REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL PRIMARIES, MITT BUYS FLORIDA?

In the battle for the Republican Party's presidential nomination primaries, it is now Romney - 2 states win, Gingrich - 1 state win and Santorium - 1 state win. Mitt has taken Florida in addition to his earlier New Hampshire victory, Newt's South Carolina as well as Rick's Iowa. 


Icheoku says no surprises at all that the Mormon Bishop came up tops in Florida, the over sixteen million dollars he sank into the state's primaries considered? Imagine an uneven matched spending power where the Mitt out commercialized the Newt by the ration of 65 to 1 campaign adverts and then go figure the eventual result.

Anyway, like Gingrich said there are forty-six more states to go and who knows when his implosion will occur, especially now that his Jews-hating anti-kosher meal decision while governor of Massachusetts is going to occupy the center-burner. Either way or either candidate or even both of them, it is simply no shaking for the incumbent who has rendered a good account of his first term and would easily coast to a second term thank you mandate come November. But who is afraid of the plastic Mitt; not Icheoku and not anyone on the other side of the aisle, so Republicans, bring him on!.

WILBUR AND TERESA FAISS, MARRIED FOR TOO LONG?

Icheoku says but for the none existence of a crime of "married for too long," this couple would have otherwise been guilty as charged. Married for 78 long years, America's longest married couple, Wilbur (100) and Teresa(96) Faiss have a piece of advise for the Kim Kardashians of this world. The secret of marital longevity is simply - "give and take and compromise." 

Icheoku, while wishing this exemplary couple many more happy anniversaries; regrets that times have since changed as both parties in a marriage now struggles over who wears the pants in the house; hence the topsy-turvy battle-field royale that is the hallmark of today's marital relationships. If only the parties knew their sphere of influence and responsibility, maybe the ship of marriage will have a distinct captain and co-captain to safely navigate the treacherous waters of having to share your life with another stranger? But it is the way of the new world as things have irretrievably changed and even Jennifer Lopez is now fast pursuing Liz Taylor's record on who would marry the most number of men and the most number of times; which begs the question why do it if you are not the marrying type?

MITT ROMNEY DEBASES JUDAISM, CUTS OFF KOSHER MEALS FOR JEWISH SENIORS?

Icheoku wonders why this line of attack or should we say truth telling never surfaced much earlier in the week that Mitt Romney does not care about other peoples religious beliefs but his Mormon cult? According to latest available information, Mitt Romney while governor of Massachusetts and bishop of the Mormon cult, took an ax to old Jewish peoples' kosher meal. Icheoku asks, were those elderly Massachusetts Jews Mormons, would the Mitt have cut their food ration and by necessary implication wished they starved to death?

The then Governor Romney, it said, "cut off kosher meals for Jewish senior citizens who were on Medicaid to save five dollars a day, thereby denying them their "religious prescription." Icheoku queries why this attack alone is not sufficient to earn the plastic-man Mitt Romney the anti-Semitic stigma in US politics as forcing the Jews off their age-long held religious belief and practice is a direct attack on their identity; needless to add that the same Mitt Romney had no qualms carving up an "unclean" pig before a world audience? What a phony and Jew-hater, this liberal from Massachusetts is.

Florida Jews, know who will get your back and vote right. Just for the asking, if John Kennedy's presidency was initially resisted because of his affiliation to the Catholic church and the fear that he will possibly be taking dictations from Vatican, why is America not raging that a bishop of a sect - the Mormon Cult covets the presidency? What he did to the Jews is a tip of the iceberg on what awaits every other religious denomination in America as this man is certainly on a revenge mission to avenge the travails of the early Mormons in the hands of Christians including his grand-father's forced exile to Mexico. America, Mitt is the foretold real anti-Christ and a vote for him will be so damaging, it will hurt every person who is not of the Mormon Cult. Do right by and for America's secularism, do not vote for a BISHOP of the Mormon sect. Mitt Romney is not good for America

MOHAMMAD SHAFIA, AFGHAN SHAMEFUL DIS(HONOR) KILLER IN CANADA.

Icheoku says it must be a very stupid culture, steeped in fanaticism, to kill one's children simply because they have become  too liberal to be controlled? This was the sordid case of one migrant Afghanistan family in Canada, whose patriarch conspired with his wife and son to kill his three daughters, just to redeem the family's honor? Icheoku queries what type of honor worth redeeming is left in a man, so callous and so wicked, he would kill his own biological children who once called him dad? 

A case as this makes Icheoku wish it were in Texas United States of America that these horrible and atrocious criminality were committed, as these murderers arses would have been strung like a hamster on a gurney and executed laying face-up. But it was in liberal Canada and all these murderers got is a mere twenty-five years imprisonment for cruelly killing by drowning, their three innocent daughters and sister to the son? It is as condemnable as it is unimaginable, that a family, supposedly now meshed in Western values having lived in Canada for some years, would still hold tenaciously to a stupid tradition where a father believes that he has inalienable right to control his daughters lives and who they meet and mingle with? A father, irked particularly because his daughters wanted boyfriends and wears legs-revealing clothes, which runs counter to "his twisted notion of honor" according to the presiding judge or better still put, his archaic polygamous Islamic values, one would imagine; now decided to take the laws into his own hands and snuff lives out of them? Mohammad Shafia called his daughters horrible names including whores and prostitutes and also called on the devil, whom he apparently worships, to defecate on the murdered girls graves; and this is a fit dad and not one deserving of a place in a cuckoo nest? 

To Mohammad Shafia's protestations that they are not criminals, not murderers and did not commit the murders; Icheoku says you people are worse than criminals and murderers. You had no qualm taking the lives of your own very biological children on the flimsy, most stupid and very irrational reason that they were coming of age and wanted what every other teenager like them wants, just boyfriends to hang out with. To see and treat this simple act of human sociology as a dishonor to your most irascible family honor-code and describing same as being "betrayed immensely" makes you a sociopath unworthy of cohabiting this part of the civilized world? May be you have no business leaving Taliban Afghanistan in the first place as the caves of Tora-Bora is where you naturally belonged but definitely not the Western hemisphere, you dog. You people should have been given the death-penalty and let your asses rot fast in hell, killers. Imagine a mother, a father and a son/brother having the stomach to kill their daughters and sisters on such absurdity of an excuse? 

