QUEEN GRANDMA FINALLY RELENTS: PRINCE HARRY TO MARRY MEGHAN.

ICHEOKU says and they are engaged with the nuptials scheduled for Spring 2018. Congratulations to Prince Harry and soon to be bride Meghan Markle on winning the heart of Queen Grandmother Elizabeth II; whose approval and nod has to be first sought and obtained before the duo could proceed with making their relationship formal through an engagement. It must have felt like pulling a tooth and a wait in eternity, waiting for the royal seal of approval; and happy are the duo who finally made the Queen see reason that things are no longer as they used to be and that matters of love is blind to colors. 

The pair is a product of a world that has since moved on and which will, before too long, eventually, totally dispense with the royalty itself. It is a world which has now witnessed what would have otherwise been an impossibility; an unthinkable and unacceptable taboo some years ago, that a Prince of Wales who is in line for the Kingship of England is cavorting with or rather courting a commoner who is also happens to be black for that matter. ICHEOKU says anyone who says it was easy for those two love birds to get through the hurdle of the royal "mismatch" must be out of his or her mind, not to know or rather oblivious of what the British royalty or any other royalty anywhere is all about. It is about preservation and maintenance of certain purebred bloodlines, period. Such expectation of them or rather their ordered lifestyle, accommodates of no love or what the heir wants or wishes. He is bound by what his aristocracy determines is best suited for him by reason birth and age long traditions that come with the territory. His future role of propagating the throne of England is the key and nothing more; hence everything is funneled to making him a real royalty fit for King. 

They seldom have any choice in their personal lives matters. Everything about and concerns them is treated as duty called and they are required to stoically, with stiff upper lip, soldier on in defense of what holds meaning to their life of pure luxury and great expectation; and they have no choice but to live the part. In some countries, some heirs or heir-apparents are known to have foresworn their royalty just to free themselves of the hamstrings of their birth. A choice which they did not make nor were consulted before it was determined; neither was their opinion ever sort about how to rejig things to make them more suitable to them or comfortable to their situational needs. In Thailand for example, the present King and former heir apparent severally denounced the throne before the imperial custodians persuaded him to see reason and agree to lead the people as their King. So uneasy lies the head that wears the crown and many  have some understanding about what is making Prince Harry, the rebellious Prince of Wales, that he is. 

Prince Harry does not want to be shackled down by centuries old institutions and traditions which literary owns his life as a Prince of Wales. So he uses every opportunity and available moment to telegraph to the palace that he is a different type of royalty, one who will not be bogged down by the dictates of royalty. That he is a Prince who runs away to Las Vegas to party hard, naked with chics and being caught on tape. That he is the type of royalty who drinks, drives fast cars, flies airplanes and helicopters as well as lead a company into battle grounds. Yes, he did not want to be a clone of his elder brother William, the dutiful prince and future King of England, who is so steeped in traditions and the carrying out of the duties of the office that so many admirers are getting impatient to see him coronated formally as the King of England; admitted they will have to wait a little longer and long enough for the Queen grandmother to pass on or abdicate her office, then his father Prince Charles to have a go at it or wave it on to his son Prince William before it becomes his turn. 

Anyway, be that as it may, ICHEOKU says the riveting thing about what happened in England with this engagement is to say the least, revolutionary. Prince Harry has now incontrovertibly established himself as the villain Prince, the black sheep of the royal family, who pulled off the big hit and secured a near impossible royal approval from his grandmother the Queen to do an extraordinary thing - be engaged to a commoner who is also black. ICHEOKU says Her Majesty's love for her grandson Prince Harry did it, it conquered it all; as she said whatever will make my wild-buck prince grandson happy and help him settle down into a life of near routine. It is a new day people and like Romeo and Juliet, this mixed blessings has now further cemented the bond of friendship existing between America and Great Britain. The two countries are now, in addition to all the other things that hold them together, inlaws or soon to be in-laws. What will love not make possible. The power of love is stronger than steel and near infinite. It has made nations go to war and has caused the deaths of so many; but with Prince Harry and soon to be Duchess Meghan Markle, it has now cemented further the bond of two nations. 

Queen Grandmother said yes my grandson Prince Harry, you can bring a commoner who is also black into our royal household as a bona fide member of the family. This is the gist of what went down. The Queen's assent is the 54 million dollar story here and ICHEOKU is salivating over it. The Queen against all odds, signed off on the relationship simply because of her love for her grandson who she wants to see him happy and fulfilled. ICHEOKU is emphatic that Meghan Merkel was definitely not and would not have been the Queen's first choice or preferred wife for his grandson Prince Harry, whom she had expected to follow in the footsteps of his brother Prince William and towed the path. But hey, the deal is done; both lovebirds are engaged to be married next Spring 2018 and what love has put together,  nothing will or should put asunder. Not even the fact that Meghan is older than Prince Harry by about 4 years made the consideration list. Also, that Meghan is not a virgin and was previously married and a divorcee too, was not a downer either. 

This is exactly what true love is all about really. A prince found love in the house of a commoner and sealed it with a diamond engagement ring. When the wedding bells ring in the Spring of 2018, Meghan Markle will be made to shed her commoner's garb and be transformed into a royalty, as she takes the title Duchess of Sussex. But her status will be automatically elevated beyond her imagination and hers is a story of how an American black lady captured the heart of a British true born Prince and denied every British lady of a chance at royalty, marrying their Prince Harry and into the royal family. There is definitely mourning in the house of so many British girls  over this development; but provided the catfights are confined inside their respective homes, it shall be ok. William Shakespeare again was proved right that some people were born great and some people have greatness trusted to them and Meghan Markle has now become a beneficiary of the later, supremely privileged. ICHEOKU says congratulations to Prince Harry and Meghan Markle; as well as Her Royal Majesty Queen Elizabeth II for giving them the nod to hitch it. May you guys have a wonderful life and your marriage be blessed abundantly with your hearts desires. This is good.

VOTE FOR ROY MOORE

ALABAMANS: DONT LET WASHINGTON DICTATE TO YOU, VOTE ROY MOORE FOR SENATE.

PRINCE HARRY AND MEGHAN MARKLE ARE ENGAGED: HURRAY!

ICHEOKU says they look nice together and hopefully the crazy media and their paparazzi hordes will let them be and not force them into a life of misery or accidentally run them off the cliff. Lady Di's tragic experience is still painfully fresh till this day and no one, not ICHEOKU, wants to relive or experience such awfulness again, NEVER again. May God protect and bless the duo as they take their baby steps into the journey of of so many unknown absurdities called marriage. All the best Harry and Meghan.

A DO NOTHING CONGRESS: ACTUALLY DOING SOMETHING MOLESTING WOMEN?

ICHEOKU says the need to unmask the bad apples among the United States of American Congress as well as the Senate has now arisen. This is in order to separate the bad eggs from those decent men and women who went to Washington DC to actually go do the peoples business. But the sexual harassment cloud cover hovering over the nations seat of legislative power, the Capitol, cannot be allowed to completely cover every one of them including those innocent ones. 

To do this will be to also tarnish the image and reputation of those respectable members amongst them, who are not part of this orgy but happened to share the same supposedly hallowed chambers. In the eyes of the American people, all of them are incohoot in it and are deemed culpable and the suspicion will remain until those guilty parties are separated from the innocent through naming and shaming them. 

