SYRIAN PROVOCATION, LET THE BOMBARDMENT BEGIN NOW.

Icheoku says America MUST now put its money where its mouth is in order to continue providing the much needed deterrence to world's dictators and would-be despots alike. The blatant dare of the Assad Bashir's led Syrian government, which defied a clearly marked line in the sand of American President Barack Obama, who had categorically stated that using chemical weapon in the conflict in Syria will be considered by America as crossing the proverbial red line, requires a punitive response. President Bashir Assad, not once but now twice since the red-line was drawn, has called America's bluff by gassing his people and daring America to show that its words is still its bond and also still bankable. Icheoku says any further inaction or delayed response to this flagrant violation by the Commander-in-Chief of the strongest military in the world will be seen as bluster, hence the skies over Damascus and the entire Syrian geography MUST and SHOULD rain down some pulverising and punitive hellfire in response; and to send a clear message that America does not bluff. 

Such a 'shock and awe' aerial assault is what the killer-government in Damascus needs to see and feel, in order to be reminded that certain actions are considered a taboo and greatly frowned at, in such civil conflict or war as going on now in Syria. It is called rules of engagement and humans are not animals to be gassed or chemically burnt and scorched. Iraq's Saddam Hussein once gassed his people and it eventually snowballed into an invasion of his country and his forcible overthrow from power; and which culminated into his neck being yanked off his shoulders in the gallows. Icheoku says President Bashir Assad has already killed enough of his people - people he is meant to protect; and by now using chemical weapons on them and spraying them with poisonous killer gas, Icheoku has no other explanation of his action than an open invitation for the world led by America to show that it can still check the excesses of such midget and petty dictators. 

An American adage says 'you do not tell a man to go to hell except you are ready, willing and able to send him to hell'; so since Bashir Assad has willingly refused to go to hell, it is about time he is hog-tied and dragged through the gates of hell into hellfire. This is the only meaningful desired and deserved response; which put in another way, is the crux of the matter with the present defiance of Syria's President Bashir Assad of a clearly laid down DO NOT CROSS LINE. Icheoku says only such a solid, devastating response is needed and called for and NOW in response to the Assad's government thumbing of nose at both America and the world. Icheoku agrees with America's Secretary of State John Kerry that what we saw last week in Damascus shocked our conscience; it also defies every code of morality. The action of Damascus despotic government led by President Bashir Assad in using chemical weapons against its own people is clearly a moral obscenity defined and cannot be tolerated or condoned. Now is time to send in the tomahawks and let the boys go do their thing with boots on the ground if that is what it will take to send a defining MESSAGE that gassing or chemically scorching civilians in a civil conflict is despotism too far. Icheoku says if Russia or China or even Iran has a problem with that, then let the third world war begin and with it, a healing of the world economy which shall inhere from massive rebuilding following massive destruction.

GOVERNOR SUNTAI SHOULD GO (PRESIDENT YAR'DUA ENCORE?)

Icheoku says those supporters of the brain-damaged governor of Taraba State did themselves more harm than good when they ferreted the vegetative governor back to Nigeria. Looking at the images of the heavily disabled governor being carried out of the aircraft, Icheoku like millions of other Nigerians, cannot but conclude that the governor is finished and grossly incapacitated to continue the discharge of his duties as governor. Except of course the governors' minders want to hijack Taraba State in the manner Mrs Yar'Adua and the cabal hijacked Nigeria in the past, Icheoku says now is time to swear the acting governor in as the substantive governor pending when elections are called to fill the existing vacancy. 

A man who cannot even help himself step out of an aircraft, who is looking so forlorn and who is staring emptily into the space is sure not a man who could be said to be in control of his faculties to continue to function effectively in office as governor. Therefore Icheoku calls on President Goodluck Jonathan to facilitate the immediate swearing in of the acting governor of Taraba State in order not to allow a situation where the disabled governor is used by interested parties to run rough-shod on the state. Icheoku says to avoid the fate which Nigeria suffered during the late President Umaru Yar'Adua's health debacle from repeating itself in Taraba State, and having seen that Governor Suntai Fulani is completely finished and can no longer effectively function as governor, the governor should therefore be quietly eased out of office and NOW.

AUGUST 24TH 2013, A DAY OF HISTORY IN SOUTHEAST NIGERIA.

Icheoku congratulates President Goodluck Jonathan and the people of Southeast Nigeria on the upcoming inaugural international flight to Enugu on August 24, 2013. The first of its kind in the history of Nigeria and into the geography of the Southeast. What a day in history it will be and somewhat truly reintegrate Eastern Nigerian Biafran Igbos back to Nigeria. Icheoku says in support of the new International airport, we shall be routing all our future trips through the new airport and hereby urge all Diaspora Igbos to make the airport a success story by routing all their future travels back to motherland via the Akanu Ibiam airport in Enugu. All Igbo highly mobile world travellers should also do the same to help redevelop our part of the country; after these years developing other peoples' part of the country. Igbo kwenu! With the new Akanu Ibiam airport, Nigerians will now truly appreciate the added value the Igbos make to both MM Ikeja and NA Abuja international airports. Igbos, this one na we own and we go make it work. Our hats also duffs for the able Aviation Minister Princess Stella Oduah, who had accomplished a great milestone where several other Igbo Ministers of Aviation of the past, including the last one from Enugu State, Akuabata Njaeze, had failed woefully. What a doer and great Amazon this princess is that successfully midwifed Akanu Ibiam International airport to fruition.

AUSTRALIAN STUDENT SHOT DEAD IN AMERICA, BOYCOTT CALL MISGUIDED?

