"To whom much is given, much is expected. In 2011, Igbos gave near 100% of their votes to President Goodluck Jonathan. What has the President put in place to justify the huge votes given to him by the South-East? This is not a case of Oliver Twist. It is a legitimate demand that should be met’. The issue of second NIGER BRIDGE appears to have become object of campaign for vote from the Igbos by successive Presidents in Nigeria. It should be understood that the igbos will not wish to vote on infrastructure for vote." Icheoku says take the message and do not worry about the messenger. Icheoku agrees with the ABN rabble rouser that Igbo people needs to speak with one voice, be goal directed with a common purpose in order for them to make it into Aso Rock; and Icheoku adds, at a future time.
Thursday, July 25, 2013
Wednesday, July 24, 2013
A PRINCE NAMED GEORGE, WHAT'S IN A NAME?
Why George one may ask? Why not George Icheoku says? Whatever opinion anyone may have regarding the named prince, it is now moot and irrelevant since the parents of the prince, Kate Middleton and Prince Williams, have decided to name and have named their child and a future King of England, George. His full names - George Alexander Louis, The Prince of Cambridge.
George oh George and there are many George(s), to which named persons group has been added yet another George - The Prince of Cambridge. Icheoku says among persons named George, we have Boy George, George Clinton, George Michael, George Bush and of course the prince's forebear, the great abdicator King George V of England. But these are the good George(s) as we also have some infamous George(s) including the recently acquitted child killer and murderer George Zimmerman. Ordinarily Icheoku would have questioned the sensitivity of Kate Middleton and Prince Williams in naming their son George so soon after a George murdered an unarmed black teenager in America? But we will sure give them a break since they must have decided on the name long before the baby was born and before Zimmerman came into the picture.
Icheoku prays and hopes that this particular George will be a good George unlike murderer George Zimmerman; more articulate than former United States President George W. Bush; will not abdicate the throne unlike his forebear King George V; possibly as talented as Boy George and that his pedigree will not tolerate his becoming gay like the George Michael in order to sire a successor. Whatever happens, The Prince of Cambridge has been named George and peradventure his name will factor in in his future endeavours. Once again, icheoku says congratulations to Kate Middleton and Prince Williams on their latest addition to their new family. To Prince of Cambridge, George Alexander Louis, Icheoku says welcome and may you live long and thrive.
Monday, July 22, 2013
A KING IS BORN, TO THE BRITISH THRONE.
Icheoku says congratulations to Duchess and Duke of Cambridge, Kate Middleton and Prince William, on the arrival of their son and future King of England, Prince Cambridge. Baby-boy Cambridge was born July 22, 2013 and mother and child are fine.
Icheoku says, what a miracle of life that a child of yesterday, Prince William, is today a proud father. Now Prince Harry has a nephew to dot on; grandpa Prince Charles, a grandson to spoil rotten and Great Grandma The Queen and Great Grandpa Prince Philip, a great grand son to keep the throne alive.
Saturday, July 20, 2013
NDID OKEREKE ONYIUKE, A SABOTEUR OF BIAFRA?
Icheoku is boiling with rage that the woman who Igbo people thought is their shinning star is indeed an enemy of the Igbos? In his book, "The Tragedy of Victory", author army man Alabi Isama, called out Ndidi Okereke Onyiuke as one of those women who ratted out Biafran army positions and strategies to the Nigeria side and thus cavorted with the enemy? This is a perfect case of sleeping with the enemy and she should be treated like an enemy within the Igboland - a green snake in a green grass. According to the author, " In My Command, the achievements of gallant officers like Benjamin Adekunle, etc and their informants like Ndidi Okereke – Onyiuke, Margaret Eyo, Florence Ita-Giwa and many other women who made the 3 Marine Commando Division such a formidable force, are .............."
Icheoku says spam whale Ndidi Okereke Onyiuke should be ashamed of her treachery and deserves to be outlawed immediately in Igboland as diabolic, inimical and despicable; and ultimately banished for the rest of her Hippopotamus life. She is a scoundrel not worthy or fit of her Igbo roots and her last name of course. No wonder she is a darling of Baba Iyabo and the North who kept her at the Stock Exchange despite her not too stellar records? How dare this whoring daughter of hell sell out on her Igbo people over the Biafran cause and in a war of survival forced on them by the Nigerian side, that nearly exterminated a whole race of humanity out of sheer spite and rabid malice. Icheoku's blood is boiling over and we hereby call on Oha N'Eze, MASSOB and Igbo council of chiefs to do something about this revelation NOW and immediately. What a heartbreaker this revelation is.
Friday, July 19, 2013
"TINUBUOCRACY", AN ABT BRAND OF DEMOCRACY?
