EUROPEAN INVASION BY MEDITERRANEAN SEA BOAT PEOPLE, WELL DESERVED?

Icheoku says but for the exploitation-driven colonial interest of those Europeans, whose only focus in their then colonial states, were derivatives rather than nation-building of self-sustaining states, the current ongoing migration madness through the Mediterranean sea would never have inhered or at best, been just a mere unthinkable imagination. But nope, they went into these territories to pillage their resources, using same to build up their own respective European states, while leaving the owners of these resources holding the plate. Today a new generation of those economically left-behinds, have become emboldened enough to seek a somewhat 'redress or reprieve" in these European countries, which were primarily developed using their countries resources? What an argument in support that is somewhat very plausible one would make, except that those Europeans think differently as they see these migrants as a counting nuisance which must be abated. 

These European colonialists, instead of developing the manpower and resources needed in these states that are feeding the current migration, busily took everything to make themselves rich and wealthy and left these people desolate and in abject destitution. Now they are at the receiving end of their myopic policy and should not be heard to complain that migration through the Mediterranean Sea is getting out of hand. If only they did right by these people and helped develop their respective economies, they would not need to migrate to Europe for survival. Needless to add that these Europeans are privy and participants in all the unrests and instabilities and wars and distortion of governments of these migrants' countries? Therefore they must accept every immigrant that makes it to Europe, fully aware that they owe them big time by reason of their colonial and slavery past policies that left these people economically, hopelessly destitute. It is possible that all these Africans, especially, now taking grave risk, making the dangerous crossing through the Mediterranean Sea to Europe, would have been rich and wealthy in their own respective countries and thus not needing to infest Europe with their struggle at survival. But the then unthinking European colonial masters were short-sighted, short-term themed and not focused to look into the horizon to see the bigger picture. Now their descendants have their work fully cut out for them, fending off these Mediterranean invaders who are so determined to make it into Europe or like hip-hop artist 50 Cents sang, die trying. 

Icheoku says it could only be utter hopelessness that drives people to go to this great length just for an opportunity at survival? They trek through dangerous parched desert for several months before embarking on their sea voyage  through the treacherous Mediterranean Sea, in rickety rafts and boats. Then some of them stow away inside trucks with some perching precariously on truck tops and sides; some trekking through the English Chunnel from Calaise France to get to Britain while thousands perish enroute. Icheoku says it can only be a one-way, all or nothing, shot at survival that drives this wildebeest-like migration by these people. Since the alternative is an assured certain death at their respective home countries, it becomes imperative for them to embark on this migration up North, in a desperate life saving effort, since they have nothing to lose anyway. To them, nothing can be worse than what they have already experienced, hence anything out there beyond the horizon will surely be an improvement to what they have. Like one refugee rightly pointed out, he is already a living-dead and in prison living in his own country, so what difference does it make if he leaves the free prison in his country to try his luck in an unfree prison in Europe? 

But regrettably, these Europeans are mounting effort to stop these dying and desperate immigrants from reaching their shores and are threatening in any other event, to deport them back to wherever they came from? Icheoku queries why force a man who is fleeing from a certain death back to the nemesis he was running away from if not for meanness and uncaring attitude? Whatever be the inconvenience, these Europeans should see their culpability in this migration and then make some mea culpa by admitting whoever successfully makes the treacherous sea-crossing and allow them a shot at survival. The irony of the whole planned 'intercept and send them back' strategy is that the same white Europeans who brought their religion and introduced their God to Africans as God of a heaven of bliss and abundance, are the same people now denying these refugees the comparable 'heaven of bliss and abundance' in their continent. If these Europeans would not permit these hungry and starving immigrants a taste of their heaven on earth, what then is the use preaching to Africans about a heaven utopia upon death? Are they by their action forcing these migrants into immediate death so that they can hurry off to heaven, instead of wasting their time here on earth in penury and lack thereof. 

Icheoku says if indeed their preached-about heaven do in fact exist, would these white people allow Africans and the poor and wretched of this world access thereinto or will they forcibly appropriate it also just for themselves only? If they cannot share their own heaven on earth here, what is the guarantee that they will share the blissful heaven later in the other life? It is equally disturbing that these white people are wasting so much food and throwing away a lot too, yet their bible-clutching preachers and missionaries come to Africa with loads of bibles but no morsel of food to feed the hungry and the starving poor. Icheoku admonishes these preachers to always include some sacs of wheat, millet, rice, corn and some dairies and meat products whenever they embark on their evangelical missions to Africa, as there are so many yawning mouths of children and pregnant women that needs nutrition. It is a well known logic that nothing goes well on an empty stomach; so the soul will be more amenable to their preaching when the stomach is no longer churning and rumbling. Icheoku says what would Jesus say to these white people if and when they eventually meet and see him; except that no one knows for sure the veracity of the bible stories.

PRESIDENT BUHARI KILLS DEMOCRACY, IMPOSES BUHARIOCRACY ON NIGERIA?

Icheoku says many discerning Nigerians saw it coming and therefore are not fazed with the current Northern regionalization of Nigeria by the incumbent President Muhammadu Buhari. Icheoku bemoans that President Muhammadu Buhari successfully mislead many Nigerians into believing that he has changed his old ways of being an unrepentant Northern Hausa/Fulani zealot when they voted for him on March 29, 2015.  These brainless Nigerians are now finding out the rude-shock hard-way that the Muhammadu Buhari of 1983 to 1985 is not any different from the Muhammadu Buhari of 2015; as a full grown person does not easily learn to be left-handed at an adult age. 

Instead of practicing the all inclusive democracy that brought him to power as well as implementing its ideals of equality of all and a collective governance, President Muhammadu Buhari has now reverted to his autocratic dictatorship mode and style of governance; and because he is no longer in military uniform, has now branded the type of government he is running, a "Buhariocracy." Icheoku says Buhariocracy as defined, is a government of Northerners by Northerners and for Northerners? Which leaves Icheoku wondering out aloud whatever happened to the promise to by President Muhammadu Buhari to be a president of all and who belongs to nobody. Icheoku asks is any part of Nigeria excluded or excludable from the Nigeria known to President Muhammadu Buhari that a solid part of it has not got any appointment so far? Imagine 36 appointments so far made, 29 went to the North, 4 to the Southwest, 2 to the Southsouth and 0 (none) to the Southeast. Yet President Goodluck Jonathan is not from the Southeast, admitted the people of Southeast adopted him, leaving Icheoku wondering if President Muhammad Buhari is on a mission to finally finish some unfinished business of 1967. 

Shockingly, Nigerians are beginning to find out that this "converted democrat" is afterall in name and title only; as the leopard never changes its color. Icheoku has grave concern that this lean and mean man of Daura is governing  as if Nigeria does not matter to him and could care less if his action pushes Nigeria over the precipice.  Unfortunately,  because he is doing just one single term in office and will not run again to canvas the people for their votes, he does not care either what the people thinks of his actions. Now Nigerians have finally met their match as this cattleman president from Daura simply does not give a damn. If only former President Jonathan of Otuoke did follow through his mouthing-off of that sentence with some action, may be he will still be in Aso Rock? Icheoku does not know whether Baba Iyabo, Olusegun Obasanjo, will similarly write President Muhammadu Buhari  his own satanic verses to remind him what he is doing wrong in a democracy.  Icheoku says someone needs to coral President Muhammadu Buhari into understanding that he did not win the election alone but through collective effort of millions of people from every divergent part of Nigeria many of who deserve to be somewhat represented in government.

BIDEN HAS NO FUEL, WILL NOT RUN ON EMPTY?

"If I were to announce to run, I have to be able to commit to all of you that I would be able to give it my whole heart and my whole soul, and right now, both are pretty well banged up." - Vice President Joe Biden on his 2016 chances of running for the presidency. 

