YARADUA'S ELECTION VERDICT '08 - how the tribunal decided!

In an earlier blog posted on January 22, 2008 titled "Nigeria - the way forward", i had articulated the tribunal's verdict but premised the route traveled differently. While suggesting that President Umaru Yaradua of Nigeria fully acknowledge the crass irregularities which brought about his emergence as president, I also opined that he should take responsibility for it and apologise on behalf of his mentor, Aremu Obasanjo so that the country can move on.

Also in another blog titled"American Presidency - the road traveled", I urged the tribunal to annul the election as a pointer that such infradignities as had long held Nigeria down will no longer be tolerated.

However today, February 26. 2008 the Justice Ogembe tribunal ruled to uphold the election and I have read their reasoning in the verdict reached; and it is my believe that there was reasonable basis both in fact and in law for the decision upholding Yaradua's election. The summary of the decision is hereunder posted for your own conclusions. Happy trails!

"In a unanimous verdict of the tribunal on the separate but consolidated petitions, it held that the Buhari and his counterpart from the Action Congress (AC), former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, had failed woefully to prove their claim that the election was flawed since INEC did not conduct it in compliance with the Electoral Act 2006.
The tribunal held that the provisions of Section 146 (1) of the Electoral Act had predicated the conduct of the elections on substantial compliance to the said Electoral Act and not a total compliance to it.
In the lead judgment delivered by Justice Afolabi Fabiyi on the petition filed by Buhari, he expressed the view that assuming that it was persuaded by claims of the petitioner that the electoral body conducted the presidential election in substantial breach of the said Act, the petitioners would still be required to show the (Tribunal) how the breach substantially affected the result of the said election.
"Even if the petitioner was able to prove that the Electoral Act was not substantially complied with by the 1st and 2nd respondents (INEC and Prof. Maurice Iwu), the petitioner will have to prove that the said non-compliance has substantially affected the result of the presidential election. See the case of Buhari Vs Obasanjo (2003). It is my view that the petitioner has failed to lead evidence to prove this claim. Therefore, the issue of non-compliance to the Act is of no moment and it is accordingly resolved against the petitioner." Justice Fabiyi held.
According to Fabiyi, the petitioner failed to lead direct evidence to prove his claim as only direct evidence by witnesses who observed the non-compliance would have helped his claim. He referred parties to the case of Haruna Vs Moddibo to support this claim, where the appellate court held that "where a petitioner makes the issue of non-compliance to the Electoral Act as the basis of his petition, he must lead evidence to show that."
The tribunal held that the claims that the election was fraught with irregularities amounted to no issue as evidence to that effect were led by fact which were not pleaded before the tribunal.
"There is no shred of evidence to prove that elections held at different times, and even if there was, he has not shown how that conferred undue advantage to the 5th and 6th respondents Yar'Adua and Jonathan) to warrant the tribunal to nullify their election," he further held.
On Buhari's contention that Yar'Adua's election should be voided as he was ineligible or incompetent to have contested the said poll in view of the white paper, which indicted them issued by an Administrative Panel of Inquiry set up by the then Governor of Abia State, the tribunal held that it was of no consequence to the validity of the poll.
The tribunal rejected arguments of Yar'Adua and Jonathan's legal team that the whitepaper of the Abia State Administrative Panel of Inquiry, which indicted the duo, was invalid and should be discountenanced.
According to the tribunal, it was valid and therefore acceptable to it in evidence. But pointed out that beyond the admissibility of the tribunal, the question that naturally arises is on how much premium or value it should place on the said white paper, he said the value of the said white paper was diminished by its failure to state in clear terms the reason or basis for the purported indictment of the President and Vice President by the panel.
"Was it stated in the white paper that the 5th and 6th respondents were indicted for fraud as contemplated by Section 137 (1) of the 1999 Constitution? The white paper simply reads that the following persons were found to have done their jobs contrary to their oath of office. Even if the 5th and 6th respondents were indicted for fraud, the Supreme Court has resolved the issue in Amaechi Vs Omehia, whereof Oguntade, Jsc. held that "it is inadmissible to find a person guilty without first making a recourse to a court of law. This issue is therefore of no moment and is accordingly resolved in favour of the 5th and 6th respondents.
According to him, Since Section 137 (1) of the 1999 Constitution had clearly provided that an indictment on the ground of fraud was a compelling point to disallow a candidate from an election, the white paper would have been on a stronger wicket if it had contained that clear ground.
