FIFA WORLD CUP BRAZIL 2014, LETS PLAY SOCCER!

Icheoku tips Netherlands to win the cup - their performance against Spain in the opening and now Mexico, has irrevocably moved the process forward. Icheoku says 'Go DUTCH.'

THE FINAL BEFORE THE FINAL, NETHERLANDS V. MEXICO.

Icheoku says the world just watched the finals of FIFA World Cup 2014 played between the flying Dutchmen and the Aztecs; and boy was it thrilling indeed. The Mexican goaltender is masterfully good and is a sure contender for the goalkeeper of the tournament award. 

Anyway, we just gonna have to wait until the July 12th or thereabout to officially crown the winner of Brazil 2014, but surely those Orange Boys are on the prowl. With their 2 -1 come from the behind win over Mexico, Icheoku continuously sees the cup in their future at Brazil 2014. Icheoku says what a match, it was. Go Dutch!

KAYODE FAYEMI, SHOWING THE WAY FORWARD.

Icheoku says this is the man of the hour in whom millions of Nigerians including Icheoku is well pleased; in appreciation, Nigerians, lets make him president someday. Dr Kayode Fayemi, the defeated and now outgoing governor of Ekiti State has said he would not challenge the result of the June 21st governorship election that saw his challenger, Ayp Fayose elected as the incoming next governor. Icheoku says it is simply a fabulous and fantastic day in Nigeria that at last a Nigerian politician has emerged who does not see political office as a do or die affair and who understands that incumbency is not his life's inheritance? 

Fayemi, who made the disclosure when he received the governor-elect, Mr Ayo Fayose, in his office in Ado Ekiti, said “I will not challenge the result of the election because I am not desperate to remain in office. Election must not be seen as a do or die affair.” Continuing, he said "Fayose’s victory had assisted in strengthening and deepening democracy, especially in Ekiti State and the country at large. Election by its nature generate tension and hot exchange of words, but to me, once the whole exercise is over, all those involved should take such with calmness and stop all acrimonious. It is my belief that we must all start imbibing attitude that will make us avoid activities that can threaten our peaceful co-existence. We must also avoid the bad loser syndrome. I believe we need to build this democracy to a mature end, rather than pull it down.” 

Icheoku says what a wisdom-filled counseling from a decent Nigerian politician, except unfortunately that his lone angelic voice would be drowned in a cacophony of voices inside a den of Lucifer.  Icheoku agrees with the incoming governor-elect Fayose that Fayemi's show of unparalleled sportsman's spirit is unlike atypical Nigerian politician and also "quite un-African" and worthy of emulation by other Nigerian do or die politicians. Well done Fayemi and congratulations Fayose. Ekiti is showing the way and the state must be proud of its two eminent sons; way to go!

DR. KAYODE FAYEMI, MAN OF THE HOUR.

Dr Kayode Fayemi, Governor of Ekiti State, Nigeria, Icheoku says thank you for being such  a civilized, cultivated, cultured, urbane, savvy and above all true DEMOCRAT, who understands that politics of 'do or die' belongs in the jungle ONLY. That unlike animals, humans deserve better; and because they have analytical functioning brains, their expressed wishes should and MUST be respected including in choosing who will govern them in an election.   Icheoku commends Governor Fayemi and says that we are pleased that the greedy urge to hold without letting of mere temporal power did not come in the way of his seasoned upbringing and erudite education. Way to go Gov,

Hopefully the message the governor sent with  his  unconditional acceptance of the result of last Saturday's Ekiti governorship election was delivered to the political class, many of whom, unfortunately, are molded in the likeness of the thuggish Olusegun Obasanjo, godfather of politics of rancour and bitterness aka vindictive politics of do or die. Icheoku says what Fayemi did by accepting the result of the election as the will of the Ekiti people strongly resounds among the decent population of the Nigeria society and we pray it will resonate among the political class going forward. 

Icheoku and millions of other decent Nigerians are very proud of Governor Kayode Fayemi and wish to say congratulations Governor for allowing democracy to firm up its roots in Ekiti State. Icheoku says Governor Fayemi's progression into a respectable statesman have just gotten a big boost by this conduct and the history of democracy in Ekiti and Nigeria in general can never be written without his imitable mention. Icheoku adds that Governor Kayode Fayemi has now transcended into the pantheons of cultivators of democracy in Nigeria to which people like MKO Abiola and all those who sacrificed to ensure that democracy anchored and thrived in Nigeria belonged. Well done Doctor Kayode, in you many of us are well pleased.

EKITI ELECTION, YORUBA VOTES TO REJECT BOLA TINUBU.

Icheoku says studies have shown that in every and any election, people vote for two principal reasons:- they either vote against something or they vote to make a categorical statement moving forward.  People usually do not necessarily vote simply because suddenly a messiah just emerged on the scene to take away all their sorrows? In Ekiti State, the Yorubas voted to reject Bola Tinubu's GREED and to send a message to Bola Tinubu that their Obas are not USELESS. 

Icheoku knew from right from the bat that Bola Ahmed Tinubu shot himself on the foot politically, when he uttered those offensive words -"Yoruba Obas are useless."  It is politically suicidal for any politician to attack that which the people and electorates hold very dear to themselves even if culturally. Icheoku says when a politician disparages the electorate by telling them that the institutions which they hold highly in reverence is occupied by USELESS persons, that politician is by extension equally condemning the people that instituted those persons as being dumb. No sane thinking people will tolerate or forgive such communal insult and this is what Ekiti State people have expressed in the outcome of the election. It is just like insulting a religious leader be Him Jesus, Mohammed or Buddha or a racial-struggle symbol like Martin Luther King or Nelson Mandela. Such personalities mean something very special to the people and it is simply a no-go area for any right thinking politician to insult them or in any way be seen as not sharing in the people's collective admiration. The rule of the thumb is that politicians do not tell people what they are really thinking but only tell them what they want to hear and Bola Tinubu went astray here when he castigated a whole institution as being "USELESS?" It is just in the same token as a man who wants to score a chic for the first time do not tell her the hard truths. 

