364 DAYS AND NO DALLIANCE, A RECORD BREAKING FEAT.

Icheoku says 12/24/14 was exactly a full calendar year - day to day, night to night, that no naked female or male or animal shared Icheoku's private moment and I say congratulations to myself. So 2014 will go on record and is now officially declared the ONLY year in the life of an adult man that no wine was poured into any vessel and neither was any water passed under any bridge howsoever. 

From a frequent flyer miles to now zero flight record, that is incredible but a true story! Icheoku never thought it was possible or doable, until it was pulled off;  done principally for reassurance and to prove a point that a man can go without, despite all the needless accusations of the ever suspicious female specie, including companions and spouses. Icheoku says from garnered experience, all it takes is to get really busy and to stay so mentally preoccupied, that there is no free space to think about the apple. But for the new year, ....???

BUHARI, A CRIMINAL PRESIDENT FOR NIGERIA?

Icheoku says did the fact that Robbin Hood distributed his loot to the poor and needy of England make his criminal brigandage acceptable? Did the fact that Ma Baker stole from the rich and gave to the poor, give him a pass from the law against his many bank robberies? What about the infamous Lawrence Aninih of Benin, former Bendel State of Nigeria armed robbery saga or rather notoriety, who robbed banks and distributed his loot to the poor and needy of Benin? When he was caught, did he plead his charitable contributions to secure his freedom from the hail of police bullets that ended his life? Ditto Ngene Omu of Enugu State who robbed everyone including banks but gave the proceeds to the needy of Enugu State. When the end of his life came, did he plead his being Mr Generosity to blunt those police hot leads? 

So what is Icheoku saying traveling down these memory lanes of some world notorious robbery kingpins who thought they were doing good with their loot while breaking the law? Icheoku has been doing some research lately, on a few words, particularly the word "coup d'etat" and who a coup plotter really is?  The word coup d'etat, which is French, means to cause a "stroke of the state," i.e. to cause a state to have a stroke or to give a "blow  to or against the state or government." Continuing, "a coup de'tat is the unlawful taking control by some group of military personnel of some active portion of the military while neutralizing the remainder of a country's armed forces. This group captures or expels the leaders of the country or government, illegally seizes physical control of important government offices, means of communication, and the physical infrastructure, such as streets and power plants. The coup succeeds if its would be opponents fail to dislodge the plotters, allowing them to consolidate their position, obtain the surrender or compliance of the populace and surviving armed forces, and claim legitimacy. 

A coup d’etat is an illegal quick and decisive seizure of governmental power by military or political coup plotters. It is the sudden convulsive overthrow of a government by a small group of army personnel who then arrest the incumbent leaders, seizes the national radio and television services and proclaims itself in power. A coup plotter is therefore someone, usually a military person, who secretly makes plans with others to do something illegal, wrong or harmful alongside his other conspirators such as the overthrow of a legitimate subsisting government. Planning and/or carrying out a coup d'etat is therefore a crime and so are coup plotters, criminals, both in the illegality of their act and in the conspiracy to carry out same. Icheoku therefore queries, had Muhammadu Buhari not succeeded with the coup d'etat of December 31st 1983, would he still be alive today? 

As a conspirator to an illegality - coup plotting and its execution, had he not succeeded, would he have been hailed as a hero or rather shot as a common criminal who levied insurrection against the state? If the answer is the later and Nigerians agree that what Buhari did on that cold December 31st night 1983, when Nigerians were awaiting the arrival of the new year, was both illegal and unlawful, and that he would have been executed if he did not succeed, and given that only criminals are executed for their criminal act or conduct, does it not therefore necessarily follow that Muhammadu Buhari is a criminal, but one who succeeded in carrying out his crime? So why does murderers and armed robbers as well as other criminals who successfully carried out their crimes, later get hunted down to face justice? At least until there is a state pardon extirpating the said crime, a crime remains a crime and a criminal involved thereto remains a criminal? So why should an established criminal be running for the office of the presidency of the Nigerian state or is it a case of what is good for the goose not being good for the gander? Why must different rules be applied to different criminals or is someone now saying that some crimes are more reprehensible than others? 

Now follow it up by asking whether successfully committing a crime or doing something illegal removes the repugnance which society attaches to  such conduct? So except the end now justifies the means as with almost everything Nigerian, and that the crime of coup plotting is now an acceptable crime in Nigeria, why would someone tainted with the crime of overthrowing of a legitimately elected democratic government of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and who has not been granted a state pardon, now be hailed as a hero and the knight in shinning armor charging on horse back to the rescue of Nigeria? Icheoku says, for a man who violently overthrew an elected government of President Shehu Shagari in a bloody coup d'etat, at least Brigadier Bako was killed during the putsch, to now become so elevated by a society that has been aptly described as 'too fast and too furious', leaves much to be desired and a very sour palate in the mouth of many decent human beings the world over. How can a man with blood in his hands and who conspired to wreck havoc on a state be allowed to shamelessly stand for election into the same office he deprived another? 

What sensibility is left in these Nigerians that cannot condemn and frown at a criminal behavior but seem to celebrate criminals of every kind and description. If such a criminal could now be so celebrated as a corruption czar extra-ordinaire, why is nobody also querying how he first became opportune to get into the position to so profess or prove his mettle fighting corruption? Icheoku says if it is indeed agreed that the end does not justify the means and that a criminal behavior should always and forever remains opprobrious in the eyes of the society, then a man who committed such an abhorable crime of levying insurrection against the state and which qualifies him as a very hardened criminal, should not have anything to do desiring the office of Nigeria president or be allowed anywhere near the office. 

But in any other event, it is Nigeria and in Nigeria, everything is virtually possible, including the current celebration of Muhammadu Buhari for his perfidious and inimical conduct of overthrowing a legitimate government, which in other civilized societies would be greatly frowned at. As far as Icheoku is concerned, coup plotting and/or its execution is as heinous as it gets, if not worse than armed robbery and murder combined. Therefore every coup plotter, whether successful or not, should be summarily executed whenever the opportunity calls and so should Muhammadu Buhari have been. Icheoku laments that it is as a result of a society that condones indecent behavior and infra-dig conducts that a person who should have since been executed or at least locked away to rot in prison has become a continuing nuisance in Nigeria  and shamelessly desiring to be her president? What a tragedy - the tragedy of an unconscionable polity that allowed the likes of Muhammadu Buhari to thrive among them. What a perfidy!

IS BUHARI THE BEST APC CAN OFFER - MUSTAPHA ABDULLAHI?