HERMAN CAIN ENDORSES NEWT GINGRICH?

Icheoku says it takes one adulterer to endorse another adulterer as suddenly all the pretensions of morality and high family value no longer matters, otherwise why Newt? A man with his catalog of marital infidelities as well as several divorces, which supposedly are contrary to family values, should not be rewarded with "Christians' support or the Tea Party's which Herman Cain seem to project?

But hey Jesus Christ was right when he admonished about the Pharisees who preach one thing and do another; as is the case with the current deluge of "Christian" evangelicals and fundamentalists who are lining up behind Newt Gingrich's candidacy despite his horrific records and known character-flaws. Anyway the American people will have the final say come November and it does not matter what all the fanatical Sarah Palins, Herman Cains, Michael Reagans etc of the Republican Party say at this time or who they irrationally chose to support or would like to secure the party's nomination.

Icheoku however warns, that a vote for Newt Gingrich is a vote to continually divide Americans and drag our country in the mud of this and that ones; while taking the country back to the last century and no reasonable American should stand for this or ignorantly bite the bait of a Newt Gingrich's presidency. Icheoku says, reject retrogressive politics, say no to Newt. Say to Herman Cain and cohorts, thanks but no thanks!

IBB QUITS POLITICS FOR THE UMPTEENTH TIME?

Icheoku says don't believe the con-man as he has said that before only to make his usual Maradona(ic) b-line to contest for the presidency. So Nigerians should see his latest "never to seek political office again" position statement as a rehashed hog-wash and only believe it when they see it. 

MIKE REAGAN PREFERS BAGGAGE-LADEN GINGRICH TO ROMNEY?

"I would take Newt Gingrich’s record any day over Mitt Romney’s,” so said Michael Reagan, adopted son of former President Ronald Reagan. Icheoku says, and Gingrich records include several adulterous infidelity misbehavior, unmitigated arrogance, divorcing a dying sick wife on her hospital bed, talking down on people, calling Palestine an invented people, calling Hispanic the language of the Ghetto, calling African Americans food-stamp dependents as well as his latest fantastical hogwash of colonizing and establishing residence in the moon to be known as 'Newt Gingrich Moon Habitat/Colony?' Yet this litany of woeful issues is not sufficient to dissuade or weigh against such endorsement?

What a rude joke this son of a former president is that is fanatically supporting a known divisive figure of American politics. Icheoku warns these fundamentalist Republicans supporting Newt Gingrich to beware of what they wish for as they might as well be granted their wish; admitted that in today's America, Newt Gingrich presidency is simply utopia and unrealistic. Icheoku reiterates that Newt Gingrich is too toxic for America and should and cannot be elected president; assuming he rolls over the plastic and ever wobbly cultist Mitt Romney to secure the nomination.

NIGERIA, WE HAVE A NEW IGP (ABUBAKAR).

Finally, the ineffective President Good(BAD)luck Jonathan of Nigeria has summoned enough courage and fired the also incompetent former IGP Hafiz Ringim. Icheoku had long advocated for this as a necessary step towards putting a lid on the insecurity in the land, hence we are not overtly excited about this long over-due development. However Icheoku maintains that the blood of all Nigerians killed by Boko Haram while the president dithered and delayed the decision to fire Ringim rests squarely upon his slow-motion over-deliberative zoology head, period.

The new IGP Mohammed D. Abubakar, should know that only one thing is deserving of his new office - to arrest the Boko Haram situation and bring them to justice or take justice to them by all means possible and every means necessary. The new IGP should adopt a script from America's mantra, "To your enemies, kill them;" and Nigeria has no worse enemy at the present time than the murderous Boko Haram terrorists and they should all be shot at sight, no questions asked. So while Icheoku congratulates the new Inspector General of Police Abubakar, lets hope he got the message clearly - that he has just one instruction or sole mission statement - END THE CARNAGE IN THE COUNTRY, GET RID OF BOKO HARAM NOW

REPUBLICAN PRIMARIES, THE GREATEST COMPETITION OF IDIOCY AND IGNORANCE - FIDEL CASTRO.

Icheoku didn't say it but merely amplifying that the world has since realized that this present bunch of Republican Party presidential candidate wanna-bees include all manner of men and a woman. One of them dismissed an entire people as mere "invention?" The same insane grandfather candidate wanna-be is so mean that he divorced his dying sick wife on her hospital bed, while she was battling cancer? It also includes a candidate who is so plastic that even his promise of America sounds hollow. It also includes a candidate who wants to colonize the moon? It includes a candidate who is so rich that he stashed some of his 'Benjamines' in a private secret Swiss Bank Account? Meanwhile there is no product in the market that he manufactures or that can be attributable to his name; yet he claims all these wealth just fir himself and family? It is needless to add that he belongs to a Cult called Mormon. It also includes a jester who want all immigrants to "self-deport" themselves?

Anyway America, the choice is for you to make; but be aware that even Fidel Castro has weighed in on the caliber of men who wants to move into the White House come November. According to the Cuban grand-daddy, "The selection of a Republican candidate for the presidency of this globalized and expansive empire is — and I mean this seriously — the greatest competition of idiocy and ignorance that has ever been." Icheoku adds, a word is enough for the wise; so be smart with your votes this November 2012 America. The Republican Party is really running on empty with the current pack of presidential candidate applicants, none of who gives us reason to think twice about returning the brilliant BO to a second term.

PRESIDENT JONATHAN, IT IS TIME TO INVITE THE AMERICANS!

The likely disavowal in some quarters that this commentator sounds like a sell-out taken under advisement, Icheoku says to President Good(BAD)luck of Nigeria to hurry up and invite the Americans now to rid Nigeria of Boko Haram infestation or forever regret his inaction. It is obvious to any impartial observer that the security agencies in Nigeria have failed to live up to the billing of their offices and have also shameless refused and/or failed to resign as should be expected. Therefore, any similarly challenged president, privileged of some survival skills, would urgently look elsewhere to provide security for both himself and the people under siege; as a vote of no confidence on the local security apparatchik. President Jonathan therefore should immediately proceed to Washington to plead his case for help and assistance from the top-shelf security operatives the world has ever known - the Americans. Icheoku admonishes that no president or head of a family would stand by, hands akimbo, and watch helplessly as some maniacal Muslim terrorists incessantly kill, maim and destroy the citizenry without throwing his best punch forward and forcefully to help stop such wanton destruction of lives and properties. The level of the devastation, alarmingly, makes the president's signature speeches sound too hollow; now is the time to bring out the big sledge hammer and with it give those bastards hell. So President Jonathan, when would your red-line on the sand be deemed to have been crossed or are over one thousand Nigerian lives so far wasted not enough to say enough, never again?

