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.

Monday, September 20, 2010

BABANGIDA'S PRESIDENTIAL QUEST, A VOYAGE DOOMED BEFORE IT SET SAIL!

When way back in 1999 this contributor wrote urging Nigerians not to acquiesce to the return of army man Olusegun Obasanjo back to power, as that will open the floodgates for all other army men to queue up waiting for their turn particularly Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida. So many people told me to me to be real and branded my reservation against Obasanjo as the usual anti-Yoruba sentiments. Peradventure, Nigerians paid dearly for that grave mistake of allowing Obasanjo's comeback; which subsists till today. Obasanjo, having let the dogs out, another disgraced former army man has presented himself to Nigerians to plead his case to be let back into power.
The recent declaration of the resident evil, Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida, for the presidency of Nigeria is not only an affront on Nigerians but a bad example of what happens when a people do not stand firm against evil. Had Nigerians remembered what Olusegun Obasanjo did in the 70s particularly his repression of students and other trade unions which led to "Ali must go" riot of 1978; and rejected his candidacy then in 1999, there is no way in hell that Ibrahim Babangida would have ventured on the same thorough-fare to Aso Rock now. But a 'monkey see monkey do' mentality has now spurred Babangida to want to match and possibly outdo Obasanjo's ruling record, with his declaration to rule Nigeria as her elected president in 2011. But Babangida will be surprised at the abysmal failure his campaign will receive in the hands of the Nigeria people at the polls, assuming he doesn't chicken out before the d-day as has become his customary cowardly stock-in-trade practice. And to make matters worst, this self-styled prince of Minna is jumping the gun and instead of doing first things first, he is pretending the preliminary imperative can easily be glossed over. Icheoku says, Babangida before you seriously get involved in your presidential pipe-dream, please first explain in detail to the Nigerian people, why your previous eight years first coming to power was such an atrocious experience for Nigerians; thereafter apologize profusely to them for the sweat and blood which you took away from them.
A good place to start is to explain why June 12th ended in flames; and mindful that it was Nigerians mandate held in trust by Abiola that you messed up, apologize and ask for their forgiveness. Then visit UruEkpen and ask Dele Giwa's people to please forgive you for murdering their son or better still for being the man in-charge in Nigeria when their son was brutally parcel bombed. Then tell Nigerians that your scorning Oputa panel was out of your rascally misbehavior and that you have since grown up and now no longer a hot head or so explosively ill mannered and tempered. Then tell Nigerians that admitted you took control of $12billion of their money, that you used it to develop Abuja and nest your retirement; that you are not arguing or trying to justify any of your evil actions but merely asking for their understanding and peradventure, forgiveness. That Mamman Vasta, Gideon Orkar and co were victims of an army survival tactics which you learnt in Defence Academy? That those army officers that you killed in Ejigbo faked military plane crash also had to go because of security imperatives. And that all the money you amassed were not Nigerians' money but kickbacks you got from being a corrupt head of state and that they should understand and please forgive your poor judgment. Lastly that you surreptitiously took Nigeria into OIC (Orgnization of Islamic Countries) membership not out of your free will but out of instigation of Saudi Arabia; that you will use all powers within your authority to withdraw them as soon as you are inaugurated. Except that such a day of your official oath taking as Nigeria's president shall never arise as you are both unelectable and heavily disliked and hated by every sane Nigerian.
Now Babangida, Icheoku wants you to know that the beef Nigerians have with you is not necessarily because of your numerous acts of misdeeds while in office, but for your arrant and arrogant refusal to ask for their forgiveness, atone for your sins and make amends. Nigerians are a forgiving bunch and if only Babangida has come genuflecting before the wronged millions of Nigerians, all these army lined against his candidacy would have been unarmed and of peace keeping nature than the present one firing on all cylinders. Regrettably, Babangia and his handlers do not get it and are not getting it - the real reason why the resistance against him is so goal-directed, fierce and widely spread; otherwise he would have long adjusted his strategy and come before Nigerians, humbled and in tears, plead for their forgiveness. That is the only way Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida would and could jump-start his near dead on arrival presidential effort and securing power again in Nigeria. Anything short of this is not necessary as they are efforts in futility akin to putting the cart before the horse. If Babangida wants to plant a farm of Nigerians, he must first cultivate it and this is the missing link of his lacklustre campaign efforts this far. It does not matter how many times he flies to Enugu in his ill-gotten private plane to meet with Ojukwu or to the West to meet some other Yoruba leaders or to the north to meet with some emirs; Icheoku says until he resolves his problem with Nigerians and apologizes to them, he is just wasting his time.

The rehashed speech at his declaration of intent notwithstanding, Icheoku fact-checks as follows:- the situation Nigerians face today are minor compared to what they were forced to endure during Babangida's eight long years of murderous regime; that nothing infrastructural was developed then; that power supply was the ever "never expect power always" and so was telephony and other communications, which led to his then communication minister David Mark, the now senate president to once say that 'telephone is not for the poor;' that Babangida never harnessed the abundant human resources available in Nigeria instead he was busy blowing them away with parcel bombs; that instead of encouraging education he was in constant war with higher institutions, arresting and jailing students union members as well as Academic Staff Union officials including the current INEC chairman Attahiru Jega; and corruption was midwifed by Babangida as his own beloved child. So Icheoku does not see how Babangida would kill what he gave birth to or better still, let Babangida show leadership by example by explaining to Nigerians how he came about his humongous fortune including a private jet? Babangida Icheoku says it is either you do what is expected of you - apologize to Nigerians for your regimental misdeeds especially the political roller-coaster ride that ended in June 12th annulment or just forget about the 2011 presidency. Just in case you need to be reminded, Nigerians have since passed their verdict - they do not want to relive the nightmare that was your first coming and are now tone-deaf to whatever message you may have, get it! What a politically damaged good this toothy-fairy, evil-incarnate is; and he doesn't even appreciate the enormity of the hate Nigerians nurse for him.

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