OBAMA WOWS THE WORLD!

Icheoku says if only Americans can get it right this time, the world will be ready once again for America the beautiful! Things will definitely change; the indications are there for any discernible mind to see. From the arid mountainous Afghanistan, to Iraq, to Jordan, to Israel, to Palestine, to Germany, to France and finally to England the story is the same that the peoples of the world are ready for a BARACK OBAMA's presidency and America's rebirth back to the mainstream of the world! Where-ever he goes he holds out hope for everyone and many look upon him as the symbol of all possibilities and everything good about America! We must sustain this hope by electing Barack Obama President in November 2008. YES WE CAN make this happen! This dream can come through! This objective is within an arms' length and we must grab it and not let such a golden opportunity slip from our hands! Not this time, America! Even the confidential note he left at the Wailing Wall in Jerusalem was published against known practice and it shows a man with a very meek heart! America, he is the one! Now enjoy the pictorial of Barack Obama's meet some world leaders tour as well as the compete text of the remarkable speech which he delivered in front of a crowd estimated to be in excess of two hundred thousand people, at Siegessäule (Victory Square), Berlin, Germany. Icheoku says it was yet another touchdown!

"Thank you to the citizens of Berlin and to the people of Germany. Let me thank Chancellor Merkel and Foreign Minister Steinmeier for welcoming me earlier today. Thank you Mayor Wowereit, the Berlin Senate, the police, and most of all thank you for this welcome. I come to Berlin as so many of my countrymen have come before. Tonight, I speak to you not as a candidate for President, but as a citizen - a proud citizen of the United States, and a fellow citizen of the world. I know that I don't look like the Americans who've previously spoken in this great city. The journey that led me here is improbable. My mother was born in the heartland of America, but my father grew up herding goats in Kenya. His father - my grandfather - was a cook, a domestic servant to the British. At the height of the Cold War, my father decided, like so many others in the forgotten corners of the world, that his yearning - his dream - required the freedom and opportunity promised by the West. And so he wrote letter after letter to universities all across America until somebody, somewhere answered his prayer for a better life. That is why I'm here. And you are here because you too know that yearning. This city, of all cities, knows the dream of freedom.

And you know that the only reason we stand here tonight is because men and women from both of our nations came together to work, and struggle, and sacrifice for that better life. Ours is a partnership that truly began sixty years ago this summer, on the day when the first American plane touched down at Templehof.
On that day, much of this continent still lay in ruin. The rubble of this city had yet to be built into a wall. The Soviet shadow had swept across Eastern Europe, while in the West, America, Britain, and France took stock of their losses, and pondered how the world might be remade. This is where the two sides met. And on the twenty-fourth of June, 1948, the Communists chose to blockade the western part of the city. They cut off food and supplies to more than two million Germans in an effort to extinguish the last flame of freedom in Berlin. The size of our forces was no match for the much larger Soviet Army. And yet retreat would have allowed Communism to march across Europe. Where the last war had ended, another World War could have easily begun. All that stood in the way was Berlin. And that's when the airlift began - when the largest and most unlikely rescue in history brought food and hope to the people of this city. The odds were stacked against success. In the winter, a heavy fog filled the sky above, and many planes were forced to turn back without dropping off the needed supplies. The streets where we stand were filled with hungry families who had no comfort from the cold. But in the darkest hours, the people of Berlin kept the flame of hope burning. The people of Berlin refused to give up. And on one fall day, hundreds of thousands of Berliners came here, to the Tiergarten, and heard the city's mayor implore the world not to give up on freedom. "There is only one possibility," he said. "For us to stand together united until this battle is won...The people of Berlin have spoken. We have done our duty, and we will keep on doing our duty. People of the world: now do your duty...People of the world, look at Berlin!" People of the world - look at Berlin! Look at Berlin, where Germans and Americans learned to work together and trust each other less than three years after facing each other on the field of battle. Look at Berlin, where the determination of a people met the generosity of the Marshall Plan and created a German miracle; where a victory over tyranny gave rise to NATO, the greatest alliance ever formed to defend our common security. Look at Berlin, where the bullet holes in the buildings and the somber stones and pillars near the Brandenburg Gate insist that we never forget our common humanity. People of the world - look at Berlin, where a wall came down, a continent came together, and history proved that there is no challenge too great for a world that stands as one. Sixty years after the airlift, we are called upon again.

History has led us to a new crossroad, with new promise and new peril. When you, the German people, tore down that wall - a wall that divided East and West; freedom and tyranny; fear and hope - walls came tumbling down around the world. From Kiev to Cape Town, prison camps were closed, and the doors of democracy were opened. Markets opened too, and the spread of information and technology reduced barriers to opportunity and prosperity. While the 20th century taught us that we share a common destiny, the 21st has revealed a world more intertwined than at any time in human history. The fall of the Berlin Wall brought new hope. But that very closeness has given rise to new dangers - dangers that cannot be contained within the borders of a country or by the distance of an ocean. The terrorists of September 11th plotted in Hamburg and trained in Kandahar and Karachi before killing thousands from all over the globe on American soil. As we speak, cars in Boston and factories in Beijing are melting the ice caps in the Arctic, shrinking coastlines in the Atlantic, and bringing drought to farms from Kansas to Kenya. Poorly secured nuclear material in the former Soviet Union, or secrets from a scientist in Pakistan could help build a bomb that detonates in Paris. The poppies in Afghanistan become the heroin in Berlin. The poverty and violence in Somalia breeds the terror of tomorrow. The genocide in Darfur shames the conscience of us all. In this new world, such dangerous currents have swept along faster than our efforts to contain them. That is why we cannot afford to be divided. No one nation, no matter how large or powerful, can defeat such challenges alone. None of us can deny these threats, or escape responsibility in meeting them. Yet, in the absence of Soviet tanks and a terrible wall, it has become easy to forget this truth. And if we're honest with each other, we know that sometimes, on both sides of the Atlantic, we have drifted apart, and forgotten our shared destiny. In Europe, the view that America is part of what has gone wrong in our world, rather than a force to help make it right, has become all too common. In America, there are voices that deride and deny the importance of Europe's role in our security and our future. Both views miss the truth - that Europeans today are bearing new burdens and taking more responsibility in critical parts of the world; and that just as American bases built in the last century still help to defend the security of this continent, so does our country still sacrifice greatly for freedom around the globe. Yes, there have been differences between America and Europe. No doubt, there will be differences in the future. But the burdens of global citizenship continue to bind us together.

