MUGABE AND WESTERN HYPOCRISY!

President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe, any way out? For some western powers, it would appear that Mugabe is now in a bind, that there is no way out; but Icheoku says don't count your chicken yet! Mugabe is a warrior and will survive!
President Robert Mugabe is not going anywhere soon and the precedents are there for the whole world to understand that African leaders so called do not willingly concede their seats to another. Most recently in Kenya, President Mwai Kibaki stole a freely won election from Odinga and after all said and done an arrangement was reached where he now co-governs Kenya, despite losing the election to the opposition. In Nigeria Olusegun Obasanjo wanted a third term but was frustrated out of his desire, then he turned around and single- handedly picked Umaru Yar'Adua and installed him as president. Despite the lack of any credible election in Nigeria, the many cries and shouting, today, Umaru Yar'Adua is recognized the world over as the President of Nigeria, receiving red carpet receptions whenever he steps into any capital of any country in the world. South Africa Thabo Mbeki tried it but for the powerful Zuma whom the ANC thronged to, and thwarted his planned third term. So the question is why would Robert Mugabe listen to the world when precedents have shown that after a while the hot air usually blows away?

Africa it would seem was not tailored for a democratic governance! Before the advent of the Europeans Africa were merely kingdoms, fiefdoms and empires being ruled by various kings, rulers, emirs and emperors! So the sit-tight tendencies in their present day leaders so called run in their body genome, blood! As Jesus said, he who has no sin should throw the first stone, almost all African leaders are guilty as Robert Mugabe hence do not have the moral high-grounds to look Mugabe in the eye and ask him to do right and respect the wishes of the Zimbabwe people as expressed in the election - the present crossroads! Of the fifty countries/states that make up Africa, about twenty five of them are under the jackboot of very sit-tight rulers, who are ruling their people autocratically; and with tacit approval of the west and for rather too long now. Take for example, Egypt's President Hosni Mubarak who has been in power since 1981. Muammar Qaddafi of Libya has also been in power since 1969 and today the west is wooing him because of proven and known oil reserves in the Libyan desert. In Angola, Jose Eduardo dos Santos has ruled the country's 17 million people since 1979. In Cameroon, Paul Biya has presided over the country's affairs since succeeding Ahmadu Ahidjo in 1982 prior to which he was Prime Minister from 1975 until his succession. In Burkina Faso, Blaise Campore assassinated former head of State Sankara and has remained the country's despotic leader since 1987. In Cape Verde a country of just about 530,000 people their President Pedro de Verona Rodriguez Pires has been in power virtually since 1975. In Republic of Congo, Denis Sassou-Nguesso has presided over this country of 3.8million people since 1979 and same longevity goes with Obiang Nguema of Equatorial Guinea. Eriterea's Isaias Afewerki has been in charge of his tiny country since 1993. Gambia's Yahya Jammeh also has seen the greater 14years since he rose to power in 1994. In Guinea Bissau President Joao Bernardo Vieira has presided over his country since 1980 with a little break for only four years. Chad's Idriss Deby has been running the game-show in N'Djamena since 1991. Mali's Amadou Toumani Toure has been in power since 1991. Mauritius Prime Minister Navim Ramgoolam first came to power in 1995. Tunisia's Zine El Abidine first came to power in 1987; Uganda's Yoweri Museveni in 1986. Gabon's Omar Bongo has been in power since 1967 and this is a man who has dined and wined all the presidents of the West including President Bush. Meles Zenawi of Ethiopia has been in power since 1991 and same goes with Guinea's Lansana Conte since 1984. In Morrocco, King Mohammed VI has ruled since 1999; Lesotho's King Letsie III has been in power since 1990 and King Mswati of Swaziland since 1986. Zimbabwe's Robert Mugabe's 1980 ascension to power, although very long, is not the longest ruler-ship in Africa as Omar Bongo of Gabon holds that "ignoble" title. The question now is why single out Robert Mugabe? Why should Robert Mugabe be asked to give up his power? Is it because he has no power guaranteed security insurance of OIL flowing under the grounds of Zimbabwe to mortgage or serve as his collateral?

Aside from Nelson Mandela of South Africa who stepped down from power in 1999 and Sam Nujoma of Namibia who stepped down in 2005, virtually no other African leader has voluntarily conceded his office to another person in recent recorded history.