Icheoku says the recent call by Australian former Deputy Prime Minister, Tim Fisher, for his country men and women to avoid visiting America because of the shooting death of an Australian student, Chris Lane, is rather too impetuous and made in heat of passion without much thought going into it. Boycotting America or its tourism industry is not a commensurate reaction as America did not pull the trigger that snuffed the life out of the Aussie. Three troubled kids did, who "killed the victim for fun simply because they were bored and looking for something to do." Icheoku asks, why then should Australia take out their madness on the whole country instead of making sure that the individuals who committed the crime are fully punished for the heinous crime? Boycott is usually a weapon reserved for much serious country to country matter such as a disagreement between Canberra and Washington DC and should not be deployed simply because one 22 year old Aussie student named Chris Lane was randomly shot dead on an America street. 

Americans love their guns. Americans pull their guns' triggers at will and death sometimes results as a consequence. So it is given that more often than not, a victim results from being on the wrong or other end of the barrel. But does that warrant the current outcry in Australia demanding that America be boycotted, Icheoku says we don't think so. 

Being killed by gun at anytime in America is just a price we pay for living in a gun-ho, gun-infested, gun-saturated, gun-toting and gun-loving society/culture that is America. It is the risk we run living in the freest country in the world which also allows anyone who wants, to have a gun? In America, this year alone, thousands have been shot dead before Chris Lane's killing and unfortunately, many more will be shot dead before this year 2013 ends and thousands more long after Lane's murder case assumes cold temperature and the case files starts collecting dust somewhere at the prosecuting District Attorney's case-files storage room.This is the fact of life in America and the choice is for any individual to live with this known risk of possible loss of life to a shooter at any time or simply catch the next flight out of town, but to where? 

There is violence everywhere on this planet earth including the boycott-calling country, Australia. But the good news is that in America, many of these criminal shootings and violence are solved by law enforcement, at least for closure. Regrettably however, there is no immediate or apparent plan to change this constitutionally guaranteed right of Americans to bear arms - a very touchy issue which is also very dear to millions of Americans. Moreso any attempt at managing the gun crisis through meaningful legislation and regulation is always interpreted as a ploy by the government to take away peoples' guns and no American wants his or her gun to be taken away. So gun violence has somewhat become a cancer eating up the body fabric of American society but until the National Rifle Association decides to set free state legislators, federal congressmen and women as well as senators in their bondage, to enable them do right by these victims and future victims of gun violence, gun violence will remain a vicious cycle of pain and anguish to millions of victims' families. 

Icheoku says that the death of 22 year old Aussie student, Chris Lane, is even attracting the much publicity and coverage it is getting is a big surprise as people are shot every day, every hour, every minute in America and the skies has not fallen down; and to the extent that majority of them no longer make the news. Unless the shooting to death of Aussie Chris Lane is "a death once too many," there is no cause for alarm to rile Australian people up against visiting or coming to America. Nothing in his killing warrants the excessive measure as he was not targeted because he was from Australia or because he spoke with a different foreign accent. No, his killing was random and by teenagers who claimed they were bored and looking for an outlet. So simply put, Aussie Chris Lane was at a wrong place at a wrong time which begs the question, how could his usual jogging route be a wrong place? In answer, Icheoku says living in America by itself alone is technically a wrong place for gun violence as it could erupt anywhere and at anytime - including the sanctuary of a church and other places of worship like temples, synagogues and mosques. It could also erupt in a park, in schools and colleges, in movie theatres, in army forts, in gas stations, in law offices, in medical offices, on the roads, at homes and even  in sleeping bedrooms, in grocery stores and post offices etc. Put in another way, gun violence in America have erupted in virtually every imaginable and unimaginable places that no place is safe any longer in America. So we all who call America home and our visitors run the risk of such senseless gun violence 24/7 by reason of being in America. 

America is a country that have seen its share of gun violence and continues to wallow in it till this day and without any immediate hope of future abatement. President John Kennedy was a victim of gun violence, killed in Dallas Texas. President Ronald Reagan was a victim of gun violence, survived attack. Italian fashion designer Versace was a victim of gun violence, killed in Miami Florida. Beatles John Lennon was a victim of gun violence, killed in New York. Columbine students in Colorado were victims of gun violence. Virginia Tech students were victims of gun violence. Aurora Colorado movie-goers were victims of gun violence. The White House itself have seen its fair share of guns being fired at it. Mayor George Moscone and Supervisor Harvey Milk of San Francisco were victims of gun violence, killed in their offices at the City Hall. Martin Luther King was a victim of gun violence, killed in Memphis Tennessee. Malcolm X was a victim of gun violence, killed in New York. Tupac Shakur was a victim of gun violence, killed in Las Vegas. Biggie Small was a victim of gun violence, killed in Los Angeles. Newtown Connecticut kindergartners were victims of gun violence. Congresswoman Gabriella Gifford survived gun violence. Oikos University Oakland California students including a Nigerian mother of three were victims of gun violence. Six year old Kayla Renee Rolland of Michigan was a victim of gun violence. Oak Creek Wisconsin Indian Sikhs were victims of gun violence, shot and killed inside their temple. Then add the unabating gun violence in Chicago Illinois where over 100 have been killed this year alone; add Oakland California's plus minus 89 victims, then Gary Indiana double digits murders, then Los Angeles, New York, Baltimore and New Orleans Louisiana as well as literally every part of the country and you have a near crisis gun violence situation starring you on the face. (Just check the blog - http://killingstoriesinamerica.blogspot.com/ on some recent killings this year ALONE in America and be the judge of the scourge that is gun violence ravaging America).