Icheoku says what is happening in Nigeria in general and in its political arena in particular, never ceases to amaze people with still some modicum of decency left in them. That a single man would corner and allocate to himself all the goodies of the state, just because he can, is very tragic indeed and especially in a polity with so many poor, under-served and under-privileged class in abject and hopeless destitution as Nigeria.
This banditry is also so widely spread that one is wont to think and believe that the biblical city of Sodom and Gomorrah, where no honest people could be found, has reincarnated as modern day Nigeria? This elite-class commit the thievery with such affront blatancy that one begins to wonder what manner of humanity inhabit the entity called Nigeria. Added to this brigandage is a very docile and long-intimidated populace that have since resigned their fate to their "God" instead of proactively holding this elite-class accountable.
Take the case of Lagos State and the entire Yoruba Southwest Nigeria for an example where one man, Ahmed Bola Tinubu (ABT), has captured the political landscape and with it, the spoils of office. This man, admitted very powerful in Yoruba Southwest Nigeria, has stunned many watchers of his politics by the manner he has succeeded in coveting offices and purse of Yorubaland to himself and family. His success is such that he is now reportedly among, if not, the richest Yoruba man alive and politically, he is so accomplished that even people like Olusegun Obasanjo do not cough audibly any longer in Yorubaland politics because of ABT. While Icheoku acknowledges Ahmed Bola Tinubu's ability to mesmerize the Yorubas into a stupor-like followership, kow-towing his political initiative and answering 'YES SIR' to whatever Bola, the Leader, says or desires in order to find accommodation in Yorubaland politics, Icheoku says democracy is made of a sterner stuff and no one man should be allowed to hold it in such a vice-hold.
However that this man should unperturbed(ly), personally, covet treasures and offices of the Yoruba people and assigning persons that meet his fancy respective offices, while retaining the power to make it difficult for them should they later "grow smart" including power of removal from office, still befuddles Icheoku. Ahmed Bola Tinubu's impetus is so brazen that he personally appropriated five offices to his Tinubu family:- his wife Oluremi Tinubu is an ACN Senator representing Lagos Central Senatorial District, his daughter Sade Tinubu is an ACN State Assembly member representing Agege Constituency in Lagos State House of Assembly, his son in-law Oyetunde Ojo is an ACN Congressman at Federal House of Representative, his wife's sister Lola Akande is also an ACN Lagos State House of Assembly member. To add insult to this injury and peradventure another feather to this greedy power-grab plumage, the same Ahmed Bola Tinubu very recently imposed yet another daughter of his on Nigerian Market Women Association as their leader, thus succeeding his late mother with his daughter; and acting as if cronyism was not previously well defined before and should have been defined as TINUBU instead?
Icheoku says needless to add that all these positions were with a fiat of the Lord of ACN manor, and without any internal ACN party election or contest. Implicitly the political "GOD" (godfather) of Yoruba Southwest that must be obeyed; what Bola Tinubu wants in Yoruba Southwest politics, Bola Tinubu gets, no questions asked. Icheoku says what manner of a man or type of country would allow or continue to tolerate this travesty in the name of democracy; except however that ABT has his own idea of what a real working democracy should and ought to be and unfortunately, many Nigerian politicians agree with him? According to Bola Tinubu's school of political thought, any democracy must and should have an overall de-facto henchman (CEO) with power to select, appoint and remove "elected" officials including the governor, senators, congressmen/women, state assembly members etc; and irrespective of the process that brought them to power which in Yoruba land is usually Ahmed Bola Tinubu. Bola Tinubu have successfully imposed himself as the CEO of ACN and in Yoruba Southwest politics, has dutifully stamped his authority running that part of Nigeria as he deems fit.
Icheoku says since what is going on politically in Bola Tinubu controlled Yoruba Southwest of Nigeria does not fit the Greek definition of democracy, we are forced to look inwards to see if we could come up with an appropriate and more apposite name for it. After an extensive, exhaustive research, Icheoku has arrived at a name to properly define and put in context, the audacious overrun of Yoruba-land politics by just one single man, Ahmed Bola Tinubu. Icheoku says "TINUBU-OCRACY - a government of Bola Tinubu and the people, for Bola Tinubu and the people and by persons single-handedly selected and tele-guided by Ahmed Bola Tinubu", is rather a perfect name for the travesty masquerading as democracy in Yorubaland. Unfortunately too, people like Wole Soyinka and other otherwise loquacious and boisterous claimants of the Yoruba pedigree have remained quiet and taciturn, having been completely intimidated by ABT, while ABT runs amok with Yoruba land politics. Icheoku says not a whiff of condemnation or call of Bola Tinubu to order or at least cautioning of Bola Tinubu to minimize his greedy appetite for power and penchant for coveting resources which belong to the entire general populace of Yoruba land. But hey, it is their shit, so let them lie in it as they see and deem fit.