It may be a tradition after-all, Africa is used to having kings, rulers, emperors and Supreme heads before the advent of the white-man; so the idea of a rotational head of governments is anathema and an alien culture which Africa is yet to get used to! Each serving African Head of State or President sees himself as the absolute king or ruler or emperor, supreme head or potentate and any idea of leaving for another is unthinkable until death otherwise decrees; before which they usually would have primed one of their sons to carry on their assumed mandate - Togo's Faure Gnassingbe and Democratic Republic of Congo's Joseph Kabilla readily exemplifies this talking point. Moreover all African heads of States and governments are inco-hoot with one another and are corroborators as each is as guilty as the other. Take for example President Paul Kigame of Rwanda who used to be the security chief for Yoweri Museveni of Uganda had helped him as a fighter during his guerrilla war fare in Uganda. As a return of favor, Museveni encouraged and sponsored Kigame's take over of the government house in Kigali. So how can an East African regional power like Uganda effectively urge Kigame to do right if he goes astray since both of them are co-travelers in the journey of infamous political mercenary in Africa? As a one time guerrilla, the now President Bashir of Sudan once fought alongside the Egyptians in the war against the Israelis in 1973 and yet you wonder why the Darfur crisis has not been resolved! Couldn't Mubarak put pressure on Bashir to do right if he chooses to, but no, he owed him that favor to do whatever and however he pleases in his own fiefdom? They owe each other one form of favor or the other. ZANU-PF's Robert Mugabe and ANC's Mandela, Mbeki and Zuma waged resistance fight together against white oppressive rules in Southern Africa, which explains the difficulty of a buddy going against another buddy by condemning his actions publicly.

Furthermore, most of these African leaders were guerrilla fighters who fought their way from the forest and jungles of Africa to their respective government houses hence they see governance as the trophy for their effort and theirs for keeps. Their perception of governance as their war spoil makes it very difficult for them to voluntarily and peacefully transfer authorities to another person. They see it as a sell out to hand over what "belongs" to them to another and hence very unimaginable. Their attitude then becomes, if you want it so badly, come and get it. This is the reason why change of government or succession in Africa is usually through counter insurgency or out right coup de tat's forcible change of government which sometimes is very bloody in Africa. Moreover because of the power over life and death which governance bequeaths on the governor in Africa, many of their minions including their wife/wives find it absolutely a no brainier to loose their position of authority and hence dissuade emphatically a willing president from conceding authorities.

Additionally, the western powers are very selective in their decisions as to who goes and who stays in power both in Africa and the world at large, thus have lost their moral authority to effectively broker a resounding resolution in Africa's numerous political conflicts. In Russia, Vladimir Putin single handedly put Medvedev in power, locking away all oppositions in the process, what did the west do? Nothing because energy guarantees to Europe means more than some few disgruntled oppositions in Russian jails/prisons. Nigeria's Olusegun Obasanjo did similar thing with Umaru Yar'Adua but because Nigeria has power guarantee security insurance of OIL, the west is today working together with an illegitimate Umaru Yar'Adua's government. It is this attitude of "whenever the shoe fits" hypocrisy of the west that is the bane of Africa and many other places in the world. Take for instance, Hosni Mubarak who has been a despotic maximum ruler of Egypt for over 27 years now; despite all agitations for a true democracy therein and evidence of his lost elections and intimidation of opposition including the banned Muslim Brotherhood, he is still doing business with America - the democracy crusader! Icheoku will like to ask, despite his flagrant violations of human rights, who is America's most beloved African leader? Hosni Mubarak! And this position has not changed or waiver despite recorded human rights violations and his maniacal zero tolerance of opposition activities in the land of the Pharaohs! Another despot in Africa is President Omar Bongo of Gabon who has been in power in Libreville since 1967; yet this midget dines and wines with all the Western leaders because he has power guarantee security insurance of oil and you wonder are the Gabonese not suitable for democracy? Why has the Western powers not raised an eye brow about this entrenched ruler of Gabon all these years (41 in total)?

For Robert Mugabe to be singled out as "the MUST GO candidate" is not understandable to many African leaders in view of what is prevalent throughout the continent. Icheoku opines that this singular vindictive attitude towards Mugabe smacks of a somewhat pay-back day for Robert Mugabe for humiliating the British colonial powers out of the then Rhodesia and for most recently redistributing lands that were illegally appropriated by the white settlers in now Zimbabwe. Was Mugabe the first African leader to annul an election? Where is Nigeria's MKO Abiola today, a victim of an annulled election? How many times did Mubarak of Egypt cancel elections that were clearly won by the opposition? Who elected Omar Bongo for forty one years in Gabon? It is all a smoke screen for some uterior agenda which an election, boycotted by the opposition has provided a way and means of accomplishing in Zimbabwe! How can you come to one's land and take for yourself all the choice areas therein while the native inhabitants have virtually nothing? Which leader so called will not take exact same action as Mugabe took to redress an apparent injustice? Now the heavens will fall because some people lost a piece of property? These were the same white settlers who fed live Africans to their lions and tigers and no eyelid was batted by the West. The same white settlers whose oppressive apartheid government was accommodated by the West for a long period of time. The same west that designated Nelson Mandela and his compatriots' freedom fighters as terrorists until very recently! The gist of the matter is that there is no existing moral authority to make Robert Mugabe to relinquish office voluntarily; and he being a freedom fighter will not be easily intimidated into a retreat, more-so since South Africa still backs him! They were fellow freedom fighters who dodged bullets together as well as lived guerrilla jungle life together while fighting for their people's freedom. The bonding developed over the years is such that cannot be just thrown overboard because Washington, Paris or London said so. The memory of the oppressive apartheid regime is still too fresh in the minds of these resistant hero-Presidents of South Africa and Zimbabwe for them to embrace the West so fully as to now turn against one of their own. A time like this call for a show of leadership by African leaders so called and urge the west to put some brakes; the west should show caution in the present fanned-crisis in Zimbabwe! Let an African solution be allowed to prevail - even if this means letting the 80years old grandpa Robert Mugabe live out his very limited time on earth, in view of his very advanced age, as life president of Zimbabwe, so be it; provided anarchy is avoided in Zimbabwe at all cost. The whole African continent is festooned with wars and mayhem strewn across the continent from Congo to Darfour to Rwanda to Somalia to Western Polisario Front to Uganda and the list goes on and on. Why add more instability to the already instabilized Africa? If America could tolerate Cuba's Fidel Castro for over fifty years until he retired recently, why not extend the same courtesy to Robert Mugabe? If the west is looking for some state building role in Africa, Darfour is waiting for them; so does Somalia, the Congo as well as the unfinished business in Liberia etc.

