Wednesday, December 17, 2008
DORA AKUNYILI POSTING, EXHIBIT 1A OF THE TROUBLE WITH NIGERIA!
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
GANI FAWEHINMI, A CONSCIENTIOUS NIGERIAN!
Monday, December 15, 2008
WELL DUCKED, MR. PRESIDENT!
Hate him or love him, President George Walker Bush is still our president and this fact should be made known to the whole world including this Iraqi mad-man; and Americans protect their own. In the composite picture right, President Bush looked slightly bemused after ducking the shoe hurled at him by this Iraqi fanatic while Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Maliki tried like any gracious host to reach out and parry off the thrown-shoe before it hits his American guest, President George Bush.
NIGERIA, THE STATE OF AFFAIRS IS VERY BLEAK!
Sunday, December 14, 2008
CHINA, COMPLAIN AND BE DECLARED MENTAL!
Authorities in Xintai, a municipal region in eastern Shandong province China, had so far forced at least 18 people with grievances, ranging from police brutality to property disputes, into a local mental hospital according to reports. Sun Fawu, a 57-year-old retired miner from Dagouqiao village in Xintai, was force-fed drugs and injections during a more than 20-day stay at the Xintai Mental Health Hospital in October. He had campaigned for years to get compensation for spoiled farm land and housing stemming from coal mining near his village. Sun was released only after he signed a document saying he was mentally ill and "would not petition again". Lao Shi, an 84-year-old retiree from Tianbao township, was sent directly to hospital in 2006 after travelling to Beijing to complain about a local property dispute. The former public servant counted 18 petitioners in over two years there, a list corroborated by Wu Yuzhu, the hospital's director. The hospital also has its misgivings," Wu told the paper, saying that it was under pressure to take petitioners, some of whom would arrive escorted by police. Checking petitioners into the hospital was in part a matter of hard-boiled economics, a local official said, given that cash-strapped local governments could ill-afford to chase petitioners to Beijing and other places. According to Chen Jianfa, assistant to the head of Quangou township in Xintai, "every time we have to send three or five people to Beijing, and pay their food and accommodation, it's not a matter of pennies; hence it is better to prevent their Beijing trip by confining them in a mental institution. If a petitioner slips through to Beijing, the head of both the local branch of the Communist Party and government get punished for the lapse. Icheoku says, thanks to freedom of speech as guaranteed in the constitution otherwise so many of us would have been institutionalized by now. But to the Chinese authorities, how long are you going to keep the emotions of your 1.6billion citizens bottled up? Every human emotion need some venting of steam otherwise one day it will result to a forceful explosion leading to revolution. You cannot beat someone and at the same time demand that, that person do not cry. It amounts to approbating and re-probating and it brings out the worst vermin in any mankind. So Chinese authorities, allow your citizens to breathe some air of freedom to avoid the inevitable clash of citizens with their government in the near future; baring an immediate change of attitude. How can a rational citizen be declared a lunatic just because of a demand for some rights? Only in China is the answer found in Xintai, province of Shandong! China: Complain About the Government; Get Institutionalized
MUGABE, PLEASE YOUR TIME IS UP!
OPTION A 4, IBB'S GIFT TO NIGERIA!
Saturday, December 13, 2008
DALAI LAMA'S AIRCONDITIONER BREAKS DOWN IN NIGERIA!