Wednesday, July 17, 2013
ALLEN IVERSON, $200 MILLION GONE TOO SOON?
Icheoku asks how did it happen - a man who earned over two hundred million dollars within the last decade is now flat-ass broke? Only in America and you wonder if these black athletes and sportsmen have learnt any lesson of life indeed. Mike Tyson is broke after earning over 300 million dollars? Evander Holyfied is similarly broke after a humongous payday earned pugiling? Now Allen Iverson, reportedly cannot afford a MacDonald's hamburger for crying out loud and you wonder what and how it came to this hilt. But hey they came from nothing and rose too fast to the pinnacle and plummeting back down to where they originally "belonged" doesn't seem to matter to these folks. Regrettably, many of them are yet to learn a lesson from the history of what fate their predecessors in sudden riches suffered. Until these athletes and artists start emulating people like Oprah Winfrey, Micheal Jordan, Jay-Z, P Diddy and other smart folks who invested and insured their nests wisely, it is going to continue being a bungee jump that takes them high and release them back-down in one fell swoop. But does these guys have Icheoku's sympathy, NOPE.
Monday, July 15, 2013
TRAYVON IS DEAD, ZIMMERMAN WALKS?
Only in racist America and boy was Malcolm X right that the only thing these huskies understand is violence and not pacifism? Who will avenge Trayvon Martin's murder? Is this verdict adding to the call for vigilantism, such many other irrational verdicts concerning similarly situated circumstances taken into advisement? It appears they no longer fear black people hence they can now do as they please without any let or hindrance - just check the facts of recent anti-blacks developments and be the judge. Their need for free slave-labor and later cheap black labor (replaced by machines, Mexicans, Asians and Chinese labor) is now over and they have to be scared back to Africa by all and any means necessary including such inhuman blatancy as the killing and resulting verdict? Imagine a guy, a Jewish white American, kills a young black boy and he did not deny that; yet the jury of his peers (an all but one white jury) sets him free? But were the accused black, the jury would have been all White jury with one goal to convict him as soon as the closing arguments are concluded; yet both lawyers on either sides of the divide did not perfunctorily act on the composition of the jury? Icheoku equally watched the half-hearted mediocre prosecution of the case and with many other commentators wondered if the prosecution was deliberately, merely playing to the galleryjust to satisfy the uproar that Zimmerman be prosecuted and not seriously vested in a successful outcome of a conviction? But hey, speculation is the name of the game, right?
Icheoku will not attempt a rehash here of what went down in Florida or un-needfully string out the jury on the outcome, but suffice it to say that it is about time Blacks in America retool their strategy if they must be recognized as equals or at least as real human-beings and not the Ape-humans or 1/3 human as was the case before the Electoral Act. Imagine a black professional football player, who also ran a dog-fight show part-time, was sent to prison for two years because one incapacitated dog was put down (killed); BUT an ordinary White "Joe Nobody" Zimmerman kills a young black boy and he is completely set free? Query:- in America, is the life of a dog now more valuable than the life of a black man?
It is indeed lamentable, utterly regrettable and absolutely despicable that many White folks are rejoicing and celebrating the acquittal of murderer George Zimmerman of the murder of a black boy down in Florida. Unfortunately, these same people demanded the head of OJ Simpson for allegedly killing their bimbo and gigolo despite a finding of not guilty by a court of competent jurisdiction. It is also on record that this people later went ahead to still get OJ through a trap door and today OJ Simpson is paying for that crime for which a court had previously found him not guilty. They accused him of "armed robbing of his own property" and despite the lack of a guilty mens rea, they still convicted him and sent him away? And you are minded to ask yourself for what crime, except that Nicole and Ron are dead and OJ killed them and must pay for it?
Anyway those Icheoku pity and sympathises with are those delusional Americans who ignore or chose to pretend that racism in America has died or is at least in a life support coma. For those in this suspended state of inertia pf the mind which distorts their reality, Icheoku says now go figure the Zimmerman's verdict of acquittal. Black people in America are increasingly morphing into snakes in the eyes of other Americans and nobody wants a snake for a friend, the reason why snakes are always chased and killed. Icheoku asks, so wherein lies the future of blacks in America, especially with no Malcolm X around to truly let them know what needs to be done or the right course of action to embark on to get results. Where is DuBois to lead black people back to Africa? Where is to Harriet Taubman to tunnel an under-sea (underground) railway back to Senegal? Where is MLK to act on his dream? Where is the returned or returning messiah to lead blacks out of their mired desert in America to their promised land of equality, true freedom and treatment like peers? By this verdict, once again, Michael Jackson is remembered today for warning blacks in America that the White people "DON'T CARE ABOUT (them) US." What a huge joke, not even a probation or a term already served?
