumption will go underground!" Icheoku collaborates this with reference to the moonshine nightmare in the United States of America's Appalachian belt? The good old redneck hillbillies just went further away from civilization, into the caves, taking their moonshine distillery with them? The solution is just regulate the activities, with chemists appointed as inspectors to ensure compliance to quality control and alcohol content of the brew? Organize the indusrty, the state can build cottage industries to harmonize the process of ogogoro distilling with a view to branding it formally, as a sort of gin for both export and local market? Call it "Naija Gin" or "Nigeria Dry Gin" or even "Tiv Gin" if you like; but let Ogogoro be! Leave the 'energy-drink and poor man's viagra' alone!

CATHOLIC CHURCH, WILL THEIR PRIESTS NOW MARRY?

Icheoku asks what happened to our Lord's instruction, "to carry your cross and follow me?" Did the Vatican think through its most recent decision or were they just selfishly being moved by what is in it for their faith? If they want to swallow up the Anglican faith, why must they make such grave concession to permit the inbound flocks to come back with their bags and baggage? Why must they grant the Anglicans' cache-blanc re-admission back into the catholic church; including their priests right to marry?

If Icheoku recalls very well, the Anglican church used to be part of the Roman Catholic Church before monetary matters, St. Peter's pence, drove them out of the fold? It is equally instructive to note that marital preferences and differences, played a major part too in the split between both churches. In 1534 the then King of England, King Henry VIII was refused a marriage annulment, which riled him so much that he bolted away with his subjects to form the English(Anglo)-Catholic church aka Anglican, permanently splitting from the Rome(Roman)-Catholic aka Catholic church. Now the Pope Benedict XVI, desirous of a bigger congregation, is giving them a free passage with all their baggage back to the catholic church?

Icheoku says, if the objective of Vatican is to entice back the Anglican traditionalists, who loathe gays and lesbians and women ordination, how then does the church plan to reconcile the likely priestly-marital friction that will ensue with the celibate catholic priests; who may find such condescension objectionable and unacceptable? According to the Vatican plan, the anticipated change will allow conservative Anglicans from around the world to join the Catholic Church while retaining aspects of their Anglican liturgy and identity, including married priests! So the question remains, what will the celibate catholic priests now do or will they fight for equalisation of the priesthood along a level playing field, sort of?

With an already 1.1-billion strong membership, what the Catholic Church is doing is tantamount to a hostile take-over of the Anglican Communion, coveting the just 77-million-strong Anglican Communion! In the words of one of the protagonists of this marriage of convenience, "this is a moment of grace, perhaps even a moment of history, not because the past is undone but because the past is transformed!" So Icheoku asks, will the catholic priests' compelled celibacy be equally transformed, so that they can now openly keep dates, girlfriends or boyfriends and marry if they choose to. This and only this will complete this current transformation of the past which the church has just embarked on with this unconditional re-admission of the strayed Anglican flock! It is to be noted that Anglicans in United States of America are known as Episcopalians.

Icheoku says, this very Pope Benedict XVI is really up to something earth-shattering! It was just recently that he made a daring move to rehabilitate four formerly ex-communicated ultra-conservative bishops, including one Holocaust-denier; in a bid to bring them back to the catholic fold? Now he is allowing married priests of the Anglican order back to the catholic church, unconditionally and still married? Who knows what next is up his sleeves? But will this new Papal vision, which will allow married Anglican priests and their seminarians to become ordained as Catholic priests while still remaining married, now become a source of friction with those celibate catholic priests who will feel betrayed by the easy accomodation? Could it be a case of the biblical parable of the prodigal son, now come back to life in 2009; with wayward Anglicans now being rewarded to the chagrin of the good old Catholic faithfuls?

However, the proviso that married Anglicans cannot become Catholic bishops seems to be discriminatory, as the bar has no reasonable justification or basis whatsoever; after-all it is those same priests who eventually rose to become bishops. In one heck of grammatical enunciation, the Vatican said, "the new model doesn't create a new rite, but rather an Anglicanized liturgy within the Latin rite?" Icheoku says, what a wonderful syntax and synchronization of words, but will that make it acceptable? Anyway, Icheoku, alongside a dumbfound and doubtful world is watching to see how this marriage of two polar-opposites plays out; but we do not find this latest papal adventure amusing, to say the least. Our verdict is that it might lead to an unmanageable upheaval in the catholic family, especially on the issue of priestly celibacy!

BALLOON OVER COLORADO, A HOAXY JOYRIDE?

He is a Harry Porter look-alike who with his family, conspired to keep the world gasping in prayers for his safety, as a helium filled UFO-like balloon floated over the skies of Colorado; supposedly with him trapped inside?

The cat was somehow let out of the bag when the innocent little boy blurted out on CNN Larry King Live, that they did it for show! In Falcon Heene's very own words, retorting to his dad, he said, "you had said we did this for a show?" His flabbergasted parents were shocked to hear their dark concocted story laid bare and every effort at putting the genie back into the bottle was rather too late; and now the authorities in Colorado are planning a felony charge indictment for the 'gone with the balloon' hoax of the year!