Icheoku says therefore, and in as much as the death by gun of Australian's Chris Lane is lamentable and regrettable, it does not rise to such a situation as warrants a call for boycott of America. In America, at least these crimes are solved and the criminals punished for their crime or what else could be done or expected to be done where someone has already assumed room temperature other than apprehend and punish the perpetrator/s? Crimes are inevitable in any society and asking a government to prevent all crimes including random killing of a person is a near impossible task to perform. Chris Lane is just one of thousands of other gun violence victims in America this year alone and his death should not be a source of friction or unneeded tension between two friendly countries. The American government did not "drone" him nor was he targeted and killed for hate crime because he was Australian; so the call by former deputy prime minister is outrageous, presumptuous and unwarranted. Icheoku therefore call on former Deputy Prime Minister Tim Fisher to retract his unfortunate call and apologise for throwing such a sledgehammer on a fly and by necessary implication, poured gasoline on a flame. May Chris Lane's soul rest in peace and Australians should be assured that his killers will have the books thrown at them and punished severely for their crime. They should therefore ignore the boycott call and continue visiting the land of the free and home of the brave. America is as safe as any other big country with so much freedom can be, so there is no cause for unnecessary alarm.

(FYI: What the deputy prime minister said: “Tourists thinking of going to the USA should think twice. This is the bitter harvest and legacy of the policies of the NRA that even blocked background checks for people buying guns at gun shows. People should take this into account before going to the United States.” - Tim Fisher.)

EGYPTIAN MASSACRE, JUSTIFIED?

Icheoku says the military in Egypt may have done the West, especially the United States of America, a lotta good when they forcibly stopped the fundamentalist government of President Morsi and his fanatical Muslim Brotherhood cold in their tract; and it does not matter the nomenclature of their putsch - whether it was a coup or a pseudo-coup. So considering the fact that Ayman al Zawahiri, Osama Bin Laden's second in command and the man currently heading Al Querida, is the general overseer and generalissimo of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood, why blame an action meant and geared towards halting this terrorist from acquiring a vital land base to export his terror around the world. Can anyone imagine the damage a closed Suez canal could do to world commerce or the conundrum which a war with the State of Israel would have foist on an already combustive part of the world's geography? Icheoku queries, why give Al Querida a staging ground with such a vital interest country Egypt by allowing Ayman al Zawahiri take total control of Egypt by proxy of Muslim Brotherhood and Morsi, and with it the Suez canal as well as the entire Middle Eastern oil? 

Unfortunately Washington and some Americans are hard of learning or rather too slow to learn the surreptitious lesson which was enthroning the Muslim Brotherhood in Cairo; as that would have been the single biggest and best gift to Al Querida which their blowing our twin towers in New York could not have given them. Egypt, the land of the Pharaohs, would have become a proving grounds for terrorists in the Middle East and with it entrenched their scourge on world peace. So without gainsaying or any leg-dragging, Icheoku says instead of hanging the military in Egypt out to dry because of their patriotic act of overthrowing a terrorist-sympathetic government of President Morsi, with the threat of or withholding of our aid to them, Washington should rather increase the aid; and use them to fight a proxy war against remnants of Al Querida masquerading as Morsi and/or his Muslim Brotherhood government or any other nomenclature they devised to hide under. 

Recall that Egyptian born medical doctor turned terrorist and current head of Al Querida PLC, Zawahiri, grew his teeth as a Muslim Brotherhood activist before establishing Al Querida with Osama Bin Laden.  Icheoku says it does not require rocket science or a PhD in Logic and Clear Thought Studies to figure out that the terrorist chief's lieutenants still abound in Egypt and in the Muslim Brotherhood. So what stops him, Zawahiri, from calling the shots of what the figurehead President Morsi does in Cairo from the caves of Toraborah or Abotabad; including carrying out further terrorist acts on the United States of America as well as any other Western country in their cross-hairs? Therefore whatever action the Egyptian military takes or decides to take, including killing some of the Muslim Brotherhood foot-soldiers in order to stop terrorists from securing a firm staging grounds in Egypt, should rather be commended than chastised. 

Icheoku disagrees that what deposed President Morsi and his fundamentalist Muslim Brotherhood had was a democracy; otherwise why were they burning churches and destroying other non Muslim Egyptians' way of life? Democracy as truly practiced, guarantees freedom for all; but a situation where the Muslim Brotherhood shouts democracy and yet would not allow other Egyptians to practice their own faith or conviction falls short of the word defined. It should not just be democracy as far as those fanatic Muslim Brotherhood freely run amok and visiting mayhem on other Egyptians; no, it should be democracy for all - it should be FREEDOM for every Egyptian, period. If only the deposed President Morsi had been killed during the coup or whatever it was that overthrew his government, may be by now Egypt would have moved on without the unneeded distraction of him still being around as a galvanising point with the ongoing clamour for his reinstatement. Icheoku says that Morsi's government was exclusive of other Egyptians who are not fundamentalist Muslims and therefore was bad for democracy strictly defined as freedom loving. It ought to and should go and therefore was well dispatched, case closed.

Icheoku strongly opines that the option in Egypt is simple - either there is a democracy for every Egyptian regardless of faith, including guarantee of their rights to freely worship their God according to their own understanding of Him respectively or there should be no democracy at all; especially according to the Muslim Brotherhood pigeon-holed warped description of it. To this end therefore, Icheoku is emphatic that the Egyptian military did the right thing by stopping the Islamization of Egypt and with it an imminent threat to the State of Israel and the Suez canal. By checking the excesses of these Muslim Brotherhood fundamentalists, the Egyptian military nipped in the bud what would have later proved a sword of Damocles on the entire world. The whole world including America should therefore show some understanding of the peculiar nature of the threat posed by allowing a Zawahiri tele-guided government of Morsi in Cairo and not in anyway pretend to be more catholic than the pope or be seen as being more sympathetic to known TERRORISTS. 