The only meaningful thing anybody can do is to try and be an honest broker and be seen to be really one by every concerned party with interest; otherwise it will be a hot air that will soon blow away. In Kenya the West agreed to let Kibaki steal an election won by Odinga because Odinga had some communist background and so they cannot fully trust him to be president of Kenya; hence they settled for a shared mandate! Maybe if Kibaki had been forced out and made to concede an election which he lost to Odinga in Kenya, Robert Mugabe would have seen a precedent to follow. Robert Mugabe probably asked himself, "but Kibaki had his way in Kenya so why not Mugabe in Zimbabwe? Such arranged governance in Kenya will surely be the fate of Zimbabwe; after-all Mugabe was even "honorable enough" to organize an election in the first place; which African leaders usually do not do. Remember the case in Nigeria where the former President Olusegun Obasanjo imposed a president on Nigeria without any credible election whatsoever. The West threw tantrums but today are cavorting Umaru Yar'Adua because of Nigeria's oil. It is called condonation and corroboration as a result of power guarantee security insurance of OIL! This is the bane of the neo-colonial societies foist on Africa by the lopsidedness of western policies therein. If the West seriously wants to make an impact in African democracy, they must stand firmly against any African dictator whomsoever! Whether it is Hosni Mubarak of Egypt or Yoweri Museveni of Uganda, whom President Bush most recently praised very highly (during the last time he was in Africa) and yet this is a dictator who has ruled Uganda by fiat for over 21years now. Justice must not only be done but must be seen to be done! It is called fairness! Icheoku does not carry water for Robert Mugabe but strongly opposes the current arm-twisting by the west because it has the semblance of their seeking a pound of flesh in the guise of upholding an election result. The west does not love the Zimbabwe people more than Robert Mugabe and they cannot be seen now to be crying more than the "bereaved" people of Zimbabwe. How can the west be more catholic than the pope, for crying out loud? If Robert Mugabe must go, then show some examples where it has been done before in Africa. Where has it happened before in Africa that a "leader" voluntarily conceded his office to another or a successor? Who has ever told Hosni Mubarak of Egypt to go? Who has said that Omar Bongo of Gabon should vacate the seat of power in Libreville since 1967, being the longest sit-tight head of State in Africa? The charade in Nigeria that put Umaru Yar'Adua in power since May 2007, which western leader has challenged it with every sinew in him/her; yet they are spitting fire because a similar exercise took place in Zimbabwe? The genocide in Darfur when will it be resolved and yet the government of Bahir is sponsoring the Janjaweeds death merchants! Where are the sanctions on Khartoum? WHY THEN ROBERT MUGABE?

BUSH, WHAT A SEWAGE HONOR?

We have had so many presidents and more will surely follow after the current outgoing one, but non has been so loathed and admired by so many at the same time, as our current 43rd, George Walker Bush. Whereas some see in him a brave leader, some others see him as a Texas inglorious gift to the world. But love him or hate him GW has got guts and Icheoku attests to that.

Now a citizen group in the City of San Francisco, California is at it again; - this time they want to "immortalize" GW in a sort of unique and special way, - they want to rename their sewage treatment plant after GW! According to the proponents of the measure, "GW left a substantial mess which the country will be cleaning for the next ten or twenty years. According to the chief proponent of the measure, Brian McConnell, a sewage plant's job is to clean up mess, so it is a fitting tribute for GW. As Gw leaves office, the country will begin to repair the damage and rebuild the country's reputation which his eight years in office has tarnished. Since it is good to remember our presidents in the right historical context, such is a fitting tribute to the outgoing chief executive and the mess he will leave behind".

But while other past presidents have had very edifying monuments and infrastructures named after them, GW is having a sewage plant named after him. Some other presidents have their bursts engraved in granite in Mountain Rushmore in South Dakota; some also have had international airports named after them like Reagan National in Washington Dc and HW Bush in Houston Texas; President Lincoln has his face and name in almost everything and everywhere including our penny. Lincoln Memorial and the luxury car Lincoln Continental; Franklin Benjamin's chubby face is on our $100 billfold; some presidents have aircraft-carriers named after them; but now one soon to be former president is being given a sewage honor! What this activist San Francisco group wants to achieve by renaming a sewage treatment plant after GW will probably come to light if the ballot initiative passes in November 2008. But Icheoku is doubtful that GW will be grateful for this stinking memorial albeit his legacy or lack thereof which is now subject to a stinking honor in the maverick City by the Bay, San Francisco, California!