Icheoku says, what would people not do just for their 15 minutes fame and few thousands of dollars from a prospective reality television show?

Richard and Mayumi Heene, the parents of the six year old-boy, Falcon Heene are known for their lust for fame and money having appeared in Wife Swap and were allegedly marketing a reality TV show with some studios in Los Angeles? They came up with an elaborate hoax to attract the most airtime free publicity by alarming that their boy had become airborne in a helium filled balloon contraption?

Icheoku says, the bad thing about such hoax as this is that someday, a more serious situation might arise with disillusioned populace and media saying it might just be another hoax thereby loosing some valuable time before help could be summoned.

Now it is being said that the boy may not have even been hiding in the attics as claimed, during the intense five-hour search for him on Thursday, October 16, 2009? Falcon Heene may have been two blocks down the road playing on the swing in the city park when the whole safety and emergency team Colorado could muster were pursuing a passenger-less balloon, floating high in the skies of Colorado?

The scam temporarily shut down Denver International Airport and caused the National Guard to scramble two helicopters in an attempt to rescue a boy, believed to be trapped inside the flying-saucer like homemade balloon; that coasted more than 50 miles across two counties before finally deflating for a touchdown; but did not produce the object of the find and rescue effort? When the boy was not found, he was thought to have fallen out somewhere along the 50 miles ride and hence began the grim search for his body. The hoax played out on live television to millions of viewers worldwide.

The parents are facing charges including conspiracy, contributing to the delinquency of a minor, making a false report to authorities and attempting to influence a public servant. Federal charges were also possible since aviation was implicated leading to the scrambling of two National Guards helicopters to join the find and rescue effort. If convicted, the parents face up to six years in prison and a fine of $500,000.00? Icheoku asks, was it worth it, Mr Richard and Mayumi Heene?

What a way to raise children, teaching their three young boys how to be trained liars and lying to authorities at ages 10, 8 and six? According to reports, the three Heene's sons knew of the hoax and one of them had told authorities that he saw his brother get inside the balloon's undercarriage shortly before it launched into air. However their very young age precludes any charges from being brought against them, being minors.

What a dysfunctional family who craved to live in the limelight so much that they would cause such a global pandemonium just for their selfish interest? All just for lights, camera and action! A crazed-out parents who would readily co-opt their very young children into a scheme of lying to the authorities, in their futile attempt at pulling off the biggest hoax of the century? Icheoku says, shame on you Mr. Richard and Mrs Mayumi Heene!

DELE GIWA, 23 YEARS LATER STILL NO ARREST?

Nigeria we hail thee! Is there really any hope for the future for a country which is still investigating the murder of Dele Giwa, 23 years after his gruesome parcel-bomb killing?

It was October 19, 1986 in Ikeja, Lagos, while taking his breakfast that a parcel bomb, believed to have been sent by Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida dispatched him to eternity! Now October 19, 2009; 23 odd years later, his killers have not been found nor any conclusive investigation carried out to unravel his killers and bring them to justice. Dele Giwa was the former founding Editor-in-Chief of NewsWatch magazine!

Regrettably, his colleagues at NewsWatch, the early team of Ray Ekpu, Dan Agbese and Yakubu Mohamed sold out on him; and have since moved on; consigning the memory of this their former colleague to the heap of ancient history. Icheoku asks, where is the courage that journalists are known for, and which they are supposed to display at times like this? What happened to the cause for which their former colleague gave up his life, pursuing? Was the alleged Gloria Okon's story that brought IBB's hit-men to town, not meant as a scoop for the then trail-blazing NewsWatch Magazine for which they all stood to benefit from? But good men are often interred with their bones and so was Dele Giwa's, who is now but a blimp in the radar of Nigerians killed, just another Nigerian that once lived. Icheoku says, NewsWatch did not do right by and for Dele Giwa; and because of this, they should be very ashamed of themselves as a bunch of castrated pigs, who joined forces with the killers of Dele Giwa to subvert investigation into his murder!

Nigerian Union of Journalists allowed their colleague's death to go unsung; their colleague was killed and they just turned tails? The judiciary or whatever resembles or represents it in Nigeria today, what are they doing to force proceedings in this gruesome death of a journalist who was just doing his work, trying to unravel the biggest drug-running by a Nigerian army general who was then sitting at Dodan Barracks as a ruling despotic military junta? A self styled evil genius, who has not taken responsibility for this murder, by parcel bomb of Dele Giwa, 23 years after? To Nigeria's Attorney General Micheal Kassie Aodonkaa, Icheoku says, Nigerians have since lost hope in your efficiency and ability to discharge the duties of your office; we have earlier called for your resignation or firing from the job which you have taken down to its lowest ebb ever. Since your inception as the AG, nothing notable or tangible could be attributed to your years in office; not even the death of Bola Ige have you investigated? It is a known fact that you are neck-deep in the corrupt power-play that is Nigerian politics, and would shield the party responsible for Dele Giwa's death at any cost necessary. Therefore there is no need for us to implore you to do something about Dele Giwa's death and investigation since we already know you will not? To the greater Nigerian civil society, another toothless bulldogs, victims of the oppressors of Nigeria state, it would appear that Dele Giwa's death has come to an inconclusive shameful end; as investigation thereto have stalled and deliberately so, just to protect the bloody self-styled prince of Minna!