Saturday, July 13, 2013
RIVERS STATE'S CRISIS, GOVERNOR AMAECHI SHOULD BACK DOWN.
Icheoku says we have seen the likes of it before and this time around the result is not going to be any different. In such situation, usually the man below in rank, the person at the lower rung of the ladder or totem pole, suffers and often to a bitter end. Unlike a president, a governor has neither a limitless cash reserve or resources at his disposal nor does he have the command and control of the various security forces to push his way through. With these variables taken into advisement, Icheoku says it will be in the best interest of Governor Rotimi Amaechi to pull back from further "standing his grounds" against the moving bulldozer that is President Jonathan controlled Federal Government.
The only sensible and pragmatic alternative for the governor now is to recall his senses immediately and back off the current confrontation with Aso Rock. The mission he embarked on is not a winnable one and against a side that has all the jokers including a limitless number of volunteer army, both civilian and professional, too eager to please and to do whatever is perceived as implied or expressed bidding of the man on top. To do otherwise and continue on his present trajectory would be foolhardy and akin to the proverbial small bird (nwa-nza) that after eating belly-full challenged its creator to a fight. Governor Rotimi Amaechi, Icheoku says many in the past have tried in vain what you are today attempting and got burnt and burnt severely, where they survived. Just be sensible about it, check in your ego and back-off and allow the threatening tornado to blow away. Be a smart general who lives to fight another day; so make peace and wait for your own turn or until your opportunity for a pay back calls, if ever.
The forces marshaled against Governor Amaechi are simply too formidable for him to go up against and try to surmount. We are talking about the President, Mr Fix-it Tony Anenih, 16 or 18 NGF governors of Governor Jang's faction, Bamanga Tukur, the PDP family both national and its Rivers State chapter, South-south Governors Forum as well as possibly some members of the Governor Amaechi's inner circle who possibly, are clandestinely relaying information about what is going on in Port Harcourt to Abuja. If Governor Rotimi Amaechi is indeed truly a savvy politician, he would read the handwriting on the wall and duck; but hey those whom the Gods want to kill they first make deaf and dumb before striking them mad penultimate their demise. It is indeed a big surprise that Governor Amaechi, being a lawyer and aware of a sleuth of antecedents including some very recent history, chose to swim in such shark and crocodile infested waters.
Icheoku says where is James Ibori today? What happened to second Republic Bararabe Musa? Jim Nwobodo of the then Anambra State tried flexing muscle with Vice President Ekwueme and his second term was snatched away from him at the Supreme Court despite the facts on the grounds of his triumph in that election. What about Bayelsa's Dimpreye Silva? Which Nigerian have forgotten how a then sitting Governor Chris Ngige of Anambra State was kidnapped? Even a sitting Vice President Abubakar Atiku tried entering the ring with his boss Baba Iyabo, who still "dey laugh", only for him to be permanently consigned to the heaps of one of those wanna be presidents; and his despicable act of crawling on all his fours to beg for forgiveness at Abeokuta Hilltop is yet to yield any reprieve. It is indeed what Baba Fela Anikulapo Kuti calls original 'POWER PLAY' show and Atiku knows it because he has felt its scorching effect. Many people the world over and history attests to that have died trying to grab it and it is for a reason. So anyone who decides to go and goes up against someone already in power, knows that his mission is risky and his road strewn with grave pitfalls. Some commentators have even written to suggest that such "brave" challengers should have their head examined for psychotic disorder and presently, Governor Amaechi surely fits this profile.
Icheoku says if Governor Rotimi Amaechi thinks that he can go up against a sitting Nigerian EXECUTIVE president and commander in chief of the armed forces and get away with it, then he must have another thing coming. For him to sustain this thought presupposes one of two things:- either the governor is hallucinating as a result of some mind altering, stupor-inducing, substance or his sense of reality has been greatly eroded, clouded, compromised and obviously distorted. Icheoku does not know who Governor Amaechi's advisers are or the type of counselling he is receiving from his inner circle and how he is being deceived by the "support" he is currently receiving from his followers who are urging no retreat no surrender and not even a compromise.
Unfortunately, the governor forgot the warning of William Shakespeare in Julius Caesar against mob mentality of plebeians, whose support usually is very shifty depending on how the wind blows. But make no mistake about it, Governor Amaechi, if he survives the current plot by Jonathan and his boys, will not come out of the war unscathed. So any smart politician, worth his political garb, would reverse his gear fast and seek a way to make rapprochement with the man controlling the federal power to save his skin and office. Icheoku admonishes Governor Amaechi to instead of continuing the present confrontation with Jonathan and all the powers and paraphernalia of his office including inexhaustible purse, various armed security agencies of the military, police and state security service as well as the EFCC, to seek a truce before it is too late.