From Iraq to Afghanistan to Philippines to Indonesia to Colombia to North Africa to Saudi Arabia to Lebanon to Somalia to Yemen and even Pakistan, the United States have always answered, with proven and provable success, clarion calls from victim-nations to come in and help drain their swamps of terrorists. Icheoku is curious that President Jonathan has so far not deemed it necessary to follow suit and invite the Americans to come and help him replicate in Northern Nigeria Islamic enclave what they know best how to do world-wide - extermination of sub-human specimens aka terrorists. Put in another way, Icheoku wants to know how many more innocent Nigerian lives need to be blow away by these murderous Northern Nigerian Islamic terrorists, before the president wakes up to confront them with deserved serious and commitment? Needless to add that this Boko Haram madness have taken over the country's psyche captive and gradually paralyzing to a crippling halt, a once highly mobile society known for enjoying life? Icheoku wants to know what it shall take for the president to really realize the magnitude of the problem at hand and the fierce urgency of now solution required, to reassure the Nigerian society that there is a worthy shepherd in charge of affairs in the land? That Nigerians are not all seating ducks waiting to be consumed by an exploding Boko Haram incendiary device and in an inferno of hate? Icheoku emphatically calls on President Jonathan to end the pestilence called Boko Haram now or he would forever be remembered as the wishy-washy and indecisive president, who was holed in Aso Rock while the country burned and waiting for an explosion inside Aso Rock before he realizes that the whole country is under siege of Boko Haram and their un-abating murderous carnage and destruction.


This latest Boko Haram bombings and high causality figure in Kano State blows every decent persons' mind and any president not rising up decisively in response thereto might as well be said not to be deserving of the office which he occupies. Icheoku therefore expects President Jonathan to demonstrate by action and not his usual sanctimonious blow-hot statements that he is actually deserving and worthy of the mandate which he is bequeathed. No Nigerian dead asked to be deported from this world by some crazy lunatics' bombs and this is the primary reason Nigerians gave President Jonathan the assignment of their protection. They deserve no less and should not be forced to make a buyer's remorse for electing an incompetent man to do the job at hand. So if President Jonathan fails or was to fail in this primary assignment of providing security, Icheoku would not hesitate in joining the chorus of those singing "his seat, let another take" if that will bring succour and solace to the polity. Imagine about 200 Nigerians dead in one fell swoop in Kano City alone and please let someone tell Icheoku that other cities are safer or daily lives in them secured? One observer pointed out that it is now a total security menace in Nigeria; to which Icheoku adds, it has already graduated to the worst horrific security nightmare ever seen in the country - just the stuff horror movies are scripted of.


Icheoku says this unnecessary Monday-night quarterbacking and pretentious show of bravado by President Jonathan, following each successful terrorist strike, visiting victims such as his visit to Kano to commiserate with the people on their killed, is not sufficient anymore. It is only a Nollywood show, orchestrated by Aso Rock to make the president appear seemingly in charge and unintimidated by the Boko Haram's ongoing carnage in the land. Icheoku is of the opinion that those forcibly dispatched to meet with their maker would have wished or preferred they lingered here on earth a little longer and not untimely forced out through a violent exit, not through any fault of their own. As usual, in his "talk is cheap" manner, President Jonathan intoned that his government will not rest until the "perpetrators are brought to book" and those "terrorist are wiped out;" to which Icheoku adds, Mr. President show Nigerians your game-plan and/or road-map to walk the talk.


Worst still these terrorists use modern communication equipment like cellphones, email, sms to aid their operations; yet Nigerian security operatives are finding it hard to track them down? Icheoku says one needs the suspension of disbelief to accept that these Boko Haram terrorists are not operating with full tacit approval of some very high and mighty members of the security agencies who provide them cover as well as some training and logistics. As a panacea, admitted it might sound like adding gasoline to the inferno, Nigerians should resort to vigilantism to protect themselves from themselves. Neighborhood watches should be able to arrest and necklace anyone with no meaningful connection or explanation in their neighborhood; just whatever it takes to peter this craziness to a stop.


Further this time calls for an eye for an eye direct reprisal approach of instantaneous justice as justice delayed is justice denied. If one church goes up in flames in the North, one mosque should simultaneously burn down in the south; if one live is lost in the North, a life should also be taken in the South. The Boko Haram induced insecurity in the land calls for a late President Yar'Adua styled no nonsense bloody crackdown approach as the days of "seventy times seventy" is and should be long gone. In short, the Mosaic Law should be instituted in Nigeria to deal with the scourge of Boko Haram since it takes a mad man to tame a mad man and a thief to catch a thief. So let us stop all these pretensions of civility and return to the days of stone ages of fire for fire to address this near complete breakdown of law and order in Boko Haram infested and quasi-controlled Nigeria.


Enough is enough and so should the president declare and NOW; before as predicted, the entity called Nigeria is no more as it yields to different separating federations! The time for drastic action to forestall the total and complete cataclysmic breakdown of law and order in the land is NOW as Nigerians, dead and/or living, are tired of all these hot-air pontifications coming out of Aso Rock without real meaningful action to back it up. A president with some backbone would have set the example of Sani Abacha when he decisively silenced the agitation of Ogoni people in Ogoniland by cutting off the proverbial head of their snake and hate him or love him, he succeeded in quelling that protest. But pandering or smooching the enemy never solves the problem as Gingrich would say of American enemies, kill them all. That is the only solution that gets result as a dead Boko Haram member cannot become a suicide bomber anymore, not in this life.