Icheoku says, shame on these collaborators of Nigeria state, whose hands are dripping with the blood of so many innocent victims of the Nigeria state, including that of Dele Giwa. It shall not be well with you; as every innocent blood shed, like the biblical Cain's brother Abel's, cries to the Lord for redress; and so is Nigeria in turmoil, being punished for the shed blood of all innocent Nigerians. To the octogenarian, aged mother of Dele Giwa, Elekhia Giwa and family, Icheoku says take heart; the Almighty Lord is the rewarder who shall reward each according to his deeds. If IBB is not, cannot and would not be held accountable in Nigeria because he is an untouchable monster, someday he shall and possibly in hellfire! Our dear Dele Giwa, as we remember you today October 19, 2009, on the occasion of your 23 years memorial/remembrance anniversary, we say may your soul remain restless until the bloody murderer is held accountable! Adieu Dele Giwa!

MALDIVES, GOVERNING FROM DOWN UNDER WATER?

A government that will go under water to conduct the affairs of governance just to prove a point, should and must be taken seriously; as what they are crying for touches their very existential soul. Icheoku says, President Mohammed Nasheed of Maldives and his cabinet were exceptionally proactive in graphically and symbolically drawing the attention of the world to their plight, - the possibility that they may soon someday be submerged under water due to effects of global warming phenomenon?

Adorned in scuba diving gears and using hand signals, the government of Maldives held their first underwater executive meeting seating at a conference table on the sea floor, to highlight the threat of global warming to the their country, the lowest-lying nation on earth. The venue for this aquatic government meeting was in a lagoon, off the island of Girifushi, usually reserved for military training; where they were submerged under about 20 feet of water! Icheoku says what an incredible feat to pull off and a logistical nightmare overcame, which took more than just planning to accomplish.

If the objective of this meeting was to draw attention to their fears that rising sea levels caused by the melting of polar ice caps could swamp their Indian Ocean archipelago within a century, Icheoku says, it definitely achieved its objective as the whole world tuned in, watched and listened to the one of a kind first meeting under water surrounded by coral reefs.

The Maldives is a front-line state in the battle against the effects of global warming; which could result in many ocean surges. With some of the islands on the archipelago barely 7 feet above water, Icheoku says, their fears is probably well founded as it will only take a fair surge of tsunami-like water current to wash the island off?In the president's words, "we have to get the message across by being more imaginative, more creative and so this is what we are doing!" Icheoku says, it was as creative as it was well imagined, Mr. President!

As bubbles floated up from their face masks, the president, vice president, Cabinet secretary and 11 ministers signed a document calling on all countries to cut their carbon dioxide emissions. Icheoku says, this is major in view of the upcoming United Nations climate change conference in December 2009 in Copenhagen Denmark. Particpating countries will negotiate a successor to the Kyoto Protocol with aims to cutting the emission of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide, that scientists blame for causing global warming by trapping heat in the atmosphere?

Pursuant to further securing the future survival of his islands nation, President Nasheed announced plans for a fund to buy a new homeland for his people should the 1,192 low-lying coral islands ever submerge. He also promised to make the Maldives, with a population of 350,000, the world's first carbon-neutral nation within a decade! Icheoku says, taking governance under water is a remarkable feat and hopefully the message has been received by the parties whose actions affect climatic changes! Kudos to President Nasheed of Maldives and his cabinet.

IT IS DEJA VU IN LOUISIANA, NO MIXED MARRIAGES?

Rewind to pre-1967 anti-miscegenation South, when it was 'treasonable felony', punishable by death by public lynching and hanging on a tree branch for some macabre display, for any "nigger" seen messing around with any white girl? That South, with such a dark mindset, still exists today? Albeit without the vagrant exhibitionism of lynched, life-drained bodies dangling from tree branches. That South under advisement appears to remain true in today's 2009 Louisiana!

Anyone in doubt about the continuous existence of that kind of south or generally, racism in America, never visited the deep southern part of America? Better still, that person should continue reading this story; of a Justice of the Peace who would not wed a couple because they are of mixed race? America's deep south, the bastion of racism, which plunged the country into a civil war that claimed the lives of more than 600, 000 Americans because they wanted to retain slavery? Who says that racism is dead in America; no, not really and not even with President Barack Obama election as president?

"I'm not a racist. I just don't believe in mixing the races that way!" With those words, a Tangipahoa Parish's 8th Ward Louisiana justice of the peace, Keith Bardwell pictured below right in cap and wearing a t-shirt with "got love" written on it; refused to issue a marriage license to an interracial couple Beth Humphrey, 30, and Terence McKay, 32, pictured here below left, both of Hammond Louisiana. In his attempted insane of an explanation, JP Bardwell said, 'it is my experience that most interracial marriages do not last long; which forces Icheoku to retort, is it mono-racial marriages that lasts long? This is simply a holier-than-thou attitude which has been proved wrong severally in the past. It is the same warped theory which preaches against gay couple raising children, but yet do not find anything wrong with a woman marrying severally and sometimes up to five times, forcing her children to tag along into several step-fathers' homes in the process; and same goes with some men. Further, Mr. Bardwell claimed his refusal to marry the couple was out of concern for their children's place in America?

