GUN VIOLENCE IN AMERICA: FOR WHO THE BELL TOLLS NEXT.

Just five people shy of Sandy Hook elementary school mass shooting incident that claimed 26 lives, the Uvalde Texas Robb elementary school mass shooting at 21 victims, now ranks among the highest grossing gun carnage in America. It is sad that such frequent blood spilling has tragically become part of our culture as a society. May the souls of the killed now rest.

25th AMENDMENT: ITS NOW ALL CRICKET.

Madam Speaker Nancy Pelosi once questioned former President Donald John Trump's fitness to remain in office due to what she claimed was his declining mental capacity. Does anyone know what Madam Speaker presently thinks about the incontrovertible case which America is now saddled with? Just curious!

WHO WILL REBUILD UKRAINE?

The West should convert frozen Russian assets, both state's and oligarchs' owned, into a full seizure and set them aside for the future rebuilding of Ukraine. Like the Marshal Plan, call it the Putin Plan.

A HERO IS BORN.

I am staying put. I will not run away and abandon my people. The fight is here in Ukraine. What I need are weapons and ammunitions, not a ride out of town like former Afghanistan President Ashraf Ghani - President Volodymyr Zelensky.

IT IS WHAT IT IS.

"There is too much hate in America because there is too much anger in America." - Trevor Noah.

WORD!

A life without challenges is not a life lived at all. A life lived is a life that has problems, confronts problems, solves problems and then learns from problems. - Tunde Fashola.

NOW, YOU KNOW.

When fishing for love, bait with your heart and not your brain, because you cannot rationalize love. - Mark Twain.

JUST THE FACT.

In our country, you can shoot and kill a nigger, but you better not hurt a gay person’s feelings - Dave Chappelle

DO YOU?.

“What you believe in can only be defined by what you’re willing to risk for it." - Stuart Scheller.

HEDGE YOUR CRISIS.

Never get in bed with a woman whose problems are worse than yours. - Chicago PD.

PROBLEM SOLVED.

'The best way to keep peace is to be ready to destroy evil. If you Pearl Harbor me, I Nagasaki you.' - Ted Nugent.

OUR SHARED HUMANITY.

Empathy is at the heart of who we are as human beings. - Cardinal Matthew Kukah.

WORDS ON MARBLE.

"Birth is agony. Life is hard. Death is cruel." - Japanese pithy.

REPENT OR PERISH - POPE.

Homosexuality is a sin. It is not ordained by God, therefore same sex marriage cannot be blessed by the church - Pope Francis.

CANCEL CULTURE IS CORROSIVE.


FOR SAKE OF COUNTRY.


MAGA LIVES ON: NO RETREAT, NO SURRENDER!

TWITTER IS BORING WITHOUT HIS TWEETS. #RestorePresidentTrump'sTwitterHandle.


WORD.

"If you cannot speak the truth when it matters, then nothing else you says matters.” - Tucker Carlson.

#MeToo MOVEMENT: A BAD NEWS GONE CRAZY.

"To all the women who testified, we may have different truth, but I have a great remorse for all of you. I have great remorse for all of the men and women going through this crisis right now in our country. You know, the movement started basically with me, and I think what happened, you know, I was the first example, and now there are thousands of men who are being accused and a regeneration of things that I think none of us understood. I’m not going to say these aren’t great people. I had wonderful times with these people. I’m just genuinely confused. Men are confused about this issue. We are going through this #MeToo movement crisis right now in this country." - Harvey Weinstein.


RON DELLUMS: UNAPOLOGETICALLY RADICAL.

"If it’s radical to oppose the insanity and cruelty of the Vietnam War, if it’s radical to oppose racism and sexism and all other forms of oppression, if it’s radical to want to alleviate poverty, hunger, disease, homelessness, and other forms of human misery, then I’m proud to be called a radical.” - Ron Vernie Dellums.


WHAT REALLY MATTERS IN LIFE - STEVE JOBS

“I reached the pinnacle of success in the business world. In others’ eyes, my life is an epitome of success. However, aside from work, I have little joy. Non-stop pursuing of wealth will only turn a person into a twisted being, just like me. God gave us the senses to let us feel the love in everyone’s heart, not the illusions brought about by wealth. Memories precipitated by love is the only true riches which will follow you, accompany you, giving you strength and light to go on. The most expensive bed in the world is the sick bed. You can employ someone to drive the car for you, make money for you but you cannot have someone to bear sickness for you. Material things lost can be found. But there is one thing that can never be found when it is lost – Life. Treasure Love for your family, love for your spouse, love for your friends. Treat yourself well. Cherish others.” - SJ

EVIL CANNOT BE TRULY DESTROYED.

"The threat of evil is ever present. We can contain it as long as we stay vigilant, but it can never truly be destroyed. - Lorraine Warren (Annabelle, the movie)


ONLY THE POOR WISH THEY HAD STUFF?

“I’m not that interested in material things. As long as I find a good bed that I can sleep in, that’s enough.” - Nicolas Berggruem, the homeless billionaire.

Showing posts with label democracy warrior. Show all posts
Showing posts with label democracy warrior. Show all posts

Thursday, January 7, 2010

FEMI FALANA, A LEGAL LUMINARY STANDING UP TALL FOR DEMOCRACY!