Such zero-tolerance approach works anytime it has been tried and have worked everywhere else successfully, so why not give it a chance in Northern Nigeria Islamic enclave to help wipe out these animals called Boko Haram. Just declare some swaths of Islamic Northern Nigeria, the Waziristan of Nigeria, a terrorists-infested region of the world and allow the Americans send in the Marines to come in and kick some arses. Any president worthy of his office should no longer tolerate the ongoing Boko Haram carnage in Nigeria and should do anything and everything, feasible and possible, to peter it to a stop. All possible outcry or allegation of genocidal extermination not withstanding, the president should do whatever it takes to get rid of Northern Nigeria, its Islamic Boko Haram termites, that is destructively eating up its body fabric. Imagine the atrocious audacity of this group trying to explain an inexplicable act of gross human lives wastage, as being a response to their members being detained? Icheoku counters that, at least for lack of better analytical comparison, their members are merely being detained and have not been killed or blown away; so where is the rationality for killing another just because freedom was temporarily deprived the other while awaiting trial? Insanity, insanity; these Boko Haram murderers are completely cuckoo.

CAN'T STOP BOKO HARAM, LET HIM GO!

PRESIDENT JONATHAN, FIRE IG RINGIM NOW!

WHOLESALE JETTISON OF POLICIES, BANE OF A NIGERIA STALLED?

Icheoku laments the wholesale throwing overboard of ideas and policies of past governments by their successors and the lack of continuity of some laudable programs started by such previous administrations, as the major problem militating against Nigeria's overall development. It is akin to a house which is midway to completion, being demolished by its new would be occupier who then starts it all over beginning with the drawing plan, blueprint and then foundational works. Then right before its completion but in advanced stage of construction, there is a change in title deed and yet again, the same old song plays itself out de-novo. The result is a house in perpetual state of being built which is never finished nor completed and which can never be finished just because subsequent occupiers find it psyche-soothing to always press the reset button each time and every time there is a change of guard. 

One popular aphorism has it that doing the same thing repeatedly and expecting different result is the shortest form of insanity defined; hence Nigeria cannot expect to grow into a major player within the un-enabling environment of its ever temporary governments and the cavalier manner with which they abandon or change existing policies put in place by previous governments. Such fluidity of policies make it impossible for any country to solidify and have a directional core; which in turn denies it the character of a tangible and meaningful place to  attract investors and their investments. Recently the Nigerians Aviation minister was quoted as saying that the concessionary contracts entered into by the previous administration as it concerns airports in Nigeria would be reviewed and Icheoku wonders which investor would like to risk his money in such a quicksand, roller-coaster investment climate where one's investment is not secured nor assured; but is malleable to political dictates of whoever is in power. 

Icheoku says any incoming new administration worth its name and in a place where things follow conventional procedure and not obfuscating parochial and primordial pandering, would first go through a well detailed and comprehensive transition or handover note to determine what policies of the past government need continuing, which needs dumping and which parts could be conveniently continued with some targeted fine tweaking. That way there would be a real bridge of connectivity between the past and the present government and by necessary implication, provide a platform for the new government to build upon. But a new government which does not see anything good in its predecessor or the need for there to be some basic life saving and preserving umbilical cord retained, will end up groping for direction for the duration of its term on how to steer the ship of the state. As a consequence thereof, such an unguided infantile government ends up failing as it most times performs worst than the one it succeeded; due to the simple fact that it was not properly grounded or anchored. 

The situation is not helped by the peculiar nature of Nigeria, where government is personified in the person occupying the seat of government; and the two becomes one or the proverbial "two-nity" (pardon my attempt at pun of trinity). The new comer brings along with him only his own people as every official that served in the previous government is swept out and with it, goes all their policies and ideas on how to move the government forward. With new officials, comes new ideas and untested policies; and the revolving door keeps on oscillating as successive governments emerge to continue the circus that leads to nowhere. 

Take for example some laudable Nigerian programs of the past which are now defunct and where still existing, are but their ghostly apparitions. The genocidal Yakubu Gowon, a man between who and Icheoku there is no love lost because of his controlled Federalist army genocide on Biafrans especially the women and children, initiated the three "Rs". A commendable policy geared towards making amends for the atrocities committed against the people of Biafra and to enable the war-wounds heal. No sooner was his government overthrown by Muritala/Obasanjo than the new regime discarded the reconciliation, reconstruction and rehabilitation program that would have gone a long way to assuaged the ill-feelings of Biafrans and thus create enabling environment for the wounds of that war to heel. But unfortunately the man who ordered the Asaba massacre, Muritala Mohammed, did havoc to this palliative policy alongside his eventual successor Obasanjo, a man whose disdain for the Igboman is legendary. As a result, the psychological damage of that war of survival, a war which was forced on the Biafran people by the pogrom against the Igbo people in the North, still effervesce till today. This three "Rs" would have been the proverbial shot in the arm for Biafra and by extension Nigeria heeling process, but Muritala and Obasanjo decreed otherwise as they wished they had dropped an atom bomb on the entire Southeast? 

Then enter NYSC, the National Youth Service Corp program which is now a shell of its old self. Well conceived by Olusegun Obasanjo administration as a laudable means of integrating Nigerians by having Nigerian graduating youth go to other parts of the country to serve their fatherland. This writer's first foray into Yorubaland was as a result of the program which took him to Efon Alaaye in the then Ondo State and there started the budding love for the people of the Southwest whose hospitality and social life is yet to be equaled amongst other peoples of Nigerian. From a personal experience, but for the NYSC, may be Yorubaland would have been out of my radar; but suffice it to say that greater part of my adult life was spent in the Southwest and it was memorable; all thanks that the vision of OBJ, the man who Icheoku do not agree with for most part. Admitted that NYSC was recently threatened to its foundational existence by the madness in Northeastern Nigeria, when those animals decided to kill Nigerian youths sent to their land to help them out, Icheoku is of the school of thought that says no matter the provocation, the program is highly valuable and should be maintained. Instead of dismantling it like they did to Nigerian Law School, the authorities should find a way to guard against what happened in the past and ensure it grows in reaps and bounds. 