It should not be a case of one oily finger spreading its liquid on the rest of the four fingers, that they all eventually become soiled and stained for no fault of their own. Therefore those innocent members of the legislative body must as a matter of great concern, force the issue and have those wolves amongst them be unmasked, identified and shamed into not doing or continuing with their illicit activities again. Failure to do so is not an option, because they will all remain suspects of this perversion before the American people, who sent them to Washington DC, believing that they went there to do the peoples business, but are now finding out that they are doing the monkey business, horsing around and paying to cover it up. 

Little wonder nothing gets done in Washington as these people spend useful time they would have deployed in doing the peoples business, messing around with interns and staffers as well female lobbyist who trade sexual favors for legislative concerns of their clients. A matter made worse because these Congress men and women as well as Senators earmarked part of the America taxpayers money, which maintains their lifestyle, on also paying hush money to their victims and in order to purchase their eternal silence. ICHEOKU says this is unAmerican as the emasculation of freedom of speech right of these victims is unacceptable excessive restrain of an abused woman. How dare these supposed law makers break the law which they made by beating up these women and also forbidding them not to cry. it is not fair, it is unjust and it is repugnant to everything America stands for and it must not be allowed to stand. 

These women were abused and their abusers are still occupying their legislative seats. So query if they are not unmasked, how will their future would be victims know to stay away from them and remain vigilant against all the Senator Al Frankens and Congressman John Conyers of Washington DC legislative Capitol building. Not naming these perverts is indeed the real "Russian Collusion" and it amounts to condonation and enabling of a bad behavior. If the reason for not naming them is to protect their respectability and integrity of the Congress, how about the reason to name them in order to protect those innocent members among them who are not similarly situated and mired in the scandal; and who are now cast under the same pall of suspicion as sexual molesters when they are not. Is it not a preferred option to isolate, name and shame the few bad eggs who are involved in this disrespectful behavior than for their sinful acts to taint the entire Congress and Senate, with everyone of them now being under suspicion as a possible pervert. 

With over 265 cases of sexual molestations and over $17 million already paid out in hush money settlements to the victims, one would think that there is a need for the lawmakers to speedily do something to abate the ongoing sexual epidemic in Washington DC amongst them. This include naming and shaming those implicated and possibly forcing them out of the hallowed chambers and enacting laws that makes it a prohibited crime to harass and sexually molest interns and staffers alike, with punishment including expulsion and waiving of their immunity from prosecution.

These are the same people, the sanctimonious holier than thou Pharisees, who are hounding Alabama Senatorial candidate Roy Moore, who is merely being accused of a four decades old sexual indiscretion, and calling on him to step aside. Further, threatening that they will be forced not to sit him should he win or expel him subsequent his being sworn in. Meanwhile, they are the ones who are throwing stones at the glass house from within the inside, perpetrating all manners of sexual deviancy and paying to cover it up. Our Lord Jesus Christ was indeed right that he who is without sin should throw the first stone; except that such admonition rings hollow for the American Congress as well as the Senate, who preach one thing while doing another thing entirely in contradiction. How could these people with such resume ever sit in judgment over Roy Moore and you wonder why the staccato of noise has reached such decibel with their demand that Roy Moore step aside. Could it be that they do not want to increase their hush money budget, thinking that Roy Moore will add to the tab? 

These are the nations chief lawmakers and are now proven law breakers in chief and you wonder what they expect those Jack and Jill of us ordinary Americans on the streets to do. Chandra Levy lost her life in Washington DC because of her involvement in the same sexual tryst and the then Congressman Gary Conduit was forced to resign his office following her murder. ICHEOKU says why not just name these current perpetrators and shame them out of their nefarious activities or is the Congress by necessary implication approving of their acts and saying it is okay for them to carry on and also share the same legislative chambers with such decrepitude members. Until these perpetrators are publicly named and shamed, the scandal will remain on each member of Congress and Senator's head like a halo of shame. They are all guilty by association and only the isolation of the culprits will absolve the innocent among them.

Paraphrasing then President Ronald Reagan to Russian Gorbachev tear down this wall moment, ICHEOKU says name those members of the legislature who are molesting women and paying them hush money to keep them quiet and remain unknown. That's the only way their nefarious activities will stop and come to an end; otherwise they will continue to do what they do best, instead of making laws to fix what is broken of the American society. Now you know why nothing ever gets done in Washington DC, as those elected and sent there to do the peoples business has since found other more passionate and much more pleasurable businesses more attractive and rewarding than the business of the people; and they do it on the peoples time and dime. Shameful and pitiful.

SAMBO DASUKI: A VICTIM OF A SOCIETY WITH NO CITIZENSHIP FERVOR.

ICHEOKU says where is the citizenship in Nigerians that what touches one of them does not concern them or translates to a collective pain suffered by all. Why is it that the government of Nigeria can isolate and destroy Nigerians individually without the entire population seeing it as a we for all and that what effects one effects all? Why is Nigerians so individualistic and apathetic to the hurt of others and seem to suffer a "provided it is not me" syndrome, which every previous and subsequent leader, including maximum dictators, have exploited to their greatest advantage in ravishing and ravaging Nigerians like a cheap prostitute? Why is a hurt of one not treated and reacted to like a hurt of all; or does the one cap fits all of citizenship inapplicable to Nigerians? Paraphrasing Marvin Gay, ICHEOKU says 'what's goin on' Nigerians; or are you out of your mind and have lost your total sense of collectiveness, such that it is not your business if your brother is in trouble or sister, for that matter. 

ICHEOKU says are there answers to these 'WHYS" or are Nigerians doomed as a society incapable of ever transforming into a nation of citizens who take pride in their citizenship and protects same with valiant fervor; believing that if they come for one today, tomorrow it could be their turn or that of another; and thus band together to protect each other by protecting anyone who is suffering presently from the oppression of the State. ICHEOKU says these mind rendering questions are now more imperative than ever before, because of the inexplicable detention without legitimacy of some Nigerian citizens by the State. Why is Sambo Dasuki still in detention nearly two years since a court of competent jurisdiction granted him bail. 

Why is the government of Presidnet Muhammadu Buhari still detaining this guy in disobedience of several valid subsisting orders of court granting him bail. What explanation does Nigerians, particularly its Congress, have for allowing President Muhammadu Buhari operate as if he is running a military dictatorship where check and balance has zero tolerance. ICHEOKU says when a Congress, elected to represent the people, are no longer doing their job, like salt which has lost its taste, should be done away with. What use is it anyway still having them and wasting tax payers money on their remuneration and maintenance, when they cannot do their job. A Congress of over 600 matured individuals which is afraid of just one man and kowtowing to every one of his wish and caprice, is not a worthy Congress and should therefore either live up to its constitutional dictate of being a watchdog on the executive or forever lose its face and stand disbanded. 