Further, wise Yoruba people are beginning to see through the veil of APC as just a vehicle to satiate Bola Tinubu's gluttony and that the party is Bola Tinubu personalized. His wife is a senator, his daughter is a councillor, his son in law a representative and another of his daughter is Iyaloja Market Women's leader and you ask yourself is APC's democratic dividend ONLY for Bola Tinubu's enjoyment? Simply put Ahmed Bola Tinubu has become too high handed in the APC and Yorubaland that only a Khaki uniform is stopping him short of being a full military dictator and any democracy frowns at and shuns of such persons. If any people are yearning for democracy, they are collectively desiring to partake in what democracy brings but will not gladly watch as the communal goods is being wantonly cornered by just one man. Such brings resentment and Bola Tinubu has cornered himself in the receiving end of the peoples anger. So Icheoku asks Bola Tinubu whether APC's democracy is for the people or ONLY for Bola Tinubu and his family?

So Nigerians now you know that the vote for Ayodele Fayose is a vote to reject Bola Tinubu and not necessarily a vote against Dr Fayemi. In the Ekiti election, the wise people of Yoruba land has sent a strong and loud message that they are going to free themselves from the clutches of ABT. As a result, no one should be surprised if the same voting pattern is replicated and resonates throughout the rest of Southwest Yoruba states as the people vote through 2015. icheoku says Bola Tinubu has so much damaged APC's credibility and no right thinking man would pretend that APC is not Bola Tinubu and Bola Tinubu is not APC. Both are two Siamese twins joined in the chest and sharing one aorta; and any attempt to separate them will be fatal. Anyone still in doubt should just look at the recently concluded so called APC convention and see the trappings of a master puppet who pulled all the strings to impose his candidates on the party; and you ask yourself is this still democracy or an apparition of it known as Tinubocracy? 

Lastly Icheoku commends Governor Fayemi for quickly conceding the election and congratulating the winner Fayose. It shows that although it is still making baby-steps, but finally the democracy in Nigeria is evolving and hopefully will get to the promised land someday. At least nobody rigged and nobody roasted. Thank you Ekiti people for rejecting Bola Tinubu's greed and his emerging insulting dictatorial tendencies; now Nigerians know who is USELESS. Icheoku says congratulations to Fayemi and Fayose for being two great sons of Ekiti who wanted only the best for their people. At least their personal desire was not worth the shedding of any Ekiti son or daughter's blood and we commend this and prays other sections of Nigeria will look up to them as they struggle for power in their respective constituencies. Icheoku will also like to commend INEC for conducting an election which all gladiators applauded as exemplary; ditto is the Nigerian security agencies for securing the election process to ensure no malpractices took place. President Goodluck Jonathan is equally appreciated for providing a fair playing ground for all partisans and if this is what 2015 is going to be, then there is no shaking as Nigeria will only emerge stronger. Way to go Nigerians; lets keep the hope alive. 

TINUBU'S REPRIMAND OF YORUBA OBAS AS USELESS, REVOLUTIONARY.

Icheoku does not often agree with the man who owns and runs APC, but with the latest upbraiding of Yoruba monarchs, Icheoku cannot but agree more with Bola Ahmed Tinubu that it is about time some of these people causing trouble in Nigeria are called out for their deeds. Icheoku says what ABT did by calling eminent Yoruba Obas "useless" and thus greatly diminished them in the eyes of their subjects, who hitherto held them in so high a reverence, is very monumental indeed and commendable as it will help move Nigeria forward without all these unneeded shackles called revered traditional institutions. 

It is simply revolutionary and falls in the same category as the late Sani Abacha's demystifying the Sokoto Sultanate when he  unceremoniously dethroned and banished the then Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Ibrahim Dasuki outside the Sultanate. Icheoku says since that Abacha's brave destruction of what once was an "untouchable institution", the  Sultanate, many Nigerians now live in less awe of the Sultan of Sokoto. Now many see it as just another traditional institution like many others in the country and that the Sultan is not God-like but a mere mortal subject to the laws of the state. Now Bola Tinubu has followed that path of brave actors in history and hopefully he will one day find the much needed power to permanently free his Yoruba nation from the shackles and clutches of these Obas, who fleece and freeload on their people as if it their divine right, being their divinity or their earthly spiritual representative. 

Icheoku says the problem with Nigeria is that many people know that things are wrong and also know which people are festering this situation but are complicit in the situation. Also because of these perpetrators' high standing in the society, no one ever braves or dares calling them out on account of their numerous misdeeds including taking their subjects wives and children as part of their concubines. Icheoku says this is where ABT has now set himself apart from the pack, trail-brazing and rightfully followed in the shoes of Sani Abacha by going where many trembled to bravely call these people what they really are - USELESS. 

Icheoku says this possibly explains why Ahmed Bola Tinubu did not pay a courtesy visit to the Obi of Onitsha during the last APC governorship campaign stop in that city, due to his disdain for traditional rulers and the institutions they represents that is equally "useless?" As far as Icheoku is concerned these institutions should disappear as they are up to no good and contribute nothing to the economic well-being of Nigeria unlike the Queen of England that helps boost tourism in the United Kingdom. They were relevance when there was no government, but now a functioning government makes their hitherto usefulness, useless. Icheoku says other than perpetually enlarging their concubinage with their subjects wives and daughters, who they sometimes forcibly seizes and usurping their subject's properties, they are all good for nothing. And Icheoku means all of them throughout Nigeria, not just Yoruba Obas. Icheoku says bravo ABT and we pray other brave souls could follow your good step to unshackle Nigerians from this outdated traditional institutions once and for all.

AS NETHERLANDS WALLPOS SPAIN 5 - 1, BRAZIL 2014 CHAMPION EMERGES.