And speaking of the Nigerian Law School, Icheoku regretted the day that decision was made to cannibalize an Ibironke institution that helped harmonize law training in Nigeria and also brought lawyers in the making from every parts of Nigeria into one academic auditorium to interact and assimilate one another's legal point of view. The decentralisation is one huge mistake; yet they would not decentralize SANship and let every region or state award SANS to whoever plays the politics well instead of just the Lagos axis controlled body? If Nigeria is truly one, common percolating points such as the former Nigerian Law School Victoria Island should have been sustained to serve as a unifying institution for all would be Nigerian lawyers and by extension help various Nigerians meet and interact with one another towards understanding our differences and figuring a way out of the woods of prevalent suspicion and distrust that give rise to such idiocy as the ongoing Boko Haram siege of Nigeria. They have so far massacred hundreds of innocent Nigerians and counting; with the security agencies at best helpless or collaborating with them and giving them? 

Then enters OFN, Operation Feed the Nation, another brilliant idea of Olusegun Obasanjo which makes Icheoku wonder whether if Obasanjo was simply smarter during his first time in government or he just lost his compass on his second coming? The demise of this wonderful and revolutionary program makes Icheoku wonder out loud what is it that is wrong with Nigerian leadership or does it take rocket science to understand that a country being able to feed her citizens is highly laudable and a program to die for to sustain? But there were some interests, both foreign and domestic, who saw it as a threat to both their farmers in their respective home countries and their ten percent kickback from imported agricultural and food products and they ganged up and sabotaged OFN to death. President Shehu Shagari attempted re-branding it to Green Revolution and Icheoku wonders what he found faulty with an operation which is feeding the nation; needless to point out that his then Transport Minister, Umaru Dikko, was making millionaires out of his acolytes and party faithfuls with rice import licenses and rice imported from Thailand, Vietnam, Philippines, India as well as other Asian countries. 

But on a hindsight, Icheoku figured out that the Green in the then 'Green Revolution' stood for greenbacks and that it was meant to pile up some "Benjamines" in coded secret accounts of then National Party of Nigeria faithfuls in Switzerland as well as other offshore account heavens. Icheoku emphasis that there was nothing wrong in OFN as a name or in Shagari continuing with Obasanjo's OFN program as begun, except that Shagari's minions and town-criers saw OFN as an Obasanjo legacy and wanted Shagari to have his own. At the same time, they forgot that Obasanjo established OFN for Nigeria and did not take it along with him when he retired to his farms in Otta. Nigerians also forget that truth can sometimes also come from imbeciles and that it does not matter whose idea a great idea is, a great idea always remains a great idea and such was Operation Feed the Nation. Icheoku hereby emphasis that OFN was one heck of a missed opportunity for Nigeria to feed herself and the rest of the world and reiterates that those who killed the OFN are responsible for any hungry stomach in Nigeria today. Why should Nigeria be importing billions worth of food and agricultural products with such a blessed climate and fertile lands that are plentiful in various places in Nigeria; and the government of Jonathan is talking about petroleum products subsidy removal when they can put the scalpel on agricultural imports?

With the arrival of Imam Muhammadu Buhari, a man who Icheoku loves to detest because  he murdered three innocent Nigerians based on a retroactive drug offenses death-penalty decree, came WAI - War Against Indiscipline. Icheoku have always maintained that but for the killing of these three innocent Nigerians, the Buhari/Idiagbon government would have still maintained its place in the annals of Nigeria history as the best government for correctly identifying and honing in on Nigeria's cardinal problem, INDISCIPLINE. But unfortunately however, the stubborn as an ass Buhari has refused till date to apologize for that his khaki-days rather youthful exuberant indiscretion, which still hounds him till today and would always stop him cold in his tracks on the way back to Aso Rock. Icheoku says not under our watch and not while Nigerians who lived through his gulag-like regime still have some air in their lungs. Icheoku says until Muhammadu Buhari makes a full mea culpa for the murder of Bartholomew Owo, Bernard Ogendengbe and Lawal Ojulope, apologizes and asks for forgiveness, that illegal killing would remain indelible in our memories and with it our vengeance through the ballot. 

WAI was effective as every Nigerian alive then would attest that the solution to all Nigeria's problem is the re-institution or reintroduction of the war against indiscipline. It was Buhari's war and a good war worth waging once more and forever; and for which Buhari/Idiagbo regime won so many of us over as fans to just that extent only. An undisciplined soul is susceptible to all manners of criminalities including the hydra-headed monster corruption, the 800 pound gorilla in the midst of Nigeria. Nigeria as a society is weighed down by millions of marauders for who anything goes and let the government worry about it; but who fail to realize that they are part of a whole and their indiscretion takes a heavy toll on the society. A report just realized has it that civil servants in Nigeria collected about three billion dollars in bribe within just one year and you tell Icheoku all is well with such a society? Who doesn't recall how people queued up for their turns in Nigeria during the WAI days of Buhari/Idiagbon regime? How police men arrested people who tried to offer them bribes? How NEPA and Water Board maintained a steady supply and flow of their utilities? How every Omo'EKo as well as other visitors in Lagos and other cities in Nigeria maintained a line to enter a molue? 

Those were the good old days of WAI and you wonder why the program died and why not recreate those times once again to help fight all the indiscretion Nigeria is saddled with? Even the EFCC would be put out of business with an effective reintroduction of WAI; likewise would money be left by politicians to deliver democratic dividends to their electorates instead of ferreting them away? Bad none motorable roads would become motorable as contractors would do the job for which they were mobilized and not abandon same after collecting their cost upfront? Would the plague of ghost-workers still inundate government treasury, Icheoku does not think so as Bar Beach Sunday show could be re-instituted to dispatch criminals to the world beyond. It is just too painful that problems with readily available solutions are still bogging down Nigeria just because no one have decided to tame the rats and the man given the assignment is simply too scared of some Goliaths to effectively discharge his duties. Icheoku says, lets bring back WAI and assuage Buhari's restiveness; it is a right thing to do as it will help tackle so many currently intractable vices impeding Nigeria's forward match into a future that is both bright and promising. It is a legacy to have and Icheoku commends Buhari for going to the heart of Nigeria's problems and trying to extricate it. 