Is Muhammadu Buhari really the best the opposition All Progressives Congress has to offer? This question has come to the fore since Buhari, Nigeria’s former military strongman, beat the likes of former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar, Kano state governor Rabiu Kwankwaso, Imo state governor Rochas Okorocha and Leadership publisher, Sam Nda-Isaiah, to clinch the presidential ticket of the All Progressives Congress. His victory at the December 11, 2014 national convention has the imprimatur of former Lagos governor, Bola Tinubu—and so does  the choice of Professor Yemi Osinbajo as his running mate, raising disquiet within the party of a grand design by two power blocks to corner the party and its decision making process.

The internal contradictions in the party pale into insignificance if the barrage of attacks so far generated by Buhari’s nomination is considered. What have come into focus since that victory are the credentials Buhari brings into the contest and why he has arrogantly refused to come to terms with his sordid past. This question whether he is really the best the APC can offer, becomes pertinent considering the huge baggage of negative perception associated with his tenure as Nigeria’s military leader.

Buhari’s past will always haunt him politically. His actions as military Head of State between December, 1983 and August, 1985, the documented cases of ethnic bias against him, his tainted democratic credentials, his flawed judgment on public policy and his warped worldview, have been the reasons for his failure in successive presidential contests from 2003 to 2011. Whether 2015 will be different depends on how the questions surrounding his democratic credentials are interrogated. That his name continues to be mentioned in many high-profile cases of abuses ranging from rights infringement to murder, certainly does not help, just like the perception that he still harbours such sadistic dispositions — a perception that cost him the three previous contests in 2003, 3007 and 2011.

The charge of ethnic bias has trailed Buhari throughout his public life.  It manifested in 1984 when he bent the rules to accommodate the father of his then aide-de-camp, who had smuggled in 53 suitcases loaded with Nigerian currency when he had supposedly shut the borders for a change of the Nigerian currency.  Also as chairman of the defunct Petroleum Trust Fund (PTF) that was set up by the late Head of State, General Sani Abacha, he converted what was a national assignment to the benefit of a certain section of the country. At the end of the PTF activities, those who had viewed Buhari as a nationalist were dismayed to discover that he ran the PTF like a sectional enclave.

His cancellation of the Lagos metroline project conceived by Second Republic governor of Lagos State, Lateef Jakande, is an instance of poor judgment of public policy. That singular act on that project, designed to build underground transport system to address the chaotic traffic situation in the state, is still blamed for the transportation challenges in that mega city.

The government, which Buhari led was a dictatorship of the worst kind, but the fact that he arrogantly stands by his draconian laws and official high-handedness is unimaginable.  A true statesman should have the courage to admit errors of the past for it is only then that it can be used as a guide to the future.  His ascension to leadership of the nation witnessed an unprecedented hounding of politicians into detention and jail, most of them on trumped up charges of corruption: to demonise the political actors of the time and legitimise his action of sacking a democratically elected federal government.

The obnoxious Decree 4 under which two prominent journalists, Tunde Thompson and Nduka Irabor, were jailed for a story they published in The Guardian newspapers is a case in point.  Buhari’s government’s attempt to kidnap Umaru Dikko, Second Republic Transport minister who had taken refuge as an exile in London, is another. For the general, he has developed thick skin to such criticisms of his poor human rights record but for him, it is a road well travelled. The question is: are these issues Nigerians are prepared to associate with their President? For a man who desires to lead, Buhari is as unbending as he was thirty years ago and his arrogance continues to manifest in his statements and actions today. The conclusion is obvious and the fear that he will visit the country with worse policies and draconian rule, are not misplaced after all.

By the time the 2015 presidential election is held next February, Buhari would have broken all records as the only Nigerian to have sought election to that high office four consecutive times: in 2003, 2007 and 2011.  The All Progressives Congress (APC) on which platform he has indicated interest in contesting the position again, will be his third political party; the previous ones being the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) and the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC). Why the desperation?

He has possibly forgotten the message serially delivered by Nigerians in 2003, 2007 and as recent as Saturday, 16 April, 2011 when the Congress for Progressive Change on which platform he contested, lost the 2011 presidential election to President Goodluck Jonathan of the Peoples Democratic Party. Not only was the defeat emphatic, it was also believed to signpost Buhari’s journey to political retirement after a career in which his electoral performance has always been far below his rating. How he squares up against candidate Goodluck Jonathan who is virtually unblemished by any negative allegations or stigmas, will be interesting.

OBASANJO'S UNBECOMING BEHAVIOR, GOADED BY HIS MINDSET?

Icheoku says  the continuing nuisance which Olusegun Obasanjo has lately become, to both President Jonathan and the Nigerian people, has indeed become a cancer which has to be cut off before it metastasizes. Like every cancer, if not treated or cut off at this stage is capable of taking the whole body down with it; and this is exactly what Olusegun Obasanjo is trying to do - take Nigeria down with him; or for there to be no more Nigeria left when he is dead and gone. Icheoku laments that Obasanjo's mindset which deludes him that he is an untouchable and to which he has become captive of, is trying to do him in. As he accelerates at a very top speed on his highway to hell autobahn, our prayer is that he does not take Nigeria with him when he rendezvous with Lucifer. 

Icheoku says Obasanjo presents a case of a patient with a  chronic and acute psychotic disorder, who goes into intermittent delusional psychosis, wherein he finds himself living in a space, alone, and over-confident in the   unassailability of his position. To Olusegun Obasanjo, it does not matter what the reality on the ground is, and provided his mind tells him the version of reality which he is comfortable with and wants to operate in, that is only what counts. This warped state of mind is currently serving as Obasanjo's navigational compass, as he continues to trudge in front of an approaching freight train that is the state of Nigeria. But luckily for him, the engineer/operator of the train, a man named Jonathan, is rather too disciplined and so God fearing that he is carefully applying his brakes, hoping to gradually ease an inebriated Obasanjo safely out of danger zone and not convert him into a hamburger. Icheoku will not take it and an Obasanjo will not and did not take it; likewise did every other former leader of Nigeria not take it and no future leader would be that magnanimous either, faced with such continuing arrant nonsensical provocations. Why Jonathan is accommodating this Obasanjo madness is beyond Icheoku's comprehension; a matter his dogs of war would have since abated by hog-tying and dumping Obasanjo into political irrelevance in Nigeria but for the man Jonathan.