Does it mean that Nigerians are proud of what their president is doing in their name or are okay with the injustice one of their own is currently being subjected to by a man they elected to represent them as their president. Why any Nigerians should be content with the state of affairs as it concerns, affects and touches Sambo Dasuki presently, also questions any and everything that person finds satisfactory with the comatose Nigerian State. How could they display this level of apathy about the fate of Sambo Dasuki, a bona fide Nigerian who co-shares the Nigerian citizenship with them. Why are Sambo Dasuki's rights and privileges, including his constitutionally guaranteed right to bail pending trial, be violated and continuing till this day and Nigerians kept quiet as if it is not a big deal. Is what President Muhammadu Buhari doing, disregarding a valid subsisting court order, indicative of the content and character of Nigerians. If as a society, Nigerians are weighted against the background of PMB actions, is this the type of behavior they are or will be proud of as fellow citizens. Definitely not the type of a representation any civilized and conscientious human-being would expect or desire from their president; at least not those who are still good citizens. Pitiful. 

Even Pakistan, as fundamentalist Islamic as it is, still obeys its courts' orders. It just released a convicted Al Queida terrorist murderer implicated in the murder of innocent victims. Zakuir Rehman Lakhvi, who is believed to be the operations chief of the Islamic militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba, whose ten members, in 2008, mounted series of attacks in Mumbai India that killed 166 people and injured more than 600, was freed on bail pending appeal. But how about Sambo Dasuki, who did not kill anyone, neither is he a terrorist nor a member of any terrorist group, regardless of whatever capacity; yet he is being illegally held against his will and in utter disregard of series of subsisting orders of courts to release him on bail. All he did was work as Nigeria's National Security Adviser to former President Goodluck Jonathan and did not do anything so heinous or so adversarial as to warrant his perpetual detention. 

ICHEOKU says President Muhammadu Buhari needs to be reminded that Nigeria is a democracy and that he is not the Lord of the manor and therefore must subject himself to all the tenets of a democratic society including the separation of powers and respect of duly constituted courts' orders. What manner of a repented democrat is this president, who would so disparagingly demean a co-equal third arm of the government and without any consequence or renunciation from Nigerians. If Pakistan could obey her own court's orders, why not Nigeria. 

ICHEOKU says the whole errancy is being tolerated by a docile society, some useless pressure groups and associations, as well as a do-nothing Congress which is deathly afraid of the president, hence only rubber-stamps his wishes and caprices. A Congress which is supposed to represent the people and be their champion in chief, a watch dog, providing oversight functions on the executive branch, but which has become so intimidated by the executive that they hardly hold up their eyes to eyeball the president. 

Where is their check and balance on the executive that an elected president could be this lawless and wily without fear of his excesses being curbed and curtailed by an eagle eyed law makers. But unfortunately, Nigeria is not blessed with such a studious Congress; rather it has masquerading as Congress, a congregation of fraudsters and gangsters mired in a cesspool of corruption which the president uses threat of their prosecution as a sword of Damocles hanging over their heads to ensure their silence as he raids the vaults of rights and privileges of the citizens. 

There is also an ineffectual corrupt media which only reports what it has received the proverbial brown envelope for; although these days, a bank alert suffices. These are the accomplices to the aberration which is President Muhammadu Buhari's complete disregard for the rule of law, including his haughty mannerism as if he is a royalty and not a mere elected public servant. What use are these people if they cannot ensure that rule of law reigns supreme in the land and that the president operates within the confines of his authority as only an elected president and not his arrogated exaggerated power of a potentate. If Nigerians cannot ensure that Sambo Dasuki, a man who has been merely charged but not yet tried nor convicted, is released on bail pending trial as ordered by the courts, what use are Nigerians to one another, anyway. 

A hurt of one should be a hurt of all as nobody knows for whom the Buhari's despotic bell  tolls tomorrow. It is Sambo Dasuki today and tomorrow it might be ICHEOKU, admitted that is now an impossibility since ICHEOKU now longer pleads the authority of Abuja. Where is the Nigerian society's rage that one of its own is being persecuted by the government due to several decades past personal issues. Why the conspirator's silence that is pervading the Nigerian society with everyone acting as if it is just Sambo Dasuki's problem and only he should deal with it. Like Hitler had planned, after the Jews would have been others, as well as all those who were saying it is just the Jews that he is after and as a result, Hitler could have so easily had his way with the world and gotten away with it. 

The problem with such arbitrariness as President Muhammadu Buhari is exhibiting, especially one of flagrantly disregarding and disobeying competent court's orders, is the  propensity for it to metastasize like incurable cancerous growth. It is Sambo Dasuki today, who shall it be tomorrow and this is the reason Nigerians should in unison demand that the persecution of Dasuki come to an end. If the government has a case that is provable against Dasuki, they should make their case and get it over with. The victim deserves due process including the right to bail and the chance to be allowed to adequately prepare his defense, both of which the government is denying him. This is the faux pas, the giant elephant in the room, the monster which will eventually consume every Nigerian should they continue to ignore the case of Sambo Dasuki and treat same as only Dasuki's problem and not an attack on Nigerians' collective due process right to a fair trial. ICHEOKU says Nigerians must rise up and break their collective silence and inertia in the matter of the persecution of Sambo Dasuki by President Muhammadu Buhari and demand that the president obey subsisting courts' orders and release him on an already granted conditioned bail. Anything short of this is foolish and it should not be tolerated nor condoned. Let Sambo Dasuki free on bail.

HAPPY TURKEY DAY AMERICA: ITS IS THANKSGIVING DAY 2017

ICHEOKU says for all we have, family, friends and stuff, we give you thanks Oh Lord. Have a wonderful thanksgiving America. Cheers.

ROBERT MUGABE FORCED OUT: AFTER THE EUPHORIA, WHAT NEXT?

ICHEOKU says even the bravest general knows when the fight cannot be won and continuing the battle becomes mere foolhardy; and so it was that the man who has ruled Zimbabwe for close to four decades, Dr Robert Mugabe, saw that the treachery is deeper than he had imagined and decided to throw in the towel and resigned his office. Now let all those conspirators who ganged up to effectuate his ouster transform Zimbabwe into the little Eldorado Paradise they saw in their vision which led to their stab on the back of the now former president. Boy, was Julius Caesar right in calling out Brutus, Et tu Brute; that an army general who he appointed to the office as head the country's military ganged up with an ousted Vice President to stage a palace coup which barreled down to the present state of a Zimbabwe without President Robert Mugabe. ICHEOKU says trust is definitely in short supply within the Zimbabwean military establishment and the country's general political environment, including the ZANU-PF.

ICHEOKU says it will take a while for it to sink in for those Zimbabweans that President Robert Mugabe is no longer in power and controlling their affairs. Hopefully they have not invited the conflagration which will ultimately consume them, with the disrespectful forced exit of a man who put so much to bring them pride and respect, as full human beings, freed from colonialist British. ICHEOKU will miss President Bobby Mugabe, especially his grandiloquence and vast repertoire of parables and metaphorical speaking. That he is a well read man is also a fact and therefore he earned the bragging right to say that he is very knowledgeable in what he is always talking about. But the conspiracies of Britain and America started the 2009 targeted economic sanction which forced the tiny country of 14 million people into a beggarly nation, with over 90% unemployment rate and a currency which is as worthless as the sands in the Sahara desert and it damaged his presidency so much that he couldn't and never recovered from it. 

But he gave it his all and he fought till the very end; tried but in vain to starve off his traducers. He was simply overpowered by circumstances beyond his control and at his very ripe old age of 93, his sinews no longer have the strength in them which they use to have to wage a fight and he signed the dotted lines of a prepared resignation letter, possibly with a pistol pointed at his cranium by the same gangster military that forced the issue to come to a head. But as with every war, after the war, comes the battle and winning the battle of a post Mugabe Zimbabwe will be the toughest challenge facing Zimbabweans down the road. Nothing really changed and therefore all the hopes raised by his ouster which led to the unwarranted jubilation of Zimbabweans might soon be dashed as wishful. 