JOE HORN, THE TEXAS VIGILANTE!

You are looking at a fat pig? A bloody murderer? A vampire seeking some crimson delight? A blood thirsty vermin? Whatever you call him, 61 year old Joe Horn (pictured here left) was sitting alone in his home in Pasadena Texas during the afternoon of November 14th, 2007 when he heard breaking glass in his neighbor's house and then saw two men burglarizing the neighbor's property. Joe's next move was to call 911 to try and get police to come and take care of the situation. The police didn't arrive in time though, and Joe went outside and shot and killed the burglars. Joe Horn was not taken into custody after the shooting and a Harris County grand jury later cleared him of the shootings.

Police initially identified the dead men in Horn's yard as 38-year-old Miguel Antonio DeJesus (left) and Diego Ortiz, 30, (right) both of Houston of Afro Latino descent. However, DeJesus was actually an alias of Hernando Riascos Torres, 38. They were carrying a sack with more than $2,000 cash and jewelry taken from the home. Both were convicted criminals from Colombia who had entered the country illegally, and were members of an organized burglary ring in Houston. Police found a Puerto Rican identification card on Ortiz while Torres had three identification cards from Colombia, Puerto Rico, and the Dominican Republic, and had been previously sent to prison for dealing cocaine and was deported in 1999.

To see how divided people were regarding this shooting incident, Icheoku has published two differing comments about this shooting. According to one of the comments, "He didn't shoot them in the legs, to make sure they did not run away, or hold them at gunpoint until police arrived. No, he was judge, jury and executioner." The other commentary, quoted one Texan as saying "In my mind, Joe Horn is a HERO. Plain and simple. God bless this man for being an upstanding citizen and protecting himself, his home, and his neighborhood from criminals. He warned these criminals. "You move and your dead." They moved. Joe shot them. Good job".

Now read the transcript of the 911 call of Joe Horn's killing; before, during and after killing two burglars in Texas and judge for yourself on which side of the divide you are on. Here's a link to the transcript http://abclocal.go.com/ktrk/story?section=local&id=5538780 and http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1926577/posts

The incident may prove a test for a new law recently passed in Texas which expands the right of citizens to use deadly force. Under Texas law, people may use deadly force to protect their own property or to stop arson, burglary, robbery, theft or criminal mischief at night. But the legislator who authored the "castle doctrine" bill told the Chronicle it was never intended to apply to a neighbor's property, to prompt a "'Law West of the Pecos' mentality or action," said Republican Sen. Jeff Wentworth. "You're supposed to be able to defend your own home, your own family, in your house, your place of business or your motor vehicle." The castle doctrine, passed in September 2007 in Texas, was recently expanded precisely because the citizens of Texas were tired of rampant crime. This new law allows citizens to use deadly force in protecting their home or neighbor's home from criminals. It is no longer required that you attempt to flee first.

A plain clothes police detective responding to the 911 call had arrived at the scene before the shooting and witnessed the escalation and shootings, while remaining in his car. His report on the incident indicated that the men who were killed "received gunfire from the rear.

Icheoku here now comments as follows: - unfortunately the law is an ass and Joe Horn walked! The expanded Texas castle doctrine allowed Joe Horn, an apparent murderer to escape prosecution because he "was protecting his neighbour's home from criminals". He shot those burglars in the back while they were fleeing as reported by a percipient witness, the plain clothes police detective; which would have made it a cold blooded killing but for the castle doctrine. Also we are talking about Texas, a gun ho State where killing is glorified instead of vilified. We are talking about Texas, the State with the highest capital murder executions in the Union. We are talking about Texas where a man was dragged behind a truck in chains until his body completely dismembered. And if you still do not know Texas, we are talking about the State that gave the world, President George W. Bush! Joe Horn deserved some form of punishment for the cold blooded murders of these two burglars, especially after listening to his conversation with the 911 telephone operator! it would appear this is a guy who was desperate to knock some people off the face of this earth. First, it was not his property that was burglarized but a neighbours! Secondly, those burglars were already fleeing! Third, a 911 telephone operator had emphatically urged him not to take the laws into his hands but he ignored all the pleas and did it anyway! Now two people are dead and Joe Horn is cleared of the shootings by the grand jury. Question, if those burglars were whites, would the outcome have been different? If Joe Horn was not a pure "Texan", would the furry been more hellish? Judge for yourself! But at last, this is America and in Texas justice is sometimes very subjective!

A DOG NAMED TROUBLE!

You are looking at what may be the richest dog alive! This dog named Trouble inherited twelve million dollars from her owner, the late real estate billionaire Leona Helmsley. Leona Helmsley died last August 2007 at the age of 87years. This dog is notoriously ill-tempered and bites anyone who dares to come within her biting reaches, without any remorse whatsoever and her owner also known as Queen of Mean, loved her dearly for this her biting abilities! It thus made both of them bitches, photographed here above!