Admitted that as a politician the Governor is scheming and maneuvering for his personal political fortune of a future higher office and is entitled to do so; but he is certainly going about it in a wrong way that spells doom. He should be more circumspect, coy and deft going about it and in a manner that will not send sparks flying or unnecessarily cause the incumbent to panic. But any man already on the seat will interpret the governor's present actions as an effrontery and an open challenge to a duel for the office; and which man will not fight to keep his seat. Governor Rotimi Amaechi was very much around during the dark days of "Operation do or die" politics of Olusegun Obasanjo and such experience should have provided him a picture of the road block facing him. Icheoku says the governor's action is akin to standing in front of a moving armoured tank in Tiananmen Square and wishing nothing harmful happens; but unfortunately that "brave" Chinese man never lived to tell us his experience.
Further, Governor Amaechi should have reasoned that a regional interest is at stake here and that for the South-south, the office of the president is better than that of a vice president. Just like the Igbo people say, nobody leaves where an Ozo title is taking place with all the merriment and go to visit where they are curing madness. It is as simple as that; just do the mathematics Governor Rotimi Amaechi. The people of South-south cannot abandon their already in the saddle President Jonathan for their Vice President Amaechi in the offing. It never happens and it will not start with Rotimi Amaechi. Such stubborn, stupid calculation and scheming by Governor Amaechi for an "ordinary" vice presidential slot instead of helping to consolidate the gains of the entire Niger Delta region in securing the presidency and for a second term, depicts the governor in a bad light as overtly self-centered and VERY SELFISH. It also gives weight to the assertion by the militant/terrorist on sabbatical, Asari Dokubo, that Governor Rotimi Amaechi is "now a traitor of the South-south Niger Delta struggle." Icheoku asks is anything including any office in the land worth being so alienated or misinterpreted by any-one's people? Icheoku says WE DON'T THINK SO and hereby call on Governor Rotimi Amaechi to do a rethink of his strategy and back-down and back-off from his present confrontation of the man at Aso Rock.
The only sensible and pragmatic alternative for the governor now is to recall his senses immediately and back off the current confrontation with Aso Rock. The mission he embarked on is not a winnable one and against a side that has all the jokers including a limitless number of volunteer army, both civilian and professional, too eager to please and to do whatever is perceived as implied or expressed bidding of the man on top. To do otherwise and continue on his present trajectory would be foolhardy and akin to the proverbial small bird (nwa-nza) that after eating belly-full challenged its creator to a fight. Governor Rotimi Amaechi, Icheoku says many in the past have tried in vain what you are today attempting and got burnt and burnt severely, where they survived. Just be sensible about it, check in your ego and back-off and allow the threatening tornado to blow away. Be a smart general who lives to fight another day; so make peace and wait for your own turn or until your opportunity for a pay back calls, if ever.
The forces marshaled against Governor Amaechi are simply too formidable for him to go up against and try to surmount. We are talking about the President, Mr Fix-it Tony Anenih, 16 or 18 NGF governors of Governor Jang's faction, Bamanga Tukur, the PDP family both national and its Rivers State chapter, South-south Governors Forum as well as possibly some members of the Governor Amaechi's inner circle who possibly, are clandestinely relaying information about what is going on in Port Harcourt to Abuja. If Governor Rotimi Amaechi is indeed truly a savvy politician, he would read the handwriting on the wall and duck; but hey those whom the Gods want to kill they first make deaf and dumb before striking them mad penultimate their demise. It is indeed a big surprise that Governor Amaechi, being a lawyer and aware of a sleuth of antecedents including some very recent history, chose to swim in such shark and crocodile infested waters.
Icheoku says where is James Ibori today? What happened to second Republic Bararabe Musa? Jim Nwobodo of the then Anambra State tried flexing muscle with Vice President Ekwueme and his second term was snatched away from him at the Supreme Court despite the facts on the grounds of his triumph in that election. What about Bayelsa's Dimpreye Silva? Which Nigerian have forgotten how a then sitting Governor Chris Ngige of Anambra State was kidnapped? Even a sitting Vice President Abubakar Atiku tried entering the ring with his boss Baba Iyabo, who still "dey laugh", only for him to be permanently consigned to the heaps of one of those wanna be presidents; and his despicable act of crawling on all his fours to beg for forgiveness at Abeokuta Hilltop is yet to yield any reprieve. It is indeed what Baba Fela Anikulapo Kuti calls original 'POWER PLAY' show and Atiku knows it because he has felt its scorching effect. Many people the world over and history attests to that have died trying to grab it and it is for a reason. So anyone who decides to go and goes up against someone already in power, knows that his mission is risky and his road strewn with grave pitfalls. Some commentators have even written to suggest that such "brave" challengers should have their head examined for psychotic disorder and presently, Governor Amaechi surely fits this profile.