The man who will succeed Mugabe, former Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa, is part of the old order that has ruled Zimbabwe since its independence in 1980. He was once the Minister of Internal Security and his ruthless put down of the Ndebele Matabeleland revolt in 1983-84 when over 20,000 Zimbabweans were brutally massacred and which actually earned him closer ties to the president, tells everything anyone needs to know about the bloody content of his character. He was subsequently appointed Vice President. But unbeknownst to Bobby Mugabe, such a snake could not be trusted and it led to the president's downfall. How this ruthless mass murderer will govern Zimbabwe is but anybody's guess. But ICHEOKU foresees the Biblical 1King 12:11 type King Rehoboam come to life that if President Robert Mugabe chastised Zimbabweans with a stick, this incoming killer will trade sticks for scorpions. Like with every revolution, after Mugabe, will come the real revolution of purging Mugabe's loyalists and replacing them with his own henchmen; and how far his decisions will go is also anybody's guess. But whether those that will be affected in the coming purge will just accept it and quietly go into the night without a fight is also up in the air. 

It is Africa where tribal and regional loyalties are always paramount in peoples affairs. As the people of Libya are still finding out after the celebration that followed the international conspiracy that led to the murder of Moummar Gaddafi, Zimbabweans might soon find out that President Mugabe was not the problem. Iraq too. Winning the war against President Robert Mugabe is definitely going to be quite different from winning the battle against a comatose economy and a people yet to fully grasp what has taken place - that their Bobby is no longer in power. A Zimbabwe military which took side with a Vice President against their own commander in chief is not a military any incoming president should trust and the real change should in fact start with them by removing every senior military officer that had a hand in the ouster of President Robert Mugabe from office. Thereafter, the over devalued currency should be addressed as well as the overall economy which is in cold doldrums, towards providing jobs for millions of unemployed Zimbabweans and prevent the 90% unemployment from further north bound trajectory. 

As far as ICHEOKU is concerned, the manner of President Robert Mugabe's removal from office is not the best. The military should have demanded the reinstatement of the sacked Vice President and allowed President Robert Mugabe to serve out his term. At his very old age of 93, he does not have that much long to live and they could have also waited him out or have the election conducted in such a way as to vote him out in next year's election. But all these are now but the shouting, as the deed is done and Robert Mugabe is no longer president of Zimbabwe. ICHEOKU says lets now wait and watch how the post President Robert Mugabe's era will turn out for Zimbabweans. So long President Bobby and may he live out whatever remains of his last days on this earth in peace and harmony; and ICHEOKU thanks him for the much which he was able to do for Zimbabweans within his widow's mite abilities. Viva Bobby.

North Korea: A TERRORIST STATE SPONSOR OF TERRORISM

ICHEOKU says it is official, the reclusive North Korean leader Kim Jung Un has succeeded in invoking the wrath of the United States of America and has now been put back to the list of States which sponsors terrorism. So alongside Iran, Sudan and Syria, North Korea will now pay a hefty price economically and as rightly articulated, this latest designation will further squeeze the country and force it into a better behavior. 

ALEX EKWUEME: DEAD AT 85

ICHEOKU says former Nigerian Vice President during the second republic presidency of Alhaji Shehu Shagari, Dr Alexander Ifenayichukwu Ekwueme, is dead. He died of natural causes in a London hospital. He was 85 years old. May his soul now rest. Adieu Alex.

ENOCH ADEBOYE'S RCCG: A MONETIZED RELIGION WITH DIMINISHED CHRISTIANITY.

ICHEOKU says at a conversion rate of $1 to N355 multiplied by $65 million is equals to N23,075,000,000. Now do the math and tell ICHOEKU that if indeed Enoch Adeboye is a man of God that he would not have put the staggering sum he splashed on a mere worldly extravagance, on a more Godly delighting works. Works which says heavenly such as charity, hospitals, schools, scholarships, food banks, clothing the poor, tendering the sick, feeding the prisoners, creating jobs for the jobless and such other things of grace as Matthew 25:35-40 envisaged. 

Further, why did General Overseer Enoch Adeboye not direct the $65 million towards empowering thousands of his congregants, many of who can hardly pay their children's school fees, feed themselves and/or pay their hospital bills? Why did GO Enoch Adbeoye not invest the money towards improving more Nigerian lives generally, rather than a selfish act of pure pleasure, made to benefit himself and cushion his own personal activities. If his argument that he has so many places to be at the same time is to be believed as an acceptable explanation for needing a private jet, why the topmost of the top range private jets, when there are jets that cost a lot cheaper than S650 Gulfstream. But "What Would Jesus Do" with a $65 million bounty he suddenly found in his possession?  On the authority of Matthew 14:13-21, ICHEOKU says he would not have purchased a $65 million private jet or made it his top priority. Even ordinary donkey, Jesus did not purchase nor owned; but went on borrowing it as his need of it arose. So why did Enoch Adeboye not borrow or rent private jets or fly first class as his need to travel arises and as so many exemplary leaders do, including the the Vatican See. 

If our Lord and Master Jesus Christ was around, what would he say to Enoch Adeboye than to order him to go sell off the plane and give the proceeds to the poor and needy who have no food, no clothes on their back nor shelter over their heads. Is it possible too that Enoch Adeboye does not even believe the gospel which he preaches and like another Pharisee, he is just preaching what he does not practice. Why does he believe that Jesus Christ was wrong in Matthew 4:8-11 by not falling down and worshipping Lucifer when he collects money packaged as tithes from a lot of dubious characters including ten congregants he asked to pony up N1 billion each or the Abuja woman who works with the Prison Service who gave his RCCG a N200 million in tithe offering? Did Enoch Adeboye ever question the source of these people's money and who ever legitimately acquired his wealth would just give up N1 billion just because the Overseer said so. What is really going on in this Redeemed Christian Church of God or is there some drug and/or money laundering operation going on therein?

In South Korea once lived a Reverend Sun Myung Moon who not only made it big preaching the gospel but made millionaires out of thousands of South Koreans through business products his ministry developed, perfected and maintained. His ministry enjoyed and still to a large extent today, a near monopoly of false hair attachment and other hair care products. Yes, Reverend Moon's ministry controlled artificial hair and weave on industry, as well as many haircare and beauty care industry. With money collected in donations and tithes, he ventured into hair products manufacturing, creating several thousands of middle men and women, distributors and wholesalers, as well as retailers and exporters of his product out of members of his church. His reach was so extensive that by the time he eventually died in September 3, 2012, he was nearly a Demi god in Seoul, having created lots of jobs for South Koreans and turned so many lives around as well as made millionaires and rich people out of ordinary South Koreans. 

He was not selfish and he did not make purchasing a private jet his number one priority and many of his early travels were funded by people needing him to visit and preach to them. The wealth he created transcended and trickled down the and he made a lot of rich people out of his church members and the general South Korean people. There were other things, including schools and hospitals which his ministry established and ran, most of them free to his church members; and which to a great extent helped transform South Korea into the world class nation it is today, alongside other nationalist companies such as Samsung, Daewoo, Kia etc. This is exemplary Christianity and if there is heaven, Reverend Moon is already there as he practiced what he preached and he gave impetus to giving the poor, clothing the clothe-less, sheltering the homeless and in short, gave his all to everyone. His is an example worth emulating.