However the gift to Trouble was contested on grounds of insanity of the Maker wherein the court has slashed the gift to mere two million dollars; because the affidavit of the the dog's care-taker deposed that the dog can subsist on two million dollars for the rest of her natural life. In the affidavit, the care-taker, Lekic (photographed here right walking Trouble in white) said Trouble appears to be very happy in her new permanent home and is doing well in all respects, and the extra cash wouldn't buy her more happiness. "Two million dollars . . . would be enough money to pay for Trouble's maintenance and welfare at the highest standards of care for more than 10 years, which is more that twice her reasonably anticipated life expectancy," he said. Lekic put her annual expenses at $190,000, which includes his $60,000 guardian fee, $100,000 for 'round-the-clock security, $8,000 for grooming, $3,000 for miscellaneous expenses, $1,200 for food and anywhere from $2,500 to $18,000 for medical care.

But some pundits are angry at the court's decision reducing the twelve million dollars bequest - according to them it is not what the dog, much less the world, needs that is the controlling factor in this case, no, it is what Leona intended that matters. Leona Helmsley intended for her dog Trouble to inherit twelve million dollars form her fortune of over eight billion dollars!

Because of incessant threats to her life, Trouble was flown by a heavily guarded private jet from her owner's twenty-eight room estate in Connecticut to her new abode in Florida's Sandcastle Mansion also belonging to her late owner; where she currently resides happily! Yet some people go to bed every night without food in their stomach? If there is HELL really, Icheoku affirms that no other candidate eminently qualifies for the hottest space therein as this loony Leona Helmsley? How can she face God and explain to him that, in the face of many starving folks, she willed to her little poodle a staggering sum of $12million dollars USD!

ICHEOKU STILL SUPPORTS OBAMA!

We have been asked severally why we no longer blog about Barack Obama and whether our support for his candidacy is waning? In answer, Icheoku still supports Obama for president and our support is still in intact. However we are presently in the low mode awaiting his selection of his vice president; during which time we shall either go full throttle or reverse our support depending on who he finally chooses as his vice president. In any case however, a Hilary Clinton vice presidency is still a no brainier and we still stand by that. So Obama be warned!

Our feisty campaign for Barack Obama was in addition to our love for his candidacy, our utter disdain that America was tacitly trying its hand on neo-monarchy which the nomination of Hilary Clinton would have affirmed. Thankfully the American populace understood this and today have said a resounding NO to such an arcane and mundane practice; which has yoked the Middle East and Africa down and for so long! We have a working democracy we are proud of and there will not be another Clinton after a Bush. So the budding political dynasty of a Bush, Clinton, Bush and otherwise another Clinton has been broken and may that be the testament of United States of America forever! Icheoku still supports Barack Obama for president!

AMERICA, WE ARE THANKFUL!

To these men and this particular woman Icheoku says we are grateful for your giving America a Barack Obama and making his candidacy a dream come through. You have helped him secure the Democratic Party's nomination, now it is time to put him in the White-house! God willing, it shall come to pass and the credit will all be yours, in Jesus name, AMEN!

First among the list of people to thank for giving America, Barack Obama, is Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts for introducing Barack Obama to America! Senator John Kerry brought Barack Obama to prime-time when he chose him to deliver the Democratic Party's convention's keynote address in Boston 2004. Obama blew away all the competition and formally introduced himself affably to the America people as that man to watch out for. Barack Obama did not disappoint and today, Senator John Kerry is proud of that his decision and now takes the singular honor of being the man that intoduced the Democratic Party's nominee, Barack Obama to America!

The second man to thank for Barack Obama's candidacy, is Senator Joseph Biden of Delaware. When every American was doubtful and queasy about Barack Obama's candidacy, it is Senator Joseph Biden who affirmed to America that Obama was the first clean, articulate, bright and intelligent blackman to ever run for office. Despite all the upheavals by the likes of rabble-rouser Al Sharpton and his co-travellers, Joseph Biden was right and America so agrees. For this bold step of acknowledging the obvious when every other person was coy with Barack Obama's candidacy, Icheoku recognizes Senator Joseph Biden of Delaware as a person to thank for helping to give America Barack Obama!

Then comes the Queen of talk show, our own very dear Lady Winfrey Oprah! What the Queen of England is waiting for to formally confer a knighthood on this America's Mother Theresa is beyond Icheoku's comprehension! Oprah Winfrey has done more than enough good work to deserve the Queen of England's honorary knighthood. Oprah Winfrey had on CNN's Larry King Live mentioned Barack Obama as her preferred candidate to run for the office of the president and ever since had thrown her weighty support for Barack Obama's candidacy despite all the odds. Today America agrees with Lady Winfred Oprah that "Obama is the one" and for this, Icheoku gives her the recognition as one of those to thank for introducing this phenomenon called Barack Obama to America!