Olusegun Obasanjo's mind is fixated on the rightness of his cause, which pursuit, is leading him into believing that as a 'co-president' of Nigeria, he can have his way as he pleases? He also believes that no person in Nigeria, including the legitimate sitting president, can do him anything or attempt to cage him or is even capable of reigning him in? Icheoku says this bigoted mindset is what is driving Obasanjo's pistons and nothing more, period. It is a peculiar idiosyncrasy which makes one to perceive things which are not there as being there. A confused reality situation, a near hallucinatory condition, which thrives, simply because one has so repeatedly done something or caused so much troubles and got away with them, without any consequence, and not being challenged either, then begins to assume the rightness and correctness of his action. To such a mind-afflicted person, it usually is, if I am not right, why is there no counter-argument or consequence  or challenge to my opinions or position? 

Around April 2014 Obasanjo was visiting Ethiopia and in his usual braggadocio, told how he is not afraid of anyone in Nigeria and rather, it is Nigerians that are afraid of him. Icheoku queries should a man with such a given mindset ever stop carrying out all his needless attacks and confrontations except his balloon is deflated? Your answer is as good as mine, but Icheoku maintains that Olusegun Obasanjo is daily growing impetuous simply because he thinks he is now an untouchable and that the Jonathan's government is deathly afraid of him. Icheoku says Olusegun Obasanjo is convinced that nothing can happen to him and this mentality is what is fueling his continuous attacks and confrontation of the president; and unless he is told ENOUGH, through some drastic action, he will continue to cause tension in the country as he inflicts reputation damage to the government and person of President Jonathan. 

Icheoku says if Sani Abacha had his way with Obasanjo and nearly killed him but for his late wife Stella's contacting Atlanta's former mayor Andrew Young, who contacted then President Bill Clinton, who made a threatening phone call to Abacha of a Grenada styled invasion of Nigeria should anything happen to Obasanjo, that Ota deity would have since rotten in an unmarked grave somewhere in Damaturu. But this is not to suggest that Obasanjo should be killed or harmed in any way, but to reiterate that a courageous head of state once went after him and the skies over Yorubaland did not cave in. Late President Umaru Yar'Adua, another courageous leader, was similarly readying himself to take on Obasanjo before the hands of death snatched him, thus once again restating that Obasanjo is not above the law but has been lucky, surviving thus far.

Icheoku says it was William Shakespeare who said in "Taming of the Shrew" that 'where two raging fires meet together they do consume the thing that fuels their fury. Adding that little fire do grow great with little wind; but extreme gust blows out fire." Icheoku says the only reason the Ota deity, is still prancing around and insulting every Nigerian's psyche, is because he has not been confronted just yet. So like a small fire, he is being prodded by the fanning which the needless attention to his reckless talks, brings his way. Icheoku says it is about time President Jonathan mans up, turn into a gust and blow out Obasanjo's fire; and let Obasanjo know that there cannot be two presidents at the same time in Nigeria. Enough of all these provocations from Olusegun Obasanjo, who himself would not tolerate half of what he is presently dishing out to President Jonathan. President Jonathan, Icheoku calls on you to just turn the dogs loose and let them do their job and bring all these mongrels to their senses. 

Obasanjo is running all over the place like a rabid dog and running his mouth as a leaky faucet simply because no countering fire for fire, scorch earth campaign, has been mounted by the timid Jonathan's government against him. Icheoku says it is about time President Jonathan mans up, develop some backbone and confront Olusegun Obasanjo once and for all; and also drum it right into his ears that there cannot be two sitting presidents in Nigeria at the same time. Olusegun Obasanjo has been sabotaging the Jonathan's government for quite sometime now, while President Jonathan, respectfully or rather timidly, looked the other way while the damage continues to mount. Why President Jonathan does not know or care to know that Obasanjo is bleeding his government's reputation baffles Icheoku a lot. Were Icheoku Jonathan, this Obasanjo distraction would have since been taken care of and in whatever way possible, even if it means the end justifying the means, provided this pesky mosquito is got rid of once and for all. 

Some fear of God need to be put in Olusegun Obasanjo to contain him or stop him or imprison him or even force him into exile if that is what it takes. Icheoku says it would appear that Nigerians including Olusegun Obasanjo himself do not enjoy the current liberty, freedom and peace in the country; so it maybe about time some barking and biting attack dogs are turned loose on the land if that is what it would take? May be that is what President Jonathan needs to do in order to gain and command some respect? Such might do  the trick otherwise this Obasanjo madness would continue to stir tension in the land and for a long time. It was Obasanjo that engineered the five PDP governors revolt? It was Obasanjo that engineered Aminu Tambuwal recalcitrant behavior, despite the fact that the same Tambuwal once disrespectfully ignored Obasanjo's plea to vacate the speaker-ship because the position was zoned to the Southwest? It was the same Obasanjo that used former and now dead Foreign Affairs Minister Ashiru to sabotage the Jonathan's foreign policies and the list goes on and on. 

Look at Olusegun Obasanjo speaking about a president being evil and Icheoku asks which evil-evil president killed his sitting Attorney General Bola Ige? Which evil-president killed Harry Marshall etc? Which evil-president killed Sultan of Sokoto Maccido alongside Senator Shagari as well as over 100 top Hausa/Fulani leaders in a staged plane crash? Even Ibrahim Babangida once broached the question including the numerous aircraft accidents that took place during Obasanjo despotic regime, masqueraded as a democracy?  Which evil-president killed some 16 army brigadiers and major generals in a staged plane crash on Mambilla plateau? Which evil-president imposed candidates all over the states, legislature etc? Which evil-president went through so many PDP party chairmen more than Icheoku has fingers on one of his hand? Which evil-president so frustrated his vice president that he ran off into exile? 

Further, which despotic evil-president kidnapped a sitting governor of a State and forced some others into exile fearing for their lives? Which evil-president closed down so many businesses which were employing thousands of Nigerians simply because he fell out with their proprietors and in his do or die style of politics, turned into a bull in a China shop, regardless of those Nigerians rendered jobless through his mindless action? Which evil-president forced nearly every state to be under PDP control and which evil-president refused to obey court orders? Which evil-president seized Lagos State revenue allocation simply because a Bola Tinubu controlled state questioned the disparity of Kano State number of local governments areas compared to Lagos and took measures to redress it? 