In spite of that position, Fabiyi insisted that even if that was done in the white paper, a plethora of authorities have made it imperative that the indictment would be pronounced on by a court of law before it can act as a bar against Yar'Adua and Jonathan.
On the failure of the INEC to administer the oath of neutrality to the electoral officers, who conducted the elections across the country, he held that the petitioner failed to lead evidence to that effect.
Beyond that, he cited Buhari Vs Obasanjo (2003), where the apex court held that the failure to administer the oath of neutrality was not enough to void the election of Yar'Adua and Jonathan since they could not be the once to blame for that lapse.
Earlier, the tribunal had dismissed the objection raised by Ahamba challenging the authority of the President of the Court of Appeal, Justice Umaru Abdullahi, to issue the Practice Direction 2007, to regulate the filing and prosecution of petitions arising from the elections.
According to the tribunal, Section 239 of the 1999 Constitution confers powers on the Court's President on original jurisdiction as well as appellate jurisdiction to issue the said Practice Direction.
The tribunal had also dismissed the evidence and pleadings of a counsel in Buhari's legal team, Valentine Ikeonu, on the premise that they breached Section 83 of the Evidence Act as well as Section 19 of the Notary Public Act.
While that provision of the Evidence Act prohibits that an affidavit be sworn to before a counsel with interest in a matter, the Notary Public Act forbids any notary to take depositions on a matter.
"Where a court erroneously admits a document, the court upon that realisation has powers to throw it out. Accordingly, the affidavits sworn to by Valentine Ikeonu are hereby struck out", Justice Fabiyi ruled.
"In conclusion, this petition has been plagued with lack of evidence to back up the claims. Accordingly, the petition is hereby dismissed", he ruled.
In the tribunal's verdict on the former Vice President's petition, Justice Fabiyi held that the position of the law was clear that where a petitioner raises a ground of unlawful exclusion, he automatically strips himself of a right to raise other grounds.
"Section 145 of the Electoral Act precludes any other ground once the ground of exclusion as been raised by a petitioner.
The ground of exclusion is mutually exclusive to other grounds", he held.
Reviewing the arguments of the petitioner on the claim of unlawful exclusion, he held that he (Atiku) was approbating and reprobating by claiming in one breath that he was excluded, whereas in another breath, he led witnesses to prove the contrary.
The tribunal wondered how he would admit the presence of his party agents at various polling centres, and yet claim that he was excluded since party agents were allowed only because their parties and candidates where in the race for elective seats.
He therefore held although INEC tried to exclude the petitioner, following the April 16, 2007 ruling of the Supreme Court, INEC published his name".
"The claim of unlawful exclusion canvassed by Atiku hereby fails and is accordingly dismissed."
But the dismissal was however not before the tribunal admitted that based on the legal battles Atiku mounted to ensure that he was allowed to run the Presidential race, his momentum at the campaigns was slowed down.
Fabiyi observed that although Section 145 of the Electoral Act gave the tribunal power to dismiss the petition without looking at any other ground since the ground of "unlawful exclusion" had failed, it (tribunal) would err on the side of caution by examining and resolving other issues.
On the issue of varying time for voting at various centres, he held that "it is immaterial that voting was shifted from 8am to 10am as the seven hours stipulated for the exercise were observed in spite of the shift in time. Besides, the shifting affected all the candidates.
"The petitioner has not shown how the shift in time of the election conferred an undue advantage to Yar'adua and Jonathan to his own detriment", he held.
He said Atiku's complaint that only his parties name was on some ballot papers, he held that it was of no consequence since, according to him, the Supreme Court has held in the Amaechi Versus Omehia case that "votes cast is for the sponsoring political party."
On the controversial results sheets, which included pre-dated, post dated and unsigned result sheets in electronic and manual forms, the jurist held that he would rely on the manually collated sheets, which was unchallenged by any party.
"The result of the manual collation has not been rebutted and it is before the Tribunal and I cannot close my eyes to it", he held.
He cited the case of Al Gore Vs George Bush, which he described as being "persuasive authority" on the question as to whether the counting of the votes in Florida in 2000 should be manually or electronically done.
"The petition fails and is hereby dismissed. In view of the importance of these cases to the evolving democracy in Nigeria.
"I make no order as to cost", he concluded. "

Other panelists including the Chairman of the tribunal, Justice James Ogenyi Ogebe, who has been elevated to the Bench of the apex court agreed with the lead judgment. Ogebe was however not present in court. Other panelists, are Justices Raphael Chikwe Agbo, Abubakar Abdulkadir Jega and Umani Abaji.

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AMERICAN PRESIDENCY:- THE ROAD TRAVELED!