Icheoku says that clears a possible serious obstacle to Hillary Clinton which means she is still the presumptive presidential nominee of the Democratic Party. What a lifeline from On High for Hillary 2016; except that Joey is still very much around with us here on earth.

VESTER FLANAGAN, ANOTHER AMERICAN GONE (GUN) CRAZY?

Icheoku says regardless of his grievances or provocations that finally pushed him over the ledge, no killing of any human being is ever justified or justifiable. Therefore the latest statistic in Americans gone crazily wild and killing another is but a lunatic who is looking for excuses to carry out his murderous evil intentions and succeeded in dispatching two innocent journalists to the great beyond. He was not the first person to be ever fired from a job as almost everyone has been fired from a job at one time or the other and they all did not decide to kill people as a result. Icheoku says he is just simply a wacko-doddle human gunpowder waiting to go BOOM and he went BOOM and two people went down from the blast. 

Icheoku says, simply a pathetic fellow who is neither here nor there. He was neither a racist nor someone seeking to defend the black race or stand up against racism; as he was equally mad at black male folks for discriminating against him for being a gay black-man in America. He also dislikes white women for no identifiable reason other than that one of them took his job and also used racial epithet against him. He then went on to talk about a racial war, challenging those white people to bring it on and Icheoku wonders with whom would he have been marching into battle, the same black-men whom he disparaged? Anyway, Vester Lee Flanagan II was simply looking for ways to explain out his inexplicable heinous act and he did a very poor job at it; as no sane person expects a fired worker to go about killing people in this way as a result. He killed reporter Alison Parker because she took his job and killed cameraman Adam Ward because he engineered his exit from the television station through false witnessing and backstabbing. There is also the third wounded victim, Vicki Gardner, who happen to be at the wrong place at the wrong time, but with whom he had no beef otherwise he had opportunity to finish her off but chose not to. 

What a faggot of the worse kind this guy is as no true gay person is ever this disgustingly violent; but he failed in his attempt to give gay people a bad name. Icheoku says although many of his complaints were plausible as a continuing pattern of occurrence in American workplaces, including racial discrimination and sexual harassment being a gay person, name calling him a monkey by a high-up producer, but still it does not justify what went down. People get fired from their jobs all the time and sometimes for no apparent reason as an employer is not required to have a reason for 'separating an employee from the company'. It could be for anything or nothing at all and sometimes from the very mundane to the inexplicable absurdity. No one cares and in America, the nastier you are the more chances you are to make it through the ladder to the top. Many people in various supervisory positions know of this unspoken canon of rising to the top and so like cream, they will summarily axe anyone without blinking or batting an eyelid. 

Vester Flanagan should have known that it comes with the territory and therefore dusted himself up and moved on following his firing. But no, he allowed another person's action to get the better part of him and today it boiled over into an unthinkable violent act that left three people dead and the fourth hospitalized. Icheoku says many Americans have thought about whacking people who fired them. Many Americans too have similarly thought about committing suicide just to get it over with. But only the weak and the faint-hearted follow through with these thoughts. The strong and never yielding ones, always  soldiers on to the next big thing which might eventually prove their previous nasty experience to be a blessing in disguise. Icheoku believes that Flanagan encountered 'nasty racist things' at work, every American especially people of color do, but it still does not justify what he did. Icheoku only hopes that America can start evaluating more why Americans lose their cool and burn their top gaskets, leading to all these mass killings; instead of always branding such lost soul as a "disgruntled employee" or "an angry, stressed and aggressive blackman or person. 

Icheoku says that all the killer's expressed issues of anger and annoyance are common place occurrences in American work places. Fucking with peoples life and causing awful chain of events is also part of the society. Demons which  would not leave him alone until they drove him over the cliff and the rest is now history. Icheoku vouches that such 'feeling of being completely overwhelmed, confused and even having some real fear about someone's worth, value and future' is true. Icheoku had been boxed into such dark corner in the past where all thoughts came flooding in including feeling suicidal. Yes it is true and anyone denying their existence is either economical with the truth or has not traveled through America's job places or simply in denial. It is equally possible that those his producers did not believe he knows what he was doing. They always doubt your abilities if a colored person, regardless of one's high degrees and work ability; and they always find collaborating fellow employees to give false witnesses to seal any one's fate whenever they want to. 

Therefore it is possible that the photos were out to get him otherwise what could a reporter have reported so badly that a photog would rush off to the HR to report him just after only working with him once? Icheoku knows first hand how this works, having been a victim myself; so his fears were real but it does not excuse the heinous murders. Imagine his former employer reaching out to his new would be employer to persuade them not to follow through with a job offer they had earlier made to him? Then ask yourself how they planned for this guy to survive and finally succeeded in pushing him into his despondency. Yes he admittedly was angry as everyone else in America is; the reason why drug and alcohol use is very prevalent in a futile attempt to numb and deaden the anguish. Yes, he reserves right to be mad and angry just like everyone American. Yes like Tupac Shakur, he could not find peace on earth in America and believed it could be found elsewhere outside this world. 

Yes he also tried but unsuccessfully to 'pull himself up by the bootstraps but according to him "the damage was already done and when someone gets to this point, there is nothing that can be said or done to change their sadness to happiness. It does not work that way and not even medications can do anything to help the situation. Continuing he admitted it is too much to bear as they fucked up his head. Icheoku gets it and confirms them to be real challenging situation in America but which does not explain nor excuse what he did. There is something called counseling or just trying your luck elsewhere including going abroad to see if the pasture could be greener over there. But to vent his anger in this manner is benefit any and every sense of decency and therefore condemnable.

Icheoku says name calling never kills anyone admitted it might cause hurt-feelings. He sued and the case was settled, an admission of responsibility of some sort; but most of these employers when they want you out would rather pay to have you go away. So what if he threw a huge tantrums at his last firing or was he expected to happily  throw a huge thank you hugging party for being fired? But all these odd, strange and threatening behavior is a code word for some ulterior motives for firing people who do not fit into a "working culture and environment", another code for you don't belong here or your type is not a good fit here. 

The fact of the matter is that so many people are angry and miserable in America and are walking time bombs waiting to go off at the slightest provocation or any given reason. Luckily however, Vester Flanagan is not a Mexican who came across the border illegally to 'come here and kill Americans' and could not have been earlier deported in order to preempt this. He was not a deportable illegal Mexican and deporting him would not have been an option under Donald Trump's themed solution to all America's immigration problems, including stopping gun violence in America? So deportation of illegals would not have saved the lives of the two television crew members who were killed in the line of duty. Now words like 'You are fired; 'We decided to separate you from the company; and 'We decided to let you go" are ingrained as too well known in our job places lexicons. But what these employers who randomly 'let employees go' expect such former employees to do, they will not tell pr say. 

Lastly while Icheoku believes that all the grievances of Vester Flanagan are plausible including the conspiracy by cameraman Adam Ward to have him replaced by Alison Parker, who called him name or made racist remarks at him; his complaints which went unanswered by the employer; racial discrimination and sexual harassment etc; but none of these either in individually or in entire and in a whole is enough reason to take another human being's life, talkless of two of them. Thankfully while the gunman was running his mouth over the phone trying to justify what he did, unbeknownst to him, security agents were on his trail using the phone embedded GPS as their guiding beacon to get to him. The murderer is no more as he took his own life in order not to give credit to others for being the hands that brought him to justice. Whether such shooting of self is an act of bravery or cowardice is debatable; but most courageous people following such an act would rather end it immediately and at their own choosing, rather than be processed through the justice system only to eventually end up being killed anyways. Crime committed, crime solved and everyone is mourning at the same time. But when would NRA be moved into doing something about sensible gun control in America? Rest in peace Alison, Adam ande of course Flanagan, Adieu.