Continuing, Icheoku asks which evil-president continually festooned the floor of the National assembly with  banana peels, using millions of tax-payers and oil revenue money to bribe his way through and who spent a whipping 9billion Naira to effect the outcome of his failed Third Term agenda, which would have succeeded but for the courageous Ken Nnamani then led senate, who decided to publicly televise its debate? Which evil-president massacred Odi and Zaki Ibiam citizens of Nigeria and turned their homes into wasteland? Which evil-president supervised the Siemens and Halliburton bribery scandal running into hundreds of millions of dollars? Which evil-president gave away a Nigerian Bakassi community to Cameroon? Which evil-president committed sex acts including have carnal knowledge of his son Gbenga's wife Mojisola? Which evil-resident went from having zero-money when he first ran for office to becoming stupendously rich outside office? Which evil-president did all these and many more, yet has the guts to accuse another president of being EVIL? Icheoku says no matter the shortcomings of the President Jonathan's government, at least he has not committed nearly half the evil which Olusegun Obasanjo committed while he was the lord of the manor; yet the same Obasanjo had the temerity to call President Jonathan evil?

Icheoku just gets raving mad at this Obasanjo, each time he opens his foul mouth, cashing in on Nigerians known penchant for amnesia induced forgetfulness and saying what everybody knows is both incredible and incredulous. Nigerians appear to have so easily and so too soon, forgotten the slave camp which Nigeria was turned into under President Olusegun Obasanjo despotic government where everyone bowed and trembled under his suffocating presence. Icheoku once called for the arrest, trail and execution of Olusegun Obasanjo for all the crimes against humanity he committed while in office. With each day he lives thereafter, Icheoku has made conscious decision to stop wasting time on anything about him. But with every rule there are some exceptions and because the Ota deity has started Icheoku again with his recent diatribe and branding of President Jonathan as evil, Icheoku would once again say something? Hopefully, after this comment, Icheoku with much prayers for restraint, might not look the way of Olusegun Obasnjo again until the day his sorry obituary would be written and we pray it comes sooner than later. Icheoku says Olusegun Obasanjo is a cancer in the body of Nigeria and until the country rids itself of his presence, he will always be causing confusion and undue tension in the land. Icheoku laments that it is President Jonathan who allowed this seeming 'double-presidency' or co-presidency with Olusegun Obasanjo to persist in the country. As far as Obasanjo is concerned he still is the president or rather the de-facto president and the official president should submit to his authority. 

The rule number one is that there can never be two kings in a kingdom simultaneously and concurrently reigning. One of them must either be killed or banished in exile to make the reign of the one on the throne trouble-free. So for Jonathan to have piece of the mind, the de-facto president Obasanjo must be taken care of in whatever manner possible. At least if Jonathan does not know what to do, he can start the containment of this megalomaniac by indicting him for the murder of Sultan Macciddo of Sokoto; or at least set up a panel of inquiry to investigate how that plane was crashed. The Hausa/Fulani might interestingly shift their support from Obasanjo out of curiosity to say the least. The new guys on the block, across Nigeria's far northern border, in Ouagadougou, has just started investigating the killing of Thomas Sankara of thirty something odd years ago and somebody please tell Icheoku their target is not very clear and well known. 

Anyway, an Igbo adage says "Okro does not grow for those who know how to cook soup" otherwise what is going on with Olusegun Obasanjo in the country especially as it affects President Jonathan would have since been forced to  peter out. Icheoku says it requires courage on the part of President Jonathan to do the heavy lifting and get rid of this Olusegun Obasanjo, whose wife and children have rejected or at least shove him aside and out of the way and the heavens would not fall. It was done before and it could be done again. Nothing happened before and nothing will happen this time around. The only regret is that Icheoku forgot that the Ijaw man occupying Aso Rock has no balls and lacks the backbone to do the needful; otherwise the time to take out the vagabond of Ota is now. Just put him in the cold doldrums of Nigerian politics and forever. ENOUGH of him and enough of his continuing nuisance and causing tension in the land.

THE POOR SHOELESS KID FROM OTUOKE, UNIMPRESSIVE FIRST TERM?

Icheoku asks now that he wears the best leather Florence or Milan could craft, has he inspired other similarly situated kids in Nigeria including Otuoke, or done enough as president generally, to merit a second shot at the presidency? Icheoku says but for the ever restive Niger Delta oil terrorists, the need to pacify them in order for them to leave Nigerians alone and in peace being paramount, Nigerians would have voted this man out and for good, all his good luck or rather bad luck notwithstanding. Therefore if President Goodluck Ebelesimei Jonathan is reelected in 2015, it would not be because he creditably performed well enough to merit a reelection; no, it will be simply because many Nigerians as well as Icheoku, want to see justice done to the minorities of Nigeria by allowing them to also have a two terms shot at the presidency. It will also be to help douse the ever threatening Niger Delta original terrorists and prevent them from holding Nigerians hostage to their oil again. But short of that, Jonathan has not done a stellar job to make him deserving of a second term, all the indicators of a performed president considered? 

Icheoku is emphatic that President Jonathan cannot sincerely beat his hand on his chest and say I came, I saw and I conquered, on anything spectacular, which he did for Nigerians. At least the despicable Baba Iyabo liberalized telecommunications in Nigeria and made it possible for an Ezzamgbo rural farmer in Ebonyi State to hook up on the Internet to order fertilizer and keep tracking the supplying truck and guiding it for direction until he takes delivery? The Ota Deity also made it possible for Nigerians to tune in their television and see what is happening in other climes. Such insightful, far reaching accomplishments, are what Icheoku considers as tangibles of performance, but not all these transformational abracadabra nonsense that never gets transformed. Nigerians cannot go on forever waiting for an unattainable transformation goals or for one stupid seven point agenda to become project accomplished and this is what the 2015 election debate should be predicated upon. Real issues and not all these emotive sentimental nonsenses Nigerians are being currently bombarded with, including that one of the candidates would Islamize Nigeria when most Nigerians know for a fact that is a complete hogwash that has no chance whatsoever of ever coming to fruition in a democracy.

On the issue of power supply, Nigerians have not seen any meaningful improvement six years after the 'shoeless' Otuoke boy climbed into power and started wearing sporty Italian designer shoes? On the issue of insecurity, there is yet no breeder for Nigerians, six years after the Otuoke shoeless school boy mounted the saddle of leadership and now wearing very good soft leather shoes. It is on record that the shoeless Otuoke boy sacked IGP Ogbonnaya Onovo because he could not stop kidnapping just six months into office. Since then, Nigerians have seen how subsequent IGPs stopped forthwith all crimes in Nigeria, yet they were neither sacked nor fired but were allowed to dutifully serve out and serving their term? He also fired a performing Chief of Army Staff who was on the threshold of defeating Boko Haram because according to him, the embarrassment of having an Airforce base in Maiduguri bombed by Boko Haram was simply too much for him to take; yet the very chief of Air staff then Badeh under whose direct supervision the bombed air force base was, he made the current Chief of Service Staff and please someone explain to Icheoku the logic behind it? 