A change of leadership in Washington will not lift this burden. In this new century, Americans and Europeans alike will be required to do more - not less. Partnership and cooperation among nations is not a choice; it is the one way, the only way, to protect our common security and advance our common humanity. That is why the greatest danger of all is to allow new walls to divide us from one another. The walls between old allies on either side of the Atlantic cannot stand. The walls between the countries with the most and those with the least cannot stand. The walls between races and tribes; natives and immigrants; Christian and Muslim and Jew cannot stand. These now are the walls we must tear down. We know they have fallen before. After centuries of strife, the people of Europe have formed a Union of promise and prosperity. Here, at the base of a column built to mark victory in war, we meet in the center of a Europe at peace. Not only have walls come down in Berlin, but they have come down in Belfast, where Protestant and Catholic found a way to live together; in the Balkans, where our Atlantic alliance ended wars and brought savage war criminals to justice; and in South Africa, where the struggle of a courageous people defeated apartheid. So history reminds us that walls can be torn down. But the task is never easy. True partnership and true progress requires constant work and sustained sacrifice. They require sharing the burdens of development and diplomacy; of progress and peace. They require allies who will listen to each other, learn from each other and, most of all, trust each other. That is why America cannot turn inward. That is why Europe cannot turn inward. America has no better partner than Europe. Now is the time to build new bridges across the globe as strong as the one that bound us across the Atlantic. Now is the time to join together, through constant cooperation, strong institutions, shared sacrifice, and a global commitment to progress, to meet the challenges of the 21st century. It was this spirit that led airlift planes to appear in the sky above our heads, and people to assemble where we stand today. And this is the moment when our nations - and all nations - must summon that spirit anew. This is the moment when we must defeat terror and dry up the well of extremism that supports it. This threat is real and we cannot shrink from our responsibility to combat it. If we could create NATO to face down the Soviet Union, we can join in a new and global partnership to dismantle the networks that have struck in Madrid and Amman; in London and Bali; in Washington and New York. If we could win a battle of ideas against the communists, we can stand with the vast majority of Muslims who reject the extremism that leads to hate instead of hope. This is the moment when we must renew our resolve to rout the terrorists who threaten our security in Afghanistan, and the traffickers who sell drugs on your streets.

No one welcomes war. I recognize the enormous difficulties in Afghanistan. But my country and yours have a stake in seeing that NATO's first mission beyond Europe's borders is a success. For the people of Afghanistan, and for our shared security, the work must be done. America cannot do this alone. The Afghan people need our troops and your troops; our support and your support to defeat the Taliban and al Qaeda, to develop their economy, and to help them rebuild their nation. We have too much at stake to turn back now.This is the moment when we must renew the goal of a world without nuclear weapons. The two superpowers that faced each other across the wall of this city came too close too often to destroying all we have built and all that we love. With that wall gone, we need not stand idly by and watch the further spread of the deadly atom. It is time to secure all loose nuclear materials; to stop the spread of nuclear weapons; and to reduce the arsenals from another era. This is the moment to begin the work of seeking the peace of a world without nuclear weapons.This is the moment when every nation in Europe must have the chance to choose its own tomorrow free from the shadows of yesterday. In this century, we need a strong European Union that deepens the security and prosperity of this continent, while extending a hand abroad. In this century - in this city of all cities - we must reject the Cold War mind-set of the past, and resolve to work with Russia when we can, to stand up for our values when we must, and to seek a partnership that extends across this entire continent. This is the moment when we must build on the wealth that open markets have created, and share its benefits more equitably. Trade has been a cornerstone of our growth and global development. But we will not be able to sustain this growth if it favors the few, and not the many. Together, we must forge trade that truly rewards the work that creates wealth, with meaningful protections for our people and our planet. This is the moment for trade that is free and fair for all. This is the moment we must help answer the call for a new dawn in the Middle East.

My country must stand with yours and with Europe in sending a direct message to Iran that it must abandon its nuclear ambitions. We must support the Lebanese who have marched and bled for democracy, and the Israelis and Palestinians who seek a secure and lasting peace. And despite past differences, this is the moment when the world should support the millions of Iraqis who seek to rebuild their lives, even as we pass responsibility to the Iraqi government and finally bring this war to a close. This is the moment when we must come together to save this planet. Let us resolve that we will not leave our children a world where the oceans rise and famine spreads and terrible storms devastate our lands. Let us resolve that all nations - including my own - will act with the same seriousness of purpose as has your nation, and reduce the carbon we send into our atmosphere. This is the moment to give our children back their future. This is the moment to stand as one. And this is the moment when we must give hope to those left behind in a globalized world. We must remember that the Cold War born in this city was not a battle for land or treasure. Sixty years ago, the planes that flew over Berlin did not drop bombs; instead they delivered food, and coal, and candy to grateful children. And in that show of solidarity, those pilots won more than a military victory. They won hearts and minds; love and loyalty and trust - not just from the people in this city, but from all those who heard the story of what they did here.