WAR ON CORRUPTION AND OBASANJO'S 'CATCH ME IF YOU CAN' NAUSEATING ANTICS.

Icheoku says the current war on corruption propaganda by President Muhammadu Buhari will amount to nothing and convince no one as anything serious and foundational, if he does not also prosecute Olusegun Obasanjo, Ibrahim Babangida and Abdulsalam Abubakar as well as Theophilus Danjuma, the four corruption incarnates of Nigeria PLC. These men are good(bad)will ambassadors of corruption; eminently very corrupt persons who are the bad influence spreading corruption in Nigeria. These are the men who give Nigerians reason to get rich at any cost and regardless of the means. These are the men who gave impetus to the end justifying the means and who are fueling corruption madness in Nigeria. These are the men who have stupendously enriched themselves in Nigeria without any obvious means of livelihood or the business they do or the scientific discovery they made that landed them into their sudden wealth. 

Icheoku says in any civilized society, these four despicable men would not be walking the soil as free men, their questionable stupendous wealth considered. Yet they are operating with impunity, deciding who becomes what in Nigeria including the who occupies the office of the presidency; railroading out of office anyone who falls out of their favor while bankrolling anyone who agrees to know-tow to their dictations into office. Therefore a President Muhammadu Buhari putting a lip to and circus show of fighting corruption must first disclose to Nigerians how much of these four men's money was deployed to purchase him the presidency. What secret undertaking was he forced to sign and how weighty is his undertaken obligations to them. Icheoku says these clarifications became important in order to reasonable evaluate the chances which his latest war on corruption has at succeeding. But unfortunately, Icheoku is not a believer that this war on corruption stands a chance in hell at succeeding with such burdened yoke of a noose tightly wound on President Muhammadu Buhari's neck.

Icheoku says it therefore does not lie in the mouth of Olusegun Obasanjo to declare himself not corrupt or for Babangida or Abdulsalam or Danjuma to beat their hands on their chest to exclaim they did not steal Nigeria's public money. They should simply establish to Nigerians the sources of their wealth; how they stumbled across their pots of gold at the end of the rainbow. Failing which, the state can and should force their forfeiture as proceeds of corruption, money laundering and other criminal vices such as drug dealing and/or loan sharking. 

Icheoku is always miffed when at every of his interview bothering on Nigeria corruption, how Baba Iyabo and Ota Deity, Olusegun Obasanjo, always emphasizes that he is not corrupt; but that every other Nigerian including his then vice president Abubakar Atiku is corrupt? Query, if Oulsegun Obasanjo is not corrupt, did he win the Mega lottery to have suddenly transformed himself from a near-penniless pauper fresh out of the prison a few short years ago to the now one of Africa's richest person? Icheoku says that every income has to have a source from which it inheres,  otherwise it becomes illegitimate and subject to government's seizure invoking financial crimes law. There exists or should exists in the statute, ombudsman's provisions that empowers the government to always act to safeguard and protect its financial health. 

As a correlation therefore, the government could step in and force a disclosure of questionable finances or simply seize them where dubious and doubtful. Icheoku says this should ordinarily be the fate of Olusegun Obasanjo except that the lean and mean Cassius of Daura, President Muhammadu Buhari is in bed with Obasanjo and the other corrupt retired generals. Therefore, being so much eternally indebted to these men, cannot afford to sheepishly tow the path of the unthinking Jonathan of Otuoke by taking them on frontally. First Obasanjo appointed then Muhammadu Buhari his Petroleum Minister and then there was the questionable $2.5 billion missing oil money under his watch that took wings from London's Midland Banks - a joker in the hands of Obasanjo that he could pull anytime to douse any fire or heat of war on corruption investigation. 

President Muhammad Buhari's tenure as PTF chairman could also yield some skeletons if push comes to shove. Then lastly, President Muhammadu Buhari's current presidency was purchased or at least facilitated to a great part by these men, both in money and contacts/influence. So a thinking President Muhammad Buhari will not want his 99 problems to include these ruthless men and would rather play it safe. Icheoku says if the none investigation of these men is the war on corruption which President Muhammad Buhari is bandying about, then there is indeed no war on corruption really taking place nor one which Nigerians can believe in. If as Nigerians and the world agree that there is terrorism of corruption in Nigeria and according to President Muhammadu Buhari, this four men in particular will not be investigated, who then is corrupt in Nigeria?

HILLARY CLINTON SERVER-GATE SCANDAL, WILL SHE SURVIVE?

Icheoku says no one knows and only time will tell whether Hillary Clinton has irreparably damaged herself in the eyes of the American people, thereby foreclosing whatever chances she might have had of ever being handed over the key to the White House. But it surely does not look good that a person who is asking the American people to trust her with the highest office in their land, the American presidency; has in addition to her indiscretion of using a private server for her emails while Secretary of State, also went ahead wiping the said server clean, and thus shown that she herself cannot be trusted or at best, trust but verify. 

Query, why would a clear-conscience Hillary Clinton wipe clean a server which she knows or should have known contained all the information she sent and received through the unsecured portal; and which will be and is now subject of an investigation if she has nothing to hide? Why would Hillary Clinton so effusively treat this issue as if it is a joke that could be so easily 'wiped out with her cloth;' and this is the same person who wants to be trusted with the American presidency? Icheoku asks what happened to her trusting the American peoples' FBI, having faith that they will do justice with their investigation and not encumber their work by wiping out the slate clean that would have otherwise helped make their job easier? What happened to her leveling with the American people about what she sent and received through her unsecured channels by not stonewalling on their release and also not tampering with evidence by wiping the server with her cloth; and this is the same person who wants to be handed over the American presidency? 

Icheoku has no opinion either way - whether she continues with her quest to become the first female American president or withdraws and recuses herself therefrom the effort by reason of the unraveling and never ebbing away server-gate scandal. But whatever she decides to do should be done fast and soon enough in order to afford the Democratic Party reasonable time to find a shoe-in and in order not to pawn away the presidency to the other guys. A matter made more terrifying a proposition because that other guys might have a bigoted white pig named Donald Trump leading their charge. Therefore Hillary Clinton must act and act fast to either get out or begin to convince the American people that she has plausible explanation for the obvious criminal behavior or at best, her acts that have very limited trustworthiness.

Icheoku maintains that practically all the goodwill Hillary Clinton has been enjoying, is enjoying and continues to enjoy to this day, is courtesy of her husband William Jefferson Clinton. Most people who like or love or admire Hillary Clinton are simply transferring their love for Bill Clinton to her by reason of being married to him. This is the reason why many people have theorized that but for Hillary Clinton's ambition to become president, she would have since walked away from Bill and out of their marriage. Some people also share the view that Bill Clinton, subconsciously does not honestly wish Hillary Clinton well in her ambition to become president. According to this school of thought, he wants her to remain a wanna-be president only; hoping that as long as it simply remains an ambition, a sort of work in progress, his marriage to her will safely remain anchored. But who knows what the sly Billy is actually up to; as all these have not been conclusively substantiated; admitted reasonable grounds do exist to believe and continue to propagate them. 