Icheoku says if Governor Rotimi Amaechi thinks that he can go up against a sitting Nigerian EXECUTIVE president and commander in chief of the armed forces and get away with it, then he must have another thing coming. For him to sustain this thought presupposes one of two things:- either the governor is hallucinating as a result of some mind altering, stupor-inducing, substance or his sense of reality has been greatly eroded, clouded, compromised and obviously distorted. Icheoku does not know who Governor Amaechi's advisers are or the type of counselling he is receiving from his inner circle and how he is being deceived by the "support" he is currently receiving from his followers who are urging no retreat no surrender and not even a compromise.
Unfortunately, the governor forgot the warning of William Shakespeare in Julius Caesar against mob mentality of plebeians, whose support usually is very shifty depending on how the wind blows. But make no mistake about it, Governor Amaechi, if he survives the current plot by Jonathan and his boys, will not come out of the war unscathed. So any smart politician, worth his political garb, would reverse his gear fast and seek a way to make rapprochement with the man controlling the federal power to save his skin and office. Icheoku admonishes Governor Amaechi to instead of continuing the present confrontation with Jonathan and all the powers and paraphernalia of his office including inexhaustible purse, various armed security agencies of the military, police and state security service as well as the EFCC, to seek a truce before it is too late.
Admitted that as a politician the Governor is scheming and maneuvering for his personal political fortune of a future higher office and is entitled to do so; but he is certainly going about it in a wrong way that spells doom. He should be more circumspect, coy and deft going about it and in a manner that will not send sparks flying or unnecessarily cause the incumbent to panic. But any man already on the seat will interpret the governor's present actions as an effrontery and an open challenge to a duel for the office; and which man will not fight to keep his seat. Governor Rotimi Amaechi was very much around during the dark days of "Operation do or die" politics of Olusegun Obasanjo and such experience should have provided him a picture of the road block facing him. Icheoku says the governor's action is akin to standing in front of a moving armoured tank in Tiananmen Square and wishing nothing harmful happens; but unfortunately that "brave" Chinese man never lived to tell us his experience.
Further, Governor Amaechi should have reasoned that a regional interest is at stake here and that for the South-south, the office of the president is better than that of a vice president. Just like the Igbo people say, nobody leaves where an Ozo title is taking place with all the merriment and go to visit where they are curing madness. It is as simple as that; just do the mathematics Governor Rotimi Amaechi. The people of South-south cannot abandon their already in the saddle President Jonathan for their Vice President Amaechi in the offing. It never happens and it will not start with Rotimi Amaechi. Such stubborn, stupid calculation and scheming by Governor Amaechi for an "ordinary" vice presidential slot instead of helping to consolidate the gains of the entire Niger Delta region in securing the presidency and for a second term, depicts the governor in a bad light as overtly self-centered and VERY SELFISH. It also gives weight to the assertion by the militant/terrorist on sabbatical, Asari Dokubo, that Governor Rotimi Amaechi is "now a traitor of the South-south Niger Delta struggle." Icheoku asks is anything including any office in the land worth being so alienated or misinterpreted by any-one's people? Icheoku says WE DON'T THINK SO and hereby call on Governor Rotimi Amaechi to do a rethink of his strategy and back-down and back-off from his present confrontation of the man at Aso Rock.
Friday, July 12, 2013
DEAD MAN CONVICTED, IN PUTIN'S RUSSIA !
Icheoku says when the world thought they have heard the last bizarre thing out of Vladimir Putin's mother Russia, here comes the screaming news that a dead man was convicted of a crime allegedly committed while he lived. A Russia that has seen one man named Vladimir Putin switching seats from being a President to becoming a Prime Minister and then becoming a President again; and practically dictating terms of existence for anyone who calls Russia his country or home or wants to make it a residence. A man whose mood dictates what goes up or down in Russia and who was able to command a sitting president to stoop down to a prime minister's position while he took over the reins of power.
Now to add to his resume as a man who decides everything in Russia and further boost his profile as the man with political vice hold on Russia, Putin's government has convicted a dead man of a crime allegedly committed while he lived. Needless to add that the dead-convict was not availed the opportunity to defend himself. Icheoku asks where was the rule of Natural Justice of 'Audi alter em patem' (let the accused be heard) observed in this case? Icheoku queries further, what happened to the doctrine of Res Nullus which deems a non living person none existent for purposes of rights and recriminations? Where is the dead man's body to attach the judgment as a criminal conviction requires a body to suffer the penalty? How does Vladimir Putin's Russia intend to enforce this judgment since there is no body to confine or are they going to top their already bizarre conviction by exhuming the dead man's body and sending it to prison?