On employment, hundreds of thousands if not millions of employable but unemployed youths are still roaming about many years after leaving their NYSC discharge camps without jobs or any hope of finding one? Also anti-corruption effort has not received any serious boost under the Otuoke shoeless kid; ditto has the looting of Nigeria continued even to the point that Nigeria's foreign exchange savings has plummeted from the high $43billion to some negatives now? Boko Haram Islamic terrorists and their counterpart Niger Delta Oil terrorists are still holding sway in the land? All under the watch of a shoeless boy who has now become so comfortable wearing well cushioned shoes to even feel or ever remember what going shoeless felt like and too relaxed to worry about the real issues haranguing Nigerians?

Icheoku maintains that any serious Nigerian, weighing the performance of President Jonathan would agree with Icheoku that he has performed below par and if judged solely based on his records, would not stand a chance at reelection in 2015. But in Nigeria, there are so many other sentimental motivations that drive the current presidential election narrative and it is only based on such that President Jonathan will probably and most likely be reelected come February 14, 2015. Moreso, the other guy the APC imposed on themselves as their ticket bearer, is not an alternative many Nigerians can live with. Icheoku thought that the APC would have given Nigerians a different candidate without the many baggage Muhammadu Buhari is carrying and in that way make it easier for Nigerians to vote and vote as if they truly mean it. But unfortunately, they blew it with their insensitive choice of Buhari and on February 14, 2015, they will see what they did to themselves by choosing Buhari. Icheoku says on February 14, 2015, many Nigerians would be voting against Muhammadu Buhari rather than voting for Jonathan, admitted he would be the ultimate beneficiary of such default votes. 

So what Icheoku is saying is that it is about time poverty becomes a bar to becoming a president  in Nigeria or any other place, including the United States where President Obama has not shown much teeth, being constrained by his life's situational upbringing. In the future of Nigeria, people without either royalty or wealth should be barred from running for the office of the president. Such psychologically, poverty traumatized, damaged and demented individuals are often held hostage to their growing experiences and usually don't have the needed assertiveness, gravitas and bold audacity necessary to do the needful to move the society forward. They so often are still riveted in awe of those individuals they never had the privilege of interacting with, hence cannot muster the courage to go up against them. But a royalty or a man of means, who has already seen it all, would not give a damn whose ox is gored while audaciously going about the business of running a government and running it well, regardless. However, in the final analysis and irrespective of what happens on the night of Valentine day 2015 or soon thereafter following, Icheoku says President Jonathan will go down in the history of Nigeria as the president who least inspired or motivated Nigerians; needless to add that he is neither loved nor respected nor feared as a leader.  Icheoku says President Jonathan is indeed timid and not bold and does not provide leadership for anyone Nigerian, especially those who know better. But for the rat-pack, he may be the best thing that happened to them since the sliced bread debuted on their breakfast tables. Salute!

ISMAAIYI BRINSLEY, HAS THE RADICALIZATION FINALLY BEGUN?

Icheoku asks has the predicted end result of the continuing distrust between blacks and American justice system, including skewed  policing, the unintended consequences of radicalizing the disenfranchised, disillusioned and despondent blacks of America, finally began? Why would a young man, apparently middle class and probably living the American dream, judging from his good looks and the fact that he shops at high ender Louis Vuitton, decided to end his life in a murder-suicide and in this manner? What so radicalized Ismaaiyi Brinsley that he chose to bring his life to such an abrupt tragic end after taking that of two New York police officers Weinjian Liu and Rafael Ramos; who although were not directly implicated in the recent police incidents in America but whom the killer probably saw as representing the institution that has been waging war of repression against blacks? 

Icheoku says in his mind,  Ismaaiyi was probably not shooting Officers Liu and Ramos, but was shooting what he termed "two racist pigs" representing the police institution which he considers an enemy and as far as he is concerned a police man is a police man, period. But unfortunately pundits and analysts are pivoting away from asking the tough question what made this guy to loose it? Why did he become so incensed that living didn't matter to him any more and he went out this way? What pushed him over the cliff. Icheoku believes that in some quarters of the American society many are hailing him as a hero and silently wishing they are or that there could be other more brave Ismaaiyis out there to finally force a more sensible approach to black policing in America; assuming the language of vengeful force is what would finally bring everything to a head and force a solution? 

Admitted that an eye for an eye makes the whole world go blind, but is it not about time Americans agree that something is not right and then sit down to address the root cause of the existing mistrust, instead of just sweeping it under the carpet and trying to explain it as a mad man gone rogue sort of occurrence?  An injustice to one is an injustice to all and the worst treatment a person can ever mete out to another human is to treat him as if he does not matter or treat his concerns and complaints as if they are not that important to matter. Police everywhere are perceived as the same racist pigs, so any act of aggression on any police anywhere is seen as avenging a wrongful police brutality somewhere? Icheoku says it is also possible that Ismaaiyi as well as many of his admirers did not see him as a cop killer, but a knight in shinning armor coming to save the day by avenging so many police inflicted pains and deaths and brutalities of past several decades culminating in these past few recent months?  

Icheoku laments that it is the same mindset that fuels those suicide bombers in the Middle East that informed this two New York police officers' killer's, as one begin to imagine what would have happened had Ismaaiyi adorned a suicide vest instead of just a hand gun and walked into a precinct? What if this  cop-killer is just but one of so many of such people thinking and planning an attack or about embarking on such murderous mission to get at the police? But whatever be the case, this is a new development when a black man goes on a murder-suicicde in the name of avenging blacks killed, who are not even related to him, except that they both share the same skin pigmentation.  As with many of these police on black brutality, black Americans are not asking that those police officers be willy-nilly convicted; no, they are asking that they do not simply walk away as if the life they took don't matter; at least they should be prosecuted and if the jury of their peer sets them free, so be it; but at least something was seen to be done. It is somewhat palliating, admitted it does not change the fact of what happened or brought the taken life back? 

Police brutality on black Americans' avenger, Ismaayi Brinsley, assassinated two New York police officers and later took his own life, as according to him, living a life which 'don't matter' is not worth living at all? According to the last message he left before embarking on the horrendous act of "retaliation", he said "they kill one of our own, we kill two of their own"; living no one in doubt as to what triggered his sort of vendetta attack on the two New York Police officers. In his mind, Brinsley was merely avenging what he saw as a continuing pattern of police killing of black Americans without any consequence? Imagine in a spate of few months three blacks were killed by white police officers and nothing was done to the injustice and these killed had families who grieved and mourned their loss? Then you add the Fruitvale Oscar Grant, Rodney King, Garner, Brown and the little child playing with his toy gun who was murdered by the police without even being first asked to drop his weapon? Then a pattern emerges that seem to suggest that there is a grandiose plan to continually decimate the black American population? 

