GUN VIOLENCE IN AMERICA: FOR WHO THE BELL TOLLS NEXT.

Just five people shy of Sandy Hook elementary school mass shooting incident that claimed 26 lives, the Uvalde Texas Robb elementary school mass shooting at 21 victims, now ranks among the highest grossing gun carnage in America. It is sad that such frequent blood spilling has tragically become part of our culture as a society. May the souls of the killed now rest.

25th AMENDMENT: ITS NOW ALL CRICKET.

Madam Speaker Nancy Pelosi once questioned former President Donald John Trump's fitness to remain in office due to what she claimed was his declining mental capacity. Does anyone know what Madam Speaker presently thinks about the incontrovertible case which America is now saddled with? Just curious!

WHO WILL REBUILD UKRAINE?

The West should convert frozen Russian assets, both state's and oligarchs' owned, into a full seizure and set them aside for the future rebuilding of Ukraine. Like the Marshal Plan, call it the Putin Plan.

A HERO IS BORN.

I am staying put. I will not run away and abandon my people. The fight is here in Ukraine. What I need are weapons and ammunitions, not a ride out of town like former Afghanistan President Ashraf Ghani - President Volodymyr Zelensky.

IT IS WHAT IT IS.

"There is too much hate in America because there is too much anger in America." - Trevor Noah.

WORD!

A life without challenges is not a life lived at all. A life lived is a life that has problems, confronts problems, solves problems and then learns from problems. - Tunde Fashola.

NOW, YOU KNOW.

When fishing for love, bait with your heart and not your brain, because you cannot rationalize love. - Mark Twain.

JUST THE FACT.

In our country, you can shoot and kill a nigger, but you better not hurt a gay person’s feelings - Dave Chappelle

DO YOU?.

“What you believe in can only be defined by what you’re willing to risk for it." - Stuart Scheller.

HEDGE YOUR CRISIS.

Never get in bed with a woman whose problems are worse than yours. - Chicago PD.

PROBLEM SOLVED.

'The best way to keep peace is to be ready to destroy evil. If you Pearl Harbor me, I Nagasaki you.' - Ted Nugent.

OUR SHARED HUMANITY.

Empathy is at the heart of who we are as human beings. - Cardinal Matthew Kukah.

WORDS ON MARBLE.

"Birth is agony. Life is hard. Death is cruel." - Japanese pithy.

REPENT OR PERISH - POPE.

Homosexuality is a sin. It is not ordained by God, therefore same sex marriage cannot be blessed by the church - Pope Francis.

CANCEL CULTURE IS CORROSIVE.


FOR SAKE OF COUNTRY.


MAGA LIVES ON: NO RETREAT, NO SURRENDER!

TWITTER IS BORING WITHOUT HIS TWEETS. #RestorePresidentTrump'sTwitterHandle.


WORD.

"If you cannot speak the truth when it matters, then nothing else you says matters.” - Tucker Carlson.

#MeToo MOVEMENT: A BAD NEWS GONE CRAZY.

"To all the women who testified, we may have different truth, but I have a great remorse for all of you. I have great remorse for all of the men and women going through this crisis right now in our country. You know, the movement started basically with me, and I think what happened, you know, I was the first example, and now there are thousands of men who are being accused and a regeneration of things that I think none of us understood. I’m not going to say these aren’t great people. I had wonderful times with these people. I’m just genuinely confused. Men are confused about this issue. We are going through this #MeToo movement crisis right now in this country." - Harvey Weinstein.


RON DELLUMS: UNAPOLOGETICALLY RADICAL.

"If it’s radical to oppose the insanity and cruelty of the Vietnam War, if it’s radical to oppose racism and sexism and all other forms of oppression, if it’s radical to want to alleviate poverty, hunger, disease, homelessness, and other forms of human misery, then I’m proud to be called a radical.” - Ron Vernie Dellums.