Had General Overseer Enoch Adeboye been this as focused in improving the lot of Nigerians particularly those millions of his followers, many of who cannot afford to send their children to his schools or afford their hospital bills, by catering to their needs, nobody, including ICHEOKU will be raising eyebrow because he collects tithes or spent a "paltry" $65 million on a top of the range Gulfstream S650 private jet, afterall he would have rightly earned it. But, when millions of his followers are wallowing in abject poverty, including those who could not afford their daily meals nor have the capacity to pay their children's school fees and hospital bills, and he is spending such a fortune just to make himself comfortable while jetting around the globe, people pause to wonder what actually moves this guy. What manner of Christian is he indeed? Does he follow the footsteps of our Lord Jesus Christ? Certainly, unlike the other gay-looking fella Rotimi Amaechi, who does not love money, Enoch Adeboye appears to love the billfolds, admitted he worked tirelessly so hard to get to where he is presently. But should that excuse his exhibitionist high dollar purchase?

ICHEOKU says where is the Christianity in Enoch Adeboye if his priority is getting himself the finest private jet ever manufactured just to pleasurably get around. Where is his obedience to the Lord to sell everything he has and follow him? Where is his obedience to the Lord that such earthly distractions will deny him entry into heaven or is he content with already enjoying his own heave here on earth while millions of his congregants can go on waiting and longing for their own heaven hereafter. Where is his obedience to the Lord's admonition that on the last day he will ask when I was hungry you did not give me food to eat, when millions of the Lord's brethren members of his church are starving and going to bed hungry at night? When and if Enoch Adeboye finally meets Jesus how does he plan to explain the overt extravagance he displayed when he doled out $65 million to purchase a private jet when he could have been flying first class or even renting jets as his travels demands and at worse, purchased a much cheaper and equally efficient jet and given the rest to helping the poor and needy, especially those among his church members.

ICHEOKU says except Enoch Adeboye repents, he is definitely not going to make heaven and is bound for hell if our Lord's words are firm and unchangeable. This is a guy who once asked for ten people in his church to cough up one billion Naira each to raise ten billion Naira which will go towards building a church auditorium when God does not dwell in houses made of brick and mortar. This is a guy who once received a two hundred million Naira tithe from a woman who works with Nigerian Prisons authority in Abuja and on none of the occasions did he care to ask these "generous" givers how they came about such hefty sums which they so easily doled out. A country bedeviled with corruption where nearly half of the population have nothing to eat, but this supposed man of God has no qualms accepting these monies from these people and applying same to his church purposes including possibly towards purchasing his private jet and other sundry things which does not edify or glorify God. 

Our Lord lived with man for a little time of over 33 years and during that time, he preached and lived example of how to enter heavily paradise. He did not own nor coveted any earthly possessions because he explicitly said that people should aspire for the rewards in heaven and not be bogged down with things of the earth which has no heavily value. Even the donkey with which he rode into Jerusalem, he borrowed; and could have purchased hundreds of them if he wanted or had demanded of his followers. But no, he lived and showed example of how to make his Heavenly Father happy in order to enter paradise. A rich man even came to him in Matthew 19:16-21, seeking to know how he can make heaven and again, Jesus told him to divest himself of all his earthly possessions and come and follow him. This is imperative because no one individual will ever enjoy two heavens, it is either they enjoy the one here on earth or they wait to enjoy the promised paradisaical heaven. 

It is obvious that Enoch Adeboye is surely enjoying his earthly heaven, being able, according to his own words, to eat one cow if and whenever he so desires and also jetting around in an ultra expensive private modern jet. That he worked tirelessly so hard to get to where he is no is not an excuse because the race for heaven is a marathon which never finishes until death. Our Lord will not ask anyone how long ago they started their heavenly race; he is only interested in whether they finished it and remained in grace until the end. Why is he not practicing what he is preaching or does he not want to also enjoy the heavenly bliss promised to all faithfuls? Even John the Baptist, the forerunner of Jesus Christ did not own any worldly possessions but ran around foretelling the coming of Jesus Christ, subsisting on only locusts and honey. 

So, why the monetization of the church going on in Enoch Adeboye's Redeemed Christian Church of God, which hardly justifies the Christian and God in its name; and neither are his redeemers, redeemed. Where is the sacrifice or has he not heard about no pain no gain and that nobody ever gets into heaven on a fat stomach. In Matthew 14:16-20, our Lord Jesus fed the multitude with two fishes and five loaves of bread and would have kept the provision to himself or even turned them away as prompted by his disciples, but he said, feed them. Our Lord Jesus washed the feet of his apostles but did not erect a wall of superiority around himself by buying a private jet or an expensive chariot of that era. He mixed and mingled among the crowd, did not have bodyguards either; and had aversion for the high and mighty of that era. 

But as for Enoch Adeboye, he goes around with body guards, mixes with politicians, thieves and corrupt individuals and stays barricaded from the masses and has now acquired a Gulfstream which no poor member of his church will ever dream of getting on. Our Lord even once went hungry in Matthew 11:12-14 and cursed the fig tree which could not yield him fruit to eat. But never a time throughout his ministration did he ever force anyone or make demand of anyone to give or provide him with food to eat or something to drink. He always foraged for his own food and drink, just like any other person; setting example of what secures eternal paradise. But Enoch Adeboye is their daddy and General Overseer who must not go hungry, but must be attended to round the clock, pampered and provided for multiple choice foods and drinks  when millions others are hungry and unattended to. 

Unfortunately, Nigerians in their ever savvy way of copying and imitating and sometimes surpassing the originators, the Enoch Adeboyes of Nigeria, have taken the art of monetized religious business, copied from the Americans, to a completely new stratospheric heights. To even think that amidst the dire need in the country that a supposed man of God would spend such staggering sum of money just on a private jet is not only unfathomably disheartening but irreconcilable to scriptural dictates. Imagine how may people such amount of money would have empowered. Imagine how many cottage industries it would have established. Imagine how many doctors, lawyers, engineers, architects, teachers it would have trained. Imagine how many hospital bills it would have paid too. But no, not for the man of God who would rather have his reward here on earth than to wait for the Kingdom to come and contrary to what he preaches. People are hungry; people are homeless and people cannot afford to pay their children's school fees, but buying a $65 million private jet is his priority and you wonder why peoples incredulity is raised about this new religions.

ICHEOKU says Enoch Adeboye's action further explains what George Orwell tried to communicate to the world in 'Animal Farm', using Snowball antics of a fantastic Sugar Candy mountain with which he held Boxer hostage to a life of bonded servitude, in expectation of some future reward. ICHEOKU says regardless of how the current debate on the merits of paying tithes is eventually resolves, General Overseer Enoch Adeboye has irredeemably damaged himself and the image he fakes as a man of God, who is destined to heaven. With the lifestyle of the rich and famous, a rockstar, which he has transitioned into, topped off with the acquisition of a $65 million Gulfstream private jet, it is hard if not impossible to believe that he is still in sync with real and true Christianity. Definite not when millions of his followers are left hungry, homeless and jobless and he is spending millions on a private jet. There is no justification for it and no explanation is acceptable. He would have plowed the money into other more Godly projects, which will edify God and improve his branch of Christianity. RCCG is earthly and even occult like and it cannot secure him or any other member a place in heaven. In short, Enoch Adeboye is headed to hell, except he repents and sheds himself off his earthly possessions.  