Icheoku says the Egyptian military are Egyptians; Egypt is their country and no one or any country can pretend to love Egypt more than its military. As chief security officers therein, they acted in the best interest of their country by checking an existential threat which the Morsi led Muslim Brotherhood government represented. Think of Israel; think of the economic importance of the Suez canal; think of other incendiary situations therein in Middle East and their potential unravelling; and then juxtapose them with the known Muslim Brotherhood's positions and dispositions towards them and it should have been more of kudos to the Egyptian military for acting when they acted than the current politically-correct knifing. Icheoku says hail to the Egyptian military for their decisive action in stopping the Muslim Brotherhood before they could cause further damage to a citadel of civilization. No sacrifice, no price, no trade, including the alleged slaughter of mere 1000 Islamist fanatics, is rather too much for what inaction and the continued existence of the Morsi Muslim Brotherhood government would have portended. ENOUGH of the chastising of the Egyptian military! 

BUHARI'S REPORT CARD, EL-RUFAI REFRESHES NIGERIANS' MINDS?

"It is strange that a Buhari who protests when allegations of N2.5 billion (about US $3billion in those days!) missing oil funds are levelled against him can gleefully elevate similar claims into facts when it concerns others. Buhari has remained perpetually unelectable because his record as military head of state is a warning that many Nigerians have wisely heeded. His insensitivity to Nigeria’s diversity and his parochial focus are already well-known. 

In 1984, Buhari allowed 53 suitcases belonging to his ADC’s father to enter Nigeria unchecked at a time the country was exchanging old currency for new.  Against all canons of legal decency, he used retroactive laws to execute three young men for drug-peddling after they were convicted by a military tribunal and not regular courts of law. Buhari was so high handed that he gave himself and his officials immunity even from truthful reporting. That obnoxious Decree 4, against which truth was no defence, was used to jail journalists and attempt to cow the media as a whole. That tyrannical legislation shows the essence of his intolerance. These are facts of recent history. 

Having seen his version of discipline, Nigerians are not likely to cherish an encore. The story of counter-trade and import licensing, the cornerstone of Buhari’s stone-age economic strategy and those whose interests it served, is a tale for another day. Now is time for a new generation of leaders with new thinking and wholesome democratic attitude to move our nation forward." - Mallam el-Rufai on why Nigerians must shun Muhammadu Buhari on his quest to rule Nigeria ever again. Icheoku says well encapsulated and states that Nigerians have already since taken NOTE of the fundamentalist tendencies of the gaunt army man.

FEMI KAYODE, THE MAN WHO TOLD ON WOMEN HE SLEPT WITH.

Icheoku says behold the man who outed several women he allegedly slept with in the past. His name is Femi Fani Kayode, here pictured with his wife number three whom he married after two previous divorces from women who could not stand his idiosyncrasies including his addiction to controlled substances? The fact that he is supposedly "happily" married with SIX grown up daughters did not give him a reason to be circumspect with his past dalliances. Now people who had slept with his wives, including wife number three, Regina Fani Kayode (pictured) and daughters are now lining up to tell their tales. Icheoku says this man is indeed mental for breaching a known cardinal rule of the bedroom - what is done behind the closed door remains just a two affair. What a basketmouth this Femi Fani Kayode is, who cannot keep the least secret about his sac romps.

FEMI FANI KAYODE'S OUTING, IN DEFENCE OF THOSE IGBO WOMEN.

Icheoku says those three Igbo women were not loose women, neither did they commit any outrageous sin including the 6th commandment sin of adultery. No, they did nothing unusual in dating a man as any young spinster and bachelor would and does before settling down. If any person is at odds here, it is that person who committed the unforgivable sin of outing a bedfellow and hence violated the cannon ethos of the bedroom. It is that blabbermouth who went to town, beating his chest that he slept with some three Igbo women, that should be and ought to be hung out to dry here and none other. Icheoku says what Femi Fani Kayode did, telling on women he slept with, is not only petty, but puerile and unmanly. Real men do not kiss and tell, nor do they run their mouths about their exploits in the sac and what happened behind closed doors with their women. 

There is certain ethical rule involved and that is why sex is conducted in privacy and usually behind closed doors where the compromising parties are usually in a world of their own, alone and all to themselves. So for any man or any person for that matter to violate this cardinal rule of engagement, intentionally breaking the sacred code of silence of don't ask, don't tell of what went down behind closed doors or curtain, is to say the least despicable. Such a person or man does not deserve the benefit of such sexual encounter and is not worthy of the quality time spent pulsating at each other's arms. If it were in certain cultures, such a person would be fed a cement solution to permanently seal off his trap for good; and where prerogative of mercy is exercised to save his life, his lips would be sewn together with thread or better glued with super glue. That basket mouth Femi Fani Kayode deserves to be so treated is a fact; but luckily for him he lives in Nigeria and in Nigeria such rats are tolerated and given accommodation. 

How dare this bastard son of Yorubaland out three decent women who merely fell for his sweet talk and went to bed with him? Not even the legendary women trap, Olusegun Obasanjo, whose exploits with women is notorious, would descend to this lowly dungeon of telling the prohibited. Certain boundaries are considered indeed sacred when it comes to issues of men and women in love or who are having sexual dalliances, as outsiders can only but guess if they are getting at it and are indulged to make all speculations as who is humping or had humped who? Icheoku therefore call on these three Igbo women to immediately consult their lawyers for an action in defamation against Femi Fani Kayode who tarnished their standing and respect in the community and before their husbands, families and friends who now consider them as women of easy virtue who so slept around that they slept with a Yoruba blabbing bastard. Imagine the torment these three women are now facing in front of their husbands and admirers just for an indiscretion of many decades ago which the drug junkie now brought to light. 

Icheoku is emphatic that the alleged sexual encounter is probably of "a he said, she said" nature without more or any real smoking gun. Since no sex video exist which incidented the alleged sexual encounters between FFK and these three women, the rat, Femi Fani Kayode cannot authoritatively and conclusively substantiate his claims. Therefore, the three Igbo women should immediately hold a press conference, emphatically deny the encounter, demand an apology and a retraction and thereafter, institute an action for punitive damages for defamation of character and maligning of their names by FFK. Until then, these ladies should consider the alleged as a minor distraction and continue to walk with their heads tall as they did not do the unthinkable as single spinsters usually date around. 