WHAT REALLY MATTERS IN LIFE - STEVE JOBS

“I reached the pinnacle of success in the business world. In others’ eyes, my life is an epitome of success. However, aside from work, I have little joy. Non-stop pursuing of wealth will only turn a person into a twisted being, just like me. God gave us the senses to let us feel the love in everyone’s heart, not the illusions brought about by wealth. Memories precipitated by love is the only true riches which will follow you, accompany you, giving you strength and light to go on. The most expensive bed in the world is the sick bed. You can employ someone to drive the car for you, make money for you but you cannot have someone to bear sickness for you. Material things lost can be found. But there is one thing that can never be found when it is lost – Life. Treasure Love for your family, love for your spouse, love for your friends. Treat yourself well. Cherish others.” - SJ

EVIL CANNOT BE TRULY DESTROYED.

"The threat of evil is ever present. We can contain it as long as we stay vigilant, but it can never truly be destroyed. - Lorraine Warren (Annabelle, the movie)


ONLY THE POOR WISH THEY HAD STUFF?

“I’m not that interested in material things. As long as I find a good bed that I can sleep in, that’s enough.” - Nicolas Berggruem, the homeless billionaire.

Sunday, December 7, 2008

IKEDI OHAKIM, WHOSE SIDE ARE YOU REALLY ON?