Anyway, whatever the result of the current FBI investigation of the person of Hillary Clinton, as according to former AG Michael Mukasey, 'the FBI does not investigate machines' but people, Icheoku hopes and prays that she will beat all the rap and come out tops, smoking hot as ever and go on to eventually making record as the first female president of the United States of America. It is also good too that the said AG dismissed the rumor of the current FBI investigation being a political witch-hunt by President Obama against the Clintons? A rumor, almost taking a life of its own, that it is President Barack Obama that is the one engineering the possible forced Hillary Clinton's take-down and take-out of the 2016 presidential contention. Lastly, as the nation and the world await the outcome of the FBI investigation into whether or not Hillary Clinton, as a sitting United States of America Secretary of State, received and sent classified emails using private unsecured network; Icheoku prays and hopes that the former AG was not right that "it is inconceivable that a great deal of the information was unclassified;" thereby pinning Hillary Clinton with knowledge thereto and then its violation, moppets likely of a criminal nature, which might see her doing serious term barring a pardon. Icheoku says hopefully Hillary Clinton will not in her combustible ambition to move into the White House end up being moved into the Big House. Only time will tell.

ASHLEY MADISON, WRECKING HOMES AND MAKING NONSENSE OF MATRIMONY?

Icheoku says is it not about time society finally dissolves the institution of marriage and let humans live as they were originally meant to live, wildly? What use then is all the pretentious spousal commitments to one  another when they do not intend to honor same but end up cheating on each other anyway? Now they are getting help with this cheating from none other than Ashley Madison, a casual sex and cheating network? 

Over 37 million married people were caught pants down,  like a deer in the headlights, cheating on their spouses. But thanks to The Impact Team, a hackers group, who successfully got inside Ashley Madison's database to expose this trend. The hackers demanded that the website shut down its business practice, being home wreckers or they will release records of their clients. The cheating website called their bluff and today details of those shriveling patrons who are using Ashley Madison as a cheating portal, have been made public; and there are so many holier than thou Pharisees patrons among them including a member of the Family Values activists family, Josh Duggar.  Icheoku says a website specializing in  "normalizing" extra-marital affairs and thus seriously attacking the very foundation upon which matrimonial relationships are built cannot be anything than anti-marriage and anti-society. 37 million married spouses are a lot of spouses to be cheating on each other and making nonsense of adultery. 

Icheoku says if according to Ashley Madison, life is too short so have an affair; why is it that having an affair is more important than one getting ready to meet his/her maker and explain their sojourn here in earth. Or still, could it be another clear evidence that religion and all their teachings about heaven and earth is nothing but a hoodwinking ruse? The Ashley Madison exposure goes to show that the rich and powerful can do whatever they want including paying for sex and cheating on their spouses. Courtesy of TIT, these cheating dirt-bags, who deserve no discretion whatsoever, who engage in prostitution and human trafficking and also pay per sex, are now exposed to be shamed and hopefully be forced to mend their ways. Icheoku also agrees that these lying scumbags should be having a very bad day with this lifting of the veil to expose who they really are.  Icheoku says the key, if you cannot stay married or do not want to get married, then just don't do it; stay out and remain single. 

JIMMY CARTER, AT PEACE WITH SELF AND READY FOR WHATEVER COMES.

Icheoku says a president who achieved more out of office than the conspiracy of circumstances allowed him while he was president and commander in chief of the United States of America. He impacted the lives of so many people the world over with his many pet projects including habitat for humanity using his Carter Center. He is to say the least beloved more out of office than many of his traducers allowed him while he served. So as Icheoku watched the 39th president of America, Jimmy Carter, deliver what could be termed his final farewell address, announcing that his cancer has spread to his brain, one thing and only one thing kept on reoccurring - here is a man well fulfilled and who lived a long happy life, regardless of whatever the prognosis of his cancer might turn out to be. 

90 years old; happily married for 68 years; a nuclear engineer and peanut farmer; politically accomplished individual as Georgia State senator, Georgia State governor, chair of DNC campaign committee and president of the United States of America; Nobel Peace Prize winner and a Professor at Emory University. Icheoku says regardless of the direction his diagnosis might take, President Jimmy Carter lived a long happy fulfilled life and any person in his shoes would happily answer the call whenever it is finally made. Good enough he acknowledged that much when he said "I'm perfectly at ease with whatever comes;" and also being a man of 'deep religious faith', he would not be shy to meet with his maker to get his reward for the many good works he did on earth while his sojourn lasted. 

In as much as Icheoku and the rest of Jimmy Carter fans including his family and friends would want him to stick around much longer, in case of the inevitable eventuality, his was a life well spent in service of humanity. A 'completely honest and transparent man' who would 'like to see Guinea worm die before he dies'; but reducing the scourge from 3.5 million occurrences each year to a mere 126 is as good as the disease predeceasing Jimmy Carter. His only regret seems to still be the failed Iranian hostage rescue that cost him his dream for a second term presidency. But hey, no one ever gets all the questions right all the time and in our strive through life, there are definitely certain things we have to fail in or are unable to get done, but overall posterity will judge President Jimmy Carter fairly. Icheoku says goodluck President Jimmy Carter  in beating the cancer and in any other event, it was nice he walked this earth.  

FASHOLA WEBSITE-GATE, THE 75 MILLION NAIRA UPGRADE SCANDAL?

Icheoku says channelling Al-Jazeera television, does not know what manner of a "spell" APC and its honchos have cast on Nigerians such that Nigerians are standing aloof and  awestruck, in the face of proven blatant hypocrisy of the worst kind of the party. The unbridled corruption perpetrated by those APC pretentious Pharisaic  hagglers who are masquerading as knights in shinning armor come to the rescue of Nigeria, when considered, makes that of the PDP seem a mere sleep-over party? A case in point is the recently blown wide-open graft by former Lagos State Governor Babatunde Fashola, using a conduit of a fabled website.  But for the ongoing retributive war of reclamation between himself and his former mentor Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, this fraud would never been brought it to light. Thanks to the feuding bandits, their 'yash' is being blown wide open for Nigerians to see how stinky-corrupt they were. It is indeed quite appalling and unfathomable that a sitting governor could blow away a whopping sum of 75 million Naira just to indulge a personal pastime, his appetite for upgrading a personal website?  

Icheoku laments that this to say the least totally very mind-bungling and to really mean it, outrageously very callous and extravagantly lacking in every judgment and circumspection. Query:- who the fuck is this Governor Babatunde Fashola that thinks himself so that important that any joker wants to read about him to warrant his fleeting the peoples resources in this manner? A substantial State's resources that could have been more usefully applied to some other more needful end and/or purpose? A matter made worse because not even the super duper grandiose websites cost this much to build and maintain/operate? The problem with Nigeria is that Nigerians are the most lackadaisically unperturbed and indifferent people walking the face of the earth. As a result their thieving leaders or pretenders to that honor, are cashing in on this inertia to so brazenly reap them off. Look at Governor Fashola shamelessly admitting to committing such a criminal fraud and he is supposedly a  lawyer and a Senior Advocate of Nigeria? He is boldfaced in claiming to have spent such a ginormous amount of money on a project that is otherwise verifiable and could be so easily verified as having been overtly overinflated? 

Then he had the temerity to be at liberty in explaining this away in so cavalier manner and with such a cursorily dismissive impetus?  Babatunde Fashola did not even make any effort whatsoever to convincingly line-itemize what was undertaken and the expenses that went into each one, to warrant or command or otherwise justify expending such humongous amount of State's funds on a mere website? Yet Nigerians are prepared to give him a pass as having at least come out to broach the issue? Icheoku says at this rate, when would things ever assume some form of seriousness  form from this their continued lackadaisical nature in Nigeria? When will Nigerian leaders start to take responsibility for their actions and Nigerians holding them to account for their stewardship? When will the media finally learn and be matured enough to live up to its expectation as the watchdog of the society; become audacious enough to ask pointy questions and demand with follow-up questions, for straight answers and clarifications, with the honed-insistence required of their profession. 