Icheoku says these women are not victims but conquerors as they have further reduced and diminished this imbecile Femi Fani Kayode in the eyes of the Nigerian public who henceforth will see him as a kiss and tell womanizer. As a consequence, Femi Fani Kayode shall be avoided by people with something dear to them to protect or hide knowing that the blabbermouth cannot be trusted to keep some confidences. If it is not these three women today being outed, it may be anybody tomorrow; and which person can still trust such a cholera/diarrhea mouth Femi Fani Kayode again? What a raving demented dingo this Femi Fani Kayode is and who deserves to be permanently silenced and shunned by the media and the public. Icheoku says in addition to losing his mind, Femi Fani Kayode has also completely and totally lost his manhood too. Femi Fani Kayode broke the bedroom equivalent of the Sicilian sacred oath of Omerta and deserves the fate which await such transgressors. What a RAT. (FYI: Icheoku has it on good authority that the late Ikemba snatched or rather took Bianca away from Femi Fani Kayode, just to set the records straight.)

GOVERNOR FASHOLA, AN AVOWED IGBO HATER?

 

Icheoku queries where Governor Babatunde Fashola of Lagos State drives the powers to summarily internally deport fellow Nigerians from their country? His heavy handedness of Igbo dominated Ladipo Market traders is all too recent to forget; and now he has deported about 70 Nigerians of Igbo descent out of Lagos Sate under false pretenses and this law breaker is a LAWYER with knowledge of enshrined constitutional rights of these deportees? Anyway, Icheoku reserves further comments on this man until our oped is ready; but we are sure to conclude that by this latest action of the alaaye governor of Lagos State, who did not deem it fit to also deport the thousands of Hausa/Fulani almajiris in Lagos back to the North, that he sure not disposed well to the Igbos of Nigeria? His latest action when read in tandem with his precedents is a serious cause for concern as it attacks the cohesive essence of Nigeria and its viability as a one state. Icheoku asks, has religion something to do with this disparity in treatment since Fashola like the Northern almajiris are both muslims and therefore it is okay to let Northerners remain in Lagos while their Igbo counterparts are forcibly shoved out in the dead of the night and possibly in leg chains and handcuffs - shackled and manacled like slaves and in their COUNTRY? Icheoku is darn furious and calls for concerted action in protest.

2015, FORGET ABOUT IT - NZERIBE TELLS IGBO PEOPLE.

"To whom much is given, much is expected. In 2011, Igbos gave near 100% of their votes to President Goodluck Jonathan. What has the President put in place to justify the huge votes given to him by the South-East? This is not a case of Oliver Twist. It is a legitimate demand that should be met’. The issue of second NIGER BRIDGE appears to have become object of campaign for vote from the Igbos by successive Presidents in Nigeria. It should be understood that the igbos will not wish to vote on infrastructure for vote." Icheoku says take the message and do not worry about the messenger. Icheoku agrees with the ABN rabble rouser that Igbo people needs to speak with one voice, be goal directed with a common purpose in order for them to make it into Aso Rock; and Icheoku adds, at a future time.

A PRINCE NAMED GEORGE, WHAT'S IN A NAME?

Why George one may ask? Why not George Icheoku says? Whatever opinion anyone may have regarding the named prince, it is now moot and irrelevant since the parents of the prince, Kate Middleton and Prince Williams, have decided to name and have named their child and a future King of England, George. His full names - George Alexander Louis, The Prince of Cambridge. 

George oh George and there are many George(s), to which named persons group has been added yet another George - The Prince of Cambridge. Icheoku says among persons named George, we have Boy George, George Clinton, George Michael, George Bush and of course the prince's forebear, the great abdicator King George V of England. But these are the good George(s) as we also have some infamous George(s) including the recently acquitted child killer and murderer George Zimmerman. Ordinarily Icheoku would have questioned the sensitivity of Kate Middleton and Prince Williams in naming their son George so soon after a George murdered an unarmed black teenager in America? But we will sure give them a break since they must have decided on the name long before the baby was born and before Zimmerman came into the picture. 

Icheoku prays and hopes that this particular George will be a good George unlike murderer George Zimmerman; more articulate than former United States President George W. Bush; will not abdicate the throne unlike his forebear King George V; possibly as talented as Boy George and that his pedigree will not tolerate his becoming gay like the George Michael in order to sire a successor. Whatever happens, The Prince of Cambridge has been named George and peradventure his name will factor in in his future endeavours. Once again, icheoku says congratulations to Kate Middleton and Prince Williams on their latest addition to their new family. To Prince of Cambridge, George Alexander Louis, Icheoku says welcome and may you live long and thrive. 

A KING IS BORN, TO THE BRITISH THRONE.

Icheoku says congratulations to Duchess and Duke of Cambridge, Kate Middleton and Prince William, on the arrival of their son and future King of England, Prince Cambridge. Baby-boy Cambridge was born July 22, 2013 and mother and child are fine. 

Icheoku says, what a miracle of life that a child of yesterday, Prince William, is today a proud father. Now Prince Harry has a nephew to dot on; grandpa Prince Charles, a grandson to spoil rotten and Great Grandma The Queen and Great Grandpa Prince Philip, a great grand son to keep the throne alive.

NDID OKEREKE ONYIUKE, A SABOTEUR OF BIAFRA?