Now the world will watch and remember what we do here - what we do with this moment. Will we extend our hand to the people in the forgotten corners of this world who yearn for lives marked by dignity and opportunity; by security and justice? Will we lift the child in Bangladesh from poverty, shelter the refugee in Chad, and banish the scourge of AIDS in our time? Will we stand for the human rights of the dissident in Burma, the blogger in Iran, or the voter in Zimbabwe? Will we give meaning to the words "never again" in Darfur? Will we acknowledge that there is no more powerful example than the one each of our nations projects to the world? Will we reject torture and stand for the rule of law? Will we welcome immigrants from different lands, and shun discrimination against those who don't look like us or worship like we do, and keep the promise of equality and opportunity for all of our people? People of Berlin - people of the world - this is our moment. This is our time. I know my country has not perfected itself. At times, we've struggled to keep the promise of liberty and equality for all of our people. We've made our share of mistakes, and there are times when our actions around the world have not lived up to our best intentions. But I also know how much I love America. I know that for more than two centuries, we have strived - at great cost and great sacrifice - to form a more perfect union; to seek, with other nations, a more hopeful world. Our allegiance has never been to any particular tribe or kingdom - indeed, every language is spoken in our country; every culture has left its imprint on ours; every point of view is expressed in our public squares. What has always united us - what has always driven our people; what drew my father to America's shores - is a set of ideals that speak to aspirations shared by all people: that we can live free from fear and free from want; that we can speak our minds and assemble with whomever we choose and worship as we please. Those are the aspirations that joined the fates of all nations in this city. Those aspirations are bigger than anything that drives us apart. It is because of those aspirations that the airlift began. It is because of those aspirations that all free people - everywhere - became citizens of Berlin. It is in pursuit of those aspirations that a new generation - our generation - must make our mark on history. People of Berlin - and people of the world - the scale of our challenge is great. The road ahead will be long. But I come before you to say that we are heirs to a struggle for freedom. We are a people of improbable hope. Let us build on our common history, and seize our common destiny, and once again engage in that noble struggle to bring justice and peace to our world!"

Barack Obama at Berlin's Siegessäule on Thursday

NIGERIANS, LISTEN TO IBB!

The Evil Genius has spoken again! He recently called on Nigerians to consider adopting STAGGERED ELECTIONS as part of their democracy-entrenching efforts. Icheoku says that this is a wise call and Nigerians should listen to IBB on this point; because election is one area the Evil Genius had shown some expertise. "IBB, once upon a time conducted successful elections in Nigeria"! He did it once and quite successfully too, except that the grand-finale` was not well choreographed and a freely won election was annulled. However the ill-fated conclusion of an otherwise flawless election does not diminish the fact that Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida did a fine job with that election up until the annulment. So when he speaks concerning elections in Nigeria, every Nigeria should listen to this man from Minna, Niger State who is sometimes referred to by his admirers as the Prince of the Niger! IBB understands something about Nigerian elections and triumphed in conducting one, with his masterful OPTION A4!

Until his self-destructive annulment of June 12th, 1983 Ibrahim Badamosi Babngida had otherwise put Nigeria on a trajectory to free elections and by extension, true democracy in Nigeria. It was this IBB's home-grown grass-root Option A4 for example which stopped Yakubu Gowon cold in his tracks at his local constituency in Jos with his presidential ambition. It was a proven successful primaries which empowered Nigerians for the very first time to actually participate in electing who governs them. Nigerians for the first time successfully exercised their right to a vote which produced Moshood Kolwole Oluwole ABiola as president elect, before IBB's tragic annulment deprived Nigeria's the singular opportunity to ever elect who governs them as a president. This satanic annulment of June 12th and the parcel bomb assassination of Dele Giwa will forveer remain the albatross of Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida till his last day on this earth. Both were despicable acts and atypical of a devil's May-care scheme designed to disintegrate Nigeria. These infradignous acts of IBB tarnished forever, an otherwise lasting legacy which Option A4 electioneering road-map would have bequeathed on him. IBB would have, by allowing MKO Abiola's election as president of Nigeria to hold, ingrained his name on the good side of history and by extension democracy would have been implanted in Nigeria for the long haul, courtesy of IBB. But like every tragic character of the Greek mythology or ancient Rome, IBB fell upon his own sword and disemboweled; and can never win any election to rule Nigeria again; not as long as any son or daughter of Oduduwa still breathes!

However, Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida knows what he is talking about with this his recent call for staggered elections in Nigeria. This is a noble call and Icheoku fully and unequivocally supports the idea - an idea whose time has finally come, although belatedly. Nigeria does not have the necessary manpower to effectively police every election booth in Nigeria at the same time. Nigeria does not also have the logistics of conducting elections freely and throughout Nigeria at the same time, such as having to ferry election ballots and other materials to all the various remote and sometimes inaccessible areas in Nigeria timeously. The lack of needed infrastructure makes such as road network, haulage, airlifting etc makes a mockery of delivering election materials to needed areas simultaneously on a given election period. Because of the thuggery which mars elections in Nigeria, Nigeria cannot adequately man election booths to ward off these miscreants because of shortage of security officials who are over-task and over-stretched on a compacted election day. Also this will make it possible for a candidate of less means to be able to manage his campaigns as well as his elections without unnecessarily out-stretching himself to be in so many places at the same time on one election day. Additionally the pressure to win all and winner takes all will be reduced if not totally eliminated. Just like IBB suggested, it could be zoned geographical or like the present PDP six zonal arrangement or whatever other arrangement that is acceptable to the political parties. Whatever route they take, the relevant thing is the conclusion reached that staggered elections is it!