Icheoku says what a routing it was that defending World Cup champion Spain received today as they could not find their feet faced with a formidable foe - The Netherlanders? The Spaniards could not produce an answer to Netherlanders' question - "who is your daddy" in football(soccer)? The Netherlanders smothered, eviscerated, vanquished, obliterated, decimated, shock and awed, dissected, overwhelmed and use any word that suits your fancy to describe the trouncing those Spaniards got from The Netherlanders today and you will still not be able to fully encapsulate the shattering to smithereens of the Spanish side by those guys whose countrymen brought the world Heineken, KLM and of course made women of easy virtue and marijuana use legal; or when was the last time you visited Amsterdam for crying out loud? 

Icheoku says the encounter between this two soccer foes actually and truly jump-started this Brazil 2014 World Cup championship in all honesty since those who had played earlier did not rise up to the billings of a World Cup tournament, but simply displayed soccer artistry that might as well pass for amateurish mediocrity? Icheoku says Netherlands outplayed Spain in every department of the game and therefore meritoriously earned their overwhelming victory. Now Icheoku makes a prediction as follows and says provided the Netherlanders maintain their displayed states-craft of today going forward, suffer no injury and favorably weather condition and unbiased officiating permitting, they will hoist the World Cup trophy this 2014 Brazilian edition. Icheoku bets on this and if we lose, we will make recompense as may be determined in atonement. Now lets watch as those professionals do the thing they do best in Brazil 2014 - play the round leather object. Icheoku says "GO DUTCH and all the way!"

LESBIANS FACING VICTIMISATION IN THE UK, FOR BEING BLACK?

Icheoku says but for racism, isn't it very obvious to any observer, that the victim here pictured front, of the British Home Office threat of deportation and lack of protection from apparent persecution, Ms Aderonke Apata, is one proud lesbian? Take a good look at her and you will conclude that God did not make any one lesbian better or more than this woman. She is not just your ordinary closeted lesbian by night and straight chic by day person who is not proud of who she is; no, she is proud of her sexuality and she is living it fully, out and in the open. All the British Home Office could do is to help but not to further hurt or fetter her lifestyle and permit her to live in the gay-friendly and more tolerant United Kingdom and save her from an assured persecution in her country of birth, Nigeria, a well known anti-gay country. 

Ms Apata is seeking asylum in the United Kingdom from her gay-phobed country Nigeria and she ought and deserves and should get it on grounds of persecution for simply being GAY. Icheoku says such victimisation of a person because of their sexual preferences is a known act of human rights violation, for which the British government has severally intervened in the past, continues to intervene and should therefore intervene in this case. Icheoku emphasises that failure by the British authorities to intervene in Ms Apata's case and grant her a protective asylum cannot be explained away in any other way except to say that the victim's nationality and/or skin color most probably dealt her a back hand. Look at her - she can easily pass for a man and Hilary Swank's 'Boys don't cry' comes into view for crying out loud? Her physique alone ordinarily should have supplied all the answers needed by the British Home Office to prove her case that she is not only sexually attracted to same sexes, but that she is one heck of a protective and assertive Dyke with a Harley. Icheoku prays that the officers involved with her asylum petition should trade their prejudiced eye-glasses and start seeing a lesbian that needs protection from existential persecution instead of a black woman telling stories just to remain in the UK? 

Icheoku laments that many human rights violation issues throughout the world are often times taken up with the seriousness it deserves if and when it impacts the "right" skin color type? It would appear and it is regrettable indeed that some "wrong" skin type people are not often considered or treated as "real humans" or "human enough" to deserve expedited and concerted human rights protection? Icheoku admonishes that the British Home Office should therefore prove this school of thought wrong by considering Ms Apata's petition for asylum based on existential threat to openly gay people in Nigeria; which evidently is within the public domain and they should not and must stop pretending that Aderonke Apata is not atypical LESBIAN. Icheoku therefore calls on the British Home Office to do right for and by this gendered female and extend to her all the protections available to people with her peculiarities, who are being persecuted just for who they are, including granting her a protective asylum in the United Kingdom. Ms. Apata is not a criminal, she is not a public charge and she has not done anything that tinges the conscience other than gayly express herself. Icheoku maintains that coming out of the closet is not a crime except you are in Nigeria and other Mullah-controlled enclaves of this world; and her coming out has already cost her and her family dearly and the British government should not make it any worse. Ms Aderonke Apata has already lost several family members including her brother to anti-gay violence in Nigeria and should not be further exposed to such hatred and rancour and possible lynching by forcibly sending her back in shackles to Nigeria. She has suffered enough and should be spared further suffering including torture. 

Icheoku says like many freedom-loving peoples of this world, Ms. Apata wants FREEDOM. Ms Apata 'wants the sanctuary of United Kingdom to protect her from persecution; she wants to be protected from her persecutors in Nigeria, a known anti-gay country. Tired of hiding behind the mask of a false identity of a straight woman and overly discomforted by the confines of the closet, Ms Apata has since come out and Ms. Apata wants to remain outside. Ms Apata want to openly remain who she is - a proud homosexual lesbian, whose home country is notoriously anti-gay and from where she escaped to the United Kingdom. Ms Apata wants to remain in the United Kingdom, free to be who she is and sending her back to an assured long prison term or even a certain death in Nigeria for simply expressing who is actually is, would be a gross violation of her rights including her right to life. Icheoku says protecting this lesbian from this assured egregious bodily harm is not too much to ask for, especially from a United Kingdom government that is known as being pro-minority rights as well as a huge defender of human rights, anywhere and everywhere. Icheoku says Ms Apata is already exposed and over-exposing her further by deporting her to a certain discomfiture, grave bodily harm if not death in Nigeria, simply because of her mere sexual preferences will be inhumane, callous and a decision arising from a cold unbeating heart. Contemplating this absurdity is bone-chilling enough not to imagine its implementation and therefore SHOULD not be the so decided.