When the thorn in the flesh of Nigeria's well entrenched corrupt establishment, Gani Fawehinmi, passed on, many decent Nigerians were despondent that there will be no one else to wage their unending battles. Icheoku also quipped in then that the fight against Nigeria's devilish leaders and instituted corruption may have been interred with the remains of Chief Gani Fawehinmi. But peradventure, Olufemi Falana as of his own right, is proving himself to be a solid and formidable replacement for the departed legal icon!
For standing up against a very compromised and institutionalized corrupt Nigeria establishment; and for particularly championing the course of a full functioning democracy in Nigeria, where transfer of powers will be easily, peacefully and effortlessly achieved, Icheoku declares Femi Falana, the new gate-keeper of Nigeria's consciousness! Thank you Femi for standing up to be counted at this perilous times in Nigeria wavering democracy.
Of special note, is his recent standing up for the former chairman of EFCC, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu against his traducers; despite his high-handed excessiveness when he had power. It was a matter of principles and Femi rightly understood that Nuhu is presently being victimized specifically for stepping on one certain toe; and for this he is an honorable man. Perhaps the mother of all his battles - his current effort to force a democratic peaceful transfer of power from an indisposed president to his able vice president is equally very remarkable. Icheoku says, never in the recent history of Nigeria has any one man stood up for like this and for what is right, irrespective of the fact that he has no dog in the fight, not being from the South-South Nigeria. Femi is just doing it for what is right and honorable in a democratic setting where smooth transition and/or transfer of power is sacrosanct with a truly functioning democracy. For this selfless act of using the law to do what is right, Icheoku declares him a legal warrior for democracy too.
We have also been wondering why the political impasse generated by the sickly President Umaru Yar'Adua refusal, unwilling and inability to transfer power, albeit temporary, to his more healthy vice president Jonathan Goodluck while he recuperates; was allowed to fester and for this long? Our consternation was also amplified at the taciturn of many Nigerian leaders, especially those past leaders who refused to speak up and support such a quick orderly transfer of power in order not to have a power vacuum in Nigeria. Unfortunately, every soul among them have been foot-dragging in order not to be possibly seen as being anti-Umaru Yar'Adua's presidency. But Icheoku asks, should their loyalty to the sickly President Umaru Yar'Adua be more important than to Nigeria, which one supposed to supersede the other? But thanks to the instituted Nigerian-sycophancy syndrome, which have beclouded and pervaded their idealistic thought. Their failure to appreciate that there is just only one Nigeria and there could be several presidents; and that there must be first, a survived and viable Nigeria for any president to preside over.
In appreciating the good works of the President of West African Bar Association, Femi Falana, Icheoku laments the culture of complacency of the Nigerian public, whose cynicism has provided the bankrupt and decrepitude leadership in Nigeria, the wind underneath their sail. Their surreal indifference to matters affecting them is so mind-numbing that it shudders; and this is what those crass leadership always cash in on to pervert Nigeria as they deem fit. If only Gani Fawehinmi had support? Beko too? Tai Solarin also? Professor Awojobi inclusive? Fela Anikulao Kuti too and now the only two living and still standing Nigerians worthy of mention - Wole Soyinka and Femi Falana. If only there are a few thousands of Nigerians like the mentioned, maybe President Umaru Yar'Adua would have transferred power to his vice president ever before jetting out to a Saudi Arabian hospital bed without the necessity of the present lawsuit. But as usual, Falana was seen as a lone voice in the wilderness of Nigeria, and as far as Yar'Adua is concerned, he might as well shout himself hoarse for all he cares? Our prayer now is that the Federal High Court in Abuja will rise up to the occasion and do the right thing; using President Umaru Yar'Adua's very own "rule of law" mantra to find the president incapacitated, unable to continue functioning as one and order him to transfer power to his more viable vice president. As we have always said, while praying for his quick recovery, the president can always reclaim his mandate whenever he turns the corner, and upon his full recovery.
And as if the insult of an AWOL president is not enough for Nigerians, Attorney General Mike Aondoakaa is now saying that President Umaru Yar'Adua does not owe Nigerians any full explanation concerning the nature of his ailment; for which millions of dollars of Nigeria's money is being spent and used to pay for his hospitalization? His dumb argument is that Yar'dua's privacy needs precludes the disclosure of his medical records to Nigerians; and yet he is Nigeria's president and his medical tabs are being picked up by Nigerian tax-payers? Are Nigerians not entitled to know what medical needs of their president they are paying for? Icheoku says, only in a banana-republic will such obstinacy be tolerated by the governed regarding their president. Our hope is that the suit filed by Femi Falana, praying that the Vice President, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, be made the acting president while the president recovers, will be accorded the desired judicial assent by the Honourable Justice Daniel D. Abutu, presiding. This way, democratic powers as opposed to 'civilian dictatorial powers' will be accorded its full validity with regard to how power vests in a proper democracy. Until the suit's January 14, 2009 adjourned date, let us pray that the matter is resolved politically before then so that the court is saved from stepping into a dicey political question. Once again, our kudos to Lawyer Femi Falana for braving the vagaries of the land, including arrest and detention, kidnapping and even assassination; and stepping up to the plate to defend democracy in Nigeria. Way to go, Femi!