Icheoku will also like to add, that Nigeria's political parties including the ruling PDP should endeavor to avoid making Nigeria a one party state. The downsides are legion but suffice it to say that it breeds dictatorship, corruption and lack of accountability. Absolute power is anathema to development and corrupts absolutely! Can you imagine in the United States of America, if George Walker Bush was an absolute power-holder or his Republican Party an only state's party - what will the world say? Can you take four more years of GW's foreign policy or the recession-bound US economy? But today, Obamamania is spreading throughout the world and the world is waiting for America to get it right this time with an Obama presidency. This is the way a functioning democracy works - an option to vote out of office a discredited party/president. But from the way things are going in Nigeria, it appears more likely than not that Nigeria is headed in that one-party state direction with the ruling PDP not allowing any other dog in the fight! How can the PDP muscle themselves in, in every elections in Nigeria including the home State Adamawa turf of former vice president, Abubarkar Atiku? At least they would have left him that state to cushion his fall from power like in Lagos State with Tinubu and Abia State with Orji-Kalu. But PDP should put some brakes and not allow this to happen as that will be the end of democracy as we know it in Nigeria.

To protect against this, PDP should stop persuading the "runaway-brides" of the party to come back to their fold but instead, encourage their forming a strong opposition by making it easier for them to thrive, despite being out of power, through contracts, appointments etc. PDP should not forcibly "frog-match" otherwise unwilling parties back to their fold on the penalty of losing everything juicy! PDP's attitude of winner takes it all; you are either in with us or out there in the cold is not enviable and should be discouraged. Oppositions makes democracy to thrive and should therefore be encouraged by all including the ruling PDP. Let Nigerians be allowed to have the option to make a choice and the ability to change parties at Aso Rock should the need arise. In summation therefore, Icheoku says that it is free elections through open primaries, viable political parties (at least two) system and staggered elections as echoed by Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida, that is the key to the democracy attempt being made in Nigeria. This is Nigeria's road-map to a thriving sustainable democracy! It must be free and it must be open! Posterity will forever sing the praises of the courage employed to see these indicators come through! Once again IBB is right on the money and Nigerians should heed his call for staggered elections!

UMARU YARADUA: JUST ANOTHER SHEHU SHAGARI WITHOUT AN UMARU DIKKO!

Is it fate playing a game of Russian roulette again with Nigeria that within our lifetime two exact presidents who share the same traits are foist upon Nigeria to rule them? Their shared similarities are so glaringly apparent and legion that it could easily pass for a tragic Roman classic. These Presidents Shehu Shagari and Umaru Yar'Adua are metaphorical speaking, just two Siamese twins littered on the same day by the same mother. The foreboding is not a sweet melody - what it holds for Nigeria is not bright judging from the Shagari experience of 1979 to 1983. Also where both men came from and how they became presidents of Nigeria is all too concerted to be merely an accident of happenstance. It does not bode well for Nigerians and it is scary indeed. It does not look nice and smacks of an ill-wind that will blow no one any good. Over 365 days into office and counting, yet Umaru Yar'Adua is yet to figure out what it takes to govern Nigeria. That is what happens when an unprepared student goes to an examination - he fails; but Icheoku will like to be proved wrong by Umaru Yar'Adua.

Former President Shehu Shagari and incumbent "President" Umaru Yar'Adua are both from the Northwestern part of Nigeria, of formerly Sokoto Caliphate later balkanized into Katsina, Sokoto and Kebbi States. Both of them were handed power on a platter without winning 12 2/3 of the States as in the case of Shehu Shagari in 1979 election and in the case of Umaru Yar'Adua without any credible election whatsoever in May 2007. Both of them were anointed by the same man - the Babalawo of Otta Aremu Olusegun Obasanjo and given power without questions asked and answered. Both of these presidents are known weaklings - in the case of Shehu Shagari, Umaru Dikko took notice early enough and hijacked the presidency, constituting himself into the de-facto president of Nigeria while that government lasted; with the questionable rice contract scandals which led to his being forced inside a Lagos bound crate at Gatwick Airport but for the Scotland Yard. Then at least there was an apparent hijacker of governance but with Umaru Yar'Adua no one knows who calls the shots.

This apparent lack of a clear hijacker of the present government makes it extremely difficult to know who the go to-man is and in whom the power really lies; especially whenever Umaru Yar'Adua takes up his usual residency at his life-saver of a German hospital. The apparent grinding to a near halt of Nigeria under the present government has bequeathed on President Umaru YarAdua the unflattering nickname of "Mr. Slow-man". President Shehu Shagari and President Umaru Yar'Adua are both aloof Presidents and regarding the business of governance, they both seem very nonchalant and do not particularly seem interested in their job at the presidency. They both appear to be mere prop-ups of some other third party interest who has a lot to benefit with their stage-presence as "inactive, dormant Presidents of Nigeria. President Shehu Shagari and President Umaru Yar'Adua are both very humble men; somewhat too humble for the office of Nigerian Presidency that they both come across as timid men. Have you ever seen or watched any of these men at any international meet with other world dignitaries and see them practically genuflect and bow for other leaders. Both men it appears do not have independent mindedness and look very much like push-around Presidents. They lack guts! They look like deer in a headlight! They look lost in the maze of Nigeria shark-infested waters of politics! They look like marooned person on an isolated island somewhere in the pacific! They appear like they are afraid of something sinister! They look too fragile and does not in any way aspire anybody! They mental state of anxiety compares to a beached whale! Would resignation have been a preferred option?