It would appear that those they cannot lock away to rot in prison, they kill and this disillusion is what is fueling the emotive sentiments that is almost boiling over and which led to the New York police murders. Icheoku says American people, especially the white people, should understand that the anger and hurt and the feeling that they don't matter existing in the black community is real and there is actual basis for that. But instead of trying to understand the root cause of this seething anger towards resolving it, a whole group of people are dismissively treated and regarded as angry black people? Icheoku says Yes, black people are angry but there is a reason for their anger and something is making them this horn-mad angry at what their life has become in America. Icheoku says with the Brinsley murders, may be it is a awake up call for we as Americans to begin to talk to one another towards building a more wholesome society where every American, regardless of color, would feel at home; and then we will have a more united country than all these feelings of black lives don't matter which triggered the madness that was the murder of two New York police officers. To their families as well as those left behind by Ismaaiyi brinsley, Icheoku extends our condolences; as we reiterate that an eye for an eye makes the whole world go blind and they could be other ways to resolve our differences rather becoming this disagreeable. It is a painful day in America to see two police officer killed and their killer allegedly committed suicide, admitted stories abound that he was shot execution style by charging police officers inside the train station. But Icheoku does not know nor has insider information to conclusively agree. What a day of pain and mourning. May their souls rest in peace.

SCARED OF BUHARI, IBB PITCHES TENT WITH JONATHAN?

Icheoku says too scared of the threat imposed by a possible Muhammadu Buhari's presidency, to both his personal liberty and amassed stupendous wealth, the Evil Genius has decided to throw his weight in support of the weakling President Jonathan; and Icheoku wonders who, being so similarly situated, wouldn't?  Icheoku says yes, it was a calculated-risk decision by Babangida but not that the incumbent president has so far impressed anyone, including Babangida himself, on why he meritoriously deserves a second term. 

Babangida drove a Brutus stab into Buhari's back when he overthrew him in 1985; Babangida also stole himself blind when he amassed stupendous wealth following his stay in office as Nigeria's head of state for eight long years and Babangida also locked Buhari up in prison for three long years following his ouster, so he is smart to smell a vendetta being in the offing with a Buhari's presidency. Therefore a thinking Babangida calculated that he will be better off with Buhari stopped at the gate of Aso Rock rather than to deal with a safely anchored inside Aso Rock Buhari. So like he struck before against Buhari in 1985, he is once again trying to strike to stop Buhari in 2015 and not allowed him into Aso Rock by pitching his support to Jonathan.  Babangida concluded that there would be simply too much exposure to risk for him under a Buhari presidency and decided to support a man, already known to be too timid to go after these top heavy looters of Nigeria, including Babangida. 

Icheoku would have rather been surprised had it been the other way round with Babangida risking it all by throwing his support for Buhari. Or like another analyst suggested, to see the unlikely scenario of Olusegun Obasanjo throwng his support for Abubakar Atiku, knowing fully well that both men have some unfinished business to do with them, sort of some axe to grind, and would probably come calling for their pounds of flesh respectively if empowered. Icheoku says all these retired generals and former heads of state are mere survivalists and are only interested in how they would ride off into their sunsets without much inconvenience both to their body and level of comfort. They don't care about Nigeria or Nigerians, otherwise when they had the opportunity, what did they do to showcase their love for country? They just want someone that would protect their butts and who would not probe nor prosecute them or hold them up to give account of their stewardship. They want a safe berthing president they can feel free to live with and thats their sole driving force and nothing more, period.

Now listen to the proverbial 'Nigerian Maradona' extol Jonathan, during the visit of the president to his Minna residence. Speaking to the media after the visit, Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida said, “What I will say is simple: The President means well for this country and he is working well for this country. Anybody who means well for this country should support the President to make sure that Nigeria survives as a united country.” 

Icheoku answers in rebuttal, who the heck is Babangida to preach about "meaning well for Nigeria"  when he is the chief culprit and continuing danger to Nigeria's overall well being? Please Nigerians, who is Babangida to talk about someone meaning well for Nigeria when personally he did not mean well for Nigeria when he annulled a duly conducted and completed election of MKO Abiola, June 12; and nearly threw the whole country into a turmoil from which it has not yet fully recovered till date, if ever? Icheoku maintains that the Evil genius lacks the moral standing and authority to preach to Nigerians about meaning well for the country when he never meant well for the country either? All he did with this latest Jonathan's endorsement was to play his usual surviving game, which he readily plays and is now once again playing with Jonathan under the guise of meaning well for Nigeria? 

Icheoku asks did Babangida mean well for Nigeria when Dele Giwa was blown to pieces with his parcel bomb? Did Babangida mean well for Nigeria when he took a secular Nigeria into the membership of the Islamic OIC? Did Babangida mean well for a united Nigeria when he watched Ebitu Ukiwe walk away from his government because of his religious bigotry? Did Babangida mean well for Nigeria when he introduced SAP? Did Babangida mean well for Nigeria when he killed the poet Mamman Vasta because of a long running family feud and needless competitiveness between them, known two childhood friends? Icheoku lampoons that if Babangida meant well for Nigeria he would not have failed to retire Sani Abacha while stepping aside, only for that midget of Kano to later show Nigerians real pepper? Icheoku asks since when did IBB started meaning well for Nigeria or Nigerians or is it a case of Fela's reprimand, "teacher, please don't teach me nonsense?' 

Icheoku says the only discernible thing out of this endorsement of Jonathan by Babangida is that Babangida wants to be seen as a king maker. Now that he has thrown his hat in the ring against Olusegun Obasanjo, who is supporting the APC candidate Muhammadu Buhari, it is obvious that their lasting struggle for the control of Nigeria, now continues. So with Obasanjo supporting the APC and its  presidential candidate Buhari, it somewhat seems apparent that Babangida would support the other side of the polar opposite, so PDP and Jonathan naturally benefits. With the two Nigerian nemesis, ex generals and former heads of state from hell, whose venomous happenstance on the Nigerian stage, Nigerians are still to recover from, now pitched their tents respectively, it is going to be battle royale for who wins the 2015 election. At the end of the day, whoever comes out victorious amongst this two men would have consolidated his hold on Nigeria and possibly for the very last final time as both men are nearing their graves. 