But somebody discarded the program and in its place introduced his own version of mobilization called MAMSER. However Babangida failed to understand that you cannot mobilize a dis-shovelled society bogged down by indiscipline and that was the mistake that forced him out of power and which still hounds him till today. For instance, Dele Giwa's parcel bomb murder was uncalled for as Nigerians found out that one can kill the messenger without killing the message. The substance of the story he was pursuing and which his killers wanted to suppress still reached Nigerians and you wonder on hindsight, whether Babangida and crew are wondering why? But all things considered, Jerry Gana did a good job selling MAMSER as  their sloganeering campaign "if you are a teacher, teach well; a truck driver, drive well; if you are a lawyer, lawyer well; if you are a politician, politic well" and so on; that every Nigerian felt valued in whatever trade or professional calling he was engaged in. Unlike the today's madhouse where every Nigerian including the clergy now wants to be a politician as politics has become the only guarantee to ensure stupendous livelihood, absent bank robbery? Those were the days of MAMSER and you wonder why the subsequent government did not adopt the program and pass it on to their successor? 

There was also the Road Safety campaign slogan of "Dead men have no right of way, why throw your life away, drive with care for life is dear;" which have also gone moribund and you wonder the persistent carnage on Nigeria roads? Then factor in the harried fact that motor-parks have drinking parlors in them where drivers take alcoholic beverages minutes before embarking on their journey, then you have a perfect storm akin to pouring gasoline on a an inferno. Somebody is running the Federal Road Safety Corp and Icheoku wonders how many unlicensed drivers drive in Nigeria; how many drivers ed programs are available in Nigeria; how many times his department have revoked some bad driver's license deemed unfit to make use of the privilege of driving since it is not a right; how many defensive driving classes commercial drivers are made to undergo each now and then. Reading through the various reported accidents cases on Nigeria roads tend to reveal that majority of those accidents were avoidable human carelessness as when a drunken or sleepy driver fails to make a sound judgment and is overtaking a vehicle on a steep hill or in a hair-pin turn without a clear vision of what lies ahead. Some readers may accuse Icheoku of over sanctifying the issue and that accidents happen everywhere; but why not help stop those that can be stopped instead of busy picking up Nigerian dead on our roads all the time? All Icheoku is saying is that some driver education and PSA commercials could help lessen instances of road mishaps in Nigeria and should be encouraged by this government.

As far as Icheoku is concerned, Olusegun Obasanjo second coming to power left two most important footprints in Nigeria - the liberalization of telephones which makes it now easy for Nigerians anywhere to speak with their aged grandmas/pas in some remote villages in Nigeria and then his institution of the EFCC. Icheoku says but for the tragedy of desiring a third term, which caused the deviation of then Nuhu Ribadu led EFCC from its cardinal goal of fighting corruption into becoming an agent of Obasanjo, hounding vociferous perceived opponents, and thereby rubbishing a blooming legacy, the EFCC would have turned out to be another laudable legacy of Olusegun Obasanjo. But the shadow of a tragic hero which constantly foreshadows him cost him that feather in his cap.  As it stands today, the EFCC is but a shadow of its old fiery self, a toothless bulldog which barks all it can but without daring enough to sink its fangs on any of the readily identifiable corrupt public official. Icheoku wonders why it is difficult for Nigerian public officials to just resign if they cannot do the job for which they were hired or are prevented from doing same by undue pressure of the state or its officials? The present EFCC is now a scarecrow hanging lifeless in a corn field in middle of Kansas or rather Nassarawa State compared to what Nigerians knew of the good old days when Nuhu Ribadu was manning the tiller as a corruption watchdog czar.  

Late President Umaru Yar'Adua was only a blimp on the radar and his terminal sickness did not help matters at all nor allowed him to bequeath a legacy for which he could be remembered. Even his seven-point agenda have been devolved into a no point agenda; and his successor, the man who wears his tribal Ijaw native outfit so often that Icheoku wonders if the Ijaws of the Niger Delta Nigeria are the only one he is their president, is to put it mildly, have LOST himself in the labyrinth and maze of a Nigeria complex political landscape. Icheoku says except President Goodluck wakes up immediately, his government might go down in history as the government with neither an agenda nor any meaningful accomplishment and would not be remembered for anything talkless of a lasting legacy. All his electioneering campaign promises are still unfulfilled and supposedly being held hostage by some Goliaths, which have forced the president into a frightening tunnel-vision governance without really appreciating Nigerians numerous and diverse problems hollering for his urgent attention in the peripheral vision. If only the president is brave enough to send his sling shot into these Goliaths' foreheads and free himself of his mortal fear of their mortal threat. But he could not dare and is even afraid of mentioning that the principal Goliaths facing him down are Obasanjo and Babangida for crying out loud.

All said and done, were Icheoku a president, we shall resuscitate back all or most of these laudable programs of past administrations and bring them back to live and with it vault Nigeria into a place of reckoning. All that is required is the will to face-down enemies of progress and even those proverbial Goliaths who the current president is afraid of, not even to look into their faces and call them out for who they are. Icheoku had once advised that these Goliaths be named and shamed for the president and Nigerians to free themselves of their stranglehold. At least the biblical Israelites identified their nemesis Goliath, so David had a face before he swung his slingshot or catapult.  So how would Nigerians supplicate to God to help President Jonathan overrun his Goliaths when they have neither a name of face to take to God in their prayers? Icheoku says the first order of business for the president is to name those Goliaths and then see Nigerians charge after them; but a weakling who sees shadows or former military head of states and/or an ex-president and calls them Goliaths, might not be the proper person to follow into battle. 

Icheoku says nostalgically many Nigerians who were alive and could bear testimony to some of these laudable programs would attest that were these programs still alive today, the country would have been a different place, totally transformed, reformed and for good. But often good men are interred with their bones and so were these programs; hence a Nigeria in perpetual journey to lalaland is still going in circles round and round to nowhere just because successive governments choose to throw the baby away with the bath water and some good policies and programs got incinerated in the peculiar Nigeria politics of we and them and the lack of continuity coupled to the complexity of egotistic self-effacing new occupant of seat of power. Icheoku says this is very unfortunate, retarded and not progressive; it is the reason Nigeria is stalled and going nowhere meaningful soon and should be done away with!

TERRELL OWENS CRIES OUT, LAMENTATIONS OF A BROKE AND DEADBEAT DAD?

"I don't have no friends. I don't want no friends. That's how I feel; I am in hell and I am broke" says Terrell Owens, former NFL wide receiver who made eighty million dollars in earnings during his career playing in the National Football League. He attributed his changed fortune to primarily some gold-digging four baby-mamas and other bloodsucking financial advisers who siphoned all his money?