Continuing, Mr. Bardwell said that he came to the conclusion that 'most of black society does not readily accept offspring of such relationships, and neither does the white society!' Icheoku yields to this point, since such children are usually accused of either not being black enough or too tanned for comfort?' Recall that Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi had racially referenced the Obamas as "tanned"?

This is the truth about America and anyone pretending otherwise is being very economical with the truth. Admitted that President Barack Obama is a living example of a successful bi-racial child, and an ambassador of racially mixed marriages; but that alone does not completely wipe out the attached 'stigma' as neither race accepts the 'product-child' as a bona-fide member of their group. Actress Hale Berry has done well for herself too, but how many Hallie Berrys are there in the American society? Admitted that there are mixed marriages and mixed couples practically everywhere, but society still stares down at them as an aberration. Like Rush Limbaugh, JP Keith Bardwell has now also braved a thorny issue, although politically incorrect, but is the real situation in today's America where the color of the skin still matters a lot and makes most, if not all the difference.

The late King of Pop, Michael Jackson was so frustrated with what was going on with race relations in America that he sarcastically tried to find motivation in it with his song "black or white"? The singer had sang "it does not matter if you are black or white;" but Icheoku says, sure it does really matter and greatly too! Now the Justice of Peace in Tangapahoa parish Louisiana, Keith Bardwell, right, has once again proved according to his fellow travelers in days of yore, that "slavery had its merits?"

Continuing, Mr Bardwell said, "there is a problem with both groups (black and white) accepting a child from such a marriage; I think those children suffer and I won't help put them through it." In other words, Mr. Bardwell refused to be an instrument used in bringing children to be touted, discriminated against and rejected by a society of color, which is still heavily prejudiced, admitted it is now mainly subterranean. Icheoku says, anyone claiming ignorance of the fact of racism or pretending that "it is so unbelievable" or that "it's not something you expect in this day and age;" is simply speaking with a forked tongue and in denial of the obvious truth prevalent in our society till date.

It is also rather regrettable that this 'no-mixed marriage' decision is happening in America's 2009; forty-two years since the Supreme Court ruling in the 1967 case of Loving vs Virginia, which held "that the government cannot tell people who they can and cannot marry?" In the courts own ruling, it said, "Under our Constitution, the freedom to marry, or not marry, a person of another race resides with the individual and cannot be infringed by the state." Icheoku says, it is and will not be the first time people have circumvented a valid subsisting ruling of the Supreme Court in one way or another; as Board of Education vs. Brown has been subverted by private and public schools systems - one for the affluent white majority and the other for blacks and minorities living in the hood?

Mr. Bardwell, who has been a Justice of the Peace for 34 years, concluded "I didn't tell this couple they couldn't get married. I just told them I wouldn't do it." Sounds logical, it depends on who is judging the judge! "I don't do interracial marriages because I don't want to put children in a situation they didn't bring on themselves. I feel the children will later suffer." Icheoku queries, could this JP's expressed concerns be genuine, in an American society which is still color phobic? May be, but we find it contradictory, the assertion of Mr. Bardwell that he 'treats everyone as equal.' If this is the case, why not simply marry the "equal" black and white couple or was he saying they were unequally yoked in love? It will be recalled that Tangipahoa Parish is as white and monolithic in racial distribution as you can get with over 70 percent white and 30 percent black and other minorities. But does these facts give Mr Bardwell the right to dictate who one marries? Icheoku says, we don't think so; but he correctly argued his position that he merely declined a service but never barred the couple from marrying!

ATIKU ABUBAKAR, A PRE-EMINENT BANK-DEBTOR?

It is not surprising that Alhaji Abubakar Atiku was among the leeches of Nigeria, who are seating on billions of Naira, unpaid Nigerian banks assets. According to a Central Bank of Nigeria's released report, the former vice-president and now, turned political charlatan, Atiku Abubakar is among those Nigerians who took out various bank loans which they did not intend or planned to pay back? Bank-debtor, Atiku Abubakar owes the sum of 111 million Naira ($730,000 or £450,000) to the banks; and until he pays back this outstanding debt with its accrued interest in full, to the creditor banks, Atiku remains a debtor extra-ordinaire! For trying to hold up a Nigerian bank and refusing to pay back his loan obligation, Icheoku hereby declares Atiku Abubakar a 'debit-daddy emeritus' of Nigerian banks!

It is not surprising at all that Atiku made the bank-debtor list; what is indeed surprising is the name missing on the final published list of politicians and businessmen, behaving badly and using Nigeria's money to feed their gluttonous greed. They have the access and the connection and the power, and they corruptly took advantage of it; enriched themselves by pressuring bank executives into making-out loans they did not intend or plan to pay back; and without properly securing it with adequate collateral. The ways and means of Nigerian men of power; which, were it a civilized, functioning society would have found them wanting, rounded up and put on trial for corruption and abuse of office?