Icheoku says therefore the British Home Office should grant Ms Aderonke Apata a protective asylum to enable her live her life unmolested and unpersecuted from her country Nigeria, that has passed one of the toughest anti-gay discriminatory laws known to mankind. To the British authorities, please Icheoku urges you not to make Ms Apata another mere statistic of gays killed in the world including Nigeria simply for the "SIN" of who they are; and unfortunately, like every other gay man or woman out there, Ms Apata did not have a choice in making her same-sex gender preference gene. Finally believing that the spokeswoman of the British Home Office was speaking on behalf of the British government and on its position on gay rights and safety throughout the world, Icheoku says no time is ever better or any occasion more appropriate to demonstrate that the British authorities "do not remove anyone at the risk of persecution for their sexuality from the United Kingdom." Now is the time to demonstrate this your government's commitment and on the matter of Ms Aderonke Apata, Icheoku says put your money where your mouth is. Do it and do it NOW, let Ms Apata stay in the United Kingdom.

DISRESPECT TO PRESIDENT GOODLUCK JONATHAN, ENOUGH.

“SLS (Sanusi Lamido Sanusi) is the Emir of Kano. Jonathan and co can go jump into the lagoon.” - Mallam el_Rufai, Twitter message. 

Icheoku says President Jonathan brought all these insolence on himself trying to be civilized in a country of hyenas and pack of wild attack dogs. If these jackals were contained during Baba Iyabo's presidency, why not now EXCEPT that President Goodluck Jonathan would not let the dogs of war out to go take care of some business? Just kidnap one of them, remove one governor, arrest one politician and put him in handcuffs publically or at worst assassinate one of them and all these disrespects will vanish. Imagine an ordinary citizen telling the president of a country to go jump into the lagoon and Icheoku wonders what the president is waiting for to lead by example by first drowning the animal in the lagoon? 

Anyway Icheoku is not in a position to direct affairs therein BUT such excessiveness will not thrive in nor be tolerated by a government were the position to suddenly sway. But hey those who fetched ants infested firewood ask the lizards to a party or at least a visit. The president lost big time in the battle for the emir of Kano and now his detractors are adding insult to injury by ridiculing him and asking him to go and quench? Icheoku says President Goodluck Jonathan's tolerance threshold must be extremely high if not simply TOO HIGH for crying out loud. The Igbo people have a saying that you don't just take a hoe to dismantle the anthill except you have first circled it to ensure that its occupant are just merely ants. President Jonathan must also remember that if the snake does not act like a snake, little children will use it to tie their firewood, thinking it a rope. May be it is about time Jonathan bared some fangs so that these people will understand that there cannot be two kings in a manor and that someone is still in charge in Nigeria. ENOUGH!

SANUSI- LAMIDO SANUSI IS NEW EMIR OF KANO, DEAL WITH IT?

Icheoku says who the constituted authority in Kano decided to make the custodian of Kano emirate is entirely their prerogative and no Nigerian, especially non Kano indigene, should be seen to butt into a purely private affairs of Kano people. To this effect therefore, Icheoku congratulates the Kano people and their new emir Sanusi Lamido Sanusi on the seamless transition of authority just few days after the former emir passed on. The transition process was matured, it was expedient and it was well-oiled; and luckily too, unlike some parts of Nigeria where succession process takes an untoward toll on the people including sometimes protracted decades-long court battles, it took only FOUR men, within forty-eight hours, to midwife a new emir for Kano. The feat is highly commendable. Icheoku says it does not matter whether the Kingmakers were bought-over, bribed, cajoled or intimidated into signing off on an already anointed candidate, what is paramount here is that just within a few days after the demise of the previous emir (three days to be specific) a new emir emerged. The job of choosing a new emir was done, completed. 

icheoku says as to whether the emerged emir is the candidate of choice every Nigerian would have made or preferred, in view of his antecedents and history and record, the jury is still out; but Icheoku second-guesses probably not? Icheoku says this question and answer is actually mute because the emir of Kano is not answerable to the whole Nigeria and therefore it does not behove the entire country to elect or select him or in any other way have a say on who becomes the emir. The emir of Kano does not exercise authority all over Nigeria and therefore those Nigerians not within his jurisdictional area of influence or control should not bother about what does not concern them. Icheoku says if you are not his subject and amenable to his policies or laws, you should just butt out. So, Nigerians have nothing to fret about that in the process of selecting or choosing the new emir of Kano that Sanusi Lamido Sanusi emerged victorious. All Nigerians can do now that Kano people have made their choice, is to keep their eyes wide open to make sure that the new emir confines himself and authority within his domain ONLY and does not in any way overreach himself or overtly extend his authority, period. 

Icheoku says the choice of such controversial figure as the new emir of Kano, especially to succeed an emir who was mourned by all Nigerians as a de-tribalized, patriotic, welcoming and non-bigoted Nigerian father figure, is rather befuddling; except to say it may be in furtherance of an agenda only known to a select few? Icheoku says appointing as a new emir, a man fingered in the hacking to death of Gideon Akaluka for being seen with a torn page of the Koran must be keeping Igbos of Sabon Gari sleepless in Kano, oblivious of their fate under this not-so-loving-Igbos emir? Icheoku says appointing as a new emir, a man seen by many as an Islamic zealot must have startled so many Christians, who are rightly wondering now what is the new direction in the thirsty uneasy relationship between the two religions' adherents in Nigeria? icheoku says appointing a man so steeped in Sharia and Islamic doctrines, that he introduced Al-Baraka or Sharia compliant Islamic Banking during his tenure as Central Bank Governor, a position that is supposedly secular, must be sending shivers in the spines of non Muslims of Nigeria, who are at a loss on the next possible move on the chess board of this new emir? icheoku says appointing as the new emir of Kano, a man so enmeshed in his Islamic upbringing and beliefs that he comes to office as the then CBN governor, fully turbaned; and you wonder what becomes of all and every person visiting or living in Kano under his emir-ship and whether there would be an Islamic dress code introduced therein? 