Another person to be grateful to is the product marketing manager of Barack Obama! For any product to move, it requires a good marketing. It is marketing, marketing and marketing. For that product, no matter how good to sell, it must be marketed and David Axelrod did a yeo-man's job marketing Barack Obama to America. Alongside the dexterious of campaign manager David Plouffe as well as all other campaign staffers of Barack Obama 2008, David Axelrod deserve all the kudos for successfully this far, selling Barack Obama's candidacy to the American people. Barack Obama is a good product and we the American people are grateful we bought him from the David Axelrod and crew of this world! Thank you for selling Barack Obama to us!

Icheoku cannot surmise this without acknowledging the American people for doing right by their nomination of a good promising candidate, Barack Obama. By special grace, the American people will catapult him into the White house in November 2008 to finish the business which they started with his nomination. For doing what is right by his nomination, the American people is hereby acknowledged by Icheoku as a people to thank also. The good in the American people was manifested and exhibited with their dispassionate assessment of the best candidate in this season of election politics and called it as they saw it without much ado. Only in America could this story of Barack Obama be possible - it shows the magnanimity of the American people. God bless America! Kudos to you all, good people of America! Icheoku salutes you!

His ever supportive wife, the affable Michelle Obama is also recognized by Icheoku for letting America share her man - the goodness in him, Icheoku means! Michelle Obama deserves the thanks of Americans for encouraging and supporting the campaign of her husband, Senator Barack Obama. Peradventure she will be rewarded with the First Ladyship in January 2009. This mother of two adorable girls and doting wife of our president in the waiting, Barack Obama will make a very good first lady and America hopes she will transfer some of her love for her family to the greater AMerican family. Icheoku wishes this couple God's speed as they race towards the White-house. Michelle Obama, thanks a million for the gift of Barack Obama to America!

Ironically the attacks of Hilary Clinton's campaign made Barack Obama a more fortified and formidable candidate. They put him through the furnace and he emerged golden! They made him steel-stronger through their orchestrated attacks and Obama is today a political giant, thanks to the viciousness of the Clinton's campaign. Although it was an unintended consequence by the Clintons, but Icheoku will nontheless recognize Hilary Clinton as the profitable antagonist of Barack Obama's successful primaries campaign. Hilary heretofore is a candidate deserving of our gratitude for what she transformed Barack Obama into - a candidate fresh from the heat of battle; and smoking hot for the campaign against John McCain's for the White house.

Finally, the product himself must be acknowledged. Barack Obama did not disappoint all his teeming supporters - he proved he is the correct choice and that the people rooting for him did not make any mistake. He made himself saleable and he was sold. Hopefully, he will be the next president of America come January 2009 when he will be sworn in. United States of America, lets be thankful for all our blessings and for Barack Obama! Do right, vote for change! Vote for Hope! barack Obama is the future as the past is gone and the present not worth our expectations! Visit http://www.barackobama.com/ to see how you can help this campaign of HOPE & CHANGE!

NIGERIAN MEN WIFE-KILLERS!

Warning: some of the images here might be too graphic for your psyche; proceed with caution!

Have you ever seen the face of a wife killer? Have you ever met anyone who took the life of the mother of his children? Have you ever seen or met such a person who is a Nigerian? How spooky it is indeed that such a person has the blood of another human being and a Nigerian for that matter, drooling over his hands! Such a hallowing experience becomes much creepier, when that monster who took the life of a Nigerian is also a fellow Nigerian whom you may have interacted with somehow. somewhat! Now buckle up your belt as Icheoku takes you on a harried excursion through the faces, names and somewhat biographies of some of these denigrate of society! They are painting the average Joe-Nigerian man in American as a domestic violent person; a potential wife killer! A bad name indeed, really? They are the worst of the Nigerian male society in America: the dregs of the society! They are the fabled black-sheep who have defiled and violated the sanctity of the Nigerian family cohesiveness. These men killed their WIVES! They made their children motherless! It is abominable! Brace yourself!

Now, meet denigrate person wife-killer number one, Mr. Kelechi Charles Emeruwa:-
A Nigerian Mr. Kelechi Charles Emeruwa, (pictured here right) 41 of Old Umuahia, Abia State was charged and convicted with first degree murder of his estranged wife, 36 year old Registered Nurse, Chidiebere Omenihu Ochulo. Kelechi finally lost it and stabbed his wife, with her own kitchen knife, several times that the fountain left on Julius Ceaser fades in comparison, until she gave up the ghost. "According to the account, Chidiebere had just returned from Nigeria where she bolted away for three weeks to give her late father a lavish burial despite protestations of Mr. Kelechi of the bills that are accruing and payable here in America. She wouldn’t hear any of it, after-all she makes the money; only to return to an angry frustrated maniacal husband who took her kitchen knife and carved her up. It was on New Year’s Day, in her townhouse in the 4200 block of Dunwood Terrace, in the Washington DC suburb of Burtonsville in Montgomery County, Maryland.

For a little biography, Chidiebere was born on June 1, 1970 and attended schools in Umuahia and Yola before proceeding to University of Nigeria Nsukka where she bagged a degree in Microbiology. She then got married to Kelechi in 1996 and left for the US the same year, having won the American Visa lottery. In an effort to really settle down in the US and get a respectable job, she took a second degree in Nursing and began a career at Washington Hospital Centre. As a result of her hard work, she got to the peak of the administrative cadre as a Deputy Director, Clinical Services, at the Centre where she remained until her death in the cold hands of the man she once loved - the father of her three children.