Top on the list of missing person on the bank-debtor list is former Atiku's boss, Matthew Okikiolakan Aremu Olusegun Obasanjo! He had previously admitted obtaining various bank loans with which he turned around his hitherto moribund 'Obasanjo's Farms'; from a near-bankrupt company with net worth of just about 20,000 Naira in 1999 into the multi billion Naira conglomerate it is today? Icheoku will like to know whether Olusegun Obasanjo has amortised the various debts he owes to some banks; and if yes, how he sourced the money within such a short period of leaving office? Except of course they were proceeds of corruption, which his government, reputedly took to a dizzying heights, becoming 'corruption-incarnate' in the process. So, the news would have been that Olusegun Obasanjo owes banks 100 billion Naira and not that Atiku Abubakar is owing a "misery" 111 million Naira?

Atiku Abubakar was a very corrupt vice president serving alongside an also, very corrupt then president Olusegun Obasanjo. When Gbenga Obasanjo tried to warn Nigerians that Atiku was pawning off Nigerian assets to himself for a pittance, nobody believed he was telling the truth due to the problem existing between his father, the then president Olusegun Obasanjo and his then vice president Abubakar Atiku. Icheoku is not particularly shocked at the amount being owed and outstanding, and by the same man who wanted to rule Nigeria at any and all cost possible? Thanks to the dogged stubbornness and determination of Aremu Olusegun Obasanjo who insisted that 'the Atiku he know cannot, must not and should not be allowed to rule Nigeria because he is very corrupt and might appropriate the entire nation to himself, given the opportunity?' Icheoku usually do not agree with Olusegun Obasanjo, but in this case, says, may be the medicine man of Otta was right in stopping Atiku at the door to Aso Rock!

Therefore Icheoku demands that CBN and EFCC come clean on this man, Aremu Olusegun Obasanjo; and let Nigerians know what kind of person he really is that would visit such magnitude of mayhem on the people of Nigeria? Whether he is also a bank debtor or so corruptly enriched himself that he had no need of any bank loans would have made a better headlines? Icheoku says, if according to reports, this marks the end of the forensic audit of Nigeria's 24 banks and financial institutions; then that would imply that Olusegun Obasanjo is debt-free? It must then be a magic or the end has not been conclusively and thoroughly reached; except President Umaru Yar'Adua is protecting his benefactor! The good news however and which will keep hope alive that possibly Olusegun basanjo will be held accoutable is that the debts to WemaBank, have not been revealed. May be then and only then will Icheoku comment again on this ugly episode of the mess called 'Nigeria financial scandal of the century.'

It is our position that if ever Olusegun Obasanjo comes out of this Nigerian banks scandalous saga, clean like a wind-driven snow, then something must definitely be wrong somewhere; and we shall stand bemused and so will even his most lenient critic. Given that behind every stupendous wealth, there is always a crime; Icheoku says, these billionaires feeding fat on bank money should not be allowed to continue to enjoy the proceeds of their "bank-fraud!" They should pony it up or be locked up; and their assets confiscated and auctioned off, to pay for whatever balance they may still owe with accrued interest, where they fail to pay up as demanded. As a last resort, they should be made to face arrest and trial for their activities? This is the proper thing to do and now is the time to do it; with the fearless prince of Kano still at the helm at the Central Bank of Nigeria. Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, Icheoku appreciates your bravery, taking on these greedy vultures of Nigeria who have been feasting and leeching-off a drowsy sleepy Nigeria and for too long! Kudos to SLS!

FYI:- President Umaru Yar'Adua should consider firing his Culture Minister, Adetokunbo Kayode, for bringing odium to his government; being one of these defaulting debtors implicated; and who refused to meet up and pay back their outstanding loan obligations to these banks.

RUSH LIMBAUGH, AXED!

Hunkered down behind 'the EIB golden microphone with half his brain tied to his back,' KKK poster-man and spokesman extra-ordinaire, Rush Limbaugh, operates as the most divisive and incendiary figure in today's America! He is an epitome of pre-civil rights America Jim Crow and as racists as you can get!

So it was no surprise when NFL Commissioner, Roger Goodell said, 'he would not tolerate "divisive" comments from an NFL owner," like the one Rush Limbaugh made about Donovan McNabb in 2003? Denigrating the abilities of McNabb as 'equal opportunity', Rush said, "I think what we've had here is a little social concern in the NFL. The media has been very desirous that a black quarterback do well." Icheoku says, possibly Commissioner Goodell has not been listening to the talk-show host-from-hell, otherwise he would have known that Rush Limbaugh is the reservoir of hate speech in America; and has said far more worst things, including against President Barack Obama? With Rush Limbaugh, slavery would have continued till date, since according to his warped deranged thinking, "slavery had its merits?" Icheoku says, Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck and Lou Dobbs are the unrepentant and unapologetic faces of racism in today's America; and they sure look like over-riped pumpkins or better still, over-fed pigs for the slaughter!