What will Nigeria get in return for this reincarnated President Shehu Shagari of a President Umaru YarAdua? Nothing spectacular! The hand-writing on the wall reads that Nigerians will be shortchanged again as usual; and peradventure another General Muhammadu Buhari will be lurking somewhere in the shadows, to emerge one December 31st down the road to announce "Fellow Nigerians" with a marshal music in the background. However in as much as Icheoku is an ardent democracy advocacy, supporting and activism portal, the magnitude of docility of the present Nigeria's President Umaru YarAdua's government is such that needs to be prodded! If left in the present doldrums and it continues on its current trajectory for another year, Nigeria may come to a full screeching halt. Nothing seems to have gotten track ever since President Umaru YarAdua's misadventure unto the presidency and there is no light on the horizon to suggest that a change of course is in the offing. Only a true democracy and free elections will save Nigerians from this type of a foist, unprepared leader, who is not ready to be president on day one! They were so many other credible, well prepared and ready to be president candidates that attempted to run but the medicine man of Otta preferred a not well disposed and enthused President Umaru YarAdua for Nigerians! Now Nigerians are asking President Umaru Yar'Adua and demanding to know if the president has any policy-direction, template or blueprint for Nigeria? Icheoku will like to ask, does Mr. President plan to take Nigeria anywhere within the near future or is this present state of anomie the paradigm of his presidency? Will "Mr Slow-man" be the epitaph of his presidency? Will Umaru Yar'Adua be known as a mere reincarnation of President Shehu Shagari or what? Only time will tell but all indicators presently point at that conclusion. Prove Nigerians wrong, President Umaru Yar'Adua! Engage the gears of your presidency to a drive position and move Nigeria forward!

SO MUCH FOR BRITISH LOVE?

And the Lord so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that who ever believes in him shall not die but have eternal life! What's up with this new found love of Britain for Nigeria? What suddenly changed that Britain now decided to come to the aid of Nigeria? OIL! OIL! OIL! That black liquid-gold bane of most African countries and other developing worlds with proven known reserves! Not this time Britain! Nigerians must resist the dictates of this colonial master who has never been a good news to all her former colonies including Nigeria. All for British love! With love from a formerly known as "Great" Britain!

Icheoku could not but laugh at the sudden British interest in what eminently qualified as Nigeria's purely internal affairs/matter. The same Britain who stood by and watched Olusegun Obasanjo perpetrate election-terrorism on Nigerians when he foist an unelected sick man Umaru Yar'Adua on Nigeria as their president; and later went ahead to recognise Umaru Yar'Adua as the elected president of Nigeria; stating that the election was purely an internal affairs of Nigeria and should be left as such. Britain treated the sham election as Nigeria's internal affairs; now they want to come and suck some crimson delight of Nigerians in the guise of assisting the Northern Nigeria government to "restore peace" in the Niger Delta? What an arrant nonsense - all the British is doing is to secure a source of their oil supply and preserve the jobs of the employees of British Petroleum as well as the Shell Oil's and also guarantee cheap heating energy for her domestic population back in Britain. That is what happens when no real patriot is in office or position of power in a country like Nigeria to tell these colonial masters that their colonial days are since over and that they should leave Nigeria alone! Umaru Yar'Adua has no real mandate to be the president of Nigeria in the first place, since he never won any election and hence is kissing every "behind" of every world leader for some sort of legitimacy with their recognition. His mentor Olusegun Obasanjo gave away Bakassi as a sacrifice, now his puppet Umaru Yar'Adua wants to give the people of Niger Delta as sacrificial offal to the bloody British; and their bloody Sunday in Ireland readily comes to mind. But it will not come to fruition, not this time, Britain!

Since the 1914 forcible "creation" of Nigeria through amalgamation of the Northern and Southern protectorates until Nigeria's "quasi" independence in 1960 and thereafter, what benefit has Nigeria derived from Britain? Nothing, Zilch, Nada in the real sense of it. Now they want to pretend that they are the knight in shinning armour coming to the rescue of the oil in the Niger Delta. Since all these years of ongoing suffocating and very subjugating oppression in the Niger Delta, where was Britain? Why have Britain not asked their Hausa/Fulani minions, why has their oppression persisted all these years and for such a long time now? Or is there a conspiracy between 10 Downing Street and Kaduna Mafia/Arewa Consultative Forum to hold other Nigerians hostage forever? Nigerians are daily starving to death; there is no motor-able roads therein; malaria sickness is becoming pandemic; HIV/AIDS is equally ravaging Nigeria; 419 and other related frauds are going on in Nigeria and sometimes with help from British Banks who accept deposits from these fore-sworn economic enemies of Nigeria that one is forced to ask, where was British abatement of these crimes? A resident of Britain or any other western country cannot make a one-time deposit exceeding ten thousand dollars without declaring the source of the income followed by a meticulous verification of the source; but the reverse is the case with "expatriate depositors" whose huge deposits are used to prop the British economy! There is no working telephone network in Nigeria until the recent "revolution" of mobile telephones; no drinking water; no power supply etc. Yet Britain did not offer assistance! Where was British help in any of these areas of dire need for the people of Nigeria? Now they are rushing to sell their weapons to Northern Nigeria like they did with Saudi Arabia and the attendant bribery scandal. Weapons with which to kill Nigerians but not British people? Why the sudden interest of Britain to gallop in on chariots to rescue Niger Delta! Tell it not in Garth. This cannot be out of love but for some mundane economic selfish interest good only for the people of Britain and if in the process, some hundreds of thousands of Niger Delta people are slaughtered, so be it. After-all they are just Africans? Where are British scholarships or visas to assist indigent Nigerians especially the Niger Deltans have a shot at life? Why haven't the British home office made effort to have their carrier British Airways change her evil-ways of treating Nigerian travellers in their airplanes like they are sub-humans each time they are passing through Heathrow or through their territory? Suddenly they want to help Nigerians by killing off some Nigerians of the Niger Delta origin? For the British, it is easier to just kill off some "black monkeys" than to waste resources trying to even feed them?