A very high ranking Nigeria government official visited the United States of America State of California sometime last summer 2007 shortly after the sordid mess of an “election” conducted by the medicine man of Otta, Aremu Olusegun Obasanjo. This person while answering questions about the charade that took place in Nigeria’s transition parried the question referencing Florida’s hanging chard of 2000 to make a non existence case that no election is perfect. Today the number of voided “elections” therein in Nigeria attests to the mind-numbing madness that took place in Nigeria under OBJ’s supposed transition because no elections really took place and the supposed leaders that emerged were not vetted prior and hence unknown to the people they supposedly govern.

This preamble becomes necessary for a more forensic analytical understanding of the political denudation currently eroding the American political landscape. It is necessary to understand the process that leads to the final results whether in Abuja or Washington DC which explains the rapidity of moving on after elections in the United States as opposed to the lingering bickering which follows every election in Nigeria. In Nigerian, a candidate for office is most always foist on the Nigeria electorates by the powers that be which is akin to the joker of “super delegates” which the Clinton camp is trying shamelessly to employ to steal an otherwise lost nomination. When such happens, the people are left with no choice but to bear the crushing imposition with stoicism praying for the intervention of the almighty or that such an imposed ruler will die in office for a breather. This is so because the supposed head of state or president is not a choice they would ordinarily have made or an option they would have exercised or someone they would have elected or voted for in the first instance. Absence of transparency in the selection process and subsequent election of office holders in Nigeria and Africa by extension is the bane of the societies which constitute perpetual clogs in the wheels of progress therein. These impostors are then preoccupied trying to starve off oppositions and other hound-dogs throughout their term and will have less time to find solutions to the myriad of problems facing their countries. Think of malaria; think of HIV/AIDS; etc.

Nigeria experimented with transparency in elections with OPTION A4 during the regime of Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida which produced Aaree Ona Kakanfo MKO Abiola in 1993 and which explains the loss felt by many a Nigerian when the military junta of Abacha incarcerated him with his ultimate death in the gulag. If only Nigeria could revert to the primary electioneering process such as Option A4; then and only then will a meaningful election take place in that country and perhaps then, Nigerians could have an elected leader who has a real mandate to govern. Were this to be the case prior, maybe all the catastrophic maladies of Aremu Obasanjo presidency would have been averted as he would not have been elected to govern in the first place. Aremu Obasanjo would have fallen victim of the primaries in his home State of Ogun as Yakubu Gowon experienced first hand in his own home State of Plateau wherein a primary school teacher was preferred by the people over him in the primaries. There is no love lost between Obasanjo and his native Ogun State people and he could not have survived the crucible therein. Aremu Obasanjo was a product of the elite powerful people who foist him on Nigerians and they reaped the whirlwind. Obasanjo was a destitute despotic bull in a China shop called Nigeria and it will take a very long time to garner all that he scattered during his ill-fated imposed presidency.

Now to the main subject of this discuss – the American primary electoral system and the phenomenon called BARACK OBAMA! The exploits of Obama in this years’ United States of America presidential primaries is astounding and this is possible because of a system which makes it possible for a hitherto “nobody” to be able to put up such a stellar performance against a former first lady of Arkansas, a former first lady of the United States of America and a United States Senator from the State of New York with a Clinton last name – only in America! And the world stands in awesome admiration, astonished and wondering how we do what we do and rhetorically positing why we are the greatest nation on earth, God bless America!

Primaries make it possible for the real people who in essence own the government to vet their would-be leaders up close and personal before certifying him or her as a fit and proper person to govern them as president cum commander in chief of the almighty United States armed forces. As would anything which properly functions, the process is all inclusive starting with the least of all the fifty states – IOWA to the biggest elephant in the union California as well as far flung territories of Guam and Puerto Rico as well as Americans in Diaspora. This gives every person the senses of belonging and a share of participation in this all important decision of who to trust with the collective interest called United States with all its’ vast purse, powers and influence which is global in nature. Iowa was the first to speak and it would seem that they were correct in their assessment of BARACK OBAMA. Today their message has been heard across the length and breath of America and the message is clear; as was succinctly and very eloquently put while campaigning for Barack Obama in Southern Virginia by the denizen of talk show, our own very Oprah Winfrey, – OBAMA IS THE ONE!