Icheoku asks how dare the air-conditioner fail on such a world citizen as the Dalai Lama, leaving such a lasting negative impression about Nigeria in his head. Admitted he will not voice it out, being the astute "politician" he is, but the indelible mark that it was "very very hot" will forever remain with him as well as his other accompanying aides. Probably the hotel which hosted the Dalai Lama did not have a hotel engineer on site to fix whatever was wrong with the air-conditioner or better still replace it with a new one? Or if it was power failure, what happened to their stand-by generator otherwise the power would have come back-on so soon after the failure that the Dalai lama would not have noticed the heat! Marketing is everything and first impression really do matter, please do not tell me otherwise! The problem with Nigerians is that they really do not care a hoot about people's impression of them, otherwise, the gear would have since been engaged in an over-drive to fix a lot that is wrong with both the country and her citizens. Imagine the PR disaster that air-conditioner failed in a hotel room hosting the spiritual leader of Tibet, a world citizen? Take or leave it, Icheoku says this is a major black-eye on Nigeria and if it was a result of power failure, it sure brings back to the front banner, the intractable power problem in Nigeria. Can Umaru Yar'Adua, now that the Supreme court has finally legitimized his presidency, declare immediately his long awaited and anticipated power-emergency in Nigeria so that such shameful disaster as power failure on a world-citizen does not happen again, ever in Nigeria. It is the right thing to do and if that is the only thing attributable to his term in office, so be it as he would have left a lasting legacy indeed. If it is the hotel's fault that they cannot quickly rectify a broken air-condtioner in a little turn-around operation, then they do not deserve to play host to anybody talk-less of a world-class citizen, like the Dalai Lama. What does it take to take out a broke unit and put another working one therein? If it is central, then his room would not have specifically broken down. Better still why did the hotel not relocate the Dalai Lama to another room with a working air-conditioner so soon after to avoid this "very very hot public relation disaster? To the Dalai Lama and crew, Icheoku deeply apologise, on behalf of the Anyiam Osigwe Foundation, the hotel management and Nigeria for this "very very hot" environment you found yourself in a Nigerian hotel room. It is regrettable as it is unfortunate indeed!
1. Take into account that great love and great achievements involve great risk.
2. When you lose, don’t lose the lesson.
3. Follow the three Rs: Respect for self; Respect for others ; Responsibility for all your actions.
4. Remember that not getting what you want is sometimes a wonderful stroke of luck.
5. Learn the rules very well so you know how to break them properly.
6. Don’t let a little dispute injure a great friendship.
7. When you realize you have made a mistake, take immediate steps to correct it.
8. Spend some time alone every day.
9. Open your arms to change, but don’t let go of your values.
10. Remember that silence is sometimes the best answer.
11. Live a good, honourable life. Then when you get older and think back, you’ll be able to enjoy it a second time.
12. A loving atmosphere in your home is the foundation for your life.
13. In disagreements with loved ones, deal only with the current situation. Don’t bring up the past.
14. Share your knowledge. It’s a way to achieve immortality.
15. Be gentle with the earth.
16. Once a year, go someplace you have never been before.
17. Remember that the best relationship is one in which your love for each other exceeds your need for each other.
18. Judge your success by what you had to give up in order to get it.
NIGERIA SUPREME COURT SAYS, YAR'ADUA IS LEGITIMATE?
Friday, December 12, 2008
GREECE, BURNING!
Icheoku says, hell knows no fury like the Greeks, enraged at the fatal police-shooting of a Greek schoolboy, 15 year old named Alexis Grigoropoulos; (pictured left) who was shot on Saturday, December 6th, 2008. The late Grigoropoulos was among some youths who allegedly threw stones at a passing police car, following which one of the two officers alighted from the now stopped police vehicle to fire three times at the teenager, hitting him on the chest. Grigoropoulos was later confirmed dead in a nearby hospital. The officer accused of the shooting tried to lie his way out of the mayhem by claiming that he fired warning shots to scare off a gang of youths and that the bullet ricocheted off the pavement, but witnesses disavowed his tale as baloney, stating that the officer, deliberately took aim at the boy. The shooting of Alexandros Grigoropoulos was the much needed tinder which ignited the ever smouldering inferno caused by years of frustration over high youth unemployment, the rising cost of living, stalled pension reform and a widening gap between rich and poor.