Icheoku runs a website, a blog; and had for quite some time now too. Icheoku would have since pivoted away from Google owned and operated Blogspot but choose smartly to remain with a leader in the industry. So Icheoku is fully aware of what obtains in the industry especially the nature of fees and charges for operating or running a website. Therefore Icheoku was totally flabbergasted and shocked to hear that Governor Babatunde Fashola spent about a  whopping sum of $370,000 United States Dollars (N75 million Naira) to upgrade and/or otherwise operate his website? Websites that some of them even come free with some web operators including Web.com; and as little as $500 from Yahoo, Go-Daddy etc depending on the arrangements? Websites, ranging from the low thousands to plus minus $100,000 for the super-duper websites, is what Governor Babatunde Fashola is telling Nigerians with "koro-koro" eyes that he spent $370,000 to build and operate? 

Icheoku emphatically states that the only credibility the lanky cattle-man of Daura can have, going forward in his prosecution of his one-point agenda of fighting corruption in Nigeria, is to permit the EFCC to pounce on Governor Babatunde Fashola immediately, pull him in for interrogation and possible arrest and thereafter place him in custody without bail, pending his prosecution for a great fraud which he perpetrated against the people of Lagos State Nigeria. Icheoku once surmised that there are only two categories of Nigerians - those who have stolen and those waiting for their own opportunity to steal. This particular former governor of Lagos State, by reason of this website-gate scandal alone, has now lost the last modicum of respectability which otherwise remained following his deportation of fellow Nigerians out of Lagos. Imagine this shrew-looking governor dipping his filthy thieving hands into Lagos State's coffers to make away with 75 million Naira, purportedly for a useless website which adds nothing to anyone but more uselessness. This is a state where so many youths are jobless, with many others living a life of hell, plagued by un-passable ever waterlogged horrible roads; yet this unthinking Senior Advocate of Nigeria found it a greater priority to spend 75 million Naira building and running a website? 

Icheoku says may be Asiwaju Ahmed Bola Tinubu was right afterall and should be supported in his current war to permanently put this Governor 75 million Naira website away in the doghouse where he rightly belongs? A good deed many be to just help ABT put Fash out of contention in the current PMB administration, for being such a proven fraud who could in this manner, so blatantly steal from Lagos State? May be also Governor Babatunde Fashola deserves  all that are currently being offloaded on him by the team from Bourdillon; as this scandal alone, proven by his own personal free admission, qualifies him as a then thieving chief executive of Lagos State. Unlike the proverbial rat which does not eat the fish kept under its watch, this special rat of Lagos State not only ate such fish but is now trying to explain away an inexplicable expenditure which he should never have made and therefore should be forced to make restitution in full, with additional penalties paid as recompense. 

But regrettably Nigerians' apathy and their willful indifference to issues affecting and concerning them somewhat borders on the fringes of a hopeless lunacy, otherwise they would have demanded for an example to be made out of Governor Babatunde Fashola. No people in their right frame of minds will tolerate nor allow such pillage of their common treasury by their elected or rather "selected" governor to go unheard or unpunished; without first shouting themselves hoarse in their quest to be heard and for an action in deterrence to be taken. A case now further exacerbated by the dismissive manner with which the thieving governor who perpetrated such fraud, according to his own very free admission, is treating it as "a justified" expenses? Icheoku laments that this Babatunde Fashola SUCKS and his fraudulent website funnel of misappropriation, a stinking sewer. Icheoku encourages the PDP to henceforth demand without ceasing for  a ramped up prosecution of corruption in the country and lets see how the Babtunde Fasholas of the APC will not be the first ones lined up for execution. The only regret is that Icheoku forgot that Nigeria is not China, and the beat goes on. Fie Fashola, away with the thieving former chief executive of Lagos State and may Asiwaju Ahmed Bola Tinubu take him prisoner of his own devices. 

NAACP JULIAN BOND, DEAD AT 75.

Icheoku says the former NAACP chairman and civil rights activist extraordinaire, who prominently featured in the civil rights movement era, marching with Dr Martin Luther King alongside many others, has passed on. Julian Bond was 75 years old and died of brief illness. Icheoku wonders when Mr Brief Illness left the shores of Nigeria and traveled all the way to a land so distant, to America, to kill someone? Icheoku says may his restive and restless civil-rights equality for all soul now get some well deserved rest IJN. 

Hopefully he will meet up with MLK as well as many other similarly departed freedom loving heroes and heroines of America who were involved in the struggle for and made civil rights possible for black Americans. May be together, they can strategize and petition the Almighty One to directly intervene in the affairs of America towards conclusively improving race relations therein. Icheoku says adieu brave and courageous one and may the good Lord richly reward your effort while your sojourn here lasted. Many came and left without leaving any footprint on the sands of time; but Julian Bond walked the land a giant. RIP Bond.

FASHOLA CALLS TINUBU A PIG, SAYS HE WANTS TO DESTROY HIM?

When you wrestle with a pig, the pig gets happy and you get dirty." With that former Governor Babatunde Fashola identified and took a dig at his erstwhile political godfather and mentor in chief, Ahmed Bola Tinubu, insinuating that Tinubu is the pig who wants to destroy him, Fashola? Icheoku says although there is no smoking gun, conclusive evidence, directly pointing at Bola Tinubu as leading the current effort to destroy Governor Babatunde Fashola; but circumstantially it is very obvious who the man behind the mask is. 

A very strong suspicion points at the Lion of Bourdillon, who although not Cecil the lion with the black mane, but also has its own dark side as Babatunde Fashola is beginning to find out. Incrementally, Bola Tinubu is piling up on the former governor, one allegation after another and one accusation following another; all in an effort to rubbish Fashola and destroy whatever legacy he might be banking on. By this tactical outflanking, Bola Tinubu wants to turn Fashola into a much hated political pariah and peradventure force President Muhammadu Buhari into distancing himself from the former governor and if successful, will automatically abort whatever chances Fashola ever had of being named a minister in September. 

Icheoku says the treachery of men, especially the political class, is such that many decent people are always very reluctant to accept any gift of an office they will only live to regret someday. Like in Al-Pacino's Devil's Advocate, the movie, Keeanu Reeves found out the hard way that when the devil (Al-Pacino) bequeaths you a gift, the devil owns you. As expected therefore, Governor Babatunde Fashola having accepted the gift of Lagos State governorship from Asiwaju Ahmed Bola Tinubu should have known that there is nothing like a free lunch anywhere. He should have known that ultimate slavish-loyalty is expected of him and remained the loyal houseboy he was that made his governorship possible without more. He should have been bidding to whatever his overlord Tinubu orders or tells him to do; as well as first taking and obtaining express permission prior to whatever action or even any utterance he wants to make. 

But Fashola, the new renegade, wants to become an independent his own man; except that the man who made him thinks otherwise and is now primed to sending him politically deep six by rubbishing whatever Fashola thought was a resounding legacy he had left behind while he held sway at Alausa-Ikeja, Lagos. Fashola should have taken a lesson from the dethroned Jonathan of Otuoke that it is always futile and near suicidal to accept the gauntlet thrown by  your  godfather. Just like Jonathan of Otuoke continues to regret his ever calling Baba Iyabo a "motor park tout" which foreclosed any chance at a make-up; so also will Babatunde Fashola live to regret his now calling Asiwaju Ahmed Bola Tinubu a "pig". Icheoku says with this latest name-calling, Fashola has crossed the line; and the escalating bitter war between the two men can now only get worse and more asinine as no political roof in Nigeria will be wide enough to accommodate both of them, not after calling Tinubu a PIG. 