This is what is saintly about the union called United States of America. People have opportunities and when we decide to do good the best is always the result. Hopefully Barrack Obama will be sworn in as the 44th president next January 20, 2009; but if against all odds, it is truncated midway and a different result ensues, at least the people can deal with it and will have some closure in the fact that a contest indeed took place. First it was an open primary for the brave hearts to throw their hats into the ring, there were vetting by the ever inquisitive and very incisive American press as well as hired private investigators, followed by several debates between the candidates and criss-crossing of the entire breath of the union canvassing for the electorates’ support and giving them reasons why they are the best candidate for the office. These candidates are job-seekers applying for the highest office in the land and so are going through necessary interview processes which peradventure takes them through all the stakeholders of the union – we the people! The president is to govern the people so the people should have a choice in his/her emergence. Thus it becomes an absolute meritocracy instead of bequeath as typified by Umaru Yaradua’s emergence in Nigeria wherein Obasanjo single-handedly imposed him on the country. This is an example of crass idiocy which has held the country, Nigeria, down for such a long time and until 26th February 2008, when hopefully the Justice Ogembe election tribunal will do right by and for Nigerians by nullifying the purported “election” of Yaradua, Yaradua remains a de-facto president of Nigeria incapable of mobilizing anybody and real peace amongst the polity called Nigeria will remain an illusion. The seeming peace is like Colin Powel said of the Iraq surge, putting a heavy lid over a boiling pot to stem it from boiling over. Nigeria is as restive as nobody has ever seen – peace of the grave yard is no peace at all. A grenade with its pin on looks as docile but Nigeria must not let the Kenya experience occur. Unlike Kenya, Nigeria has been through a civil war before and since the truce of 1970, disaffection has been smoldering underneath every heart in the country with some people waiting for a pay-back time. Unlike Kenya, Nigeria has abundant oil which could be mortgaged to the Chinese should another war results for their military support including mercenaries to fight a proxy war for the oppressed Niger Delta people. Only fairness can resolve the imbroglio which will then make it possible for an Ijaw or Ishekiri or Urohbo man to aspire for the presidency and guarantee his right to the presidency as well as other juicy positions in the land. This also will ensure that his God-bequeathed resources will not be pillaged without adequate and reasonable compensation.

With these primaries, Americans have had the singular privilege of going into the minds of their would-be president and now can say that they know who is applying for the greatest office in the union and by extension the entire planet earth. There is some closeness, sense of belonging and ownership pride when one knows that he/she participated in choosing who governs him/her. But a situation where an unknown chemistry teacher turned governor of an inconsequential remote State of Kastina is put in charge of a more sophisticated people with much numerical strength and expertise and exposure scattered throughout Nigeria leads to resentment. First who is this man and second how did he come to be their president. Who is he more qualified than to make him a preferred and/or ‘anointed’ candidate? It was a total imposition and people merely tolerate such because the alternative of a midnight visit by henchmen of State Security does not bode well and hence is avoided at the mercy of stupendous loyalty.

Nigeria and Africa in general need to change their ways especially the way the powers that be install a puppet who does not have the mandate of the people to govern. According to “president in the waiting” Barrack Obama, change starts from bottom up and leaders must emerge through a viable political process for the people to be mobilized that they could move the nation forward. Such leaders remain accountable to the people whose sacred mandate they hold in trust knowing that any misadventure with either their resources or freedom would result in immediate recall or voting out of office. But a situation where an “elected” leader is not beholden to the electorates, he sees himself as answerable only to the master that put him in power and hence no obligation to perform while in office. Accountability is a necessary concomitant to consequences but where no consequences exist; there is no deterrent or incentive to do right. Forty-eight years after independence in Nigeria from Britain, there is no adequate running water or electricity or motor-able good roads; no well equipped and staffed acute care centers, salaries are not paid, no viable schools that produce comparable manpower, teachers are perpetually on strike over their backlog salaries; so also are the doctors, the army is owed their salaries as well as the police and the navy, contractors etc. and the United States made it public last week that Nigeria generated the sum of $55Billion USD in oil sales just last year 2007 alone. Translation all these lacking infrastructures could have been put in place – Dubai style, were these very inept imposed leaders answerable to the people or at least care about their legacy. What happened to this money – they ended up in private bank accounts in Geneva while the people are languishing in abject squalor.

In summation therefore, whereas no election is perfect according to this Nigeria official at least there is what is called some semblance of decency in how leaders come about. Show us the path traveled to arrive at the leader – the transparency, openness, and an all accommodating, free for all willing-contestants participation in the electoral process. At the end of the day whoever emerges will be acceptable to the people as proved with MKO Abiola in 1993. Once the road traveled is not so muddled up then the people can deal with whoever finally emerges as their leader. By these primaries, emerged candidates from both parties have been fully vetted as possible presidents which suggest that they are both viable. At this juncture there are technically two acceptable candidates for president and the election in November is just a formality to find out who amongst the two is better and more liked. It then becomes a mere preference by the majority of the people.