I plead guilty to listening to Rush Limbaugh over the years now; admitted he has a mastery of the language and have passion for what he does best; but his hatred or aversion for minorities especially blacks is rather too confrontational. Sometimes, one wonders if Rush Limbaugh forgot that before Christopher Columbus 'discovered' the new world that Indians were inhabiting this land; and that the crew and passengers of Mayflower did not obtain any visas or entry permits from the native Indians before their landing. But now he would like to exclude everybody not Anglo-Saxon from the United States of America; and as far as he is concerned, any none European and/or not so paled-skinned person could be shipped back to Africa and wherever nook and crannies of the world that produced them? That is Rush for you! This is a man who would not have none of the good efforts at racially integrating America fully and completely that he once praised slavery as having some merits? And if there is one thing sports was meant to do, it is to help smoothen relations amongst the divergent races involved therein through their constant interactions; but here comes 'Mr. Divisiveness' desiring to buy an NFL team? Icheoku asks, was he planning to fire every person of color involved with the St. Louis Rams or deal with them through proxies of less hating white surrogates?

However Icheoku would have loved to see how this hateful-relationship worked out; with Rush Limbaugh forking out his money to pay the same 'niggers' he constantly derided as thugs, gangsters and druggies? Could he have possibly accepted a bear-hug from any of the 'nigger-player' following a win or worst case scenario, assuming the Rams were to miraculously pull off a championship win and on a victory visit to the White House, would Rush have excused himself from meeting his number one foe, the person he hates most in America, President Barack Obama?

But we may now never know how these different scenarios would have played out; may be the NFL Commissioner did Rush Limbaugh a great deal of favor by forcing his axing now, from the potential buyers of the Rams! Rush, Icheoku says, how about that for science; may be you can celebrate this your firing as a victory, that the world never got the opportunity to see the true racism in you! But if Icheoku had the call, we would have allowed him to buy into the Rams so that he can really feel it - the blackness of American sports! As far as Icheoku is concerned, the worst thing you can do to a hater is to force him or her to share very close quarters or intimate surrounding with his despised. That way you force him to vomit and swallow back his puke; you force him to internally combust and this would have been the best treatment to mete out to Rush Limbaugh.

And so it was that conservative radio talk-show host, Rush Limbaugh was dropped from the group seeking to buy St. Louis Rams. In the words of the chairman of the group leading the effort, St. Louis Blues chairman Dave Checketts, "Limbaugh's participation had complicated the effort; so the group will move forward without him." Icheoku cries holly-macro as Rush Limbaugh has been spared a ton of bricks which his ownership would have landed upon him, by this pronouncement. He would have been allowed into the tigers cage for a feast of red meat! To Rush Limbaugh, Icheoku says, this is not about effort to destroy conservatism or to prevent the mainstreaming of anyone who is prominent as a conservative. No it is a rejection of racism, divisiveness, mocking of the sick and infirm, segregation and crass hatred of people of color; as Rush Limbaugh has displayed unabashedly and for so many years now! One wonders how FCC has permitted the venom oozing out of his mouth, over the airwaves and for this long; and continuing? Rush Limbaugh is, simply put, polluting the airwaves and needs to be bottled up and shut off! America is moving forward but the likes of Rush Limbaugh are tugging it back; and this ought and must stop! Yes, Rush Limbaugh's rejection is about the future of the United States of America and the kind of country we're going to have; a country where everyone is treated with respect as full human-beings without regards to skin pigmentation!

Rush Limbaugh had thought he could talk himself out of the tight corner, where his past collided with his present desires to box him in, but not this time! Overwhelming evidence said 'NO'! Trying to pull a hare out of his hat, he said, "I'm not even thinking of caving, I am not a caver. Pioneers take the arrows. We are pioneers. It's a sad thing that our country, over 200 years old now, needs pioneers all over again, but we do."

Rush, Icheoku says you overestimated yourself and underestimated the tenacity and resolve of your opponents, for which you have taken the boot in the rear now! One of the biggest mistakes people with such bloated sense of self make, is being too cocky-sure they are just that good and too good to fail. Rush made that mistake by not taking a fall, apologising for his past intrasigencies as a harmless show-business induced diatribes, which were just for ratings sake; and not a true reflection of himself? He would have sold a dummy that even his assistant Snugly is a black-man, which shows that he does not hate black people that much; but no, instead he tried to justify what is unjustifiable; and in some cases even tried to deny he ever said what are on record as his uncontroverted statements. In the words of one leading face of black-activism in America, Al Sharpton, "it is a moral victory for all Americans — especially the players that have been unfairly castigated by Rush Limbaugh. This decision will also uphold the unifying standards of major sports."

