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.

Thursday, March 18, 2010

THE 'GADDAFFI SOLUTION', NOT GOOD OR PRACTICABLE FOR NIGERIA?

There is the 'Rawlings Solution' which instilled discipline in Ghana polity! Nigeria nearly had the 'Orkar-Solution' which attempted to re-delineate Nigeria by chasing away some Islamic Sharia States therefrom; admitted the move was aborted when the Benue-State born Colonel got too drunk, lost his faculties and made a pre-mature announcement thereof while his coup was yet to consolidate? Nigerians of Anambra State last year toyed with the idea of a 'Soludo-Solution' for their Anambra State, but the idea died prematurely when the champion-candidate lost the election, aborting the solution before its efficacy was ever tested? Now the mother of all solutions, the 'Gaddafi-Solution', has been thrown into the mix; with the latest call by Libyan maximum/absolute Leader, Muammar Gaddafi, to divide Nigeria into two countries, along religious lines of Islamic North and Christian South, in order to permanently and forever solve the recurring religious crisis therein?
If any other African Leader had broached this idea, Icheoku would not bother or take notice; but not the Islamic religious fanatical zealot and 'King of Africa', Muammar Gaddafi? A man who has forcibly occupied the government seat in Tripoli since 1969 and have had his finger-prints all over every military coups and unconstitutional change of governments in Africa, especially the West Africa region? He also enthroned and financed Liberia's Charles Taylor's years of madness for as long as it lasted. Icheoku says, instead of the Nigeria authorities being dismissive of Gaddafi's call as evidenced by the allusion to 'Gaddafi's mental insanity' by the Nigeria's Senate President, David Mark, Nigeria should listen and be very alert as Gaddafi may be sampling the water with his bombshell? Such a puerile comment by Nigeria's David Mark belittles the seriousness that ought to follow this possible 'slip of the tongue' revealing what the Islamic zealot in Tripoli and his compatriots in pursuit of an Islamic world are up to as it appertains to Nigeria? Saudi Arabia are in-cohoot and is the reason Nigeria is where it is today; they have been championing the issue of an Islamic Republic of Nigeria for so long and this is the reason Nigeria was smuggled into the Organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC) without any referendum or approval of the citizens of the country? They also took Yar'Adua hostage for over 90 days, where they brain-washed him into refusal to surrender his mandate to a christian Jonathan? The Islamic world led by Saudi Arabia and Libya have been trying to Islamize Nigeria since 1960; and with this objective now slipping away from their hands ever since Christians learnt to fight back, they are now considering their second best alternative of too many very bad options; including balknizing Nigeria into two and secure their Islamic Sharia North and thereafter, launch the mother of all jihads to secure the rest of the south, at a later future date?
According to Gaddafi's analytical reasoning on its head, “The only thing that could put an end to the bloodshed in Nigeria is the appearance of another Mohammed Ali Jinnah, who established a state for the Muslims and another for the Christians in 1947 India partition which yielded Pakistan?” Icheoku says, but unlike the then Pakistan region that had close to 99.9% Muslim population, none of the two regions in Nigeria has close to that population of any one religion? The north has only ten firmly committed Sharia states and about six other non-sharia states, with close to a majority practising Christians and animists? So if Nigeria is to be divided along religious north and south lines, what will happen to those non-sharia states in the north? Will for example, Yakubu Gowon, and Solomon Lar of Plateau accept to remain in Northern Islamic Sharia country despite being Christians? Will a Christian Theophilus Danjuma's Taraba State agree to remain in such an Islamized north? What about Joseph Tarka's Benue State which produced the Nigerian Senate President David Mark? Kwara State, Kogi State, Nassarawa State, Gongola State and Niger State including parts of Kaduna State (Kataf) might be very unwilling and impossible candidates for inclusion in the Gaddafi's contemplated Northern Nigeria Islamic Republic?
Now in the South, the southwest have a strong Muslim presence starting with the former governor of Lagos State Bolaji Tinubu, to reasonable number in Oyo and Ogbomosho States? Will Gaddafi-Solution force these states' re-location to the North? Except for the area known as former Biafra which astride the present day South-South and South-East which is near 99.9 percent non-Muslims, no such other region in Nigeria can claim this near-monotony of religion? So religiously speaking, Northern and Southern Republics of Nigeria is an impossibility as Nigeria have no clearly delineated lines on which to divide the country along religious lines. Moreover, Jos the poster-boy for intolerance is sandwiched amongst Muslims - located in the center of Muslim north and it will be impossible to extricate them in any arrangement with the southern Christians, except they will become another Vatican within the Islamic Republic of Northern Nigeria?
Now on Gaddafi's call to make Abuja the capital of Islamic Republic of Northern Nigeria, Icheoku states that Abuja is not in Sharia-Islamic North and hence cannot become the capital of a ceding North? Therefore if the north must secede, they must do so without the capital city Abuja, to avoid another Jerusalem-like imbroglio rising up in Africa? Abuja was also developed with oil-resources money from the Southern Niger Delta, so wherein lies the moral authority of ownership claim or interest to forcibly conscript Abuja, city of? Gaddafi, bereft of the true geography of Nigeria, was therefore wrong in calling for Abuja to become capital of a seceding Islamic Muslim Northern Nigeria. Abuja is not in the Muslim Sharia North but in the Middle Belt mixed-religion region of Nigeria as is presently constituted. A true Muslim capital would be one situated in the heart of the Islamic Sharia Muslim north of Zamafara or Sokoto or Kebbi States, but certainly not Abuja. The closest thing that could qualify as a capital city for a seceding Islamic North would be Birnin Kebbi, Talatamafara or Sokoto and even Kano? These are cities of Islamic Sharia north and their rightful place to establish their capital in event of their pulling out of the 1914 experiment which is not really working, in a reverse 'Orkar Solution'; but the rest of saner and more tolerant Nigerians will not allow these mallams to appropriate their Abuja under no circumstance? Moreso geographically speaking, Abuja is closer to Port Harcourt than it is to Kebbi, Zamfara or even Katsina State?
Icheoku says that instead of Gaddafi telling Nigeria how to proceed henceforth, the Orkar-Solution could mutually be agreed and applied to just excise these people out of Nigeria and possibly fly them out to Libya, Egypt or even Saudi Arabia on a one-way ticket of no return and thus, permanently solve the problem of raving Islamic lunatics. Icheoku however condemns the approval given to Gaddafi's call by the Yoruba social political group, Egbe Irapada Oodua; since such an option will not only be difficult to implement, but will be resisted by majority of Nigerians who have for a long time been asking for only fairness and equity in their country? This writer back in the day, lived in Birnin Kebbi while it was still in Sokoto State and happened upon an Igbo-man who have lived there prior to the Biafran civil war and ever before Nigeria's Independence in 1957. He had inter-married and fully assimilated that his grand-kids have Hausa-Fulani grandparents too? So now, tell Icheoku how to uproot such entrenched family ties without causing a tsunami of woes; and the story is prevalent throughout Nigeria?
The most resounding of all solutions is the one we affectionately refer to as the 'Icheoku-Solution!' It calls for the convening of a sovereign national conference where Nigerians' supposed federated co-existence could be re-affirmed, re-armed with every region and group putting their one-cent thoughts on what Nigeria, going forward, should look like? Each region shall be required to yield some powers to a central authority to run fiscal, armed forces and foreign affairs; while they are left to pursue their respective destinies including local security and power generation and distribution? There is nothing excellent about an idea to cut Nigeria into pieces since there is strength in numbers and Nigeria should instead try to harness this national asset of 150 million people to her advantage. All that Nigeria needs is for people in authority to stop using the masses and using issues of religion and tribe to sensitize the masses, drive a wedge and cause civil disturbances. Icheoku refutes and denies the assertion of the Yoruba group claiming that “the statement credited to the Libyan leader is the absolute truth about Nigeria, a country created by the wishful thinking of imperial powers, without the prior, free, informed consent of the people that live in it.”
There is no need to divide Nigeria along any lines be it religion or tribe or geography; the country could be better with a reformed constitution, improved civility, an election where votes count and with an army that is permanently banished from interfering in the political scene? Nigerians have since moved on from the idea of separation after Biafra was botched; with so many inter-tribal and sometimes religious marriages; as well as other forms of integrations that such idea as the partition of Nigeria is now too yesterday, stale! Also adherents of both religions are found in both regions, so simply stated, Nigeria have since become transformed into a mix-match of interwoven people and religiosity without any visible line for demarcation. Otherwise, majority of Nigerians would have wished to divide the country into three republics, along natural boundaries of rivers Niger and Benue as it confluences into the delta! But that too is now simply impracticable as some smaller minorities within the three 'federating' regions might not accept playing second fiddle to the dominating majority tribe within the enclave? The preferred solution would be for the system to be allowed to work itself out, starting with credible elections where natural leaders could eventually emerge from, to start forging the statehood of Nigeria. A type of Nigeria where people will be treated fairly and as one; where the divisive hot-button issue of settlers and indigenes will forever vanish; where jobs will become more of a right not a privilege of the children of the powerful and connected; and where the people of Nigeria cannot and should not be forced to abandon their own properties inside their own country. These are some other less drastic possible solutions to tackle the problem of a Nigeria in despair, intermittently fighting frustration-induced internal conflicts; and not the Islamic kite of a Pakistani Solution being flown by the Bedouin, Gaddafi!