That being said, why does Asiwaju Ahmed Bola Tinubu want Babatunde Fashola completely decimated and rendered a political eunuch, one would ask? In answer, Icheoku says because two kings do not share a kingdom, period. Unlike the novitiate Jonathan of Otuoke who tolerated a co-presidency with then de-facto President Olusegun Obasanjo, Asiwaju Ahmed Bola Tinubu understands that power allows nor admits of no competition whatsoever. Like the king of the jungle, before which every other creature must take flight or be driven off or eaten or simply killed and consigned to nothingness, Bola Tinubu cannot stand the rising profile and threatening political presence of Babatunde Fashola and fail to do something about it. Icheoku maintains that one of the quick sands that helped swallow the presidency of former President Goodluck Jonathan was his allowing Olusegun Obasanjo to freely roam the country as if he was a co-president in his presidency. 

No smart president ever makes such a costly mistake and Jonathan of Otuoke paid dearly for that. Former presidents either have their silent-loyalty firmly secured or are hounded out of town or clamped into prison and in some cases, even dispatched to the great beyond. That is how you wield power and that is how you secure power; but never to allow like Jonathan of Otuoke did, a pretender to the presidency to constitute himself into a threatening nuisance to your hold of the reins of power. That is what power purchases and only those who paid heavily for power truly knows what indeed they purchased; hence they do not take kindly to any meddlesome interloper trying to challenge their authority or who wants to put sand in their garri. Asiwaju Ahmed Bola Tinubu fully understands power and perceives Babatunde Fashola as a existential threat to his political authority in the Yoruba Southwest Nigeria. Therefore his well-informed decision not to have such rivalry around, hence his decision to destroy him and confine him into the heap of political garbage of a mere once was former governor of Lagos State only and nothing more?  

A strategic thinker and political operator extraordinaire, Ahmed Bola Tinubu has long since set his eyes on destroying Fashola. He started by forcing Fashola's hands to deport Igbos from Lagos and successfully branded him before Ndigbo as an intolerant Yoruba man Igbo-hater, in the mould of Obafemi Awolowo whose hatred for Ndigbo was rather legendary. The then houseboy-governor Fashola bit the bait, too afraid to say no to his master Bola Tinubu and went ahead to commit the worst political harakiri of his life which forever foreclosed his chances of ever winning any national office requiring Ndigbo's participation and votes. Icheoku says the damage inflicted to Fashola's rising political profile by the deportation of those fellow Nigerians from Nigeria's Lagos, is such that he cannot ever recover from. Just like Awolowo never recovered from his anti-Igbo identity until he took his last breath and is still hated even in death by every true nwa-afor Igbo, so is the fate being currently shared by Babatunde Fashola before Ndigbo. 

Furthering his downsize Fashola agenda, when Fashola wanted to nominate his successor governor, a fast thinking-ahead Bola Tinubu said no to him and instead imposed his own chosen candidate on the party and now on Lagos State. Again, Fashola wanted to run for the senate but Bola Tinubu said no to him. When President Muhammadu Buhari took interest in Fashola and wanted to draw him closer to his government, Bola Tinubu intervened to force President Buhari into beating a retreat and to the extent that the president tremblingly dropped Fashola from the list of his last presidential delegation to Washington DC. Now even Fashola's prospective ministerial slot is in jeopardy as the all or nothing, take no prisoner Bola Tinubu, is once again standing in the way. Bola Tinubu is against anything that will add an inch to the once growing high political profile of Babatunde Fashola, which apparently has suddenly now become stunted by reasons of Bola Tinubu's machinations.

So it is very easy to see why the piling up on Babatunde Fashola is taking place - just to cut him on the knees; and the source of it all, Bourdillon. The other time it was leaked that Fashola left Lagos State in a great financial ruins with huge unnecessary debts, many of which were rather of questionable origin and purpose? Next was that Fashola  awarded over-valued contracts to his cronies and friends and subsequently made out like bandit in a reverse collection of gratuities as payback, all on the back of Lagos State taxpayers? Next was that Fashola lavished a whopping sum of Lagos State's 78 million Naira just to "upgrade" his personal website? Now the latest of the smear is that Fashola had several dalliances which resulted in his fathering children outside wedlock? 

Icheoku says who knows the nature of the next ton of bricks waiting to be unloaded on poor Fashola; all in an attempt to stop him, cut him to size and/or even permanently consign him into political irrelevance and oblivion.  Without any scintilla of doubt, no other person is behind this current Fashola travails than the man who owns and single-handedly runs Yorubaland politics with his operational headquarters located on Bourdillon Drive Ikoyi Lagos. That Ahmed Bola Tinubu is also spending "large amounts of money, paying agents including CACOL to bear false witness against Fashola" is a disclosure that was made by Fashola himself. All Icheoku merely does is to report and analyze what was spoken or said or acted out or upon. It is equally on records that an incensed Fashola has even told Bola Tinubu to shove any intended prospective ministerial appointment of him, Fashola, into his you know where; as according to Fashola, he is not looking for a job? 

However Icheoku takes umbrage at Fashola for suddenly realizing that "allegations of wrong doing are not resolved without evidence, neither are they resolved in press conferences." Babatunde Fashola never gave Jonathan of Otuoke any such benefit of doubt when he was doing the hatchet job for his mentor and his APC party; alleging all manner of unprintable that helped in bringing Jonathan down and out of Aso Rock. Now Fashola can understand how Jonathan of Otuoke must have felt, being wrongly accused by the Fasholas of APC of things he did not do nor ever thought of doing. Icheoku says if only karma timorously visits traducers as it is now visiting Babatunde Fashola, what a wonderful world it would be.  Icheoku prays that  Babatunde Fashola never survives from the ongoing political lynching against him as being orchestrated and directed by Asiwaju Ahmed Bola Tinubu, his former godfather. In any event, may Babatunde Fashola be permanently bruised bloody from inside out as a result. It is always good to once in a while serve doctors with their medicine, so that they can taste the tanginess of what they ask their patients to take. It is also not a bad idea at all, starting this reverse prescription with Babatunde Fashola as he doubly-deserves whatever is currently coming at him. An erudite young man and a lawyer preferred a very old semi-illiterate despot to a fellow young man PhD as president and you wonder what came over him?

Finally whether Fashola says Bola Tinubu wants to remain in the mud or that Bola Tinubu should look in the mirror or that Bola Tinubu is throwing mud at him or that Bola Tinubu should look at his own hands; and irrespective whether or not Fashola has moved on or supposedly done his job, all are irrelevant. The crux of the matter is that Fashola is being damaged by Team Bola Tinubu and they are doing a yeoman's good job at it. The mud they are throwing at Fashola is sticking and making Fashola dirty and even very pig-dirty indeed. This is Team Bola Tinubu's primary objective, this is the task at their hands and unfortunately for Babatunde Fashola, they are succeeding. The essence of Team Bola Tinubu's mission is to cause the perception of a dishonest Fashola to stick in Nigerians' minds and not necessarily to establish a veracity thereof. Babatunde Fashola should therefore be resolved that he will soon be politically damaged beyond repair, if not already. Icheoku says, just another lesson on how not to pick fight with your god or as the incomparable China Achebe would succinctly and appositely put it, in his classicus 'Things Fall Apart", no one picks a fight with his CHI and gets away scot-free with it. Salute.

SHEKAU, FINALLY DEAD?

Icheoku says, channeling Paul Bremer, the former de facto American Governor General of Iraq, "Gentlemen, we got him." Abubakar Shekau, that is. The former brutal leader of Boko Haram terrorist urchins is dead. This much was confirmed by Chadian leader Idriss Deby, who said that "Boko Haram is decapitated" and also that Boko Haram has a new leader named Mahamat Daoud. Icheoku says whether Abubakar Shekau is now actually dead as he was rumored to have died several times in the past; or simply quietly retired and withdrawn from the battlefield by the same  people who hired him to do their dirty job is irrelevant. Icheoku says provided his exit from the headship of the terrorist munchkins will lead to some peace being restored in Nigeria's Northeast, that is what matters and counts. What a riddance!!!!!

