WE ARE BACK: HELLO, WELCOME 2022.

ICHEOKU says while we were away for the holidays, a lot happened domestically and internationally, including the deaths of so many renowned and notable people. We hope that your holidays were as restful and less stressful as ours was and that normal activities have since returned in your lives. Please welcome back to our resumed time together on this forum, in this new year 2022, which is already ten days gone. 

Although it is always better late than never, admitted that never late is always better, so, still happy new year to you ICHEOKU's readers and viewers alike. We look forward to continuing holding conversations with you, the reason we reach out to you on this platform. We appreciate you bountifully for considering this forum worthy of the time which you generously spend on it. Thank you. We pray that you continue to find our insights engaging enough to elicit and warrant your time. Now, some of the developments:- 

The apartment fires in Philadelphia and New York City, nearly five days apart, which claimed the lives of 12 and 19 people respectively, were indeed terrifying and very horrific indeed. May their souls now rest. It is also noteworthy that many Americans are still dying from the Chinese ghoulish gift to the world, the dreadful coronavirus. ICHEOKU says is hopeful that the world will finally see the light at the end of the tunnel of the scourge this year so that life as we once knew it should finally return to its fullest. May the souls of the coronavirus killed continue to rest and those currently afflicted, find some respite through a speedy recovery. 

Interestingly enough, none of those notable departed persons fell victim to the coronavirus pandemic. They lived their lives fully to well wiped old ages and transited on their own accord, dying from old age related infirmities. Many of them died but we will mention here only those incredibly eventful ones, including Hollywood great Sidney Poitier at 94 years; Queen of infectious smile and another Hollywood great Betty White at 99 years; activist archbishop extraordinaire Desmond Tutu at 90 years; political heavyweight Senator Harry Reid at 82 and NFL great and wonderful coach John Madden at 85. May their souls now rest.

It is also noteworthy that the disgraced former governor of New York, the elder Cuomo of the two Cuomo Brothers CNN Comedy group will not be prosecuted for the crimes which forced him out of office. While it is a piece of good news for the embattled Cuomo family, those #MeToo trouble makers who lined up to point their accusing fingers are not finding it funny; otherwise why did they bother showing their faces. Anyway, ICHEOKU has always believed that the whole exercise  was meant to neuter him and render him politically impotent in 2024 so that he will not mount a challenge for President Joe Biden's second term. They succeeded and now have no more use of furthering the conspiracy against him.

The other development worth mentioning was the decision not to prosecute those two guards at New York Metropolitan Correctional Center who were on duty the night Jeffrey Epson "conveniently" decided to suicide himself. Anyone with the faintest idea about situational awareness relative to the security of very important prisoners or detained persons, knows that Jeffrey Epson did not kill himself and especially not in the manner they sold the public. Those two guards knew exactly what truly happened to Jeffrey Epson that fateful night; and the only way their lawyers would not have forced the issue out is to not prosecute them, period. Jeffrey Epson is gone; his guards will not be prosecuted and his Lolita Express madam Christine Ghislaine is convicted and soon going to prison, his issue has come a full circle, case closed.

What a huge relief it is that the worst mayor in America, Bill de Blasio, is finally out from office and that New York will now look forward to recovering from his mismanagement. ICHEOKU says provided Black Lives Matter anarchists will give the new black Mayor of New York Eric Adam a breathing space, we are hopeful that he will succeed once he puts into action the things he promised during his campaign for the office. We wish him well. On this same tangent, we appreciate the governor of Colorado for bringing reason into the conviction of the truck driver by commuting his 110 years prison sentence to 10 years. It was the right and correct decision as the crime was excessively over punished with the earlier sentence. 

ICHEOKU says Congresswoman Liz Cheney is suddenly realizing how lonesome and loathsome it could be being politically leprous as she is now completely deserted and isolated and flying solo in her anti party activism. It was so bad for her that she had to dredge up her tired and ailing old father, Darth Vader Dick Cheney to accompany her to the infamous January 6th anniversary celebration in Washington DC. What happened to her other fellow co-travelers in the ill-advised rebellion against the Republican Party, the 64 million strong MAGA family and their affable leader former President Donald John Trump. They rudely found out how small and inconsequential they are and they are paying a hefty price for their rudeness.

We will not end this article without mentioning the development in Kazakhstan where a president decided to rather kill his protesting citizens than listen to them and figure out how best to improve the conditions for which they came out on the streets in protest. Fortunately for him, Vladimir Putin has been looking to send his soldiers somewhere and his invitation was more than a welcome relief from the stalemated Ukrainian border adventure. Anyway, we shall see how many of his country's people he can shed their blood no matter the nomenclature he labeled them with including "foreign terrorists". It is a sad and primitive way of resolving an internal citizens protest, shooting and killing your own country men and women at sight.

It is also heart warming to note that those coronavirus profiteers were hugely disappointed when the Omicron variant which they had hyped and frightened people with did not pack the advertised punch and has now nearly fizzled out. It is a good thing to happen especially in a society where people are over-traumatized and dead tired of the coronavirus. Also, in ten days time President Joe Biden would have been in the White House for one full year and you ask yourself, judging from the way things are since he came on board, when Americans will finally apologize to the former President Donald John Trump for the hand which they dealt him on November 3rd, 2020.

Anyway, let's see what 2022 has in stock for the world and be hopeful that it will be an improvement from what 2021 came and went with. Like Sidney Poitier said, hope is the only tool in the survival kit of life, so we must have it in order to stand a chance at fighting through life. Reverend Jesse Jackson also implored us to keep hope alive and provided it is not the type of Barack Obama's styled hope and change, it is something worth trying in order to avert despondency and silly thoughts. We should therefore be grateful that we made it through yet another year and be optimistic that we shall improve our odds in the new year in every aspect of our lives as we desire and as shall only increase us and not diminish us in every way. God bless and once again, happy new year fellas.