He was the biggest surprise of the 2007 Olusegun Obasanjo abracadabra of an "election" that took place in Nigeria, when from the blue sky he emerged victorious in the Imo State governorship race. Olusegun Obasanjo forswore Ararume of his own party the PDP, and instead threw up this man as the governor of Imo State, Nigeria. But who is Ikedi Ohakim? Icheoku really does not know much about this man except that he was the lucky beneficiary of the feud between Olusegun Obasanjo and Ifeanyi Ararume which catapulted him into the Imo State governor's house. Whether he is the new Dee Sam Mbakwe of the blessed memory, only time shall tell; but so far, his utterances has been rather very caustic and antagonistic of the Igbos, especially their industrious and enterprising youths. The Igbo breed who has been marginalised, killed, imprisoned, deprived and practically ostracised from Nigeria and the desperate attempts they make to survive is now being debased by this lucky bastard, Ikedi Ohakim.
First, Ikedi Ohakim said that the Igbo have no reason to still be complaining in Nigeria as things are now ok for them to thrive and excel? According to Ikedi, the Igbos of Nigeria has become a nation of whiners as their continued agitation to be treated fairly has no merit or foundation any longer. As far as Ikedi is concerned, by Olusegun Obasanjo making him the governor of Imo State has magically solved all the agitations of the Igbo of Nigeria? Now again, his utterance is that the Igbos are stranded all over the world in the Diaspora, wandering about like sheep without a shepard. But Ikedi Ohakim, you failed to address the root-cause of the problems militating against the Igbos since the firearm hostilities of the civil war ended; which is that the rest of the Nigerian society does not want the Igbos, but are merely tolerating their presence in Nigeria. The Igbos are denied jobs and killed at any given time and for any trivial reason be it religion, politics, tribal or even for a cartoon in a newspaper in far away Denmark? That the governments of some host states in Nigeria where the Igbos operate their tradings randomnly shut down those markets for no just cause, also escaped your warped mind. In short the odds are so heavily stacked against the Igbos in the polity called Nigeria and unfortunately, they are always outnumbered. As a governor, Icheoku asks, what have you done so far to ameliorate the situation? Have you picked up the telephone to call such state governors to find out why they close those markets with that frequency? Have you picked up the phone to call those northern governors to demand the protection of the Igbos in their state at the pain of a reprisal attack in your own state? How many times did you visit with such unfortuante Igbo victims of unprovoked attacks to commiserate with them over their loss? How many times have you gone on record to condemn the treatment being meted to the Igbos in Nigeria even at the pain of falling out with your mentors in Nigeria? How many jobs have you even created so far as governor of Imo State to help absorb the "wandering" Igbo youths, who despite their high qualifications are still living with their parents several years after graduating first class, just because the Nigerian establishment does not hire their kind? What do you want these jobless men and women of Igbo origin to do, Mr. Ikedi Ohakim?
Survival is the first law of nature so for the determined Igbo man and woman, anything therefore is a fair game that puts food on the table and clothes on the back. If it is drugs, 419, kidnapping, armed robbery, you just name that vice, oh well and dandy provided son of man does not die of starvation in such a country with bountiful resources! If the Nigerian government and their Hausa-Fulani oligarchs manipulators with the assistance of the Yoruba collaborators have decided to frustrate the Igbos out of jobs that pays livable wages in Nigeria and the Igbo youths are left with the only available option in the underground business, so be it! How can a people, so harshly discriminated against in a country supposedly theirs, be required otherwise? And while you are there silently bemoosed, slavishly dinning with the devils that have ganged up against the Igbo interest; you still have the impetus to question Igbo patriotism and Igbo ideals? It is not every Igbo abroad that is "stranded" or doing very well but at least they are better off than the over 69 million people in your Nigeria who lives below poverty line on less than $2 dollars a day. At least they are abroad, scrounging the streets and remitting some money to their families and friends for support and upkeep. Without the money being remmitted back to Nigeria by these "stranded" Igbos abroad, so many Igbo family would have gone belly-up, including in your Mbano clan. Or should Icheoku call names? What you should concern your petite self with is not the people abroad but how to improve the lives of those less unfortunate ones back home whose fortunes are not well endowed. But what is your history? Are you really a doer or just a plain talker? How did you get to cavort with Olusegun Obasanjo that he deemed you the fit and proper person to be rewarded with Imo State governorship? How did you make your money or were you a trust fund child? For all your bandied "patriotism", Icheoku has not seen or heard you demand forcefully that the River Niger bridge be constructed or that those mallams slaughtering the Igbos each time in the northern parts of Nigeria be prosecuted for their mayhem or that the Federal government of Nigeria go easy on the non-violent aggitating MASSOB? Mr. Ikedim Ohakim, which side of the divide are you really on?
In your keynote address at the South East Economic Summit in Owerri, Imo State, titled "How Igbo economy died" you claimed, unsubstantiated though, that over 3000 Igbo youths are in prisons abroad, that 18 of them are on death row in Asia alone, that 15 Igbo youth are serving time in Jakarta, Indonesia, that 300 Igbo youths were arrested in different parts of Nigeria for cyber crimes in the last few months, etc. The question you should rather be addressing is why have the Igbo youths been put in such a straight-jacket in Nigeria that they are forced to go to the ends of the earth just to survive? How many decades does an Igbo graduate have to wait in Nigeria just to be given a meaningful job? This blogger knows of three highly educated and qualified Igbo youths who could not secure an entry position in the Nigeria Customs because according to the mallam heading the department, they are not allowed to employ the Igbos! Is it the Immigration or Foreign Affairs or even the oil companies that the Igbos are accommodated? Icheoku knows of an army captain of Igbo extraction who had to change his name to a Tiv name in order to get into the army and another who claimed Okene origin to get into the police and this is in a country where the Igbo has become an anathema. Someone else known to Icheoku, who works for one of the oil companies in Nigeria has to change his name to reflect the "employable areas" of Nigeria just to get a job? And you question the desperation of the Igbo youth? It was also an insult for you to open your mouth to accuse the Igbo youths back home in Nigeria, of "taking to anything that means less sweat and more money". This fallacy of your statement calls for your mouth to be soap-washed because it is very obvious who the most hardworking, hustling and enterprising group in Nigeria is? The Igbo youths are found in every nook and crany of Nigeria, from the remotest village in Birnin-Kebbi to all the major cities and towns in Nigeria hustling for survival as no one will employ them because of a standing tacit order of the powers that be in Nigeria. You should apologise for this guffaw, Mr. Ohakim!
Did you even ask yourself, Mr. Ikedi Ohakim, why opportunities for Igbo youths' self-actualization are fast dwindling or as Icheoku would rather put it, non-existent in Nigeria? It was very arrogant of you to state categorically that many of the Igbo youths who ventured abroad in search of opportunities have come to peril, when statistics shows that these group of people are the life-blood sustaining the Igbo nation since the end of the civil war with their remittances. Just in case you do not know, there is dignity in labour as riding Okadas is not a dishonorable business but an edifying work that pays the bills. Drugs and 419 are vices which a group of people that are not wanted in Nigeria have been pushed into, just for their survival. Learning a trade or skill has a limited market and the market is almost full. Mr. Ikedi Ohakim, for you to say that thousands of Igbo youths are stranded abroad but cannot come home because they have nothing to show for it and so continue to endure the nightmare of living in a foreign land where they are neither happy nor prospering is rather uncalled for? Or is this your reaction to the American Embassy denying you visa so soon after you were sworn in; possibly for a trip to go and show off your new found status as a token governor of Imo State courtesy of Olusegun Obasanjo? Those of you in Nigeria, what do you have to show for except your ill-gotten and mostly stolen from the public coffers, wealth? If Nigerians heed your advise and start stoning corrupt politicians who steal money, there will be no one left as you all have stolen public money in one form or another and have fallen short of the glory! It is a abnd of thieves that is running Nigeria, at least you all stole the election or who voted you people in? According to your assessment, almost 90 per cent of able-bodied and enterprising Igbo men and women live outside the South East and you wondered why? They have to survive elsewhere since the situation back south east is not encouraging and as to the natural disasters like gully erosion, flooding and oil and gas pollution that daily wreck havoc in the Igbo region, what measures have you taken to petition the federal government, or shout yourself hoarse on top of the mountain to draw attentionto the plight or use your allocation to tackle some of the problems as far as they can go?
Ikedi Ohakim mentioned that the South East cannot boast of one leader whose presence can make things happen at the Aso Villa because what most of the supposed leaders in the region go and do at the center of government is to beg for contracts and groveling for money. Icheoku asks, how much grovelling did you do before Aremu Olusegun Obasanjo agreed to allow you the governorship of Imo State? Also since you became the governor how much have you paid in secret bank accounts as gratificiation for those who put you in charge of Imo State? As a governor, you are more than qualified as a leader from the south east, so when you go to Aso Rock, what do you say to Umaru Yar'Adua? Do you bring up the urgent need to re-construct the River Niger bridge, the horrible roads, non-existent infrastructures, industries, the dormant Oji-River power station, etc that are militating against the South East? What do you discuss with Umaru Yar'Adua, Mr Ikedi Ohakim? As for your assertion that it will no longer be business as usual, Icheoku says talk is cheap and everyone is waiting to see how you transforms into the present day Dee Sam Onunaka Mbakwe of the blessed memory! Until then, please walk the walk as you talk the talk, Mr. Ikedi Ohakim!