SURVIVING BUHARI'S PRESIDENCY, NDIGBO NEEDS A NEW STRATEGIC THINKING.

Icheoku says an aphorism has it that "it is either you are sitting on the table or you may be on the menu as part of the dinner." This reflects to a great extent the current state of affairs of complete exclusion and fate of Ndigbo in Nigeria under the present government of the man from Daura. The lanky one; the Cassius of Daura, President Muhammadu Buhari, who has successfully and audaciously excluded Ndigbo from all the very important positions of government so far filled. A matter made worse because neither the president nor the vice president nor the senate president nor the speaker nor the chief judge is an Igbo person. The result, there is no single Igbo person in occupation as head of any of the three arms of government - the executive, the legislature and the judiciary. 

Then add the Inspector General of Police; director general of Customs and Excise; Immigration chief; National Security Adviser; head of State Security Service; head of Army; head of Navy and head of Airforce - all positions filled without any Igbo person? Icheoku queries who will therefore get Ndigbo's back when matters affecting them as integral part of Nigeria is being deliberated on, at their back, without any of them being present? The signs are ominous and only a strategic thinking on their part will see Ndigbo through this very insensitive government of President Muhammadu Buhari. Ndigbo will need to adopt a "clever and smart" app in navigating the minefield that is President Muhammadu Buhari's presidency in order to survive the evil being hatched against them. Icheoku is not a seer but prophesies that he is evil that will so exclude an entire one third of a country's population and in this brazen manner of "to hell with you, Ndigbo." It is grave and it does not bode well for Ndigbo,  being so blatantly marginalized in this manner and you wonder whether President Muhammadu Buhari is by his actions so far, telegraphing a sinister message of "NOT PART OF OR WANTED IN NIGERIA" to the people of Southeast Igbo? 

Icheoku only prays that this latest anti-Ndigbo actions will help in galvanizing Ndigbo into a more cohesive and united people they used to be, who will once again start speaking with one voice of IGBO KWENU; and it does not and should not matter whether Joe Igbokwe decides not to "kwe" alongside. But whatever provocations of marginalization, Ndigbo must not bite the bait and give this proven demon an excuse to go ballistic on them with his dogs of war and instruments of mass destruction since he cannot wait to finish his unfinished business against Ndigbo. Ndigbo must think outside the box and play to survive the next four or eight  years, assuming brief illness does not intervene earlier and on their behalf. What a time to be a Nigerian when nobody wants you in Nigeria including a president who had sworn under oath to respect the tenets of the constitution, promised to be president of all and everyone; but who unfortunately is now showing his true colors, baring his fangs against a people many of whom gave him and his party their votes. Icheoku says the cattle-man President Muhammadu Buhari is simply wasting his time as no weapons fashioned by anyone including himself and/or Bola Tinubu shall prosper against Ndigbo, the God's anointed people of Nigeria IJN. Icheoku says "IGBO KWENU, KWESI ENU IKE.....IYOOO!!! IYAAAA!!!!!"

PRESIDENT MUHAMMADU BUHARI, SIMPLY IGBO-PHOBIA?

Icheoku says once again the little-hearted cattle-man president of Nigeria from Daura, a man who could not grow out of his old hateful and vile self, hating a people who did not do anything to him but merely refused to lie supine belly down in utter hopelessness and complete  surrender, has done it again. This time he appointed a seven-man team to streamline his war against corruption WITHOUT even a single Igbo person therein. Imagine a people who constitute more than one third of the country's populace being so continually marginalized and deliberately stayed out of the government by a supposedly Nigerian president of and for every Nigerian?  Icheoku says what other explanation do the APC apologists and Buharists, especially those of them from Igboland, Joe Igbokwe and Osita Okechukwu, have to proffer this time as reason for this continued slight and marginalization of Ndigbo? 

Fortunately, Icheoku does not care about this lean and mean Cassius of Daura; neither does Icheoku expect anything palliating from his one-man show styled government; and needless to hope that Ndigbo will get anything from him and/or his one-point agenda government either. Icheoku is emphatic that President Muhammadu Buhari, despite his very tall stature, appears to be a very little person inside. He is very small minded with a very small pint-sized unforgiving heart of bile beating inside of him. He seems to keep malice; does not know how to move on from his past - two vices which obviously constitute the greatest albatross hounding the man from Daura. 

Icheoku has come to the conclusion that President Muhammadu Buhari does not necessarily hate Ndigbo; rather he is most probably intimidated by them. As a result, he does not like the queasy feeling usually occasioned by having people you are deathly-afraid of being very close around you; hence his proactive decision to keep them out of his government and out of causing him needless panic-attacks or even the attack of the heart. Icheoku maintains that President Muhammadu Buhari's current trend of sidelining Ndigbo from his government is a calculated decision geared to permanently keeping Ndigbo out and at arms length? Recall that as a former coup plotting despotic head of state, only one Igbo person, the late Chike Offordile, made his cabinet as the then Attorney General and Minister of Justice of the Federation. Needless to rehash the many innocent Igbo politicians including Ikemba Nnewi whom he clamped into detention without cause or reason during the said first coming from hell. But lets move on.

Icheoku says this conclusion is the only derivable meaningful and articulable reason why the continued shut-out of Ndigbo in the present President Muhammadu Buhari led government of Nigeria. It shows that the lean and mean man of Daura has some unfinished business to finish with Ndigbo, which even the Asaba massacre in addition to other atrocities were incapable of atoning for; hence he must step up his war of attrition against Ndigbo by denying them their rightful places and positions in a Nigerian government led by him. Otherwise how else does anyone fathom an explanation to the continued exclusion of Ndigbo by the lanky fledgling from the far North or is the Biafran war still raging and not yet over in his closed-out mind? 

If in the eyes of President Muhammadu Buhari, the Nigerian war of attrition against Biafra was indeed over and that there was no victor and no vanquished as claimed, and that Ndigbo are still integral part of the greater Nigeria society,  why then the continued exclusion of them by him in the affairs of governance of Nigeria under his watch? A  people, so eminently and most competitively qualified, completely excluded in almost twenty five key appointments and still counting, so far made by President Muhammadu Buhari and he claimed that only "qualified" people were appointed into those positions; thus leading Icheoku to ponder what possibly amounts to qualification in the eyes of this President Muhammadu Buhari? The president's just announced latest seven "wise-men" appointment, mostly constituted of scholars and academia, yet no Igbo person is professor-enough or a PhD-enough in the estimation of President Muhammadu Buhari to "qualify" for inclusion therein?

The summary of his allergy for Ndigbo is that his comfort-zone does not permit nor tolerate having an Igbo person within a close proximity. This and only this is what is driving his anti-Ndigbo actions as so far displayed with all the appointments made to date by him.  Icheoku opines that it is not President Muhammadu Buhari's hatred for Ndigbo that drives him nuts or makes him see red at the sighting of an Igbo person; nope, it is his fear of Ndigbo and phobia could drive anyone over the edge. Otherwise he would have heeded the long well known and established rule of survival to always keep your friends close but your enemies closer so that you can keep an eye on them. Therefore were President Muhammadu Buhari to hate Ndigbo, he would have kept them very close in order to keep an eye on them and monitor them closely. But he does not hate Ndigbo, only that he does not feel comfortable with their very much intimidating presence, hence his decision to keep them very very far away removed and out of contamination. Icheoku says President Muhammadu Buhari is simply intimidated by Ndigbo's brazen audacity, a can do entrepreneurial spirit and their will to survive against all odds; so he would rather keep them at bay in order to enable him breathe much easier. 