Today they entered into the fourth day of rioting across Greece to protest this murder. Although the Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis has vowed to bring the unrest under control, but he seems not to be succeeding do far. His threatening words that all the dangerous and unacceptable events that occurred because of the emotions that followed the tragic incident cannot and will not be tolerated any longer appear to have fallen on deaf Greek ears. From Athens to Salonika, Greece's second largest city, to Rhodes, to Patras, to Chania, to Crete, to Trikala and the Aristotelio University in northern Thessaloniki, Greek youths took over the streets to protest what they see as police high-handed and reckless killing of an unarmed 15 year old Greek. In Athens alone, firefighters were called to 24 banks, 35 stores, 24 cars, 12 homes and a district office of the ruling New Democracy party hit by a small bomb. Athens Polytechnic university was not spared either! Greek youths were yelling "Cops! Pigs! Murderers!" at the police.
Thursday, December 11, 2008
DAVID MARK, A THIEF?
It was during his time as Communications Minister that this criminal, who now heads the Nigerian Senate, brazenly dipped his itchy fingers and hands into the Nigeria pie, big time. David Mark brokered a non-executed seventy-seven ($77) million dollar “telecommunications" contract on behalf of Nigeria Telecommunication company (NITEL) and also procured a refurbished aircraft for NITEL at an outlandishly over-inflated price. It was with part of "profits" he made from these deals, that David Mark bought the £5.9 pounds 18-hole St. Margaret’s Golf Course & Club in Dublin Ireland, just a five- minute away drive from the Dublin International Airport. Several other pay to play deals in NITEL flourished very well under David Mark leadership; and the last twelve ($12) million dollars SIEMENS bribery scandal involving yet another senator, Jubril Aminu, gives an insight into the type of cash-cow NITEL was, which David Mark milked dry but is now dead! David Mark also bought a private house worth £2.5 million pounds Sterling on Kingston upon the Thames River in London. Virtually all of David Mark's children of very polygamous marriage life-style attend schools in Europe; yet he is a Christan judging by his name, for whom the one man one wife injunction does not make sense, just like Olusegun Obasanjo? David Mark met and married one of his wives in Ghana while on the run from Sani Abacha's henchmen for the massive looting he committed at NITEL. It is on record that David Mark remained on his self-imposed, massive theft-induced exile from 1993 until 1998 when Sani Abacha died. Till date, David Mark still maintains massive investments in Ghana, the Caribbean, USA, Europe as well as additional hefty bank accounts in Switzerland, Cayman Islands and Jersey. And this is the caliber of man shamelessly leading the Nigerian Senate?
David Mark is now playing Father Christmas by donating a learning center at Oturkpo, Benue State, Nigeria! From where did he get the money, since it is on record that while growing up that his family was dirt-poor? Icheoku remembers vividly according to the accounts, that at one time before being cajoled into joining the military, his father could hardly afford to pay for his regular school fees, which automatically removes him from the genre of a trust-fund kid? As a military officer, how much was his emolument? And today, as a "Senator" and a "Senate President", how much is his take-home pay? Only one thing explains the unexplainable, David Mark is very corrupt!
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
MAURICE IWU AND A NATION OF PRAISE-SINGERS, SHORT ON MEMORY!
In conclusion, Icheoku says that Nigerians have seen the likes of these town-criers (otinkpus), who raise carnivals for whoever is in power only to walk over them when they are no longer in power. As for Maurice Iwu, he is a disappointment to educated folks, having fallen off the wagon and joined the rat-race that is a Nigerian with a price-tag! How can such a highly educated man be so condescending to Olusegun Obasanjo that he sold his candour with the shameless elections he conducted in Nigeria in 2007. Maurice Iwu should rather throw on some sack-clothes and dusted in ashes, mourn the decrepitude of candidates he imposed on Nigeria, including the very sick Umaru Yar'Adua, Mr. Slow-man, the sloth! What a legacy to leave for Nigeria courtesy of Maurice Iwu, yet he is being celebrated? What a nation of jesters at the king's court?