Why each ex-head of state has pitched his tent as pitched  is quite obvious to any thinking Nigerian. Obasanjo, having failed to coral Jonathan and be the recognized defacto president is desperate to bring him down. First he made sure that his other nemesis Abubakar Atiku did not get anywhere near the presidency by not securing the APC ticket; but having failed to secure his preferred Tambuwal, has no choice but to support whoever the opposite of Jonathan is. Ibrahim Babangida on the other hand is deathly afraid of what a potential Buhari's presidency would bring alongside with it; and not prepared to gamble with so much risk, and because also his Tambuwal project failed have been aborted by Bola Tinubu, now is settling for Jonathan. It is a game they all play and with all the players now fully emerged and known, the decider in chief would be the Nigerian people who will make their votes count on February 14, 2015.

Finally, like Icheoku has always maintained, none of the two candidates, Jonathan or Buhari, is the best Nigeria could have offered; but given that Nigerians are now stuck with either of them - a sort of no choice choice situation,   Icheoku would elect with Babangida that Jonathan is a lesser of the two evils. Icheoku therefore calls on Nigerians to evaluate the weighty decision they will make with their votes on Valentine's day 2015, fully seized of their chances between the devil and the deep sea. Icheoku strongly believes that since the devil is an assured destruction, the deep sea might be a lesser-risk choice because as with  Jonah of Nineveh, a whale might come to their rescue? Icheoku's preference of Jonathan to the mega-dictator, Muhammadu Buhari, is also predicated on the fact that Buhari has neither apologized for his high-handedness in office nor adequately assured Nigerians that the leopard has changed its spots. Anyway, Nigerians you decide, but please decide with a clear mind after weighing what 2015 holds in stock both for you and the country. Salute!

WE WILL SURRENDER - BOKO HARAM

'Our agenda is to instal a Muslim president in Nigeria on February 14, 2015. The APC presidential candidate, Muhammadu Buhari, is a Muslim, so if Nigerians vote for him, we will stop our blood letting orgy and mayhem. We shall not even wait for "President" Muhammadu Buhari to send his soldiers after us at Sambisa evil Forest to crush us; he won't have a need to do that. We will surrender immediately following his inauguration, having mission-accomplished our objective of installing a Muslim president in Nigeria. 

So Nigerians, you decide, whether the insecurity in Nigeria will continue or you will help solve the problem on February 14, 2015 by casting your vote for the APC presidential candidate, Muhammadu Buhari. The ongoing insecurity situation as engineered, is being methodically orchestrated to achieve a predetermined objective; and ironically, we are succeeding in persuading Nigerians that ONLY Muhammadu Buhari can stop the Boko Haram imbecility. So to stop insecurity, VOTE Buhari! We are Boko Haram and we approve this message!' 

Icheoku says Nigerians, now you know that all the talks about Muhammadu Buhari ending the Boko Haram insurgency is all hot air as it fits their template regardless. But don't forget that the restive Niger Delta is equally a keg of gun powder waiting to ignite; so if you trade off Boko Haram by voting Buhari, would the Niger Delta be a preferred crisis? You decide.

2015 ELECTIONS, APC ESCHEWS VIOLENCE.

Icheoku says it is quite commendable for the APC to come out forcefully  to   eschew violence in the forthcoming 2015 election. With Sheikh Gumi, President Jonathan and now the APC clearly decrying violence, it is now less  likely that there will be violence in the election; provided these people meant what they said and said what they meant. Nigerians should therefore expect to see a violence-free election come February 14, 2015 when they will choose their leaders for the respective offices.  Icheoku says way to go APC and this goes to show that Nigerians and their democracy are steadily maturing; and that they have come to agree that no election is worth the life of any Nigerian. 

Here now is the APC undertaking to desire zero violence in election 2015:- “We have heard from Nigerians who are so afraid about possible violence during the forthcoming election that they are even willing to relocate to other countries until after the elections. But, as the biggest opposition party in Nigeria and a major stakeholder in our nation's democracy, we are assuring, on our part, that there will be no violence. Though our party has no history of violence, we have commenced a nationwide effort to sensitize our members and supporters to the need to eschew rancor and embrace non-violent methods, even in the face of the kind of provocations to which we were subjected during the Ekiti and Osun governorship elections, when our members were needlessly harassed, arrested and detained by partisan security agencies acting under orders from the Federal Government. 

If the Federal Government allows a level playing field for all contestants, if the security agencies stop acting as the armed wing of the ruling PDP, if the electoral umpire will carry out its duties without fear, favor or bias and if citizens are allowed to exercise their franchise unmolested, the stage will be set for non-violent, free, fair and credible polls. In other words, the government has a major role to play in making the forthcoming polls peaceful. On our part, in addition to other efforts aimed at ensuring a peaceful election, we pledge to accept the result of an election that is not only free, fair, credible and transparent, but one that is also seen to be so. We hope other parties will make a similar pledge.”

Icheoku says it very nice indeed that the APC did this and agrees with the APC that 'elections should be 'a celebration of democracy, rather than a moment of fear, violence and threat to lives.' Icheoku also agrees that a meeting of the leadership of the two political parties, the APC and the PDP, will send a powerful message to compatriots and indeed the international community and help douse the tension that is building up ahead of the election.” Icheoku says this is a good step in the right direction as no violence takes place unless it is authorized or impliedly so authorized by people in authority over the urchins that ferment these violence; but once people in leadership positions makes it clear to their followers that they do not want violence, there will be no violence. All the best Nigerians as you accelerate towards February 14, 2015, the day you will decide who rules you. 

JONATHAN'S 99 PROBLEMS, INCLUDES OBASANJO?

Icheoku says President Goodluck Jonathan largely created all the problems bedeviling him, which  increasingly is now also threatening to take down his government and/or  make his second term ambition a mere wishful dream or a nightmare, at worst? Any Nigerian, including the president's inner circle, his political hacks, lackeys, other hired guns or hands, as well as the broader retinue of his town criers, who is denying the fact that the president has serious problems going into 2015 election must either be delusional or too intoxicated on presidential patronage-opiates not to appreciate the gravity of the clues on the ground. Jonathan's challenging problems are indeed legion and are militating heavily against his 2015 ambition. It will take a divine intervention for him to successfully navigate through the many hurdles placed in front of his second term ambition and the fight would be both very serious and very costly. 