That SLS has temper and has a diarrhea mouth is a fact and Icheoku wonders whether he will not in one of his temper tantrums, do or say something capable of throwing his domain or even the entire country into a burning furnace? Icheoku queries, does SLS has the temperament and discipline to be in charge of an emirate as big as the Kano emirate and how far would he go to reprimand those who had hurt or injured him on his way to the top? Query, does SLS has the capacity to be a father to all who call Kano home, without isolating them according to their religious beliefs and suspected loyalties? 

Icheoku has no authority over the appointment of the emir of Kano just like millions of other Nigerians who are neither the four kingmakers or the governor of Kano State, but proffers that the Kano emirate should have been spared of the controversies of a man still under investigation by the authorities and whose passport is still seized by the authorities and whose stewardship at the CBN is still under the microscope for profligacy and squandermania? But who is Icheoku to have an opinion in the manner and ways Kano State and its emirate work or to have a say in deciding who their next emir should be; but millions of Nigerians are watching to see if all the cases against the now emir are dropped, closed and his passport returned to him? If that happens, then the entire world would be amazed at how certain positions of authority in Nigeria provide a cannon fodder and immunity for suspected crimes, leading to the question, should the appointment has been made in the first place in view of his circumstance? 

This leads further to the question, did Team-Jonathan do all they could possibly have done to preempt the appointment or were they slapped in the face with it? Icheoku queries, were Baba Iyabo to still be in power, could a SLS not in his favored book, scaled through with the appointment? Icheoku asks, were Baba Iyabo to still be in power, would a disfavored Kano State governor been so blatant with choosing someone as asymmetrically opposed to the president to become the new emir of Kano? Some of these questions are not answerable at this time but suffice it to say the appointment of Sanusi Lamido Sanusi as emir of Kano, just within mere three days after his tenure as Central Bank Governor officially expired on June 2nd, despite his suspension and being placed under investigation, is a big SLAP on the presidency, who could not and was unable to influence the outcome.

But be that as it may, was SLS qualified for the new office? The answer is an emphatic YES, being a lineal member of the emir-producing family of Kano emirate and therefore well pedigreed. Sanusi Lamido Sanusi was the son of a former emir, who happened to be the senior brother of the now late emir, hence a nephew to the departed emir Ado Bayero.  It is also instructive that the now late emir succeeded SLS's father after he was deposed in 1963 for falling out with the then controlling authority in Northern Nigeria, the Sardauna of Sokoto, Ahmadu Bello, who was then Premier of Northern Region. So conversely, if SLS's father was not deposed, SLS could still have inherited the emir stool by directly succeeding his father, instead of now succeeding his uncle. It is also worth noting that SLS married his cousin, a daughter of the now late emir, so by marriage as well as by blood, he is well anchored to the emir-ship. 

Finally the good news wary Nigerians can take from this appointment is that the wind blew to reveal the pants of the reverend father or the fowl's yaash as some people would say. The appointment of a mere mortal that has been the cynosure of the public for quite sometime now demystifies the emir of Kano's throne, which has been perceived prior with a bigger than thou awe. Nigerians can now place the emir of Kano in his rightful place - a mere banker that is turbaned and partially masked, instead of a revered man that is near immortal facade that has been synonymous with the emir of Kano. So, with Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, the emir of Kano is afterall a human-being and its "godlike" authority would be lacking under his tenure. The other seemingly good news too is that possibly some day a head of state who does not like the choice of SLS, might rise up to depose him in like manner as Dasuki was thrown out of Sokoto Caliphate or Sultanate by Sani Abacha, to make way for a direct descendant of Ado Bayero to step in as emir of Kano, like Maccido with the Sultanate? Thereafter, it will be prayers that an Obasanjo-incarnate president will not subsequently emerge to kill the installed emir of Kano in a plane crash like Maccido and then appoint a favored retired army man in his place like Saad Abubakar? Icheoku says it is just a game of thrones being played by Nigerian chess players and so will it go on and on until thy kingdom come. 

With our assignment now done that issues may be ventilated, Icheoku says "Hail to the chief, the Dan Majen of Kano and now the new emir of Kano, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi. Congratulations SLS and may your tenure progressively add to and not subtract from that of your predecessor in the development and oneness of Kano and Nigeria in general. Icheoku says may whatever you believe in. guide and protect you through your reign Insha Allah. Nigerians, we have a new emir of Kano and his name is Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, hurray!

CHIBOK GIRLS / BOKO HARAM PRISONERS SWAP, GREENLIGHTED?

Icheoku says the Nigerian government of President Goodluck Jonathan has received the political cover and green-light needed to proceed with the rumoured Boko Haram prisoners exchange for those Chibok girls. Icheoku says if America can do it why not Nigeria? Icheoku says if Israel can do it and repeatedly too, why not Nigeria? Icheoku says the Chibok abduction scandal has become such a distraction that anything is good enough that will help resolve it, including trading in every detained Boko Haram terrorist for the release of those girls and thus bring closure to the festering debacle. 

The United States of America, despite its age long principle of not negotiating with terrorists just negotiated with terrorists and you ask yourself if America can cash in on an opened window of opportunity to secure the release of one of their soldiers, what's the big deal if Nigeria follows in tandem? It is on record too that America released the "hardest of the hardcore terrorists" in exchange for the release of a knee-jerk army deserter, who purposely delivered himself to be captured by the Talibans just to protest the war? So if Nigeria releases those Boko Haram foot soldiers in their custody for the return of those girls to their families, Icheoku does not see anything outlandish or outrageous with such action and is certain that Nigeria will not be chastised by the West for simply following their example. 