The consolation is that the Niger Delta under the Geneva convention reserves the right not to be oppressed any further! They have the right to defend their existence and ensure their survival; and that includes the right to armed struggle to free themselves from the shackles of an going systematic oppression in the hands of the Feudalistic Northern oligarchy and all their British collaborators. Until Nigeria really secures her independence from Britain like the United States of America did with their 1776 war of independence, when they kicked the British butt, there is no hope for the ordinary people of Nigeria including the Niger Delta people. Britain will forever remain the puppet-master pulling all the strings in Northern Nigeria vice-hold like on power! Nigeria should be able to manage her affairs without any British interference or dictates; this can be so successfully done so as to make dependency on these foreign powers redundant. Also credible elections should be given a chance in Nigeria, so that a real patriot might one day emerge to lead Nigeria out of its quagmire to the promised land! President Umaru Yar'Adua is today being held hostage and blackmailed by the world including Britain, because of his status as a product of an election fraud or an election that was never held in Nigeria! So in his desperation for recognition, "President" Umaru Yar'Adua is ready to do whatever it takes! Whatever bidding the colonial Britain demands of him, including the slaughtering of his people of the Niger Delta just to have the semblance of legitimacy! No meaningful person especially a president should permit such a perversion, to surreptitiously massacre his people under the guise of protecting the oil resources of the Niger Delta. A good president instead, should say "No to British imperialism! No to the British coveting of Nigerian oil resources! No to the British military aid to "fight" Niger Delta activism! Icheoku calls on Prime Minister Gordon Brown to take his British troops to Afghanistan, Darfur-Sudan, Iraq, Somalia and Congo as well as other hot spots of the world, where they are needed and SHOULD PLEASE LEAVE NIGERIANS ALONE, especially the Nigerian peoples of the Niger Delta!

THE WAY TO GO, GOVERNOR ALIYU!

Icheoku says congratulations to the able governor of Niger State, Alhaji Mu'azu Babangida Aliyu for publicly declaring the total amount his administration has so far received and realized from internally generated revenue in the last 14 months. Icheoku says the way to go, Governor! There is nothing good like an open governance and the lack thereof is the bane of political office holders in Nigeria. According to Governor Aliyu, Niger State depends on Federal Government for about 95 per cent of their revenue with which to finance its expenditures. According to the governor, his administration had through prudent management been able to rejuvenate the state from infrastructural decadence, stagnation and bad administration for repositioning as one of the best three economies in the country.

"In the last 14 months, Governor Aliyu further said, his administration paid over 10,288,757,785.13 Naira salaries to civil servants and another 648,127,646.08 Naira on the allowances of political and public office holders. According to him, another 497,052 million Naira was expended on 2007 leave grants for 2007, while 713 million Naira was released in December as salary bonus for public workers. The sum of 211,958,831.69 Naira was released for the 2008 leave/transport grant, he added. others. The state, according to him, also received 31,306,906, 668:43 Naira from the Federation account for all the councils in the state in the period under review. The figure include 22,539,161,275.33 Naira from the statutory allocation, 3,135,213,693.34 Naira from the Value Added Tax and 5,632,585,699.76 Naira from the excess crude oil allocations.He said 13,307,465,993 Naira from the councils’ allocation was paid as salaries to local government staff, while 5,240,305,790.84 Naira was paid to the State Universal Basic Education (UBE) Board.Other expenditure by the administration in the last 14 months include 722,076,464. 03 Naira and 586,854.23 Naira to emirate councils and local Government Pensions Board".

From the early days of his administration's shopping for two credit facilities from banks totalling 3.6 billion Naira to offset pressing liabilities inherited from the previous administration in the state, Niger State today is debt free and marching on creditably courtesy of Governor Aliyu who has turned around its financial misfortune. The governor however lamented the sad situation where the state and the councils expended over 50 per cent and 40 per cent respectively of their collected revenue on the payment of salaries and emoluments leaving just paltry sums for capital projects for developments. The governor has since been commended for his good stewardship, steadfastness and diligent management of the state.