It is gratifying that Rush Limbaugh has once again failed, having failed several times in the past and even very recently. He cost Republicans their mid-term elections in 2002; again in 2004 and the final whammy in 2008, when they lost all three governments outposts of the White House, the Senate and the House of Representatives which they hitherto held. He also pushed the presidential candidacy of Mitt Romney and he failed woefully; he adopted the air-head of Alaska Sarah Palin and she cost John McCain the presidency. So in a way, America have understood the buffoonery of this racist pig and no longer take him seriously, being the hateful clown he is. Now he has become one heck of an ignominious loser! One thing bad with losers is that nobody wants to be associated with them; and very soon Rush Limbaugh's chickens will come home to roost; but may be then it would be too late for him to change course! Icheoku says, what an irony that Rush Limbaugh who just recently called for the segregation of school buses, now wants to buy a desegregated National Football League's Saint Louis Rams? Surely, this is a man at war with himself and who challenges his destiny by pushing the envelope too far!

FYI:- Icheoku thinks Rush Limbaugh looks better in his former exploding 'Michelin-tire man' image. Whoever advised him on this new trim-look does not know what Rush stands for, as his former 'Snowball-piggish' look suits him better for his Klan image. So Rush, go back to chowing down more steaks, chips and potatoes; downing them with beers of all sorts. For Rush Limbaugh, gluttony is better!

MARIA SHRIVER-SCHWARZENEGGER, BREAKING THE LAW?

Her husband is the governor of California, so? She is a Kennedy, and? She broke the law and that is the gist of this moment. A law brought into being, courtesy of her husband's 'governator' signature! Should she be held accountable, you bet; at least as a poster-lady for driving while talking on the cellphone without hands-free set! Yep, that is the malady her husband's signed law was meant to checkmate and look who is not in compliance, the first lady of California, Maria Shriver-Schwarzenegger.

Courtesy of the trail-brazing celebrity-watchdog, TMZ, Maria SS was caught with her pants down, holding and probably talking on her cell phone with one hand, while pushing a 3-ton beast, a Cadillac Escalade SUV, with her other spare hand? It is just not right, it does not show a good example; admitted no CHP or other police officer was there to pull her over and ticket her, she should do the right thing, pony up a fine? Icheoku says, in the spirit of the letters of the law signed by her husband, Arnold; and as a role-model for her many fans and admirers, as well as her 'subjects', the people of California and their visitors, who are supposed to obey the law under advisement, Maria Shriver-Schwarzenegger should send in her check for a calculated penalty for driving without a hands free-set, to the appropriate agency.

It is the right thing to do and her not being caught, should not provide her an excuse for escaping the penalty. At least TMZ caught her and even on tape. She is California's first lady and a Kennedy, that alone makes her a role model to so many Californians and therefore she should show leadership by example and pay a calculated fine. Icheoku says, Arnold's threatened 'swift action of going to ask his wife not to hold the phone while driving' is not what the law said. The law said do not drive and talk without a hands-free set; and that is exactly what Maria SS just did, so she should be held accountable for breaking the law, period!

According to the law, effective July 2008, California drivers shall use a hands-free device when talking on cell phones when driving. Could it be any more elaborate than this, Icheoku does not think so; and the over 150,000 citations already issued by the CHP and others from local police; the offenders fines of $20, $50 and other additional fees already in the kitty should not be in vain or sacrificed on account of Maria SS. It is also instructive that her Brentwood Los Angeles place of infraction even ups the fines to $93 for the first ticket and $201 for the next one. If as alleged, this is her third time of breaking this law, then she should be owing about $495 to her husband's nearly broke State of California? So as a good citizen and role model, as well as the First lady of California, Maria SS should send her check for $495 or as may be otherwise calculated to the appropriate state agency in fees and charges for her infractions!

Icheoku says, if Maria and Arnold's 16 year old daughter could be threatened that she would hop on buses, were she to ever violate the law; may be Maria SS will equally be a good sight for tourists, perched on one corner of a city transit bus while running her errands? Call it one heck of making a statement, if you like? Further, since Maria Shriver-Schwarzenegger is now a 'repeat-offender,' and in view of California's three strikes law, this being the third time she was caught breaking the same law, may be the privileges of her yapping on the cell phone should be suspended, albeit temporarily? Three strikes and you are out, so MARIA SHOULD BE OUT! Alternatively, she should drop the phone or get a driver or take the limo!

MABAYOJE, A US BASED NIGERIAN HELD ON GUN-RUNNING CHARGES?

He kills wild-life for fun; morbid fun, that is; and he is a medical doctor who is supposed to save lives? Provided of course, those lives does not belong to the crocodiles of the Zambezi River or their hippopotamus neighbors; or the elephants and wildebeests of Serengeti national park; or the gazelles, wild-boars and zebras of the African wild life? This animal poacher, Dr. John Olakunle Mabayoje, hates animals so much that he gleefully kills them just to satisfy his lust for blood? A Dracula-vampire fetish of some sort for animal blood, may be? It is our position that any human-being capable of wantonly wasting such huge wild-life, is capable of anything, including gun-running and weapons smuggling?