LAVAR BALL: A DESPICABLE INGRATE AND BAD ROLE MODEL.

ICHEOKU says never has a human-being been this despicable and dumb, that instead of hiding his face in shame that his thieving son nearly caused an international incident when he took his shoplifting act overseas, he is here dismissively treating what his son did as no big deal and also belittling the effort that made his son's release possible. 

LaVar Ball, the father of LiAngelo Ball, one of three UCLA players, who were caught red handed shoplifting in China, is one big foolish oaf and a loud mouth who should have known better not to display the stupidity of a comment which he made to ESPN. How any responsible father would so impetuously say what he said regarding the shameful criminal behavior of his son and added insult to the injury by not being appreciative of the presidential power that freed his son is simply unfathomable. ICHEOKU says if President Donald John Trump did not help and actually facilitated the release of his son and his two criminal accomplices, who did? Or was it his little self that strong armed President Xi Jing Ping and ordered him to release his son immediately; knowing that the culture over there has zero tolerance for such irresponsible criminal behavior such as stealing. 

ICHEOKU agrees with the President Donald John Trump's social media director, Dan Scavino, that his shoplifting son, LiAngelo Ball, would still be in Chinese criminal custody and for a long, long, long time without President Donald John Trump's assistance and intervention; for which this buffoon should have been eternally grateful and not open his mouth like a foolish blowhard big loud mouth which he apparently is. A more responsible, well disciplined father should have personally thanked the president and thereafter, quietly kept away to allow the incident to melt away. But no, he inserted himself into the matter and thereby successfully reintroduced his son's criminal behavior back into the limelight centerstage. 

His son LiAngelo Ball, alongside his two other colleagues in shoplifting, Cody Riley and Jalen Hill, were arrested in Hangzhou China for stealing sunglasses in a Louis Vuitton shop. They were facing possible ten years imprisonment in a Chinese prison following a likely conviction; presidential plugs were pulled to secure their release and this LaVar Ball is now saying what? A matter made worse because the three criminals have already owned up to their criminal activities, apologized for their criminal behavior and also expressed their gratitude to the president for facilitating their release. But this ostrich is saying what? In their words of gratitude, the trio said: "To President Trump and the United States government, thank you for taking the time to intervene on our behalf. Thank you for helping us out." 

So could LaVar Ball help the world understand what he understands this to mean or how else he otherwise interprets this show of contrite and gratitude by his son and the two others or is hisnuerons possibly not firing properly not to fully appreciate what went into his son's release from an assured lengthy prison term. The three musketeers stole, the three musketeers were identified from video recording and the goods were found in the three musketeers' bags, following a police search and this LaVar Ball still has the face to say what? 

ICHEOKU admonishes that a responsible father who did a good job raising his son would have hushed and not pour further gasoline into the inferno of shame. He should have allowed the three shoplifters, one of who is his ill raised son LiAngelo Ball, to have the "great life" which the president had wished them. But no, the big mouth is rather blabbing like a drunk, who is so inebriated not to to appreciate the magnitude of what his son and his friends did and for which President Donald John Trump's phone call to Chinese Jing Jin Ping helped solve. Any good father would have also followed up with ensuring that his son and his fellow thieving two friends heed the president's advise to go out and give a big Thank You to President Xi Jinping of China who made their release possible. Emphasizing too the president's fatherly advise to have a good life and be careful because there are many pitfalls on the long and winding road of life!" But not this rambler. 

Just listen to the his gibberish and you wonder what manner of a man he is indeed that raised such a badly behaving son.Whether he is actually the bad influence on his son is deducible from his reaction to this thievery; which suggested to his son that it is okay to steal or take what does not belong to him. Hear him: "Who? What was he over there for? Don't tell me nothing. Everybody wants to make it seem like he helped me out. As long as my boy's back here, I'm fine. I'm happy with how things were handled. A lot of people like to say a lot of things that they thought happened over there. Like I told him, 'They try to make a big deal out of nothing sometimes.' I'm from L.A. I've seen a lot worse things happen than a guy taking some glasses." 

ICHEOKU says the fact that such criminal misbehavior happens and/or is acceptable in the Hood where the blabber mouth grew up, does not otherwise legitimize it. The criminality of stealing, robbing and dispossessing people of their belongings or taking something from a store and not paying for it, is all frowned criminal misbehaviors for which the law not only frowns but pushes the offenders. What his ill mannered and poorly raised, mannerless son, LiAngelo Ball, did, was in addition to being criminal, deed both reprehensible and inexplicable. 

LaVar Ball should therefore be ashamed of raising such a thieving son, instead of so brazenly trying to explain away his conduct as if it is no big deal. From his idiotic reaction, it is possible he was in fact the reason his son did not turn up a good boy nor knows any better or aware that stealing is wrong. He probably watched his father do similar things in the past himself or he, LiAngelo Ball, has gotten away with doing such things in the past, without any consequence or admonition from his father, who rather approved of such his despicable conduct. Otherwise why would this man not scold his son who disgraced himself, his family and country, by shoplifting overseas. His reaction simply shows that he has no compunction and lacks the decency to frown at evil and has no aversion for criminal behavior. Pitiful.

WILLIAM O'NEIL: HAD 50 WOMEN IN 50 YEARS.

"Now that the dogs of war are calling for the head of Senator Al Franken, I believe it is time to speak up on behalf of all heterosexual males, As a candidate for governor, let me save my opponents some research time. In the last fifty years I was sexually intimate with approximately 50 very attractive females. 

It ranged from a gorgeous blonde who was my first true love and we made passionate love in the hayloft of her parents barn and ended with a drop dead gorgeous red head from Cleveland. Now can we get back to discussing legalizing marijuana and opening the sate hospital network to combat opiod crisis. I am sooooo disappointed by this national feeding frenzy about sexual indiscretions of decades ago. Peace." - Bill O'Neil, Democrat, Supreme Court Justice and Governorship candidate contender of Ohio State. 

ICHEOKU says give it up to these Democrats and coincidentally, he is another Bill; if you get the drift about the other Bill of Monica Lewinsky notoriety.

AL FRANKEN: SHOULD RESIGN HIS OFFICE IMMEDIATELY.

ICHEOKU says apologies not withstanding and it is unacceptable, what Al Franken did is additionally criminal. His groping and grabbing the breasts of a woman who was passed out and deeply asleep and unaware of her being violated is more than creepy. Query: is it possible too that Al Franken could have slipped a date rape drug into her drink, which made her to so pass out, for her not to wake up when her boobs were being grabbed? 

This is actually the more heartbreaking story here, that the victim was had without her consent and awareness; and not necessarily that Al Franken was being another pervert like many of them are, anyway. Yes, Al Franken was part of the Hollywood sleazy slim balls and yes, nothing more edifying was expected of him; but that he did what he did without the victim's consent and she not being conscious and unaware, makes Harvey Weinstein activities seem saintly. 