Icheoku says that this is the single most important weapon to check the excessive looting of various treasuries by the executive including Federal, States and Local Governments. It was one most important legacy of the Buhari/Idiagbon regime where for the first time, Nigerians were told of the income and expenditure of their government. In that way every person knows what is in the coffers and can easily cross-check it against developmental projects and expenditure which will trigger necessary alarm should any discrepancy suddenly rear its corrupt-head. It is called accounting 101 and it needs to be made the law of the land of Nigeria! Governor Aliyu of Niger State has set the ball rolling and Icheoku calls on all other governors in Nigeria to follow suit and throw their hats in the ring to become more accountable governors! A government's not rendering accounts of its returns and expenses, encourages, aids and abets corruption; as nothing will serve as a red-flag or an indicator whenever these despicable politicians dip their filthy hands into the public purse for their personal gains/benefit. Without returns and expenses accounting, no one will know how much the states received, so it will in turn be very difficult to know how much was expeditiously used for the benefit of the state and how much was embezzled! Nigeria Legislature, please pass this OPEN GOVERNMENT ACCOUNTABILITY LAW and now!

THE HIT LIST - our incredible but true story series: Serie 1!

These are true stories! They did happen! Please welcome to the debut of our new Sunday page titled "The Hit List". It is a purveyor of the past week's synopsis of weird, strange, incredible but true stories and some eye-catching Kodak-moments as compiled by our team of bloggers. Happy trails!

1. Open Marriage: is it imaginable the thought of your spouse having intimacy with another person to your knowledge? American Will Smith just admitted to that and further revealed that it has been the little secret behind his over ten years marriage with Jada Smith. How does that sound to you? Jaded, may be! Isn't this strange? According to an interview he gave to a British Magazine, REVEAL, Will Smith said " our perspective is, you don't avoid what is natural, and you're going to be attracted to people. And if it came down to it, then one would say to the other: 'Look, I need to have sex with somebody. Now, I'm not going to if you don't approve of it.' In our marriage vows, we didn't say 'forsaking all others.' "

2. Black Widows: Two women in Los Angeles, California, United States of America were convicted of first degree murder and conspiracy to murder for financial gains of two men, Paul Vados 73 and Kenneth McDavid 50. They were sentenced two life terms each without the possibility of parole. According to the prosecution, the two convicts Helen Golay 73 and Olga Rutterschmidt 75 befriended two homeless indigents, took out life insurance policies on each of them and then killed them in a staged accident of what initially appeared to be a hit and run auto accidents; and collected $2.8 million dollars proceeds of the life insurance on the two men before they were busted. Delivering his judgment, Superior Court Judge David Wesley said " the two men you killed needed only food and water and shelter. They needed a helping hand. They thought they were getting this from you. Instead these unfortunate men were sacrificed on your alter of greed." Could it get more weird than this? Such old hags (ladies) nearly pulled this heinous crimes off. What are they going to do with such a huge amount of money being so near their own graves at seventy plus years old? I don't think so; but please be the judge.

3. Lover fights dog to death: In Redwood City, California, United States of America, a man tired of sharing his girlfriend's bed with her little Chihuahua dog, kicked the dog so hard that she suffered five broken ribs, punctured lung and liver and huge blood loss. An emergency surgery at Sequoia Veterinary Hospital could not save little Chihuahua named Chiquita who died as a result of the blunt trauma. The lover was enraged that the jealous dog urinated and defecated on him while he was sleeping over at the girl friends' house. The suspect, Mr. Ariel Aspedilla of Manteca who posted a fifty thousand dollar bail, is awaiting trial for "dogicide" - the killing of little Chiquita! Incredible? Just a dog some critic will say! But not in the land of America wonder - dogs do have rights too!

4. Nigeria electoral wonder: In Nigeria, the current Senate President David Mark won in only two out of seven districts in his senatorial zone in Benue State yet he "won" the seat anyway and is today the President of the Senate as most recently confirmed by the Appellate Court! How could this be possible? Only in Nigeria where Olusegun Obasanjo single handedly installed Umaru YarAdua as President. It will also be recalled that it was the same David Mark who as chairman of NITEL bought a 33million pounds sterling golf course in Ireland; talk about a national assembly of corrupt officials and who said, Nigeria will be fixed? With these kind of shady charactered men at the helm of affairs, the situation may be near hopelessness. As if that was not shocking enough, a member of the House of Representatives Nuhu Aliyu alleged that so many of their members are criminal master minds of the 419 notoriety; today after series of threats and arm-twisting, the crusader has been intimidated into grave silence and these are still "honorable" men? Icheoku does not think so but would rather they are properly designated for whom they are - "dishonorable men"! How can an allegation of such a disparaging magnitude be made against a whole Nigerian House of Representatives alleging criminality and all the members did was to sweep it under the carpet. If this is not a cover-up, then nothing else so qualifies. Also Senator Jubril Aminu still chairs the Senate Foreign Affairs committee and you ask why the Siemens $12million dollars bribery scandal which implicated him has fallen off the radar and then you will begin to understand Nigeria. So when Nigerians are treated as pariahs all over the world, don't feign ignorance or surprise surprise as to the root-cause. A country which leadership is constituted of criminal minds by extension is populated by criminal minds also otherwise why the statusquo? Only in Nigeria! Shocked?

5. How large do you think a crocodile can grow? Take a look at this picture and say your Holy Molly! This alligator was found between Centre and Leesburg , Alabama, United States of America near a dwelling house! Game wardens were forced to shoot the alligator - guess he wouldn't cooperate? Neighbors had been telling the occupants that they had seen a mammoth alligator in the waterway that runs behind their house, but they dismissed the stories as exaggerations. However they later realized the stories were, if anything, understated. Alabama Parks and Wildlife game wardens had to shoot the beast.

Joe Goff, 6'5' tall, a game warden, walks past the 28-foot, 1-inch alligator he shot and killed in their back yard.