3 comments:

  1. Mike Onwukwe Tuesday, August 14, 2007

    mikeonwukwe@gmail.com
    Arusha, Tanzania

    ANNOUNCE THIS ARTICLE
    TO YOUR FRIENDS

    CALLING GOVERNOR IKEDI OHAKIM TO ORDER!
    hief Ikedi Ohakim governor of Imo State has just been denied visa by US Embassy in Lagos. May God prolong the life span of the visa officer who turned him back. Only God knows what our dear governor was going to do in the States few days after assuming office. Getting governors to stop foreign junkets is like tasking Police Inspector General to stop police corruption at the check points. I gather that he has spent about 50 days in office out of which he spent 11 days at Owerri.




    advertisement

    Can somebody tell him to settle down and see if he can fix the mess ex-gov Udenwa left behind? Junketing abroad very early in the days of the administration will only benefit Gov. Ohakim and his praise singers. He knows and quotes the Holy Bible like Satan, but what now will he say he was going to do in US? What a shame!

    In Nigeria of anything goes, a governor can travel abroad even when the cabinet has not been inagurated let alone addressing the real issues of governance. Life in Imo State and in Nigeria in general is becoming more hectic and a full-time job by the day. You need to read an operational manual to survive for one day and no one has time to worry about sundry things like corruption or to engage in any idle topic. Talks of making Imo state better in the midst of want fall more freely than the rains during wet season. People are fully preoccupied staying alive. A place you cannnot live or leave is next to hell.

