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, January 13, 2011

PRESIDENT JONATHAN WINS HIS PARTY'S NOMINATION, CONGRATULATIONS!

Icheoku hereby congratulate the winner of PDP presidential primaries, President Goodluck Ebelesimi Azikiwe Jonathan on his victory; congratulations! Now that the politics of who in the PDP runs for election in the coming  April 2011 presidential elections has been resolved, it is time to put the politicking aside and let preparations begin for a successful election outing. With this is the added responsibility for the winner to ensure the unity of all parties in the PDP as the April election approaches; admitted some had different opinions and preferences regarding the very outcome just witnessed. It is not personal, it is politics; and it is about positioning oneself properly in the fight for a cause greater than self and which is beneficial to the people. Icheoku hopes the candidate-elect and his team understands this political imperative and will now pivot from the primaries bitter fight to focus on the main political fight ahead in April, against other presidential candidates of other parties.


Icheoku commends the PDP Chairman Nwodo and his convention organizing committee for putting up a transparently well organized primaries; let us hope it the signs of things to come in April, assuming NEC's Jega is listening. The main challenger and the man Icheoku had endorsed on grounds of adhering to the PDP's zoning arrangement principles, Atiku Abubakar, is hereby also commended for keeping alive the hope of real democracy in Nigeria. Admitted he did not win and lost by a wide margin, but at least he made President Jonathan work very hard for his nomination; as his was not the case of the usual African incumbents' unopposed selection and election. In some ironical oddity, Atiku Abubakar by putting up a strong fight, helped entrench democracy in Nigeria - it was not an all coast clear for the incumbent. Sarah Jibril is also commended and given an 'E' for effort; at least she voted for herself and got the only one vote as an also ran presidential candidate. It appears also that President Jonathan has learnt some lesson in the art of survival, especial political survival; which says 'never stray too far away from your godfather/mentor'. The godfather never sleeps or rests; and always shadows the object of his affection with bountiful love and protection, no matter what. Icheoku is convinced that Jonathan read the handwriting on the wall correctly and his decision to keep the man who made him king around and very close paid off greatly as seen in the resounding victory he recorded at the PDP presidential primaries. 

As for the South East Igbos 2015 agenda to produce the next president of Nigeria, Icheoku says it is almost a complete game-over for them now that a southern has emerged as presidential candidate and likely president in 2011. The result of the primaries has radically changed the equation especially with the non committal of President Goodluck Jonathan to the 2015 Igbo presidential agenda. With Jonathan's victory, the Nigeria powers that be might decide to postpone the day when an Igbo will be president a little longer, and make the Igbos to really work hard for it if they truly want it. Moreso, it is most likely that President Goodluck Jonathan will hand the presidential baton over to Vice President Namadi Sambo after he might have completed a second term, arguably to finish South-South eight year term? Election has consequences and the Igbos seem to have again lost out in the power tussle in Nigeria; and no sane person expects Vice President Namadi Sambo to just walk away after being a president in the waiting for these years. Icheoku advises the Igbos of South-East to retool and reposition themselves with a new game-plan tailored for several years post 2015.

Notably absent at the convention were Ibrahim Babangida, Orji Uzor Kalu and Gusua; and Icheoku wonders what kept these politicians of timber and caliber out of the Eagle Square convention. Icheoku also did not remember seeing the father and champion of the northern consensus candidate, Mallam Adamu Ciroma anywhere around the convention; or was he too ashamed of his product to show face? But hey, it is politics and winners and losers are sure to bound but Nigeria marches on!

If not for personal vendetta of the Northern Elders Forum that sabotaged Babangida's presidential campaign effort, may be Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida would have been a superior northern consensus candidate than the woeful performer Atiku Abubakar, who was left in the dust by President Goodluck Jonathan's turbo charged campaign. Although Icheoku campaigned against Babangida's ambition, but we strongly believe that as between Atiku and Babangida, the later would have been a stronger candidate and would have also given Jonathan a run for his money. Icheoku is confident that were Babangida to lose to President Jonathan eventually, it would not have been by such a very wide margin as 2753 to 805 out of 3542 total votes cast as recorded in the just concluded Jonathan versus Atiku run. But hey, at least Mallam Adamu Ciroma should be commended for masterfully solving the Babangida problem and without much of a fight; or was Ciroma a hired gun of the Jonathan's campaign, surreptitiously used to take the bigger challenger IBB out of the race? But does anyone really understands the intrigues and wheel-dealing involved in politics. 

The final votes tally received by the three individual presidential candidates were as follows:- Jonathan 2736, Atiku 805 vote and Sarah 1 vote respectively; 61 other votes were voided. One significant development in the primaries was the loss by Atiku of his own home state of Adamawa; just in similar vein as American Al Gore lost his home state of Tennessee to George W. Bush in United States 2000 presidential election. President Jonathan also beat Atiku in all Southern States as well as some northern states; while Atiku pulled victory in core northwestern states of Sokoto, Zamfara, Niger, Kebbi and Kano States otherwise known as the Islamic Sharia States of Northern Nigeria. 

Overall, the election of President Goodluck Jonathan is significant as it finally and for the first time, marked the ceding of power by the semi-illiterate ruling class to an educated Nigerian. A Nigerian who is from the minority area and one who still have some life left in him, being under the usual 70 years benchmark for these rulers. A somewhat youthful Nigerian president who will help cement the gains of democracy and without infusing much demagoguery or religiosity or tribal bigotry in the polity.  Also by Jonathan's election, it appears that Nigeria is finally free from the Northern Nigeria hegemony; a hegemony which held Nigeria down for so long and which still hold certain portions of the greater Northern Nigeria hostage and in bondage. With the back of the North's hegemony finally broken, Nigerians can now breath the air of freedom and confidently march on to a future that is both brighter, better and more unifying. The election result decimated a once too powerful and overbearing homogeneous Northern Nigeria, which hitherto held Nigerians and those Northerners they consider "not northerner enough" in bondage and perpetual servitude.

The election result has also reconfigured Nigeria's political geography from the previous black and white North and South to now "Nigeria and the Islamic Sharia States of North-Western Nigeria?" Under the new Nigeria, it is now ok for a minority Southerner to succeed a majority Northerner; and during the later's zonal turn and thus Jonathan can now complete the late Umaru Yar'Adua led northern turn. That is the ideal situation in a country where things are done right and properly; gladly enough it looks like a new dawn is unfolding in Nigeria or who would have imagined several years ago that Jonathan would have been able to succeed and complete Yar'Adua's otherwise second term? So be that as it may, April election is just around the corner and Icheoku prays that Nigeria will have a successful election; so let the campaigns begin and begin earnestly. Once again, congratulations President Goodluck Jonathan on your nomination as the presidential candidate for your party, the PDP!

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