The worst of it all is that these problems as well as his detractors are simply too many; and are as diverse, multi-faceted and hydra-headed as there are divergent opinions in Nigeria. Icheoku laments that the president's problems are so complexed and so convoluted that even attempting to solve them or fully placate their sources, would constitute a problem unto itself. The saddest part of this complexity is that majority of these problems were self-inflicted by a president who is either too timid or lacks the courage and strength of character to do what is needed to stop the bleeding. This incapacity goes to show that having a PhD alone, is not what is needed or required to be a good successful leader. It takes more, including a heart and a hand that could serve both hot and cold dishes, depending on who the guest is. Icheoku agrees that President Jonathan has taken more than any other past president ever took or would have taken and from everybody and everywhere in Nigeria; and most Nigerians have a consensus of opinion on this conclusion. But as to the why, only the president can answer.

Icheoku says but unlike rapper Jay-Z, whose 99 problems does not include Mitt Romney although it includes Solange Knowles, Jonathan's 99 problems, unfortunately, includes Olusegun Obasanjo, the man who made him? Icheoku bemoans that President Jonathan could afford to fall out with his mentor and still left him standing? Any good student of 'The Godfather' or someone who dutifully watched 'Al Pacino/Keeanu Reeves' 'The Devil's Advocate', would agree that accepting anything from the devil requires a premium, sacrifice and payback in return? It is a general knowledge that the devil does not and never gives somebody anything for free; and that anyone accepting something or a favor from the devil must be prepared to do the devil's bidding and equally pay a price in return. Such a beneficiary must be prepared to let the devil occupy his duly entitled prime place of honor in his life. Such a beneficiary must also, eminently acknowledge the devil for his endowment; but in no event must he attempt or try to disparage the devil or scornfully treat him. If he does, he will have himself to blame when the devil takes back his bequeath and as often happens, equally takes that person alongside his gift for being an ingrate. 

Such a recipient of the devil's largess only option is a slavish obedience and total devotion to the will of the devil or in the alternative, to kill the devil if he can in order to secure his release from ransom. This is the only route to freedom and in order to keep the bequeath and as in the case under advisement, to then reign freely and undisturbed. But failure to do either, would make the devil become rabidly so incensed that the devil would ask for and most times take the recipients life in a retributive vengeance. Icheoku says President Jonathan failed to observe this imperative, a cardinal requirement necessary in accepting any conferred benefit from the devil.  President Jonathan took something which Olusegun Obasanjo dangled before him and then reneged on the bargain. He neither allowed Baba Iyabo his preeminence position in his life and government and also failed woefully in not doing the needful alternative of completely decimating or eliminating his benefactor  By failing to take a proactive measures to whittle down Baba Iyabo's influence or force him into self-exile or  send him away to rot in prison or even kill him as some leaders would do, Jonathan made a fatal mistake which he might live to regret in 2015. 

Icheoku asks why did Jonathan accept the gift of Nigeria's presidency from Olusgeun Obasanjo when he knew he would not keep his part of the bargain? Where is indeed the opportunity cost of the presidency of Nigeria when the bargained for inducement that made Olusegun Obasanjo to part with it and confer it on Jonathan was not fulfilled? If it was a valid contract, won't the Ota Deity have a valid action for breach of contract against Jonathan? Why did Jonathan not perform his condition subsequent which is to allow Obasanjo be the defacto president of Nigeria? Who will not be horn-mad to see the man you made president rubbish both you and your record and even completely shut you out of power, influence and relevance in his government? A government which, without your machinations and manipulations, would not have become a reality in the first place? Who will not be livid as hell at such a betrayal? So without mincing words, Icheoku makes bold to say that it  makes sense as it is also understandable that a man who lost out of a bargain like the Ota Deity did, should be not happy with President Jonathan.  Icheoku refuses to believe that any other person, who finds himself in the circumstance which Olusegun Obasanjo found himself, being locked out of a government he facilitated and foist on Nigeria, would. So let Jonathan's people, who are currently reaping where they did not sow, realize that Olusegun Obsanjo deserves better and in any event reserves the right to be mad for being so sidelined. 

A tactician-president who wants to sideline his godfather and go it alone, would as his first order of business, destroy the source from which he got his power. This is rule number one of surviving the ever shifting chairs that is third world African politics; and it is very necessary in order to rule supremely, undisturbed and uninterrupted. Alternatively  the emergent leader must totally submit himself to the yoke of his proverbial godfather and run to him each time and any time he is in a bind or fix or needs direction or in any other event, whenever he is so otherwise summoned by him. But to just discard the godfather that put you up where you are and still naively think you can go it alone while the godfather is still freely running around in the land, is akin to playing Russian roulette with your life? It is  as good as having a suicide rope around your head and praying for the noose to be put in your neck and pulled tight. There cannot be two leaders or presidents in a country at the same time, whether it is putative or otherwise, since the controlling psychology is the mindset of the defacto president. But Jonathan has allowed this anomaly to persist and for so long that Obasanjo feels he is an untouchable and no one can do him anything, hence his utterances and machinations against the presidency. 

The wrath of a godfather, especially one so disrespected, is as furious as the clapping thunder and bolts of lighting combined; and no astute political player or thinking leader or president ever willingly provokes. So Jonathan provoked the Obasanjo situation and only he can checkmate it or watch helplessly as the man who created him would have him uncreated.  Icheoku says Obasanjo knows how he made Jonathan president and still have the secret formula just incase he wishes to reverse engineer him. But for permitting this situation  of seemingly two presidents - one the official and the other a defacto, Icheoku says Jonathan is probably dumb, clueless and cowardly. This lack of political  sagacity by President Jonathan, which has incapacitated  him from doing what is needed to clear the minefields, especially taking out his now arch detractor and ruefully benefactor, will possibly  prove his greatest political undoing in 2015. 

Icheoku  reiterates that if President Jonathan did not or fails to survive the tsunami of opposition being brewed against him by the APC, other parties and groups with interest, both foreign and domestic, and clandestinely aided and abetted by Baba Iyabo, he will have no one else to blame but himself.  If at the final collation of results on February 14, 2015 or any time soon thereafter, Nigeria has a new president not named Goodluck Jonathan, President Jonathan should look in the mirror to see the man who brought his downfall starring back at him. Otherwise how on earth could a person with such a sac load of indictable transgressions as Olusegun Obasanjo, publicly and severally call the president the weakest leader Nigeria ever had and accused him equally of lacking the capacity to be vicious and still be allowed to run freely wild in the land. But hey, it is Jonathan's battle and only his to fight and win; as Icheoku and millions of Nigerians and other interested parties world over are waiting in trepidation for Valentine's day 2015 when Nigerians will decide who to fall in love with - whether Jonathan/Namadi or Buhari/Osibanjo. Until then, Nigerians should get ready to vote to make a point, to vote to make their votes count and to vote to prove that they too do matter. Salute.