The good news also is that Boko Haram is not demanding a king's ransom for the number of girls they are willing and ready to release - they are only demanding 100 of their men for 50 Chibok girls, which translates to a 2:1 trade ratio. Unlike the Americans' 5:1 trade ratio, who traded 5 Taliban Guantanamo Bay prisoners for just 1 American soldier, Bowe Bergdahl; and the Israelis' 1000:1 ratio, who traded 1000 Palestine "terrorists" for just 1 soldier, Gilad Shalit, the Nigerian Boko Haram offer at 2:1 ratio seems rather very reasonable in the circumstance. It is indeed a mouth watering deal that does not need any second thoughts before the president's signature meets the paper of the contract. Icheoku says President Jonathan should therefore, instead of all these grandstanding being put up just for show, ask Boko Haram representatives to show him where they want him to sign to seal the deal. It is a deal to kill for and it cannot be any better and therefore should be accepted by the Nigerian government which would be getting 50 Chibok girls for ordinary 100 Boko Haram terrorists whose lives are as good as spent anyway. The derivative lesson being that next time, instead of taking such terrorists prisoners, their summarily executions on the battlefields, like their erstwhile leader Mohammed Yusuf, would be the preferred option? 

Icheoku adds that President Jonathan should find strength in the fact that he would not be the first nor would he be the last leader or president to ever negotiate with terrorists? In addition to President Barack Obama and Israel's Benjamin Netanyahu, his predecessor President Umaru Yar"Adua also negotiated with the then Niger Delta terrorists, which led to the relative peace presently being enjoyed in the restive Niger Delta region. However Icheoku condemns the American terrorist swap as setting a bad precedent especially for a great country that has come to be known as being tough on terrorists and who hitherto does not negotiate with such tin-head terrorists, hence the moniker, the cowboy country. President Obama has set a bad example with the Taliban prisoners swap as it has now exposed us more to the vagaries of a troubled world. Imagine the target pool of Americans now at the disposal of terrorists all over the world and henceforth, they will be choosing and picking their victims depending on who will yield the most dividend? Anyway, Icheoku calls on President Jonathan to be like President Obama and bring home those Chibok girls.

BERGDAHL SCANDAL, ANY IMPEACHMENT IN THE FUTURE OF OBAMA?

Icheoku says possibly President Barack Obama has finally walked into the minefield of those who always wanted him out of office and out of sight, and may have his presidency blown into pieces by the gathering storm of Bowe Bergdahl trade for Taliban 'hardest of the hard core' Guantanamo Bay detainees? Icheoku asks was the President misled into celebrating one of the worst decisions of his government thus far in the Rose Garden or was he a victim of overzealous staffers eager to score cheap political point with securing the release at all cost without first weighing the ramifications? 

Icheoku queries further who vetted the deal to ensure its compliance with existing statutory laws of the United States as well as its conformity to a standing practice of the United States wherein we do not as a matter of policy negotiate with terrorists, despite that President Reagan negotiated with the Iranians except that the Iranians are not terrorists but state actors one would add? Icheoku asks but are the Talibans terrorists or rather state actors in view of the fact that they were the government in Afghanistan before the US invasion which eventually led to their toppling? Anyway assuming that the Talibans are not terrorists and also not in power anywhere, including in their former Afghanistan, why would US negotiate with them? May be because they had something the United States wanted and only them can negotiate a trade for it and they did; and the rest is now history. 

However, the issue here is not the standing of the Talibans or their otherwise suspected terrorists-status or lack thereof. No, the issue triggered by this is whether President Barack Hussein Obama acted ultra vires the constitution when he released some Talibans without first notifying Congress as required under the law? Icheoku hopes that this is not the case as the President would have handed his detractors a weapon to attempt to shoot down his presidency through impeachment? But President Obama will not be the first US president to be impeached - President Nixon was impeached over the Watergate Scandal; President Bill Clinton was impeached over Monicagate Scandal and President Reagan escaped Irangate impeachment. 

So Icheoku posits that were President Obama to be impeached and possibly removed from office over the developing Bowe Bergdahl Scandal, Americans will understand and so also would the world especially Africans, who although identified and celebrated with his electoral victory have been left holding the plate under his presidency. African Americans will also understand because their lot has not improved much since they overwhelmingly helped vote him into office? Icheoku will not also "give a damn" because it is been disappointments all over the place as a result of so much promises that has largely been left unfulfilled and lastly, America's influence the world over is for all intent and purpose seemingly tanking. May be a change of baton would be appropriate except that his vice president Joey Biden, despite all his trumped foreign policy credentials, has not gotten many foreign policy right under this administration? This somehow gives  credence to former defence secretary Gates' assertion that Joe Biden was absent in his strongest suit - foreign policy. 

Icheoku calls for an independent investigation into the Bowe Bergdahl/Taliban prisoners swap scandal and if the President is found to have willfully violated existing United States law for the Congress to immediately commence an impeachment proceedings.  If impeached, then let due process take its course through a removal or reprimand; admitted the former will be difficult because of the composition of the senate but at least a message would have been delivered that the United States laws and interests supersedes anyone individual's, including the president, whose duty it is to honor and uphold such laws. Nothing else should matter including the fact that five Talibans were traded just for one American deserting soldier? It shows how much value the Taliban attached to the life of an American, suggesting that one American is equals to five Talibans. Icheoku has no problem with that. 

But if investigation concludes that the president acted on the advise of his trusted advisers, including that of security, military chiefs, state department and of course chief of staff and his vice president, then blames and reprimands should be apportioned accordingly, admitted that the buck should have stopped at the Oak desk? But until the root of the matter is completely excavated and unearthed, Icheoku maintains that the Bowe Bergdahl Taliban prisoner exchange scandal is not going away anytime soon, but will continue to haunt his presidency until its soul rests in peace. 

But a traitor cannot and should not be canonized or turned into a undeserving hero. Such honor is earned and not conferred and assuming the later, not to an army deserter who could easily pass for a traitor for crying out loud. American military service is an all volunteer force, no one conscripted Bowe Bergdahl into service and he understands the duty to salute and carry out orders fully well. So if he wanted to mount the soapbox, he should have turned into a politician and then his views would become relevant. But until then it is not his to decide whether a war is immoral of not or whether the scenes of battle is always messy. No, his part to play in the scheme of things especially policies, was to ask how high to jump when asked to jump. Bowe Bergdahl, as a soldier, has no right to question or rationalize any of his orders. That is the life of a soldier and Bowe Bergdahl swore to uphold these rules.

