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 25, 2010

INEC'S MAURICE IWU IS NOT THE PROBLEM, A SCREWED UP POLITY IS?

Icheoku wish to align itself with the position of the Alliance for Defence of Democracy that the chairman of Nigeria's Independent Electoral Commission (INEC), Professor Maurice Iwu, should not be sacked, but should be given a second term! The INEC chairman is not the problem to past Nigerian elections malfeasance; glorified elections which appropriately should be referred as selections and impositions; elections which were messed-up and marred by gross irregularities; elections which were hijacked by Olusegun Obasanjo who literally and single handily, cherry-picked only his chosen ones for various offices in the land?
From the presidency, through the National Assembly to governors as well as local government chairman and membership, Obasanjo made sure that only his approved and certified candidate got in? But regrettably, the widely known very short-memory of Nigerians, have made them to transfer their anger at the chairman of INEC instead of the real culprit, the then President Olusegun Obasanjo who should be held responsible and harpooned for the tragedy that he caused within the Nigerian polity? A chairman who smartly played possum, tagged along with a scripted instruction of a mad Otta farmer called Obasanjo, who did not want to leave the comfort of Aso Rock any more and was looking for any reason or excuse to scuttle the transition to another president?
Now these professional protesters and hired guns/underlings seem to have forgotten too soon, hence their misplaced agitation on the chairman? First, Olusegun Obasanjo wanted to elongate his term of office to a third term; when he was stopped, he prevented any real elections from taking place and single-handily selected and imposed his 'people' on every office in the land, leading to a detestable party like the PDP winning a re-election with over 67% of the total votes cast? And you ask yourself who cast these ballots and where were they cast?
The purport of this comment is not to strong-arm the Acting President on giving Maurice Iwu a second term in office; no, rather it is to re-echo what many unbiased minds have broached over the period that he, Maurice Iwu is not the problem nor did he cause the political anomie in the country? In 2007, he had only one objective, - lay prostrate if need be in order to wrestle power out of Olusegun Obasanjo's death-grip; and he succeeded. It was one of the rare occasion where the end justified the means; as Obasanjo became a once was president of Nigeria while the duo of Yar'Adua-Goodluck were sworn in; the rest is now history. Experience is the key and is valued highly in other well-behaved societies and Iwu's experience of the last ten years at INEC should not just be thrown away or sacrificed on the alter of a 'plebianistic' agitation to sack Iwu. Nigeria should take a time out and do some introspection on their priorities and the means of getting there. It is equally important to point out that this agitation to remove Iwu is loudest and coming from just one particular section of the country, a section which went into a sleep-mode while their kinsman Olusegun Obasanjo ravaged and pillaged Nigeria? Suddenly now they have awoken to pretend being the soul and conscience as well as the vanguard of the nation, protesting all manners of things from the mundane to the absurd? According to their oath of kindred, whoever and whatever is occupying any office in Nigeria who does not have their like-sounding last name must be brought down; hence their people can do no wrong, the reason they have not protested a former governor in their region who is so envious of the achievement/performance of his successor that he is now trying to effect his impeachment?
Our position is that Nigerians would be better off, if they can exploit Professor Iwu's garnered experiences of the past ten years; and task him with redeeming himself during the next 2011 elections. And if the outcome of the last elections in Ekiti, Edo and Anambra States is anything to go by, then Icheoku welcomes an extension of the term of office of the INEC chairman Maurice Iwu, as he has tasted the water and knows what to do with those desperate thuggish politicians in Nigeria - the Anambra State experiment being very instructive here? From the message sent by these three mentioned elections, that money or notoriety is no longer enough to steal elections; Icheoku agrees that it is possible that these 'Iwu must go' agitators are merely doing so, based on ulterior motive and not love of country in order to get out of the way, a man who has made up his mind to redeem his image by standing firmly in the way of election terrorist-hijackers? Who would it be told that a Tony Anenih backed Chukwuma Soludo with all his billions could lose an election in Anambra State; or that a Tony Anenih's own candidate in one of the local governments elections in Edo State could lose an election? It all shows that Iwu has found his backbone, have firmed up and possibly made some resolution to do better for and by Nigerians; and should be allowed to proved that. Moreover there is practically too little a time now left for a fresh captain to mount the ship of INEC with all the curve-balls, logistics involved with an election in less than 10 months?
But at last, no one is indispensable; but the authorities in Nigeria should seriously consider the quick turnovers of such offices in a bid to allow experienced personnel who have learned on the job to be allowed to draw from such experiences in their future assignments. Therefore, Icheoku reiterates that INEC's chairman Professor Maurice Iwu should be given a second term when his current term expires in June 2010; with a mandate to give Nigerians an election to be proud of in 2011 elections; and hopefully redeem his image in the process. The time is rather too short now for a change of guards; while Nigeria should also consider the issue of decentralisation of the election body so that States bodies can conduct elections instead! But Acting President Jonathan Goodluck knows best what he wants to have happen with the leadership of the INEC; but Icheoku asks that he factors in these issues raised here, when weighing his final options and making up his mind on whether or not Professor Maurice Iwu should be replaced; the short time interval to the next 2011 elections given adequate consideration.

1 comment:

  1. Extend Iwu’s tenure: 21 Northern groups and leaders call on Jonathan, NASS

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    Written by Soji-Eze Fagbemi
    A coalition of 21 northern civil society groups and leaders, on Thursday, made a passionate appeal to Acting President Goodluck Jonathan and the National Assembly to extend the tenure of the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Professor Maurice Iwu, warning that the country should not gamble with the 2011 general election by appointing a novice to lead INEC less than a year to the conduct of the elections.

    The 21 northern groups and their leaders said the experience of Professor Iwu, the INEC boss was vital and needed to have free and fair elections in 2011, adding that experience had no substitute in the conduct of election.

    The extension of Professor Iwu’s tenure, according to the group, was the best bet and in the best interest of Nigeria.

    Addressing a press conference in Abuja on “Independent National Electoral Commission and 2011 General Election: A case of continuity,” the group said: “We, the members of the Coalition of Northern Society Group, under the aegis of House of Common do urge the National Assembly, the rational and well-meaning Nigerians, including the stakeholders and, indeed the acting president, to let Iwu be.”

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