If Nigeria adopts this primary process as Option A4 attempted to do, a leader will start emerging in the country that could motivate the people to move the country forward. Until this is done the fight and brute struggle to control the levers of State which sometimes results to deadly consequences shall never cease and the result is that the non-criminals, usually the egg-heads, amongst the society will continue to find respite sojourning in other more civilized geographical entities elsewhere around the globe. Many Nigerians and Africans in general are now so disenchanted and disillusioned with what is going on in their native countries of birth that they have started electing to be buried in the country of their sojourn and would rather even their bodies never be sent back “home” for burial. It is disheartening indeed for a man to denounce the country that gave him birth and this trend is becoming more of an acceptable norm than an abnormally. Maybe a President Barack Obama will be the lighting rod to jump-start Africa into a new dawn. May be a President Obama will help frog-march African “leaders” into what is right and by extension start a renaissance and reorientation of Africa for a new beginning. Godspeed to Barack Obama’s quest as his struggle is our struggle and may God continue to bless his campaign and keep him and Michelle and their two beautiful little darlings safe from the evil ones, in Jesus name, Amen! So speaketh MENIRU!

The idiocy of the Clintons!

If there is any evidence of desperation of the Clintons campaign it is now eminently obvious, as manifested in the choice of words being deployed by this American odd couple – the Clintons! For lawyers, which the Clintons are, to disparage the power of the word or deride a connoisseur of the language is either a crass envy or an attempt to find fault where none exists. This is more so when one remembers that we are coming out of very long tortuous years of a president who is technically speech-impaired and who has some memorable liners such as “misunderestimate”. The very fact that an American president could once again speak English is enough cause for joy and the unprecedented outpouring of support infesting the campaign of BARACK OBAMA. Americans once again feel proud that they could be well represented and that world-leaders instead of tuning off will once again listen through addresses and speeches of an American president. How dare these lawyers, the Clintons, open their dirty mouth to say that talk is cheap or that speech does not put food on the table or gas in the tank? What stock in trade do lawyers possess if not words? Words have moved mountains; words have caused revolutions all over the world; words have changed history and words have caused wars and words have healed etc.
Learned minds all over the world know for a fact that words-smith such as William Shakespeare was not mincing words when Mark Antony caused the plebeians to change cause in Julius Caesar. Words made Winston Churchill one of the greatest leaders of the Great Britain with his ever timeless “never in the history of mankind has so much been owed by so many to so few” speech forever etched in memory. Words made Martin Luther King Jr. bring civil rights to minorities in American especially African Americans with his “I have a dream” speech. Cicero is an orator whose oratorical skills moved the masses. Is it JFK with “think not what your country can do for you” speech or the Ronald Regan “tear down this wall” speech; and even Bill Clinton of yesteryears? Our lord and savior, Jesus Christ exploited words to the best of its potency in the bible and had a grand command of the language. That these Clintons are getting very desperate have signage everywhere; and to such an extent as disparaging BARACK OBAMA’s rhetorical prowess as meaningless. What will they not do?

From a hitherto would-be coronation status to a hyped Super Tuesday to all the trouncing in various polls and the high negatives and now to the final Rudy Giuliani’s Florida strategy; the Clintons have all but lost the nomination. They should do the right thing now and bow out in order to save whatever iota or modicum of decency they may still have left in them. They should throw in the towel honorably and now is the time to stop further hemorrhaging of their standing in the world. The mere fact that OBAMA could run an effective closely-marked campaign against the Clintons decade-tested machine is enough reason for the Clintons to show some respect. President Putin today admonished Hilary as having “no head’ and questioned how a headless Hilary plans to be the president of America? The Clintons should be a sportsman and admit the obvious that Americans do not like them anymore and would rather not institute a pseudo-monarchy by default of a Bush, a Clinton, a Bush and another Clinton? It is not happening and the political denudation is sure to sweep them away barring their sudden wake up from their political slumber to smell the tidal wave currently plowing the political landscape of our dear country. Enough of these Clintons!