FEMI KAYODE'S RETURN TO PDP, FRAUDULENT?

Icheoku says with a promise of nolle prosequi and lucrative contracts, the rabble rouser and foul-mouthed Femi Fani Kayode has made a u-turn and returned back to the party he previously chastised, upon exit, as being too corrupt and clueless and incapable of running the country? So Icheoku wonders what has changed about the now newly "beloved" party of Kayode that was once at the barrel end of Kayode's smoking rifle? Has corruption abated or gone away under their watch? Has President Jonathan's crew suddenly become reinvented, clued and now eminently capable of running the country? How about the issue of security of lives and properties which Kayode also gave as reason for departing from the PDP before he began his now defunct although short lived dalliance with the APC? Icheoku posits that whatever epiphany Femi Kayode underwent before and after the APC foray was not real but rather was a byproduct of fogged disillusionment which made his perception of facts unreal and his judgment rascally. 

Any keen observer who followed the road traveled by this junketeer as he made his way out of PDP to the APC and now this latest b-line back to swallow his vomit, will agree with Icheoku that the thick-lipped Kayode is nothing but a humming bird that thinks himself an eagle? All the reasons he adduced for leaving PDP are still presently unsolved and all the reasons he gave for now also leaving APC were there before he joined them? So which shade of Kayode are Nigerians watching or is it merely his hologram dancing naked in the village square? Icheoku emphasises that FFK is nothing but a hollering monkey whose high decibel noise forces curiosity from people and thus not understanding that there are other reasons why people look at people short of admiration, he pats himself on the back that he is the most sort after bribe and like the lizard nods his head in approval of his political escapades? 

But Kayode prostituting himself through political parties is not the core issue here, what is in issue is the funny reasons he just gave for leaving APC to return back to the PDP? 

Icheoku says two things are possible here - either this Kayode is as Wole Soyinka pointed out, manifesting early signs of the lunacy which runs in their family or he thinks there is no records kept of his past party desertions. Further he possibly thought that APC will morph its colors like the chameleon and not remain the spotted leopard which is so proud of its spots that it does not change it? So while Kayode rehashed all the attributes of the APC as reasons for moving back to the PDP, he forgot that he was preaching to a Nigerian choir that is now saturated-heavy with hearing about APC, about APC. Those APC attributes have not changed but remained a constant as far as Nigerians know of APC. Then to further amaze and bamboozle his scanty audience, Kayode said that the Muslim/Muslim ticket being planned by the APC did it for him and he has to leave because such is an unthinkable political suicide for the party? Icheoku admonishes that no weighty politician relies on mere rumours to make such impulsive decisions such as party hopping and crossovers. Instead most timber and caliber politicians of note, conflicted by such rumoured development, would have weighed in to diffuse it and in any other event, waited until it is confirmed or becomes a reality before jumping ship. Icheoku queries what if APC had no plans or decided to do  right by every religion in Nigeria by balancing their ticket with a Muslim/Christian or Christian/Muslim ticket, would Kayode then apologise and return back to APC? 

The funny thing with this his no-reason reason, is that he also claimed to be a heavy-hitter in the APC and icheoku wonders if he actually enjoyed such status and belonged to the inner caucus of APC, why couldn't he confirm the rumour from within, either through Bola Tinubu or Buhari and if true, insist that it must not and shall not happen in his APC? Except that the loquacious and boastful and haughty Femi Kayode once admitted that much that he is just a mere outsider in the APC when he told a tale of how he once visited Bola Tinubu at his Awolowo Road residence in Ikoyi. According to him, he was laying on a sofa watching television when Bola Tinubu excused him, took Buhari, Masari and Fashola into an inner room to discuss pressing party matters while he stayed where he belonged - in the periphery of the APC. Now Icheoku asks what is the political utility of Kayode that his return to PDP matters or should matter when he couldn't even secure a gubernatorial ticket of his party in his Osun home State? What office has Femi Fani Kayode ever ran for and won in order to test his political clout other than being sired by a political force from the Western region of the sixties? 

icheoku says certain things, unlike genes, are not inherited or transferable; and therefore it does not follow that because your father was this and that, that you automatically also becomes this and that yourself by reason of your pedigree? Where are Awolowo's children today holding court in Yorubaland politics? Where are Zik's children today holding court in Igboland; ditto Ahmadu Bello's children as well as the offspring of other professionals - be it law, medicine or business? Therefore it is about time Femi Fani Kayode proved his political mettle short of his political savvy father, whose name he is riding like a mini king.

Anyway the shame is not President Jonathan's nor Chairman Muazu's PDP but that of the man who spat on the ground and later crawled back on his all fours to lick it up. After casting disparaging aspersions on the PDP filled with swines, now he has rejoined the pigsty to rumble with his fellow pigs - those were his words not Icheoku's. Icheoku says Femi Fani Kayode is not a politician and if, is merely paper-weight weightless political nymph. Femi Fani Kayode also does not have any following or clout to be of any value-added beneficial quality to the PDP with his return. At best, he is but a random political swinger, who gyrates tethering on the political elephant-grass, according to the direction of the wind. Wherever the wind blows him, there he sways and Icheoku will not be surprised to wake up tomorrow morning to hear that the deal he made with President Jonathan to lure him back, not being fulfilled, he has migrated back to the APC; except that the man who owns and runs APC, Asiwaju, is too heavy-handed dictatorial to open the door again for him. Such a scenario will finally and fully baptise him as an Atiku Abubakar's Siamese twin of political irrelevance and rejection in Nigeria. So long FFK.

WE DO NOT NEGOTIATE WITH TERRORISTS, BUT WE JUST DID?