According to Terrel Owens, who pays a total of $44,600 a month in child support for his four children, ages 5 to 12, whom he had from four different baby-mamas (unmarried women having a child for financial benefit), "If there's anything I'm sorry about, it's getting involved with all that women." Those women are presently suing Terrell for owed back child support and Terrell is not laughing about it, stating that those baby-mamas are not being fair, are unreasonable and conniving?

Icheoku says, it does not at this point really matter how Terrell Owens feels about his financial ruins or his expressed surprise that his baby-mamas have refused to understand that he does not currently have a job. What is important is that he was not forced on any of those women and that despite what the doctors ordered, he was engaged in unsafe sex practices with four different women simultaneously. This was at the risk of contracting STDs including the dreaded HIV/AIDS as well as the resultant children; therefore he deserves no one's pity, understanding or sympathy whatsoever regarding his financial state. However, Icheoku queries how he could have ploughed through $80million dollars trove within such a short period of time; and despite all the pretentiousness of people not getting his back, he never told us if he had listened to these people's advise or simply fell a victim to the "heedless-virus" which afflict many young black youths' rags to riches stories, who thought their financial spigot will never stop spitting greenbacks? So fellas, the next time you are in Los Angeles and finds Terrell in Skidrow, holler !

NEWT GINGRICH IS AN INFLUENCE PEDDLER - MITT ROMNEY

Icheoku says give it up for semantics as the man who can never be elected president, Mitt Romney, the cultic Mormon, has now taken to words juggling to compound things further, calling rival Newt Gingrich a lobbyist by another term.

Practically speaking there is no difference between six and half dozen and as between a lobbyist and an influence peddler, both trades in effecting an outcome. So whether Newt Gingrich is a lobbyist or an influence peddler makes no difference really, as both by definition, implies that Newt Gingrich always exacts pressure to force his views and/or position on someone so as to effect an outcome. So America, Mitt Romney says that Newt Gingrich strong-arms people to have his way and would show no mercy if nominated and no compassion if elected; admitted the later is a Mountain Everest climb.

UNABLE TO SACK RINGIM, A LAME PRESIDENT MAKES LAME EXCUSES?

Icheoku says the current frustrations caused Nigerians by their linguine-spine President Good(BAD)luck Jonathan is likely to boil-over if not checked. Imagine the latest inexcusable-excuses on why the none performing Inspector General of Police Hafiz Ringim cannot be fired. How could an executive president with all the presidential powers he has be so circumspect and hamstrung about reliving an official of his government of his job, when such official's job performance at best could pass for mediocre. Nigerians are dying in their hundreds, being killed by Northern Nigerian Islamist Boko Haram terrorists and all the president is doing is considering mundane and petty factors for not firing an incompetent police chief who could not or has failed or even deliberately refused to arrest the security situation in the land? 

Please tell Icheoku this is not actually the reason why IGP Ringim has retained his job despite all odds and his glaring case of woeful none performance and shall go down in history as the wprst IG of police NIgeria ever had and under whose watch Nigerians were blown away the most by Boko Haram Northern Nigeria Islamic terrorists' bombs. According to one insider source, the president cannot or is afraid to fire the IGP because firing him "could create problems for him with the North?" Icheoku queries how about firing the IGP and replacing him with another Northerner; afterall there are several DIGs and AIGs of Northern Nigeria Islamic extraction to douse whatever feeling of exclusion the IGP Ringim's firing might foster? Further, whatever happened to the Nigerian state as one unified indivisible entity or was there not a time when all the security heads usually came from just the North; so what is wrong if all of them, provided they are competent and very professional, came from the south now? The only conclusion deducible from this misguided calculation is that the president is not getting any good advise from his advisers or at best is being told what he would only like to hear, but which definitely is not in the best interest of his administration or Nigeria at large. Icheoku asks, would those Boko Haram killed Northerners have preferred to have an IGP who shares their last name and Islamic faith or one who would have kept them alive by protecting them against those killer Islamic Boko Haram terrorists, irrespective of the geography that produced the IGP? 

It is, simply put, very mind-boggling indeed the type of mundane considerations which usually precede this particular Nigerian president's decisions. Icheoku states that such morbid fear of a section of the country or its people to the extent that it jeopardizes government action or decision making is very grave indeed and forebodes no Nigerian any good. Moreso such consideration or fear of a people or section of the country was however not extended to the South-East when the same President Jonathan unceremoniously relieved the former IGP Ogbonna Onovo of his duties. It is noteworthy to recall that due to the recurring kidnapping cases in Nigeria and just barely six months into office and before the program he had put in place to checkmate and tackle such criminality ever germinated nor took root, IGP Ogbonna Onovo was sacked without blinking the eyelids about the feeling of the people of his section of the country. But suddenly, the fear of very violent and irrational Northern mullahs have forced President Jonathan hands to put up with a none performing IGP, who has successfully dragged his incompetent government down into the cesspool of gross insecurity of lives and properties of millions of Nigerians? 

Also the alleged President Jonathan's decision to extend to IGP Ringim a "dignified exit" is unmerited and undeserving, the circumstance of his abysmal job performance considered. It is also pointy that such "dignified exit" consideration was never factored in when the previous IGP Onovo and Balogun were summarily removed from office? Atypical Nigerian double standard operating procedure, simply because those lunatics sharing Nigeria with the rest of other more sane human-beings s are more prone to irrational violence, Icheoku may ask? So the imperative or narrative seems to be the fear of Northern Nigerians is the beginning of governance in Aso Rock which shows that irrationality and violence pays; but what example is being set by this standards or are they the only one that can generate mayhem or they telegraphing to other more rational sections of the country on what gets result?

Finally the most laughable of all the argument made for the retention or allowing the incompetent mallam IGP Ringim to finish his term in March, while Boko Haram holds sway, killing and maiming hundreds of innocent hapless Nigerians as well as their properties, is that “you cannot just fire top officers of the IGP status when you are not very convinced and you don’t have hard facts to support your action; you must investigate such issues to arrive at decision?" Icheoku asks but what about Ogbonna Onovo or even Balogun; since both men were summarily fired without full investigation and conclusive evidence of their culpability established first through similar investigative panel? Icheoku berates this as one heck of a lame argument that flies in the face of history of previous hiring and firings of Nigerian IGPs as well as other top government officials. The then finance minister and now reappointed Finance Minister and alter ego minister Okonjo-Iwealla, was once fired while in a meeting on behalf of the country in New York and even the last Army Chief Dambazzu was summarily fired while on an official visit to New York? So whosoever brains this crap of an excuse is coming from deserves a brain-scan for early signs of amnesia as he or she seems to have forgotten the inglorious exits of past Nigerian top government officials including those of IGP status. 