Only criminals waylay their unsuspecting victims and Al Franken summarily now qualifies as one; and therefore no longer a fit and proper person to be called a United States of American Senator, representing the great State of Minnesota. He should therefor resign his office or be impeached or recalled by his home State because his continuing in Washington DC as a Senator, gives the hallowed chambers a bad name. This is the same man whose sanctimonious righteousness and mouthing off "Russian collusion" has become a daily drama at the Senate. But here he was colluding with a photographer to capture his creepy behavior, groping a sleeping woman. Jesus Christ was indeed right that he who is without sin should throw the first stone; but Al Franken forgot this injunction and continued to throw stones from a glass house. ICHEOKU calls on Al Franken to resign now.

The veracity of what he did is no longer suspect. Picture speaks volume and he has also admitted what he did and apologized. In his apology, Al Franken said: -  

"To Tweeden and everyone else who was part of that tour, to everyone who has worked for me, to everyone I represent, and to everyone who counts on me to be an ally and supporter and champion of women. There's more I want to say, but the first and most important thing—and if it's the only thing you care to hear, that's fine—is: I'm sorry. I don't know what was in my head when I took that picture, and it doesn't matter. There's no excuse. I look at it now and I feel disgusted with myself. It isn't funny. It's completely inappropriate. It's obvious how Leeann would feel violated by that picture." 

ICHEOKU says the only thing now remaining for the Senator from Minnesota to do is to resign his office and save his State and the nation, the embarrassment of his continued representation as a Senator. His office let another take as he is no longer a fit and proper person to remain in the Senate. The Senate deserves better and more appropriately behaved membership and not a clown who was clowning his way around until the ever calculating Democrats decided to field him in order to win a Senate seat in Minnesota. Now, the dog has been caught with his mouth full of shit and only one thing is acceptable under the circumstance - HIS RESIGNATION. 

TESLA TRUCK ARRIVES: HURRAY!

ICHEOKU says while you were distracted and not paying attention, the man who has revolutionalized driving with his zero emission and zero gasoline, 100% electric Tesla cars, has added yet another vehicle to the Tesla family stable. An all electric truck that can go up to 500 miles on a single charge.

IVANKA TRUMP'S SELECTIVE JUDGMENT ON ROY MOORE: NOT KOSHER.

ICHEOKU says wondering whether Ivanka Trump Kushner ever believed all those women who wanted to derail her father's presidential election campaign last year? If she did not believe those women and the circumstances then are eerily similar as the present's Roy Moore's tangle in Alabama, bothering on what some women said and what Roy said in response; where then is her justification in saying that she believed the women currently lining up against Judge Roy Moore, Alabama Republican candidate for the Senate? 

What is good for the goose should be equally good for the gander. Therefore if the then candidate Donald John Trump, despite the number of women who lined up to give false witnesses against him including Access Hollywood captured live audio, was giving a benefit of the doubt during his challenging times; why not extend the same fairness to Judge Roy Moore? Why should Roy Moore not equally enjoy such presumption of innocent until PROVEN guilty which came to the aid of then candidate Trump. Alleged happenstances of about 40 years ago, a period when memory would have gone dim, should not be weighted against a man who has been in the public eye for so long and have ran for several offices so many times, without any of these ever coming out prior to the present. 

ICHEOKU says Ivanka Trump is wrong in saying that she now believed the women who are accusing Roy Moore; especially when she did not believe those who accused her father. She should not have joined the Lynch mob, with pitch forks, who are trying to force out a good man who is loved by his people of Alabama from completing his race to the Senate. They have tried every other thing possible, including spending over thirty million dollars to deny him the chance of coming to Washington DC and they failed. Now, they have dredged up some losers on the lunatic fringe to mouth off allegations of what allegedly happened over three decades ago. ICHEOKU says even if what they alleged happened, what took them this so long. Simply put, they are now too old to be a compelling reason to deny Judge Roy Moore his joining the United States of American Senate, as a Senator representing the great State of Alabama. Not good.

Imagine Ivanka, who should be the last person expected to opine on the alleged matters of sexual indiscretions leveled against Roy Moore, after the grueling experience his father went through during last year's presidential election campaign by the same Washington Swampers, to now say that she believed those women, is rather mind boggling. On what basis did she arrive at this conclusion or should women's accusations simply automatically become truth just because they said so. Did Ivanka first check her statement by her father, before going public with it. If so, on what basis did she think that Roy Moore's accusers should be believed when Americans did not believe her father's own accusers, but gave him a pass last year and elected him president. What other smoking gun evidence did she rely on, when even the Access Hollywood live recording was not weighted against her father. But she now wants Team MAGA to hang Judge Roy Moore because an autographed book was presented with a supposed signature of Judge Moore? 

ICHEOKU says where is the justification and had the then candidate Donald John Trump been hounded and stampeded out of the presidential race, would America today have a President Donald John Trump? Simply put, Ivanka Trump Kushner goofed and should not have spoken in the matter of Judge Roy Moore as she who lives in a glass house should not throw stones. She cannot in all sincerity pass judgment on a man who is being similarly pilloried as her father was. It does not make sense; not at all. Therefore, Ivanka's statement that  "There’s a special place in hell for people who prey on children and I’ve yet to see a valid explanation and I have no reason to doubt the victims’ accounts” is a sham. Where was her father's own "valid explanation" and on what reasonable basis did she doubt those women who line up against her father last year? 

ICHEOKU says whoever advised Ivanka to make the statement got it all wrong. It was presumptuous; and if care is not taken, such a holier than thou attitude will force the Trumps to pay a price next election. The statement might eventually come around to hunt her father's reelection campaign in 2020 as Team MAGA will remember who threw one of their own select Senate candidate under the bus, just because the elitist Washington DC group wanted it.  Why should Ivanka play alongside just to appear acceptable to the same group of Never Trumpers, who never wanted her father to become president. ICHEOKU reiterates that all these piling up against Judge Roy Moore must end forthwith; otherwise it will be interpreted by Alabamans as an attempt to deny their favorite son a chance to represent them in the Senate. A challenge to their independence which they will not accept but will rise up to, in unison, tell Washington swampers that they wont back down. Alabamans don't wait to be told what to do and that Alabamans can think for themselves. Vote Roy Moore for Senate. Go Roy Moore. God's speed to a good man who did nothing wrong,

ROBERT MUGABE: ZIMBABWE'S COUP IS ILLEGAL AND UNACCEPTABLE.

ICHEOKU says regardless of the otherwise would have been beneficial reason, removing an elected president of a democratic society through unconstitutional means of a military putsch is illegal and therefore unacceptable to a civilized world. Therefore the removal of Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe by the country's armed forces is condemnable and should be condemned by everyone. Nothing justifies the military intervention in Zimbabwe as there is an acceptable manner of effecting change in democratic societies - it is called election. Ironically, it is the same military that sabotaged Morgan Richard Tsvangirai attempt to succeed President Robert Mugabe through an election that is now forcefully removing the sitting president, while pretending to be acting to save Zimbabwe from corrupt government insiders. 