1 comment:

  1. Don’t ignore Ghadaffi’s comment, Aliyu warns
    By Francis Falola, Minna, Published: Thursday, 25 Mar 2010

    Niger State Governor, Dr. Muazu Babangida Aliyu

    Niger State Governor Babangida Aliyu has warned Nigerians not to ignore a recent comment made by the Libyan leader, Muammar Ghaddafi, about Nigeria.

    Ghaddafi had stirred controversy when he said dividing the nation along two religious line (Islam and Christian) was the only antidote to the incessant killings in some parts of the country.

    Speaking at the capacity development programme organised by the Niger State Development Company in Minna, Niger State, on Wednesday, Aliyu said the Libyan leader might have made the comment out of what he heard about the country and stated that there was the need for the nation to take the comment serious.

    He said, “When people like that talk you must know that they speak out of what they hear.

    “That comment is unfortunate. It is potently dangerous. The Federal Government should take a serious look at the comment and react appropriately.

    “I am sure he was speaking on a wrong assumption that the problem in Jos is religious, but we in Nigeria know there is nothing religious about the crisis.

    “As a Muslim, I know if I kill anybody, the sins of the persons will be visited on me.

    “So why should I carry another person’s sin together with mine when I am already pleading with God to forgive me of mine.”

    ReplyDelete