Such a "fool and bait them" excuse make many decent Nigerians want to lose their minds and Icheoku hereby calls on the incompetent President Good(BAD)luck Jonathan to wake up and smell the coffee before he falls victim to the same conspirators bent on denying his government necessary wings or winds to soar. It is indeed very unfortunate, the circumstance of Nigeria; which have hounded its growth and still hounds it till today - different people wanting and desiring different things in life and varied means to get there. On a hindsight, Icheoku laments If only Dr Nnamdi Azikwe had obliged the Sarduana and let the North wait for their own independence whenever they were ready, may be Nigeria as epileptic as it is today would not have been sired. But going forward, any articulations on how to move Nigeria forward, must decisively deal with its present configuration question, as what is now, seems not to be working and at best struggling for oxygen like an emphysema patient. President Jonathan, just fire the damn IGP Ringim and NOW!

"A WRONG THING IS A WRONG THING" - GOVERNOR ALIYU

"We cannot only depend on prayers without hard work. The ongoing Boko Haram crisis is lingering on because those who should speak out lacks the courage to do so and people can do and say whatever they like without consequences. The spokesman of Boko Haram was arrested and only given three years for misdemeanor when we all know that it is terrorism and then we begin to wonder what is going on. 

“There are also people who said they would make Nigeria ungovernable if they didn't win the presidential election and I don't think anything has been done about that. Someone else took the opportunity of the fuel subsidy removal protests to call for regime change and they are all allowed to walk freely on the streets after their treasonable statements. The problem is that people don't want to tell the truth. If we are all able to come out and handle things the way they should be handled, we would have nipped everything in the bud." - Governor Babangida Aliyu of Niger State speaking on the fast deteriorating state of Nigeria.

Icheoku says this man has a fan in us as he has consistently rose above board to speak up on matters affecting Nigeria as a threatened entity, principally due to the irascibility of the ever violent and easily provoked Islamic Northern Nigeria; particularly their insurgent Boko Haram. Icheoku says if only all other Northern so called leaders like Danjuma, Gowon, Buhari, Babangida, Useni, Ciroma and of course Atiku could bravely rise up and face down these terrorists in their midst and tell them to back down and back off. What a people that are not deserving of inclusion in the Nigeria experimental geography which makes Gideon Orkar's failed attempt at redressing the problem continually more regrettable.

HEIDI AND SEAL HEAD TO SPLITSVILLE, SEVEN YEARS AFTER?

Icheoku asks, how is that your marriage especially working out for you as no sooner has the ink on Kobe Bryant and ex-wife's Vanessa's divorce settlement has dried out, news is out that Heidi Klum and "Scarface" husband Seal are no longer an item. What a ruse or should Icheoku say scam that ancient institution is that makes people dependent, afraid, fearful and always on edge. Anyway whatever society may say against being single and free, juxtaposed with the hiccups of married today divorced tomorrow, the certainty of being alone and single appear more palatable option. Anyway, do not see this commentator as anti-marriage or anything like that; but suffice it to say that the headache is simply too much it is not fun. But Heidi and Seal are not saying what it is that finally did it for them; but who cares as the bottom line is that their marriage has also fallen victim to that virus which eats away the institution called marriage. Any solution fellas?

GINGRICH WINS SOUTH CAROLINA, NOMINATION GETS MORE INTRIGUING?

Icheoku says never has the nomination primaries been this interesting as three different candidates have won three different states respectively, thus denying anyone candidate the leading candidate front-runner status. One clear thing to emerge from this topsy-turvy Republican Party's presidential primaries is the obvious rejection of perpetual candidate wanna-be, Mitt Romney of Massachusetts, who has severally made a bid for the presidency but have always been stopped at the primaries; thus making him the president no one wants.

Icheoku calls on Mitt Romney to upon failing this year's nomination to quietly coil back into his shell and know that America does not trust him nor his membership of the Mormon cult. This way he can at least save face and apply his energy and whatever resource he has left elsewhere, where they may be needed especially at the Mormon cult or somewhere else in Massachusetts, his home state. So far Rick Santorium have won in Iowa, Mitt Romney in New Hampshire and now Mitt Romney in South Carolina; thus granting the upcoming Florida the noble role of deciding who gets a second state amongst this three collective front-runners. However if Floridians want to throw spanner in the works of the nominating process, they could go ahead to vote for a fourth candidate, may be Ron Paul; and it will become deja vu and a political ala carte for the Republicans.

All things considered, the loser here is Mitt Romney, the man who thought this year's nomination was his to keep, as he once again watch it slip through his very oily and wet spasmodic political fingers. Also the Republicans will be pining away in pain as the stark reality of President Barack Obama second term appears more likely now than ever before and who says the gods are asleep or would allow America return to the sad days of "good ole boys" only politics or governance in Washington. Further Newt Gingrich win was a big blow to ABC Network as their aired rejected wife's diatribe had no effect whatsoever; as Americans are now lethargic and tired of the "angry wives' syndrome" of bring down bolting ex-husband at whatever cost including lies and made up stories or whatever it takes. Or who cares whether a marriage is open or closed; afterall most parties in a marriage of any sort cheat on their spouses anyway. She was even lucky Newt broached the idea of polygamy to her; may be she needs a marriage counsellor from the Middle East or any Muslim country where men can marry as many as four wives or even here at home, if only she had talked to Mitt Romney to get his advise how his Mormon cult navigate the waters of polygamy.

Icheoku says congratulations to Newt Gingrich for clinching the South Carolina primaries against all odds, including the rantings of a jilted ex-wife out to take a pound of flesh on the eve of the election, after ten odd years or thereabout since the marriage crashed and Newt long moved on. Now lets see how Florida sizzles, Go Newt; Go Romney and Go Santorium!