That the conviction was summarily dismissed post pronouncement is irrelevant and does not excuse the wastage of judicial time and resources which were expended for a return on investment of a mere mockery of the law. Whatever symbolic message this conviction intended to send pales in comparison to the damage it caused the rule of law. It trifled the law because one of the cardinal rule of law and order which is enforcement cannot attach in this case. What is the good exercise in wasting time and resources of the court to produce an outcome which is so ridiculous and laughable; and which only diminishes the law since the judgment cannot be practically carried out or enforced? Icheoku says the trial and conviction of dead-man, lawyer Sergei Magnitsky, crossed the last threshold of absurdity and nothing, no moral lesson whatsoever, justifies it or excuses such macabre judicial exercise and pronouncement. The only outcome is that to the vocabulary of dead man walking, living dead, the un-dead etc, will now be added dead man convicted thanks to Putin's Russia. Icheoku says members of the punk band Pussy Riot are still in prison in Russia just for artistically expressing themselves.
APC IS A CONTRAPTION OF PAIN AND ANGER - SULE LAMIDO.
"This so called APC is what you call political fraud because you may change the nomenclature (name of party) – change it ten times over, but the people in it did not change. They are the same old people. I laugh at it more because the entire contraption is a creation of pain and anger; it is not about Nigeria." - Dr Sule Lamido, Governor Jigawa State dismissing the Tinubu/Buhari led All Progressive Congress party as irrelevant.
Icheoku says we read the interview wherein this assertion was made and are being forced to take a second look at this Jigawa Governor as possibly a good candidate for Nigeria presidency. Possibly Baba Iyabo is right and once again committing a "good blunder" by beaming a searchlight on this man as what Nigeria needs in 2015 or whenever future time he is hired.
Wednesday, July 10, 2013
NORTHERN NIGERIA, A HOUSE DIVIDED?
"Power can return to the North if they win. If they have a unanimous candidate and they win the election, nobody will question the return of power to them; but the North that they are talking about does not include the Middle Belt. That is the offending statement. Anytime they talk about the North, they mean the North-West. They do not include us. And we say we are tired of supporting people who will never include us in any election. So, this is the problem.” - Senator Ameh Ebute, Third Republic Senate President, harpooning the core North for using and dumping the Middle Belt people over the years.
Icheoku says the Senator is right:- Ahmadu Bello is from Northwest; Sarduana same; Shehu Shagari same; Muhammadu Buhari same; Ibrahim Babangida same; Sani Abacha same; Umaru Yar'Adua same; Sanusi Lamido Sanusi same, El Rufai same; IGP Abubakar same; and the list goes on. Icheoku rejoices that at last the Northern-wool these core Northerners hitherto used in covering the eyes of these Middle Belters is gradually being pulled away for the Middle Belt to see reason and understand where their destiny really lie - THE SOUTH. They been unequally yoked for too long with these people and it is about time the yoke came off.
May be some examples will suffice to buttress this point:- the distance going from Abuja to Enugu is shorter than going from Abuja to Kano or Sokoto or even Maiduguri (Northeast), yet these North-westerners readily claim Middle Belt as their own and Icheoku wonders why? Moreover, culturally and in physical appearance as well as the type of food they eat, the Middle Belters are closer to the Southerners than to these Northerners. The Middle Belt does not even speak the Northern language as the septuagenarian leader of Ombatse cult pointed out recently that he does not understand a word of the Hausa/Fulani language. Even the climate and general geography of the Middle Belt is more similar to the South than to the North; as well as peoples names, yet these Northerners maintain a vice choke hold on the Middle Belters as per affinity?
So what are we talking about letting these mallams from the very far Northwest continue to lay claim to Middle Belt as their own backyard? Icheoku says it is about time some gerrymandering of the mind is done to right the wrongs of these past many years of Northwestern Nigerian bamboozle and fuzzy arithmetic of a Nigerian geographical portioning which allowed them to maintain political domination of the country since independence despite being actually in the minority in the country, proper census factored in. There is simply no ties between the core North and the Middle Belt to sustain this fraud of claim of ownership by the former of the later - not in language, not in culture, not in food, not in religion, not in geography or climate conditions, not in the nature of soil, not in religion and not in anything which could establish of prove affinity whatsoever. Icheoku says with this imaginary ties now severed, may be the process of really moving Nigeria forward has begun; so let the minorities of the South-South and Middle Belt show the rest of the country the way. ENOUGH says Senator Ameh Ebute and Icheoku concurs.
Saturday, July 6, 2013
SNOWDEN, DRONE THE MOTHERFUCKING TRAITOR NOW.