This Clinton couple appears to be very shameless as Monica Lewinsky scandal once proved this their peculiar trait to the whole world. Again they are at it but nobody would be hoodwinked by them this time around. They have started shifting the goal-post in the middle of the game - from a gentle-man agreement that Michigan and Florida should be punished, by excluding their votes for disobeying party laid down rules when despite all entreaties not to shift their primary date, they did it anyway; to their now insisting that the votes/delegates be counted. This is even more pathetic when other contestants did not have their names on the ballot and where they did, did not campaign in obedience to party’s instruction. If anybody should be punished for this, Hilary Clinton is the culprit for contravening the party’s disciplinary measures. It is disrespectful of the laws of contract and wherein are the gentleman/ lady in this couple? Tell that to the marines that these votes should be counted. To hell with this couple and it is about time America stand up to these two individuals and call their bluff. If Hilary was winning, would we hear all these rants? It is not only America that is watching this development but the whole world including Iraq and Afghanistan and are waiting to see how all these Clintons’ grandstanding will pan out. Obama is a phenomenon and his gospel of “YES WE CAN” is now permeating the world and becoming the battle-cry of politicians all over the world. It is a very powerful mantra of what is possible; that even a politician in Italy has adopted it as his campaign slogan. Obama should act fast with its patent registration! Can do attitude is the only attitude that moves a nation or group – there is no task impossible for a motivated mind and OBAMA has motivated all of us including those in denial and surely his presidency will be the first in recent times to command the mandate of the whole populace.

Finally the whole world is watching to see if American has moved forward from their age long racism and bigotry. Anything short of swearing in BARACK OBAMA next January 20, 2009 will be interpreted as sabotage. So therefore, BARACK OBAMA must not only win the nomination but must also win the general election as any other thing to the contrary will be misconstrued by the American public as well as the whole wide world as racism. How dare America mortgage their very best because of skin color, they will ask. Such action will force the world to begin to see America in a different prism of do what I say and not what I do. The white majority must therefore not allow this opportunity to slip away but MUST use it to forever silence racism in America by electing BARACK OBAMA, the next president of United States of America. BARACK OBAMA is highly qualified to be our next president – he is very viable, erudite, intelligent, charismatic, handsome, very tall and slender, humane and tough; very articulate, discerning and finally can motivate the people to do greater things. Also he smiles and sincerely too. In fact BARACK OBAMA is everything America is seeking for and needs at this very time in our society. All the Clintons and their attack machine which are shamelessly attacking OBAMA easily forgets that BARACK OBAMA went to Harvard Law School, that he made membership of the board of Harvard Law Review and that he attained the Head/President and Editor in chief of that school’s prestigious law journal. If he was ordinary, he would not go to law school; if he was mediocre Harvard will not admit him; if he was merely good, he will not head the editorial board. In other words, BARACK OBAMA is exceptional. It is not an easy task indeed and being a blackman made it more onerous. An “empty suit” does not attain such heights especially so when that “empty suit” is a blackman and in America. To deny Barack Obama’s eminent qualification for the top job in the land is to deny the obvious. You can only be blind and dumb not to realize the tons of bricks which he has come to represent. It is a morbid hallucination to deny that this candle has been lighted and glowing and will shine into the hearts of many more millions of American minds and for our very own good. A time this opportune has never shown itself in recent past and will be a healing balm not only for the past seven plus years of Bush despondency but also will forever sooth the nightmarish memories of slavery and racism in America. This moment is as rare as phoenix and we must seize it with all our strength and fanatical admiration. Lets’ finally say Bye-Bye to the Clintons and proclaim in one loud thundering voice, in OBAMA we can! YES WE CAN! YES WE CAN! YES WE CAN! YES WE CAN! YES WE CAN! YES WE CAN! YES WE CAN! YES WE CAN! YES WE CAN! YES WE CAN! YES WE CAN! YES WE CAN! YES WE CAN! YES WE CAN! YES WE CAN! YES WE CAN! YES WE CAN! YES WE CAN! YES WE CAN! YES WE CAN! YES WE CAN! YES WE CAN! YES WE CAN! YES WE CAN! YES WE CAN! YES WE CAN! YES WE CAN! YES WE CAN! YES WE CAN!

Hilary Clinton - unelectable!

When a product is that bad, no salesman no matter how good can make a headway trying to push the product. So when the story wafted out this weekend that Hilary Clinton has fired her campaign chairperson, it came to some of us a surprise – surprise in the sense that she was even able to have won as many delegates and states as she this far has won. This is a feat considering how much hatred the name Hilary Clinton engenders amongst so many Americans particularly Republicans. From a general perspective, many Americans have come to see Hilary as a spineless, low esteem schemer who stayed with Bill to most peoples’ chagrin after the sordid Monica gate. It was not one or two or three but several philandering incidents of great disrepute which was crowned with the “I did not have sex with that woman, Ms Lewinsky” shame. Most many a thinking woman with dignity would have taken Bill to the cleaners and walked away heads high but instead Hilary sheepishly stayed married to Billy. Hilary did not do that; which leaves one school of thought to posit that she kept Bill as a ladder of opportunity to ascend the presidency. This is the reason so many people loathe her and this blogger believes strongly that she would have fared better in this election as a divorced ex-wife of ex-president Bill Clinton.