It would appear that the luck of this animal poacher ran out when a 40-foot container of "weapons" he allegedly shipped to Nigeria was nabbed by the Customs at a Lagos port? Dr Mabayoje, from Oyo State Nigeria, an alleged United States of America based physician is now telling the world through an on-line media, SaharaReporter that the said container were filled with sprinklers, rubberised boat, sandbags and sundry stuff? Icheoku says, really and has the Nigerian Customs become so 'blind' by incompetence that they cannot differentiate between "sundry materials" and weapons cache? Who could it be told that Nigerian customs no longer knows what a weapon cache is? Simply tell that to the marines as every Nigerian knows that gun running has become such a lucrative business that it is very tempting; otherwise how did the surrendering Niger Delta militants get those arsenal the world witnessed them turn in during the just concluded amnesty gimmickry? Probably just a one-side of the story of an arrested medical doctor, who kills animals for hobby; and now a likely gun runner?

This medical doctor, who is supposed to heal, finds joy at wasting such wonderful majestic wild lives; which would soon become extinct, thanks to his ilks' fascination with animal morbidity? It is our position that any killer of such huge games such as elephants, elks, zebras, wildebeests, crocodiles and hippopotamus might as well be a gun runner for all that we care? How dare this man find such a glee in just killing off harmless and innocent animals who were similarly put on this planet earth as this morbid doctor from Oyo State Nigeria? However, Icheoku.com will reserve further judgment in this case of gun-running until the Nigerian Custom completes its investigation; but suffice it to say, that not even in the remotest part of this earth will a sprinklers and sundry devices be mistaken for weapons or a device used in its manufacture? We hereby call on SaharaReporters to follow through with this investigation with a visit to port of shipment, interviewing the shipping agent to ascertain the real content of this container. They should demand to see the manifest of the container before becoming an apologetic mouthpiece of a medical doctor, an self confessed and admitted animal killer; who is now a suspected gun runner?

A 40-feet container filled with "arms and ammunition" cannot easily be mistaken for any other thing else and we shall keep our eyes focused on this case to its logical conclusion! Objectivity should not be murdered on the alter of finding fault with everything and anything done by a disagreeable person or one one of his agencies. Icheoku says, that many Nigeria-bias e-media are opposed to President Umaru Yar'Auda's government, should not be enough grounds to brand the Nigerian Customs as too naive to know the difference and thus able to distinguish between weapons and sprinklers?

Investigations carried out by our team so far, using all available resources including drscore.com, piple.com, all-doctors.com and vitals.com suggests that this very Dr. John Mabayoje is possibly operating under the radar; as scantily to almost zero information exists on records about him and/or his activities? This animal-killing doctor, in our opinion need to be further investigated to determine what he actually does and where his operational base in the United States of America is?

It is a requirement that all professionals like doctors be registered and their licences renewed periodically, but our efforts at tracing this 'wild-life nemesis' has not succeeded in revealing the man behind the mask. The last available records of this doctor, who loves to watch animals die agonising and painful death, shows that he is a native of Oyo State Nigeria; that he graduated from University of Ife, Faculty of Medical Sciences in 1980. That he subsequently travelled to the United States of America where he enrolled at Brooklyn college of medicine in New York, graduating in 1986.

He was soon-after listed as a family practitioner but shortly thereafter, everything concerning his records trailed off into the cold dark night. In a letter dispatched to certain media outlets, this animal-killer only said that "I am a Nigerian physician practicing in the United States of America. I am an Emergency Room specialist as well as having specialization training in Internal Medicine and Family Medicine. I have never been convicted of a crime in the US, Nigeria or any other country or jurisdiction". However he did not disclose where he is practising his medicine in the United States for verification? Not even a Tell City Indiana 1 Hospital Road 47586, telephone number (812) 547-7011 lead checked out, as our telephone call to the hospital did not turn up any such name on their staff list? We also put a call to the moving company the doctor mentioned as being responsible for freighting the now "contraband" container, Soft Touch Moving & Storage of 1607 S Rogers St Bloomington, Indiana 47403 with telephone number (812) 333-4755; but we are yet to get their confirmation? We are also following up on Safari Club International and Precision Shooting Magazine to confirm his references? We shall keep you posted as soon as there is further developments on these leads.

There is no additional or other telephone number/s or address on file listed under his name? His current activity was listed as not classified or not stated; which begs the question, what does this guy actually do? However, no matter how the current case with the Nigerian authorities is finally resolved, one thing certain is that this Dr. John Olakunle Mabayoje might not after-all be who he said he is, or pretend to be? How can a medical doctor, trained to save lives be so impassioned to gleefully kill all these wild-lives in the name of his morbidly hobby? Icheoku says, it leaves much to be desired.

It is our opinion at Icheoku.com that anybody or person capable of killing such big games as exhibited in these pictures; animals which shall soon become endangered if their activities are not checked, the only thing still around that buttressed the fact that those once existed dinosaurs were real, is capable of anything including gun running and weapons importation! How can this man have such a gory hobby, mowing down and killing for joy, such majestic animals as are found in African wild life? Could the world be witnessing a male-version of former Alaska's governor Sarah Palin, a male Sarah Palin of Nigeria, who would just kill harmless animals for joy; a sadistic joy, that is! Like everyone else, Icheoku will maintain a tab on this story as it develops.