In Tennessee, a Nigerian man after taking it for so long, lost his cool and shot his Registered Nurse wife as well as his hitherto mother in-law to death with a shot gun. According to the account this RN wife was married from Nigeria a pauper and brought to the United States by this man, who trained her in school as a registered nurse. Soon after her qualification, the demon in her was let loose and it became one torment after another, with one police call after another followed by sleep-over in police cells and it went on and on ad infinitum. After a protracted battle with the authorities at the wife’s instigation, this man lost his almost nearly paid-off home to his wife, including the custody of his three kids by her. He sees these kids just periodically according to court’s order and at the discretionary behest of the wife who sometimes comes to the appointed custody visitation ground at a time of her choosing; just to punish and suffer this man. He could not take it any longer and now the rest is history with two women shot dead and the killer in death row awaiting the electric chair.

Another lunatic fringed monster, Mr. Theophilus Ojukwu has equally entered the annals of Nigerian men wife-killers in the United States of America! This cancer of wife killing by Nigerian husbands is fast spreading that the Nigerian society is getting numb and used to it, as one of the social maladies of our times. A heinous act which hitherto would be very abominable that people are shocked to their bone marrows is today seen as a possibility. In Garland, Texas on Saturday, March 25, 2007 Mr.Theophilus Ojukwu, (pictured right in his orange prison jumpsuit) 46, of Enugwu-Agu, Ihe in Awgu LGA, Enugu State used a mattock (hammer) to bludgeon his deeply asleep RN wife, Melvina Ojukwu, 36, of Umuanebe, also of Ihe, Awgu LGA, Enugu State to a very painful agonizing death.
Sources close to the family said that about two years ago, Melvina’s mother and mother in-law of Theophilus, who was visiting from Nigeria tragically died in a mysterious circumstance, in a bathtub in their house at 5400 block of Barcelona Drive, Garland Texas; this is where Melvina also met her untimely and heartbreaking death. Whether this is a chain of events is inconclusive but both situations were very tragic! Mr Theophilus Ojukwu has since been sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole; that one would ask, is the craze to control the RN’s “legendary money-faucet” enough for this tragedy and the life imprisonment consequence thereof?

In another family-related violent incident involving a Nigerian, it was reported in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution of March 8, 2006 that a Registered Nurse Roseline Unachukwu, 34, and her six children were taken to the family violence shelter, Northwest YWCA in Marietta, Georgia, a suburb of Atlanta, as a result of physical violence. According to people with knowledge of the incident, the poor lady escaped with her life from her husband’s maniacal rage with very severe cuts in her arms which she received while fending off her husband's killer-rage. Her husband, Benjamin Unachukwu from Nnewi, Anambra State, was taken to jail to face two criminal charges with the kitchen-knife weapon of choice as evidence exhibit!

In Los Angeles California it was reported that a Nigerian RN wife was brutally murdered by her husband. The viciousness of the attack was such that the man eventually tied the dead body of his wife to his truck and dragged her dead body through the roads and streets of Southern California until her skull gave up its cranial contents. He was eventually arrested, charged, tried and convicted for first degree murder with special circumstance which carries the death penalty! He is presently awaiting a date with the lethal injection in a cold segregated death-row prison cell!

Only recently, one Nigeria RN woman living in Dallas Texas had this to write on the Internet about her fellow estranged Nigerian husband:-
“I have been married to Mr. X (real name excluded by Icheoku as we do not want to be a purveyor of this domestic madness) for 20years, and had five children for him. I was married to him at the age of 18years, and joined him in Dallas from Nigeria after my high school. For those 20years of marriage which can pass for 20years of bondage and slavery, I have had to endure constant physical abuse, verbal abuse, and emotional abuse and mental torture in the hands of Mr. X. I am asking whosoever that reads my story to please send it out to as many forums as they have access to. Silence they say is golden. But if you are dealing with a mad, sad, disgruntled man like Benjamin X, silence will no longer be golden”.
And what could have driven a Nigerian wife to write such an unflattering “oration” about her husband, one would ask? The answer depends on who you ask. Is this couple close to the finish line?
Similarly, in Grand Prairie, Dallas, Texas, Mrs. Monireti Abeni Akeredolu, (pictured below in her wedding with her killer-husband) a 46-year old Registered Nurse from Ondo State Nigeria met her untimely death in the hands of her estranged husband, Mr. Ebenezer Akeredolu, Sr., 48. According to the story, Mr. Akeredolu drove several hundred miles from Georgia (where he had moved to nurse his pains at loosing everything he had worked so hard for since coming to the United States several decades ago) to Dallas and pumped several bullets into his ex-wife in day light, with so many people watching the macabre spectacle. Mrs. Monireti died slumped in the wheels of her SUV enroute to a birthday party in her honor – she had just turned 46 a day before on September 7, 2005.

