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 ondo resist abuja. Show all posts
Showing posts with label ondo resist abuja. Show all posts

Wednesday, March 18, 2009

NIGERIA, A FEDERATION OR A UNITARY STATE?

The other day it was Plateau State that President Umaru Yar'Adua ordered not to swear in her elected local government officials. This time it is Ondo State that is being over-ruled when its dissolved council was asked to re-constitute on direct orders from Abuja? Icheoku asks, is Nigeria now in a unitary system of government or is it still practising elected democracy by federating states?
It is abhorable that Abuja does not seem to get it, that there are three tiers of government both at the center as well as in the 36 respective states. Further, each of these are independent of one another and cannot be dictated to by any of them, including the one at the center in Abuja. Under the military dispensation, it is alright for the head of the junta at Abuja to tele-guide his appointed minions in their respective states; but a new sheriff is in town as the governor of Ondo State was not brought into office on the mercy of President Umaru Yar'Adua. The governor won an election on his own merit, having been adjudged as the superior candidate by the the people of Ondo State who chose him to represent them and carry out their will. In an elected democracy, where leaders are elected by the populace, it is an aberration for an elected president to order an equally elected governor around? Icheoku calls on the Olusegun Mimiko led government of Ondo State to take a cue from Plateau State and resist Umaru Yar'Adua'a current attempt to subvert and undermine democracy in Ondo State. Mimiko should not take orders from Abuja as both him and President Umaru Yar'Adua enjoy equal grundnorm, deriving directly from their respective electorates. It is therefore inconceivable that this mallam, King of kings in Abuja, is following the template of discredited past military administrations in Nigeria, in thinking that he has omnibus powers over the states. Icheoku says, we don't think so. Our advise to the governor of Ondo State, is to go to court to contest the constitutional validity of his over-ruled order, sacking the local government officials of his state. Whether he has the authority to do so should be the prayer before such a constitutional court and let other things fall as they may.
Icheoku is not an apostle of excessive powers being concentrated in anyone "demi-god" and for President Umaru Yar'Adua to now think that he could tele-guide whatever happens in every part of the federation, is another example of what is wrong with the Abuja sicko? Nigeria is no longer under a military unitary rule so President Umaru Yar'Adua should get that fact right into his head. Olusegun Obasanjo got away with such barrack-mentality of a central command, and declared states of emergency all over the place; sending his army to commit genocides in Odi and Zaki Ibiam without the Bayelsa and Benue States asking for such his intervention, in what is purely their internal state matter. Umaru Yar'Adua must and should be stopped from following in the foot-steps of the discredited Otta idol, Olusegun Obasanjo. Icheoku wonders who the legal adviser of President Umaru Yar'Adua is or does that portfolio fall under Turai's too? It was Plateau yesterday, today it is Ondo, and who knows whose turn it shall be tomorrow to become the next guinea-pig state for thwarting and suppressing constitutional democracy in Nigeria?

How can an elected executive of a state be over-ruled by another executive of another state (though bigger state, Nigeria)? Icheoku says, such suggests that Nigeria is not a truly federating states but still yoked to a unitary form of government; with Abuja still micro-managing the entire geographical entity called Nigeria. It is a tragedy which must not be allowed to see the light of the day. Also, that the federally controlled police is being used to perpetuate this unconstitutional anarchy is a reason to re-visit the need for the states to control their own police and use it to secure their mandate whenever threatened by such an over-reaching act of the central government in Abuja. President Umaru Yar'Adua is asking for trouble by forcibly subjugating the government of Governor Olusegun Mimiko led Ondo State. Icheoku says, peradventure, Umaru is not a student of history, otherwise he would have advised himself of the consequences of the Shehu Shagari's NPN attempted perversion of the electoral will of the Ondo people during the 1983 Omoboriowo aborted imposition.

May be this latest face-off is a PDP's ploy to take through the back door what the electorates of Ondo State, as affirmed by the court, denied them? Better still, President Umaru Yar'Adua should have awaited for the outcome of the court action, instituted by the sacked council men and women against Governor Olusegun Mimiko for their sack, before stepping into the fray. Icheoku says, Ondo State belongs to the Ondo people and they should be allowed to internally resolve whatever differences they may have in an Ondo fashion. For Abuja to just jump into such a family dispute, uninvited, is a fragrant abuse of powers of the central government and should be resisted by all men and women of goodwill in Nigeria. Whether the former Ondo State PDP governor Olusegun Agagu was right to conduct the local government election in the state in total disregard to a subsisting court order restraining him otherwise; whether the current Governor of the state, Olusegun Mimiko, was right to dissolved the "illegitimate" councils; and whether any constitutional provision was violated in any way, is a question for court's determination. Since the parties are already sui-juris, the meddlesome interloping of Abuja was uncalled for and can only be interpreted one way only, POLITICS!
Icheoku says, the present political manipulation by President Umaru Yar'Adua's led PDP government to weaken and undermine the newly restored government of Olusegun Mimiko, should not be allowed to succeed. It should and must be resisted by all, and using every means necessary is a good enough option! Ondo people, do not let President Umaru Yar'Adua treat your governor like a paid prostitute!