Icheoku is boiling with rage that the woman who Igbo people thought is their shinning star is indeed an enemy of the Igbos? In his book, "The Tragedy of Victory", author army man Alabi Isama, called out Ndidi Okereke Onyiuke as one of those women who ratted out Biafran army positions and strategies to the Nigeria side and thus cavorted with the enemy? This is a perfect case of sleeping with the enemy and she should be treated like an enemy within the Igboland - a green snake in a green grass. According to the author, " In My Command, the achievements of gallant officers like Benjamin Adekunle, etc and their informants like Ndidi Okereke – Onyiuke, Margaret Eyo, Florence Ita-Giwa and many other women who made the 3 Marine Commando Division such a formidable force, are .............." 

Icheoku says spam whale Ndidi Okereke Onyiuke should be ashamed of her treachery and deserves to be outlawed immediately in Igboland as diabolic, inimical and despicable; and ultimately banished for the rest of her Hippopotamus life. She is a scoundrel not worthy or fit of her Igbo roots and her last name of course. No wonder she is a darling of Baba Iyabo and the North who kept her at the Stock Exchange despite her not too stellar records? How dare this whoring daughter of hell sell out on her Igbo people over the Biafran cause and in a war of survival forced on them by the Nigerian side, that nearly exterminated a whole race of humanity out of sheer spite and rabid malice. Icheoku's blood is boiling over and we hereby call on Oha N'Eze, MASSOB and Igbo council of chiefs to do something about this revelation NOW and immediately. What a heartbreaker this revelation is.

"TINUBUOCRACY", AN ABT BRAND OF DEMOCRACY?

Icheoku says what is happening in Nigeria in general and in its political arena in particular, never ceases to amaze people with still some modicum of decency left in them. That a single man would corner and allocate to himself all the goodies of the state, just because he can, is very tragic indeed and especially in a polity with so many poor, under-served and under-privileged class in abject and hopeless destitution as Nigeria. 

This banditry is also so widely spread that one is wont to think and believe that the biblical city of Sodom and Gomorrah, where no honest people could be found, has reincarnated as modern day Nigeria? This elite-class commit the thievery with such affront blatancy that one begins to wonder what manner of humanity inhabit the entity called Nigeria. Added to this brigandage is a very docile and long-intimidated populace that have since resigned their fate to their "God" instead of proactively holding this elite-class accountable. 

Take the case of Lagos State and the entire Yoruba Southwest Nigeria for an example where one man, Ahmed Bola Tinubu (ABT), has captured the political landscape and with it, the spoils of office. This man, admitted very powerful in Yoruba Southwest Nigeria, has stunned many watchers of his politics by the manner he has succeeded in coveting offices and purse of Yorubaland to himself and family. His success is such that he is now reportedly among, if not, the richest Yoruba man alive and politically, he is so accomplished that even people like Olusegun Obasanjo do not cough audibly any longer in Yorubaland politics because of ABT. While Icheoku acknowledges Ahmed Bola Tinubu's ability to mesmerize the Yorubas into a stupor-like followership, kow-towing his political initiative and answering 'YES SIR' to whatever Bola, the Leader, says or desires in order to find accommodation in Yorubaland politics, Icheoku says democracy is made of a sterner stuff and no one man should be allowed to hold it in such a vice-hold. 

However that this man should unperturbed(ly), personally, covet treasures and offices of the Yoruba people and assigning persons that meet his fancy respective offices, while retaining the power to make it difficult for them should they later "grow smart" including power of removal from office, still befuddles Icheoku. Ahmed Bola Tinubu's impetus is so brazen that he personally appropriated five offices to his Tinubu family:- his wife Oluremi Tinubu is an ACN Senator representing Lagos Central Senatorial District, his daughter Sade Tinubu is an ACN State Assembly member representing Agege Constituency in Lagos State House of Assembly, his son in-law Oyetunde Ojo is an ACN Congressman at Federal House of Representative, his wife's sister Lola Akande is also an ACN Lagos State House of Assembly member. To add insult to this injury and peradventure another feather to this greedy power-grab plumage, the same Ahmed Bola Tinubu very recently imposed yet another daughter of his on Nigerian Market Women Association as their leader, thus succeeding his late mother with his daughter; and acting as if cronyism was not previously well defined before and should have been defined as TINUBU instead? 

Icheoku says needless to add that all these positions were with a fiat of the Lord of ACN manor, and without any internal ACN party election or contest. Implicitly the political "GOD" (godfather) of Yoruba Southwest that must be obeyed; what Bola Tinubu wants in Yoruba Southwest politics, Bola Tinubu gets, no questions asked. Icheoku says what manner of a man or type of country would allow or continue to tolerate this travesty in the name of democracy; except however that ABT has his own idea of what a real working democracy should and ought to be and unfortunately, many Nigerian politicians agree with him? According to Bola Tinubu's school of political thought, any democracy must and should have an overall de-facto henchman (CEO) with power to select, appoint and remove "elected" officials including the governor, senators, congressmen/women, state assembly members etc; and irrespective of the process that brought them to power which in Yoruba land is usually Ahmed Bola Tinubu. Bola Tinubu have successfully imposed himself as the CEO of ACN and in Yoruba Southwest politics, has dutifully stamped his authority running that part of Nigeria as he deems fit. 

Icheoku says since what is going on politically in Bola Tinubu controlled Yoruba Southwest of Nigeria does not fit the Greek definition of democracy, we are forced to look inwards to see if we could come up with an appropriate and more apposite name for it. After an extensive, exhaustive research, Icheoku has arrived at a name to properly define and put in context, the audacious overrun of Yoruba-land politics by just one single man, Ahmed Bola Tinubu. Icheoku says "TINUBU-OCRACY - a government of Bola Tinubu and the people, for Bola Tinubu and the people and by persons single-handedly selected and tele-guided by Ahmed Bola Tinubu", is rather a perfect name for the travesty masquerading as democracy in Yorubaland. Unfortunately too, people like Wole Soyinka and other otherwise loquacious and boisterous claimants of the Yoruba pedigree have remained quiet and taciturn, having been completely intimidated by ABT, while ABT runs amok with Yoruba land politics. Icheoku says not a whiff of condemnation or call of Bola Tinubu to order or at least cautioning of Bola Tinubu to minimize his greedy appetite for power and penchant for coveting resources which belong to the entire general populace of Yoruba land. But hey, it is their shit, so let them lie in it as they see and deem fit.