ICHEOKU calls on Africa Union to register their disapproval to the Zimbabwe's military and ask them to restore President Robert Mugabe to office immediately. They should alongside other people of Zimbabwe wait for next year's election to vote him out of office, if they so desire. ICHEOKU says in the same manner as the other three previous coups of the last decade in Fernada Po and Principe, Mali and Guinea-Bissau were overruled by ECOWAS regional body, and civilian rule reinstated, the Zimbabwe's development should equally be checkmated. South Africa should lead the charge and if the Zimbabwe's military hesitates, to forcibly remove them from office pronto. European Union and all those anti- Mugabe foreign countries should either apply equal denunciation to the coup or completely butt out of an African internal affair matter. ICHEOKU says Africans should reject military interventions in Africa politics; say no to the Zimbabwe's military. Restore President Robert Mugabe to office, immediately and unconditionally.

PENTECOASTAL CHURCHES: THE ENEMY WITHIN THE HOUSE OF GOD - REMI OYEYEMI

It is only a matter of time before the chicken comes home to roost for the agents of religious deceit. Those who cocooned themselves in the garb of evangelism, pretending to win souls when in fact they are winning naira, dollars and pound sterling for their pockets and families. It is only a matter of time before their true colors are seen by the discerning. By their fruits we shall and will know them.

They are ruthless and vicious entrepreneurs masking as men and women of piety. They are mean, cruel, cold and hungry wolves prowling the nooks and crannies of our society preying on the weak, the poor, the vulnerable and the unwary. Pretending to be men and women of God Almighty, their lack of compassion, odious deceit, greed, exploitation and lack of kindness rival that of the devil. To discern and decipher any modicum of godliness in them is a yeoman's titanic task.

Yes, granted that most Christian and Muslim leaders, yes most, because we must not paint all with the same brush, are ferocious leeches fleecing the life out of our people, the Pentecostals represent the worst of these licentious locusts ravaging our polity. They are selfish, self centered, obnoxiously acquisitive egomaniacal predators. They take all and everything but give nothing in return.

I started off at the Anglican Primary School, Òkè -Imobì, Ìwàrà, in Osun State and finished up at St. Michael Cherubim and Seraphim Primary School, Òkè-Sênì, in the very heart of Ibadan, Oyo State. My secondary education was at Cherubim and Seraphim High School, Ilesa. I am more than enormously proud of these Schools because they laid the foundation of what I have been able, by God's grace, to become today.

There were and still are several primary and secondary schools owned by the Cherubim and Seraphim, Catholics, Methodist, Anglican, Baptist, Seventh Day Adventist, African Church and many Christian Churches and organizations. Ditto for many of the Muslim missions. Those Schools were within reach for and of many. They laid good life foundation for millions of children who passed through them.

Despite one's suspicion of Christianity and Islam as foreign faiths with imperialistic socio - religious and politico - economic motives, these early missions and their indigenous genre that came later on, all contributed several positives to the polity. They built not just affordable schools, they built hospitals all over. They did their best in giving back to the society in many ways.

Then came the egregiously greedy goons of Pentecostalism. Impelled and propelled by noxious materialism, they preached dubious prosperity meant to improve the lives of the anchors and impoverish the "sheep", obviously so called because of their docility and vulnerabilities. They ridiculed and mocked the moderately ascetic living style of the leaders of the Orthodox Churches. 

They glorified shameless flamboyancy with translucent horrifying hollowness and serendipitous shallowness. They misled and enticed their unwary victims called "followers" with glittering outwards that are vacuous at the core. Ostentation was glamorized in the midst of want, poverty and squalor. They exuded and reveled in reeking arrogance becoming unfeeling, unperturbed, unconcerned, unloving and uncaring except where money is concerned.

Their aridity in and of spirituality turned them into baptized agents of misery and gnashing of teeth for our people. They turned the Bible upside down as they engage in self serving selective quoting of the Book. The Pentecostals are the proofs of what the Bible warns against about the dexterous ability of the Satan to quote the Bible copiously in justification of its evil deeds.

These so called Pentecostals are enemies of our Nation. They are against our culture and traditions. They are against our values of accommodation, compassion, tolerance and  sensible civility in Yoruba land in particular. They preach to destroy the essence of our Yorubaness by attacking important elements of our culture and tradition.

In addition they enslave the minds of our people fostering odious docility, engendering political passivity, ineptitude and ineptness; inebriating our people with dangerous and debilitating indifference to moral, social, economic and political degeneration in the larger milieu. They encourage a genre of individualism than the vampire crude Capitalism could ever dream of and repeatedly axe our communality.

They are active antagonists if not committed, persevering enemies of our Yoruba heritage. They promote parlous life ideas that are of no value to their "sheep". Everything Yoruba nay African is denigrated and demonized with unrestrained and often placed enthusiasm. They glamorized fake living as they encourage their "sheep" to mimic fake and banal tenets of Westernism. From figurative "sheep", they turned their followers to real "sheep" of the worst form, cultureless, directionless with amoebic and formless identity bereft of any uniqueness. 

They are mostly, intellectually incapacitated in their understanding of our essence, uniqueness and richness as a race with checkered past and great future. They demonize what they do not understand. They debauched in enthused ignorance. They are intellectually lazy and never bothered to study our ways of life, our faiths, our cultural practices before they condemn and demonize. They relish in fake righteousness and severely questionable superior moral authority.

These Pentecostals' genre of exploitation is subtle but seething in its lethality. Like a sneaky but dangerous serpent, its victims are never prepared for the suddenness of its poisonous prowl. Before they realized that they have been dispossessed of their hard earned money, more often than not, it was too late. But the victims are quick to self-console, rationalizing their misfortunes that they did it for God. Yet God spends no money and the Bible insists that salvation is free.

Yes, it is true that you could find it in the Bible that "money is the wheel of evangelism", but the Bible did not say as these Pentecostals do, that you should coarse, intimidate, blackmail, curse, threaten, cajole, dupe, trick, deceive and burden the poor, hungry, vulnerable "sheep" to get the money. All the evangelists in the Bible had jobs and never received tithes to help themselves, their families and their evangelism.

The Pentecostals' preachment of prosperity places the plan to prune the painful plight of their tithe paying "sheep" on permanent pause. Hence, they did not think of founding schools and hospitals like the Orthodox Churches. And occasionally, when they are staggered from the slumber of their grueling greed to found Schools, they reach further down into the decrepit dungeon of luciferous love of lucre, asking for fees out of this world beyond the reach of their long suffering members. Ooooh, my apologies, I meant their long suffering "sheep."

Then their sentries would saunter unto the public fora rationalizing the repugnant ruse, ranting relentlessly, "good education is expensive," "quality education costs money." Yet all these General Overseers, Oludasiles/Founders of these new wave Churches in the garb of Pentecostals were beneficiaries of the benevolence of others in their youth to get education. They're actively removing from others, the ladder of opportunity with which they climbed.

Pentecostals, confident cowards who could and would never see any evil in tyranny. They are so gutless they could not even stand for themselves or any of their own. Their pastors are murdered like strayed goats and they could not wimp. Their members are executed during services on Sundays and they remain deafeningly silent. Probity, integrity, social justice, equity and equality of all is not their forte. They couldn't stand for anything but fall and crumble for anything like a house of cards. 

These Pentecostals, all they care about is money, money, money and money. Even those miserable "sheep" euphemized as "members" or "followers" could never count on them at anytime for anything. They are potent enemies within our society. They are poisonous to our social milieu. They are parasitic conscienceless leeches on our economy. They are enablers of politics of charlatanism. They are shining purveyors of religious shenanigans. They are enemies within.