    The mess Udenwa left behind is like the Augean table or peharps the king's crown. Stealing the king's crown has attendant and in-built problems. You can neither sell it nor wear it and attempts to return it back to the palace may put one in the dithers. Once stolen, you must learn how to live with it. Gov. Ohakim must learn how to live with King's crown which is what Imo State has become. Ohakim did not campaign for elections. The mantle of leadership was delivered to him on a silver spoon. Can't he work himself to the darling of the masses by embarking on people friendly programmes?

    The problem with politicians is no sooner that they take office, they will start to exhibit their inate traits of deceit. You can never hold them by their words because they are not men of honour. Imo State civil service is full of lazy people who know who to circumvent the system and get on well with their bosses and get promoted. This is a turf where lazy people reside.

    Gov. Ohakim, do one thing: Do one favour for politicians. If you cannot perform, please quit after all you do not have the roadmap and the choice of aides you have made since assumption of office has sold you out. The pity!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Ohakim: A Governor's Antidote To Corruption
    By John Bamidele, Correspondent, Lagos
    There has not been any known record of Sir Ikedi Ohakim, Imo State governor, working as a Church Minister. He is also not known to have served in any of the law enforcement agencies in the land. Again, if a roll of the country's known anti-corruption crusaders is taken, it is doubtful if the governor would easily make the list.

    But Ohakim combined these critical roles recently as he literally took the driver's seat in the campaign on moral re-birth among his South East kinsmen. The governor had, perhaps taking a cue from the fabled Asian Tigers, especially China, advocated capital punishment for government officials that loot the people's commonweal. He, in fact, recommended what seemed an austere measure when he suggested stoning the corrupt officials to death.

    "Stealing from our people should be treated as an abomination. For any Igbo leader to steal from the people is like taking from the right pocket and putting it in the left pocket. It is mere transference and not addition and anyone caught in the act should be stoned to death". The governor's proposition is in the belief that it would serve as a deterrent to other office holders.

    The Spartan recommendation came at the South East Economic Summit put together by The Sun Newspaper to fashion out the way forward for the region.

    The question many Nigerians are however asking is: will Ohakim's recommendation put a stop to corruption in the country? Besides, public office holders in Nigeria are most times not taken seriously when they make statements that are very touching because, most often, they speak from both sides of their mouth.

    There is also the argument that there are situations where such recommendations have not really helped matters; rather they make perpetrators more sophisticated. References are easily made of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the countries in the Middle East, where anyone caught importing drugs into the countries are sentenced to death by hanging. Notwithstanding the stiff penalties, these areas have continued to be major axes for drug traffickers.

    Ohakim's radical approach to corruption also reminds many of the Mosaic Law which recommended death penalty by stoning for adulterers, which did not however stop the illicit act. It is essentially on these limitations that the proposal is not enjoying the support of all Nigerians.

    General Ishola Williams, Chairman Transparency International Nigeria, for instance, sees Ohakim's radical approach as being barbaric and uncivilised, adding that the Imo State Governor is just playing to the gallery. "That recommendation is barbaric and does not solve the problem. What he should do is to effect a proper management of public fund. On the other hand, he could as well take such office holder to his village and let his people see what he has done by disgracing him openly. You don't need to stone people publicly in this age. Nigerians should not mind him, he is only playing to the gallery," he concludes.

    Ohakim hails from Okohia in Isiala Mbano Local Government of Imo State. He served in senior commercial and executive management capacity in First Aluminium for more than 15 years before becoming the Managing Director/ Chief Executive Officer in 1997. Ohakim was a youth leader in the defunct Nigerian Peoples Party (NPP) and a prominent member of the defunct National Republican Convention (NRC). He was a foundation member of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

    ReplyDelete
  3. Well written, he for whom the gods have cracked palm kernels should not forget to be and remain grateful. What is this Man's qualification and pedigree that out of nowhere he emerges to criticise and demonise the Igbo Nation. I'd like to see him and give him a personal lecture on the travails of the Igbo Nation. Uninformed people should learn to remain silent and spare others the burden of their ignorant outbursts.

    ReplyDelete