Snowden's killing will be one such case where the killing of a United States' citizen is about righteous revenge, the treacherous and treasonable act he perpetrated against his own country taken into consideration. Icheoku says former Vice President Dick Cheney was darn right when he labelled Snowden's act treasonable and Icheoku agrees that every traitor shall be put to death. Snowden deserves no more pity than any other enemy of the state including Islamist terrorists and killing him will help deter other Snowdens of America and their Weak-leak collaborators from multiplying. Icheoku waxes fantastically that somehow Hollywood was nearly as right in their depiction of our men and women of the gum shoes and how they can easily track and nail any so marked for elimination weasel like Snowden. But peradventure, Hollywood is simply make believe and if only there is no much distance between their fantasy and the present reality of getting hold of the ratty Snowden. However Osama Bin Laden was tracked and whacked after many years of playing hide and seek as well as many other people who had taken up arms against the United States, so lets see how long the hunt for Snowden will take or for how long the Russian airport will continue to provide home to the now stateless fugitive.
Icheoku says In "real-ville", with due deference to Rush Limbaugh, there is cost for anything and everything. If the people wants omelet from their government, they should and must be prepared to lose some eggs in the process. But to saddle the government with the responsibility of keeping Americans safe and at the same time asking it to leave some stones un-turned in their effort to discharge this duty by unraveling who wants to do America harm, are two polar opposites irreconcilable. Simply put, impossible, a mere wishful thinking. The choice is clear, it is either we have a safe America with Americans ponying up some limited privacy rights as a trade-off or bargain or Americans can keep all their rights and shut the fuck up in the event some otherwise preventable act of terror takes place. If anyone has reason to fear what he or she discusses over the phone, he or she should not so speak it in the first place; but otherwise why would a clear conscience fear any accusation? The government is not listening to our phones to hear what some guy tells that gal to get her in the sac, no, they are listening for threatening and criminal conspiracies that would cause us harm. Icheoku says faced with this two options, we choose the former as we are prepared to trade some liberty for the assurance of safety or attempt thereat. Query:- if such eavesdropping program could have ensured that our twin towers in New York still stood till today, why not? If such program could have guaranteed that those 3000 plus Americans and foreigners alike that perished on 9/11 were still alive, why not? If such program could remove the present bottleneck associated with air travels since 9/11, why not? And the list goes on.
Icheoku says unequivocally that anyone whosoever, who damages, sabotages or tries to do either to our government's effort at keeping us safe as Americans, is and should be treated as an enemy of the state. Such a person should deservedly loose all his or her rights as a citizen of the United States of America; and so the present 'de-citizening' of snitch Snowden by cancelling his passport is quite commendable, in order and very clever of the government. Icheoku says when Edward Joseph Snowden took the present course of action against America's government's effort to safeguard Americans' safety and security, he crossed the line of a patriotic citizen, no longer entitled to citizenship rights and should be droned upon sight as any enemy combatant of the state, period. Such a scoundrel as Snowden is no worse than Osama Bin Laden or any other shrivelling terrorist who caused us harm and who have been smoked out of their hiding and taken care of. If it is by means of a poison dart or aerosol, drowning in the bathtub or whatever it takes, but Edward Joseph Snowden should not live assuming sending him to Colorado underground maximum security prison proves difficult or impossible. Snowden attacked America, jeopardized and compromised the safety and security of every American by what he did. Snowden is no longer a true patriotic American, deserving any rights and privileges of an American and should therefore be consigned to the rotten garbage of history where he now belongs. Every true and real American patriot must have a skin in the effort at making and keeping America, their ONLY country, safe. Any citizen's or person's attempt or conspiracy to destroy America's fabric or undermine its safety and security or put its citizens in harm's way must and should be met with drastic and ruthless response by the state. So this is the fate which now awaits traitor Edward Joseph Snowden.
Tuesday, July 2, 2013
Monday, July 1, 2013
THEIR NORTH IS NOT OUR NORTH - AMEH EBUTE
"Power can return to the North if they win. If they have a unanimous candidate and they win the election, nobody will question the return of power to them; but the North that they are talking about does not include the Middle Belt. That is the offending statement. Anytime they talk about the North, they mean the North-West. They do not include us. And we say we are tired of supporting people who will never include us in any election. So, this is the problem.” - Senator Ameh Ebute,Third Republic Senate President, harpooning the core North for consistently using and dumping the Middle Belt people over the years. Icheoku adds the fact that Fulanis have been killing and maiming the people of of the Middle Belt is not helping bridge this mistrust at all. But hey they fought and killed Biafrans alongside these their Northern brothers during the civil war, so who cares or what does Icheoku care, if they are being shafted now.