A man who once on a visit to Onitsha back in the 80s, marveled out loudly that the civil war could not have been fought on this land due to the level of development and recovery he witnessed; following their conspiratorial civil war to cut Ndigbo to size. He was literally out of his breath to see the devastated Igboland of Onitsha so rebounded and recovered, following the ravaging civil war of attrition waged by himself and his marauding beasts from the North assisted by their Southwestern collaborators. He was quoted then as saying "is this place part of the Biafra land which we completely destroyed?" So this lean and mean man who was  so overwhelmed with the feat achieved by Ndigbo with a mere twenty pounds handed to them at the end of the war, still marvels at the heads and hands that could engineer this feat of recovery and within such a short period of time. 

This shock infected him with chronic voices which now habitually live inside his head. He is constantly hearing voices in his head telling him that Ndigbo must be contained; Ndigbo must be stopped; Ndigbo must be held with suspicion and therefore Ndigbo must be kept at bay. This is what is manifesting in his decision to completely exclude Ndigbo from his government and unfortunately, it is beyond his ability to counter his psychotic instructions even if he wanted. Icheoku says President Muhammadu Buhari deserves the pity of Ndigbo rather than complaints of marginalization because the man is possessed by his demons and is very delusional as to the phony existential threat to Nigeria which Ndigbo poses. If only he is a Christian, he sure needs and could use some deliverance.

Icheoku therefore calls on Ndigbo to maintain their cool in the face of all the provocations and irritations of their marginalization and completely being kept out of government by the present government of President Muhammadu Buhari. Ndigbo must not and should never do anything untoward or which would further rattle the already edgy president into taking rash reactionary action against them; as an intimidated man on hair-trigger alert could be as dangerous as a rattle snake. Ndigbo must therefore learn to ignore this four years and treat same as a cold war and lost. They must walk tall with their heads held straight up high and with princely gait, go about their hustling. They should know that the president of Nigeria does not sleep with his two eyes shut because he is too scared and very afraid of them and this should somewhat be their consolation prize. 

Ndigbo should temper their expectations from the President Muhammadu Buhari's government, knowing fully well that nothing lasts forever especially a four or eight year termed office. Like every other past traducer of Ndigbo, the current storm will eventually blow away someday and as always, a staying power with equanimity will always triumph. Ndigbo should learn how to just simply smile while they go about their business and give President Muhammadu Buhari the silent treatment which his actions so far entitles him. Let President Muhammadu Buhari appoint every other Nigerian but Ndigbo into offices if he likes, Ndigbo will not die but as always will survive and survive well. Ndigbo are survivors, Ndigbo have survived before and Ndigbo will survive the current traducer, President Muhammad Buhari of Daura. Icheoku says it is President Muhammadu Buhari's inferiority complex that is worrying him and forcing him to keep Ndigbo out of their well deserved positions and places in his government and not that they are not "qualified" or decent enough to fill the positions being denied them. So to President Muhammadu Buhari, Icheoku on behalf of Ndigbo, says SAI BUHARI.

KACHIKWU'S STORIED APPOINTMENT, THE NEEDLE HAS NOT MOVED?

Icheoku says yes, Igbo Deltans as well as every other Igbo people, anywhere and everywhere, are bona fides Igbo people just like their kits and kins majority of whom are concentrated in Southeastern Nigeria Igbo heartland. Icheoku had once written an article on the imperatives of this fact of consequence, encouraging Ndigbo to start an honest claim to Rivers State and Delta State as full Igbo states. Arguing further that the River Niger supposed demarcation notwithstanding, families are often and could be spread across rivers. As obtains everywhere including the Northern part of Nigeria, Ndigbo Southeast should not because these their brothers and sisters live across the River Niger now disclaim them as fellow Ndigbo. The said published article was prelude to the election of the late Ralph Uwechie as then president of Ohaneze Ndigbo. 

So with the premise laid out, Icheoku emphatically  says that Dr Ibe Emmanuel Kachikwu, the new Group Managing Direct of NNPC, is now officially the first Igbo appointee of the President Muhammadu Buhari's presidency. Icheoku says congratulations to both the appointee and the appointer as by this, President Muhammadu Buhari has reluctantly finally acknowledged that there is at least a "qualified" Igbo person to admit into his government? Recall that the president said he appointed only "qualified" individuals as service chiefs to head the various wings of the Nigeria armed forces as well as security agencies, implying the lack of any qualified Igbo person for any of the positions? It is very obvious that this president's lack of truthfulness or rather version of truth is akin to someone starring at a blazing hot summer sun and still deceptively mouthing that it is very dark outside. But lets move on.

Icheoku says the excitement of the appointment ends in the fact of the complete and total Igbo-ness of Dr Ibe Emmanuel Kachikwu having been established beyond doubt; being true 'nwaafor-Igbo' and is now officially the first Igbo person to be appointed by President Muhammadu Buhari into his government after over twenty five other top-notch appointments so far made by him. At last, an onye-Igbo has made it through the proverbial eye of the needle that is President Muhammadu Buhari implied bar against Ndigbo making it into his government. Icheoku wonders if the biblical camel walking through the eye of the needle is this tough and if it qualifies as an apposite allegory here.  President Muhammadu Buhari shamelessly claimed that no Igbo person is qualified enough to make any of his appointment thus far? With all known facts about Ndigbo competency and qualifications considered, Icheoku wonders if it is rather being well-versed in reading the Koran and/or reciting other Islamic verses and incantations or being proficiency in other Islamic practices and cause is what having "necessary qualifications" means in the eyes of President Muhammadu Buhari? 

Anyway, but what indeed is the worth of the office of the Group Managing Director of NNPC to Ndigbo and of what use is it particularly for Ndigbo that they should be salivating that one of them is now assigned the task of revamping the moribund corruption-cesspool that is Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation?  Icheoku asks is this appointment just a ploy to tap into Kachikwu's great knowledge about the oil industry and use him to clean the Aegean stable that has become the NNPC; and later have him dumped or shoved aside to make way for a chosen Hausa/Fulani prince? How does such a herculean assignment benefit Ndigbo, especially when the new GMD will later be subsumed under a Minister of Petroleum who as the political head and bureaucrat in chief will have power over him and his actions? The former Petroleum Minister Diezani Allison Madueke went through such four GMDs within a spate of five years, using and dumping them as she willed. So any incoming Petroleum Minister might similarly "use and dump" Dr Ibe Kachikwu or consign him to irrelevance if he or she chooses and even have him summarily dismissed if so pissed off by him or his actions? 

So what indeed actually is the benefit of this appointment to Ndigbo that elicits all the euphoric excitement in Igbo speaking Nigerians one may ask; other than that it creates a sense of belonging for Ndigbo within the greater Nigeria society. Icheoku says appointing an Igbo technocrat as head of the NNPC to be eventually placed under a Hausa/Fulani or Yoruba or even a minority bureaucrat Minister of Petroleum does not necessarily in any way confer any added advantage or benefit to Ndigbo or ordinarily empower them. But regardless, Icheoku says President Muhammadu Buhari by this appointment has finally found a "qualified" onye Igbo to admit into his government and hopefully he will continue to look hard enough to find other "qualified" Ndigbos as he continues to fill available vacant positions in his government. Kudos to him - the man from Daura in finally finding a needle in a haystack?  Icheoku prays that Dr Ibe Emmanuel Kachikwu will bring the can-do spirit and attitude of Ndigbo to his new assignment at the NNPC and get the expected job done, done well and done quickly too. Icheoku says in his onerous task of repositioning the NNPC to be better and do better with managing Nigeria's oil resources, he shall succeed and also triumph IJN.