ALLEN IVERSON, $200 MILLION GONE TOO SOON?

Icheoku asks how did it happen - a man who earned over two hundred million dollars within the last decade is now flat-ass broke? Only in America and you wonder if these black athletes and sportsmen have learnt any lesson of life indeed. Mike Tyson is broke after earning over 300 million dollars? Evander Holyfied is similarly broke after a humongous payday earned pugiling? Now Allen Iverson, reportedly cannot afford a MacDonald's hamburger for crying out loud and you wonder what and how it came to this hilt. But hey they came from nothing and rose too fast to the pinnacle and plummeting back down to where they originally "belonged" doesn't seem to matter to these folks. Regrettably, many of them are yet to learn a lesson from the history of what fate their predecessors in sudden riches suffered. Until these athletes and artists start emulating people like Oprah Winfrey, Micheal Jordan, Jay-Z, P Diddy and other smart folks who invested and insured their nests wisely, it is going to continue being a bungee jump that takes them high and release them back-down in one fell swoop. But does these guys have Icheoku's sympathy, NOPE.

TRAYVON IS DEAD, ZIMMERMAN WALKS?

Only in racist America and boy was Malcolm X right that the only thing these huskies understand is violence and not pacifism? Who will avenge Trayvon Martin's murder? Is this verdict adding to the call for vigilantism, such many other irrational verdicts concerning similarly situated circumstances taken into advisement? It appears they no longer fear black people hence they can now do as they please without any let or hindrance - just check the facts of recent anti-blacks developments and be the judge. Their need for free slave-labor and later cheap black labor (replaced by machines, Mexicans, Asians and Chinese labor) is now over and they have to be scared back to Africa by all and any means necessary including such inhuman blatancy as the killing and resulting verdict? Imagine a guy, a Jewish white American, kills a young black boy and he did not deny that; yet the jury of his peers (an all but one white jury) sets him free? But were the accused black, the jury would have been all White jury with one goal to convict him as soon as the closing arguments are concluded; yet both lawyers on either sides of the divide did not perfunctorily act on the composition of the jury? Icheoku equally watched the half-hearted mediocre prosecution of the case and with many other commentators wondered if the prosecution was deliberately, merely playing to the galleryjust to satisfy the uproar that Zimmerman be prosecuted and not seriously vested in a successful outcome of a conviction? But hey, speculation is the name of the game, right?

Icheoku will not attempt a rehash here of what went down in Florida or un-needfully string out the jury on the outcome, but suffice it to say that it is about time Blacks in America retool their strategy if they must be recognized as equals or at least as real human-beings and not the Ape-humans or 1/3 human as was the case before the Electoral Act. Imagine a black professional football player, who also ran a dog-fight show part-time, was sent to prison for two years because one incapacitated dog was put down (killed); BUT an ordinary White "Joe Nobody" Zimmerman kills a young black boy and he is completely set free? Query:- in America, is the life of a dog now more valuable than the life of a black man? 

It is indeed lamentable, utterly regrettable and absolutely despicable that many White folks are rejoicing and celebrating the acquittal of murderer George Zimmerman of the murder of a black boy down in Florida. Unfortunately, these same people demanded the head of OJ Simpson for allegedly killing their bimbo and gigolo despite a finding of not guilty by a court of competent jurisdiction. It is also on record that this people later went ahead to still get OJ through a trap door and today OJ Simpson is paying for that crime for which a court had previously found him not guilty. They accused him of "armed robbing of his own property" and despite the lack of a guilty mens rea, they still convicted him and sent him away? And you are minded to ask yourself for what crime, except that Nicole and Ron are dead and OJ killed them and must pay for it? 

Anyway those Icheoku pity and sympathises with are those delusional Americans who ignore or chose to pretend that racism in America has died or is at least in a life support coma.  For those in this suspended state of inertia pf the mind which distorts their reality, Icheoku says now go figure the Zimmerman's verdict of acquittal. Black people in America are increasingly morphing into snakes in the eyes of other Americans and nobody wants a snake for a friend, the reason why snakes are always chased and killed. Icheoku asks, so wherein lies the future of blacks in America, especially with no Malcolm X around to truly let them know what needs to be done or the right course of action to embark on to get results. Where is DuBois to lead black people back to Africa? Where is to Harriet Taubman to tunnel an under-sea (underground) railway back to Senegal? Where is MLK to act on his dream? Where is the returned or returning messiah to lead blacks out of their mired desert in America to their promised land of equality, true freedom and treatment like peers? By this verdict, once again, Michael Jackson is remembered today for warning blacks in America that the White people "DON'T CARE ABOUT (them) US." What a huge joke, not even a probation or a term already served?

RIVERS STATE'S CRISIS, GOVERNOR AMAECHI SHOULD BACK DOWN.

Icheoku says we have seen the likes of it before and this time around the result is not going to be any different. In such situation, usually the man below in rank, the person at the lower rung of the ladder or totem pole, suffers and often to  a bitter end. Unlike a president, a governor has neither a limitless cash reserve or resources at his disposal nor does he have the command and control of the various security forces to push his way through. With these variables taken into advisement, Icheoku says it will be in the best interest of Governor Rotimi Amaechi to pull back from further "standing his grounds" against the moving bulldozer that is President Jonathan controlled Federal Government. 