This and the so many several double speak and sometimes triple speak are what has turned so many people off from Hilary hence her campaign is sputtering. Firing a chairperson is just looking for a fall guy to take the blame for what was fundamentally a flawed campaign – having a wrong candidate. The very candidate herself was the reason Hilary Clinton’s campaign is going nowhere. Any other woman candidate would have fared better provided there is no Clinton to her name and that the Clinton is no associated with Bill. Hilary should throw in the towel now and save whatever little honor she may still have left before she suffers disastrous humiliation at subsequent polls if last weeks five states lost is any foreboding of the fate which lies ahead for her. The alternative candidate has turned his movement into a revolution and like a whirlwind is now unstoppable baring any catastrophic mistake or misspeaking. But after watching the interview of Michelle Obama on Larry King Live today, February 11, 2008 I have come to the conclusion that this couple are here to lead the movement into the Whitehouse come January 20. 2009. She was very articulate, smart and brilliant and answered the questions as savvy as her eminent husband would have done and is been doing.

Hilary tried Bill but to no avail. Chelsea has been deployed and is stomping but to no avail. Chelsea was called “pimped out” and the Clintons cried foul and Chelsea is 27years. Meanwhile Bill seduced Monica Lewinsky when she was merely 20 years old and who has the moral pedestal now to tell us something about leaving out a woman of twenty seven years out of the fray? By Chelsea’s dabbling into the political fray by campaigning for her parent she has exposed herself to all that are thrown at stumpers – Oprah Winfrey was called several names for backing Obama’s candidacy. Chelsea is no longer the child born at government house in Little Rock, Arkansas or the thirteen year old kid during her father’s presidency and during when time Bill was messing with a twenty year old intern Monica – what a breach of trust? Chelsea is a fully grown woman of child-bearing age of twenty-seven which in some nationalities would have made her even a grandmother by now. Having thrown her hat into the ring, she becomes a party by implication and the word pimping should not be that very offensive that the heavens should fall. “Pimped out” could be interpreted either way – either to improve as in the TV series “Pimp my Ride” or as pimp as in tricks overlords. In anyway, pimp out connotes to “improve”. However Chelsea is not the center of this piece but Hilary and so we should move on with the object of our piece and confine our discussion just to her.

Hilary in all seriousness is out of this race for democratic nomination – she does not move anybody when she speaks. She sounds boring and overtly rehearsed; in other words she appears stale and this is the turn off for so many voters. Just like a memorable date, one cannot wait for a second date and several others thereafter but watching Hilary speak is a torture. Her body language, her eye movement, demeanor and mannerisms are so mummified and contrived that they appear so unbelievable. Hilary is not making any impact with her speeches and to so many ears it sounds like radio commercials which no one really listens to anymore. Admitted she won in California and New York but this was a result of absentee votes which were locked in several months before the Super Tuesday long before Obama got the Kennedy’s endorsement and the great Oprah Winfrey took that podium in Los Angeles to stomp for Obama. Look at the political landscape since the Super Tuesday and see how the candidature of Obama is smothering whatever is left of the Clinton’s once dreaded political machine. Obama also invented a successful catch phrase “YES WE CAN” which has resonated with the general American public and like a good slogan, is selling the good product BARACK OBAMA and very well indeed!

In conclusion therefore, the problem with Hilary Clinton is not the campaign staff but herself. Hilary is like a bad product which nobody wants and hence makes for a very difficult marketing. It does not matter who she hires to run her grinding campaign, Hilary is un-saleable to the American public especially the youngsters and the Republicans. Hopefully the Democratic Party establishment will do the right thing as any other thing to the contrary will shut them out of the Whitehouse come this January 20, 2009 but who would wish that on us? Not I and not the so many Americans fueling this phenomenon called BARACK OBAMA!

There goes my one cent thought on Hilary Clinton’s campaign problems.

"OBJ - the king who danced naked"

This well articulated commentary by Simon Kolawole is hereby completely and totally adopted by Ebekuo for republication in our web portal http://www.icheoku.com/ . All copyrights deference is hereby extended to the writer and is being re-published here merely to increase its viewership on the world wide web and not by any means being appropriated as ours. The only addition I would have proffered is in the title of the article which should have more appositely read "OBJ - the king who danced naked". Please enjoy Kolawole's riveting insight on the Otta monster which he had titled "My Heart Bleeds for Obasanjo by Simon Kolawole" you may also send additional rejoinders directly to Kolawole's email at simonkolawole@thisdayonline.com,