Icheoku says America, America, America, what has befallen us that suddenly we have done a 180 degrees and now negotiating with terrorists, contrary to our age-long policy of not doing so? Icheoku does not know whether it is the beginning of the recently announced foreign policy rejig of the Obama administration, but if this is what is in the pipeline, then things can never be the same again. What message is American sending globally to those terrorists who will now gun for Americans and their service men to take them hostage for a negotiated ransom? Icheoku says we do not know about you, but this new Obama's foreign policy doctrine smells like a policy of weakness and not strength; and we urge the Congress to do something about it before it sends our foreign partners and friends alike scampering away from us in fear of our not being able to meet future obligations to them. It will also embolden those who are intent on doing harm to us that at best, they will come off with a negotiated exit with those Americans? Icheoku says what a day - a day America's policy of not negotiating with terrorists died and it was under President Barack Hussein Obama's watch!

ABIOLA SACRIFICED FOR NIGERIA - OBASANJO?

Icheoku decries and denounces Olusegun Obasanjo's self-effacing statement concerning MKO Abiola June 12th 1993's election's annulment and his attendant death as a complete hogwash. Icheoku says that Obasanjo's statement is too little too late, condescending, shallow, not genuine or sincere, a mockery of decency and as always, bears the hallmark of the usual Obasanjo's signature in depravity. Icheoku says if Obasanjo truly meant what he belatedly acknowledged now, concerning Abiola's denied mandate and struggle for democracy in Nigeria, that Abiola died for Nigeria, why didn't Obasanjo recognize and honor him when he was president for "sacrificing for Nigeria?" At least there is a word in the dictionary called posthumous, assuming Obasanjo could not and did not find any way to honor a dead man? But two decades later, did icheoku hear Obasanjo spit out what?

Icheoku begs to differ and disagrees with Obasanjo that Abiola died for Nigeria; and says that if Abiola died for anything, he died for Obasanjo who became president on the back of Abiola's mandate. So put in another way, Abiola technically died for Obasanjo's presidency because without Abiola's mandate or it being stolen, there would have never been an Obasanjo's presidency, which was a contraption clobbered to assuage Yoruba's supposed hurt feeling for Abiola's loss? Icheoku maintains that although Nigerians voted overwhelmingly for MKO, he did not die because of Nigeria, but because "he was not the messiah needed in Nigeria at that time" according to Obasanjo. icheoku is emphatic that Olusegun Obasanjo literally conspired with other sadistic players, both in Nigeria and abroad, to sabotage that very unique mandate which was freely given to Abiola by a broader spectrum of Nigerians, from North to South and from East to West, both Muslims and Christians, Animists and the non-religious alike. It was a total mandate except that the Nigerian Nemesis Group to which Obasanjo belongs, not meaning well for Nigeria, refused and did not respect the wish of Nigerians and they plotted to deny it and they denied it, which eventually culminated in the death of the mandate holder, Abiola. 

But unfortunately, Nigerians are now witnessing and inadvertently permitting Baba Iyabo's attempt to rewrite the script, trying to edit himself out of the ignoble role he played in that perfidy of an annulment. 

Icheoku emphasises that but for the complicity of Obasanjo and the Yoruba nation, Abiola would have reclaimed his mandate and been sworn in as president of Nigeria. Regrettably, when Abiola finally summoned the courage and threw his hat in the ring to struggle for his mandate, the Yoruba nation, to which Olusegun Obasanjo belongs, did not back him, they deserted him. Instead of helping and supporting Abiola to reclaim his mandate, Obasanjo was in South Africa defending the annulment and stating that Abiola was not the messiah Nigerians needed at that time? Some of Yoruba top heavies were also queuing up at Aso Rock and making out like bandits on the back of the mandate. Many of Yoruba politicians, in lieu of actualising the mandate, also accepted and served as ministers under Abacha; likewise were some of their Obas complicit in killing the mandate, who in exchange of various sizes of pots of porridge, told Abiola to take a hike. This development influenced the recent Bola Tinubu's declaration that so many Yoruba Obasa are "USELESS" just few weeks ago. Icheoku regrets that Bola Tinubu did not add former Yoruba president as well as some Yoruba politicians in that condemnation? According to Wole Soyinka, history is kept for a reason and it is, in addition, to make people who would otherwise deny their past activities wary and circumspect. But the shameless Otta deity, like GW Bush, does not give a damn about history to worry about the fact that his sudden u-turn position now on the Abiola's mandate is a polar opposite of his earlier position during the then annulment. Nigeria, we hail thee! I am Icheoku and I approve this message.

TALL GIRLS, NOT FOR EVERYONE.

Definitely not for those guys who are intimidated or who feel inadequate, insecure and complexed by tall girls. Brazilian Francinaldo says "make my day, send them my way anyday, anytime and thinks that his Elisany is a perfect ten and the most beautiful creature ever created. At five feet seven inches and dating six feet nine inches Elisany da Cruz Silva, Francinaldo does not mind that he has to tip-toe to land his GF a kiss or at their moments of intimacy, that he is suspended half way between her head and toes. But hey, they love each other and that is what counts. Icheoku agrees that there is something uniquely appealing of tall girls.

GUN RIGHTS, WHAT ABOUT PEOPLES RIGHT TO LIVE?

"Our son Chris and six others are dead. Our family has a message for every parent out there. You don't think it'll happen to your child until it does. Chris was a really great kid. Ask anyone who knew him. His death has left our family lost and broken. Why did Chris die? Chris died because of craven irresponsible politicians and the NRA. They talk about gun rights. What about Chris's right to live? When will this insanity stop? When will enough people say 'Stop this madness, we don't have to live like this'? Too many have died. We should say to ourselves, not one more." 

 - Richard Martinez, bereaved father of Santa Barbara shooting victim that claimed the lives of six innocents plus the depraved gunman's. 

Icheoku says until the NRA becomes more sensible and sensitive to the plights of American families, traumatized by senseless gun violence, nothing meaningful can ever be done to curb gun ownership and/or institute reasonable gun control measures in our gun-infested and violence-plagued American society. What a pity indeed that additional American families are now forced to travel through this now familiar terrain of agony, brought about by a crazed-out pervert who decided to take other people along with himself while making his exit from this thing called life. Indeed, it is regrettable.