The only sensible and pragmatic alternative for the governor now is to recall his senses immediately and back off the current confrontation with Aso Rock. The mission he embarked on is not a winnable one and against a side that has all the jokers including a limitless number of volunteer army, both civilian and professional, too eager to please and to do whatever is perceived as implied or expressed bidding of the man on top. To do otherwise and continue on his present trajectory would be foolhardy and akin to the proverbial small bird (nwa-nza) that after eating belly-full challenged its creator to a fight. Governor Rotimi Amaechi, Icheoku says many in the past have tried in vain what you are today attempting and got burnt and burnt severely, where they survived. Just be sensible about it, check in your ego and back-off and allow the threatening tornado to blow away. Be a smart general who lives to fight another day; so make peace and wait for your own turn or until your opportunity for a pay back calls, if ever. 

The forces marshaled against Governor Amaechi are simply too formidable for him to go up against and try to surmount. We are talking about the President, Mr Fix-it Tony Anenih, 16 or 18 NGF governors of Governor Jang's faction, Bamanga Tukur, the PDP family both national and its Rivers State chapter, South-south Governors Forum as well as possibly some members of the Governor Amaechi's inner circle who possibly, are clandestinely relaying information about what is going on in Port Harcourt to Abuja. If Governor Rotimi Amaechi is indeed truly a savvy politician, he would read the handwriting on the wall and duck; but hey those whom the Gods want to kill they first make deaf and dumb before striking them mad penultimate their demise. It is indeed a big surprise that Governor Amaechi, being  a lawyer and aware of a sleuth of antecedents including some very recent history, chose to swim in such shark and crocodile infested waters. 

Icheoku says where is James Ibori today? What happened to second Republic Bararabe Musa? Jim Nwobodo of the then Anambra State tried flexing muscle with Vice President Ekwueme and his second term was snatched away from him at the Supreme Court despite the facts on the grounds of his triumph in that election. What about Bayelsa's Dimpreye Silva? Which Nigerian have forgotten how a then sitting Governor Chris Ngige of Anambra State was kidnapped? Even a sitting Vice President Abubakar Atiku tried entering the ring with his boss Baba Iyabo, who still "dey laugh", only for him to be permanently consigned to the heaps of one of those wanna be presidents; and his despicable act of crawling on all his fours to beg for forgiveness at Abeokuta Hilltop is yet to yield any reprieve. It is indeed what Baba Fela Anikulapo Kuti calls original 'POWER PLAY' show and Atiku knows it because he has felt its scorching effect. Many people the world over and history attests to that have died trying to grab it and it is for a reason. So anyone who decides to go and goes up against someone already in power, knows that his mission is risky and his road strewn with grave pitfalls.  Some commentators have even written to suggest that such "brave" challengers should have their head examined for psychotic disorder and presently, Governor Amaechi surely fits this profile.

Icheoku says if Governor Rotimi Amaechi thinks that he can go up against a sitting Nigerian EXECUTIVE president  and commander in chief of the armed forces and get away with it, then he must have another thing coming. For him to sustain this thought presupposes one of two things:- either the governor is hallucinating as a result of some mind altering, stupor-inducing, substance or his sense of reality has been greatly eroded, clouded, compromised and obviously distorted. Icheoku does not know who Governor Amaechi's advisers are or the type of counselling he is receiving from his inner circle and how he is being deceived by the "support" he is currently receiving from his followers who are urging no retreat no surrender and not even a compromise. 

Unfortunately, the governor forgot the warning of William Shakespeare in Julius Caesar against mob mentality of plebeians, whose support usually is very shifty depending on how the wind blows. But make no mistake about it, Governor Amaechi, if he survives the current plot by Jonathan and his boys, will not come out of the war unscathed. So any smart politician, worth his political garb, would reverse his gear fast and seek a way to make rapprochement with the man controlling the federal power to save his skin and office. Icheoku admonishes Governor Amaechi to instead of continuing the present confrontation with Jonathan and all the powers and paraphernalia of his office including inexhaustible purse, various armed security agencies of the military, police and state security service as well as the EFCC, to seek a truce before it is too late. 

Admitted that as a politician the Governor is scheming and maneuvering for his personal political fortune of a future higher office and is entitled to do so; but he is certainly going about it in a wrong way that spells doom. He should be more circumspect, coy and deft going about it and in a manner that will not send sparks flying or unnecessarily cause the incumbent to panic. But any man already on the seat will interpret the governor's present actions as an effrontery and an open challenge to a duel for the office; and which man will not fight to keep his seat. Governor Rotimi Amaechi was very much around during the dark days of "Operation do or die" politics of Olusegun Obasanjo and such experience should have provided him a picture of the road block facing him. Icheoku says the governor's action is akin to standing in front of a moving armoured tank in Tiananmen Square and wishing nothing harmful happens; but unfortunately that "brave" Chinese man never lived to tell us his experience. 

Further, Governor Amaechi should have reasoned that a regional interest is at stake here and that for the South-south, the office of the president is better than that of a vice president. Just like the Igbo people say, nobody leaves where an Ozo title is taking place with all the merriment and go to visit where they are curing madness. It is as simple as that; just do the mathematics Governor Rotimi Amaechi. The people of South-south cannot abandon their already in the saddle President Jonathan for their Vice President Amaechi in the offing. It never happens and  it will not start with Rotimi Amaechi. Such stubborn, stupid calculation and scheming by Governor Amaechi for an "ordinary" vice presidential slot instead of helping to consolidate the gains of the entire Niger Delta region in securing the presidency and for a second term, depicts the governor in a bad light as overtly self-centered and VERY SELFISH. It also gives weight to the assertion by the militant/terrorist on sabbatical, Asari Dokubo, that Governor Rotimi Amaechi is "now a traitor of the South-south Niger Delta struggle." Icheoku asks is anything including any office in the land worth being so alienated or misinterpreted by any-one's people? Icheoku says WE DON'T THINK SO and hereby call on Governor Rotimi Amaechi to do a rethink of his strategy and back-down and back-off from his present confrontation of the man at Aso Rock.