"Some things happen to some people in life and you just tell yourself: this is God at work; this cannot be the making of a human being. That is the view I have always held about Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, former president. Everything in life looked pre-arranged for him. Minus the small matter of having grown up in poverty, Obasanjo has always had the best things of life signed, sealed and delivered to his laps on a platter of gold.When he became president in 1999, I had cause to reflect over the life of the retired general. The instruments of surrender of the Biafran Republic were symbolically handed over to him in 1970 when the civil war had been won and lost. It all looked as if it was Obasanjo that won the war on behalf of Nigeria, whereas other generals had toiled and toiled to make victory certain. Obasanjo reaped where he did not sow. Lucky fellow.In 1976, when General Murtala Muhammed was killed in an abortive coup, the mantle fell on Obasanjo, as the second-in-command, to succeed Murtala as the military head of state. And although Murtala had transition to civil rule as a priority on his agenda, it was Obasanjo who actually handed over power to civilians in 1979 a feat that became his selling point as the first African leader to voluntarily cede power to a democratically elected government an accolade that actually belongs to a Ghanaian general.In 1995, Gen. Sani Abacha dragged Obasanjo and his former second-in-command, Maj. Gen. Shehu Musa Yar’Adua, to jail over a phantom coup. Chief MKO Abiola, acclaimed winner of the June 12, 1993, election had been clamped in jail in 1994. By the time Abacha died in 1998, Yar’Adua and Abiola had been killed, or had died, whatever, in prison. Only Obasanjo came out alive. And while we had been campaigning that Obasanjo should simply be released from prison, he in fact came out of the prison to become president. This was incredible. Always reaping where he did not sow!I recall that when Obasanjo was campaigning for presidency in 1999, I was captivated by his credentials. I composed something like a poem in my head for him. I was reciting it at the slightest provocation. It went like this: A civilian acceptable to the military, a Christian acceptable to Muslims, a Southerner acceptable to Northerners. For me, it was almost impossible to get any Nigerian who could boast of these qualifications all at once. It all looked like Obasanjo had been specially favoured and anointed.I recollect also that as soon as Obasanjo was elected president in March 1999, the price of crude oil, which had fallen below the $10 mark between 1997 and 1998, began to pick up dramatically. From $12 in March when he was elected, it had risen to $15 in May when he was sworn in. It never fell below that price again. By December 1999, it was $23. And by the time he left office in 2007, crude oil price was dancing between $80 and $90.I thought having gone to prison and come out alive, Obasanjo was going to rule Nigeria with a heart of gratitude. I expected him to be sober and humble in presiding over the affairs of this country. But what did we see? A man who ruled us with contempt and conceit. A man who took us for granted. A man who became an expert at manipulating and misusing state agencies to perpetrate selfish and narrow ambition. A man who wasted billions of naira to organise a political reforms conference designed to legitimise his inordinate third term ambition.You always knew Obasanjo was headed for self-destruction when he began to insult anyone who disagreed with him. For him, nothing was sacred and no one deserved respect, apart from himself. He ditched the people that helped him to power and walked on the heads of those who those tried to call him to order. He used and dumped people at will. So devoid of grace is Obasanjo that he insulted Chief Bola Ige whom he had used to divide Yorubaland even in death, describing Ige as someone who did not know his left from his right while he was Minister of Power and Steel.Obasanjo was the Master of Manipulations. He destroyed the credibility of state institutions like the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) just to get even with his opponents or fulfil his selfish heart desires. He manipulated and manipulated anything that could be manipulated. Right before our eyes, Obasanjo metamorphosed from a potential great leader to the ultimate poster-boy of anarchy in our land.After presiding over a party where treachery was systematically entrenched, he fished out Alhaji Umaru Musa Yar’Adua and made him his successor. I am very pleased whenever Yar’Adua reverses Obasanjo’s policies and rubs in the due process mantra very smoothly. Yeah, that is what Obasanjo deserves for his manipulative streak. When Yar’Adua recently described Obasanjo’s $10 billion expenditure on the power sector as not yielding any result (a euphemism for waste, that is), I was very happy. That is what Obasanjo deserves from his handpicked successor. That is what happens to people who think they can manipulate history and get away with it.But my heart bleeds for Obasanjo. If his enemies were just Atiku Abubakar and Solomon Lar, it would be understandable. You could attribute everything to politics. But when his own son decides to strip him naked in the market place, Oh God, what a shame. Obasanjo should have ordinarily gone into his grave as an accomplished man and a great leader of men. But what he has perpetrated and perpetuated in Nigeria in the last eight to nine years will forever cast a shadow on his life and times to say nothing of his own son rising up against him. What a pity. What a shame"!