Not too long ago, also, on August 10, 2005 in Euless, a suburb of Dallas, another frustrated Nigerian husband, 45-year old Johnny Omorogieva from Edo State, Nigeria murdered his RN wife, Mrs. Isatu Omorogieva, 35, also of Edo State by savagely striking her on the head numerous times with a hammer in the full view of their 7-year old screaming daughter.

In Tulsa, Oklahoma a yet to be fully authenticated report has it that another Nigerian man recently bludgeoned his RN wife to death while she was fast asleep; following a traumatic life which she has subjected him to since turning into the majority bread winner of the family following her graduating from a nursing program.

Another Nigerian nut-case, Mr. John Onwuka (pictured here right in his orange prison jumpsuit) 49, from Akwete community of Ohafia Bende Local Government Area of Abia State was charged with one count each of homicide and use of a knife in the commission of a felony. He stabbed his RN wife of twenty five years, Mrs Gloria Uchechi Anya Onwuka age 42, fourteen times in her bedroom while she was getting ready to go to work. She was a nurse manager. Mr. John Onwuka committed this crime on the night of Saturday August 19, 2006 at the home of his wife in Estate Drive, Farmington, Hampton, Virginia with her children watching him act out his gory insanity.

"Yes I have killed the woman that messed my life up! A woman that had destroyed me. I am at Shalom West, my name is Michael and am all yours". With those words - a 911 call placed to the authorities, another Nigeria man has joined the infamous heinous club of Nigerian Men Wife Killers. Fifty year old Mr. Michael Collins Iheme (pictured here left) of Hennepin Minnesota placed the call above few minutes after shooting his twenty eight year old wife, Mrs. Anthonia Eberechi iheme, the mother of his 4 year old boy and 3 year old girl, to death. What is wrong with this crazed out Nigeria man was that he lacked the stomach to take all the bullshit he was forced to take by a typical Nigerian "Nurse" wife. However in as much as Icheoku does not condone such misbehaviour of taking the life of another, these Nigeria men who marry "fedexed" wives should better watch it as what they bargained for might not necessarily always come to fruition. There is no need travelling to Africa to find a wife - if it is akaata, filpino. latina mamacita, oke-bekee or even chinese that loves you, please settle down with such a person. Your love for foofoo and egusi soup is not enough to trade your happiness and possibly freedom when they make you do the unthinkable like our Mr. Micahel Collins Iheme and crew.

It has happened again! Another Nigerian lunatic kills his wife. Mr LeKan Fawmi, pictured here right in glasses, just received a 20 year prison sentence for killing his wife Ebonetess. The couple lived at Burcale Road, Conway, Horry County, South Carolina. His weapon of choice, a kitchen knife with which he stabbed his wife, mother of his one year old son, fifteen times in the neck; left her to bleed to death in their residence before escaping to the bush where he was later caught.

For the records, it would appear that majority of these uxoricides occurred in Dallas, Texas! Leading to the question, whuz up Dallas? Is there any maniacal peculiarity with Nigerian men living in Dallas? Further, most of the victims were Registered Nurses which forces one to ask is the "war over the purse" of who controls this their "legendary treasure trove" enough reason to commit the most heinous of all crimes? Also the number of such homicides is rather astronomical judging the sanctity of life-environment from which majority of these homicidal maniacs come from back in Nigeria. Admitted, that it is dreadfully wrong and also a sacrilege for anyone to take the life of another, especially if that other was a spouse; but what could be the driving factor of this senseless exhibition of ravenous rage by some frustrated Nigerian men in the United States of America? This question is imperative because there are other more acceptable options available for getting out of a hellish marriage including just getting up and leaving; mutual separation; taking a second wife just like the Mormons of Texas, Utah and Nevada; becoming a bachelor once again; keeping a girl friend outside your so called matrimonial home or the penultimate divorce instead of committing the mother of all crimes - taking the life of another! Nothing is worth it! Does the underlying problem defy every solution imaginable? NO! Take a deep breath and consider other options including the almighty walking-out! Nothing is worth the trouble! Not all the diamonds in South Africa and/or gold in Fort Knox! The "mansion" which you are fighting for, you did not bring it with you to America? The SUV or Mercedes car that is making you to loose your head, the manufacturing plant in Stuttgart Germany has not yet closed shop! In your convoluted suspicion that your wife is sleeping around because she dresses well, ask yourself, where is the foundational trust of your relationship and at worst, were you the first man in her life? Did you break her virginity and why do you think it is either you with her or nobody at all, that you will rather have her dead than loose her to someone else? Have you also tried getting professional counseling or earnestly engaging your wife in an open discussion to find out what you may be doing wrong and make amends where necessary. Have you tried temporary separation for a cool-off period? At worst get an amicable divorce so that you guys can remain friends for the benefit of the children! Before you write that check which you cannot cash, please stop and ask yourself, before you met her did you not have any life? It is not worth it! Learn to move on; as around the next corner may be lurking your real wife of “Christian marriage” who will really cherish and love you for who you are! Your wife's leaving you is not the end of the world as we know it! As the popular aphorism goes, "when one door closes another one is open down the road". Nothing is worth the taking of life and not that of a spouse who also is a Nigerian! PLEASE GET A LIFE!