This is the end of our this week's mind-numbing stories and until next Sunday when we shall come your way again, stay tuned. Hope this debut was worth the hype! In any event however we shall continue to improve with subsequent publications. See you on the 27th July, 2008. So long!

ARREST OBASANJO NOW!

The Chief of Defence Staff, General Agwai has just dropped the final bomb-shell needed to coral Olusegun Obasanjo into a gulag - that Olusegun Obasanjo surreptitiously ceded away Nigerian owned and controlled Bakassi to Cameroon without consulting the necessary security agencies of Nigeria including the Armed Forces. General Owoye Azazi told the Senate Investigative Hearing on the Green Tea Agreement that there was nothing concrete to show that the military was consulted before President Olusegun Obasanjo signed the accord which he said was not in the interest of the national security. What a display of arrogance that a supposed president of Nigeria ran a country, as complex and as diverse as Nigeria, as if it was his private fiefdom? Was Olusegun Obasanjo an imperial president or what? Was Nigeria an extension of his private Otta farm estate? Did Nigeria belong to him while he was the president? Who gave him the right to dictate what happens to some Nigerians of Bakassi origin or are they lesser Nigerians than Obasanjo himself and his Otta people? Why are Nigerians not throwing a feat and demanding that this man be taken in for questioning! Where was his patriotism that a mere recognition of him as a gallivanting president of Nigeria was more important than the interest and welfare of fellow Nigerians of Bakassi ancestry?

Olusegun Obasanjo committed a "treasonable" felony by this singular act, which affects Nigeria national security interest as a nation; more-so since he did it without proper consultations with the security agencies of the country. How can this incestuous man, single handedly, pawn up Nigerians of Bakassi origin away to an untoward slavery and servitude to the Cameroons? This is the same man who massacred the people of Odi for no justifiable reason whatsoever? This is the same vampire who went on rampage in Zaki Ibiam and visited untold mayhem therein. This is the same man who crashed the value of the Naira from Abacha/Abubakar's era 70 Naira to the dollar to over 126 Naira to a dollar. Where is the power(energy) that he pilfered over 16 billion dollars USD for? Where are the roads that gulped over 300 billion Naira under his watch? Where are the jobs he created in his eight years of maladministration? What happened to the recovered Abacha's loot? Why was Commissioner Danbaba, General Bamayi and Major Mustafa incarcerated for over eight years awaiting trial for meritoriously serving their boss Abacha? With all the atrocities Olusegun Obasanjo committed, General Sani Abacha deserves to be made a saint, posthumously! So could it be possible that Babangida, Buhari and Abubarkar praised Abacha under this context? Where are all the billion dollars oil windfall revenue that accrued to Nigeria under Obasanjo's watch? Attorney General Bola Ige's assassination has not been fully investigated and it happened under Obasanjo's watch and Bola Ige was Obasanjo's serving Attorney General?

What more are the authorities waiting to defrock Olusegun Obasanjo for all his infra-dignities while in office. Nigerians should demand that an example be made of this Otta medicine man, Babalawo Aremu Olusegun Obasanjo and the time to act is now! Nigerians should rise and demand for justice for all the victims of Olusegun Obasanjo atrocious regime and in order to set example on how not to govern Nigeria again! Icheoku therefore calls on all Nigerians not to be under any illusion that it is just a Bakassi internal affairs or matter! Yesterday was Bakassi, tomorrow might be your own ancestral home town; so do something today to ensure that Nigeria does not become a banana republic where the will of just one man is the law. A stitch in time saves nine so Nigerians should start today and set an example with Olusegun Obasanjo in order to make her future leaders more accountable! !

A MEMORIAL SERVICE FOR MR. CHRISTIAN NNAJIOFOR!

Please join us for a Memorial Mass, as we pray for the repose of the soul of our brother, inlaw and uncle Late Mr. Christian Nnajiofor. Mr. Christian Nnajiofor was killed by hoodlums in Enugu, Nigeria on May 3rd, 2008. Mr Christian Nnajiofor was the elder brother of Madam Theresa Agbowo (Nee Nnajiofor) of Oakland, California. Christian will be greatly missed by his family and friends.

Place: 5301 Genoa Street, Oakland, California 94608
Date: July 19th. 2008
Time: 6.00pm prompt

Officiating Priest: Reverend Ray Ogbemure

Refreshment follows immediately after service.

RSVP

Dr Lazarus & Mrs Theresa Agbowo

GREAT EXPECTATIONS, MADAM EFCC!

Icheoku wants to formally congratulate Madam DIG Farida Waziri, retired, the new Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) Chair-lady on her new appointment and wish her success as she tries to clean the Augean stable of corruption unlimited called Nigeria! When you mention corruption anywhere in the world today, the first place that comes to mind is Nigeria! When you talk about crimes of fraud anywhere in the world the first thing that comes to mind is the notorious Nigeria 419 syndrome. Then add the governors, ministers and even the presidents whose money laundering notoriety has become a teaching topic for corruption in most many a university and police academies in the world then the situation appear comatose! What is Icheoku saying? That Madam EFCC has her job cut out for her and will need all the strength and prayers to make an impact!

Her opening statements and steps so far is encouraging but she must tread meticulously and deftly carry about her duties. Madam EFCC must not assume any air of a "super-human" superiority, the bane of her predecessor in office Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, whose good works were overshadowed by his petulant arrogance and protection of the master mind of corruption in Nigeria, himself, corruption personified, Olusegun Obasanjo! According to Madam EFCC, corruption is so endemic in Nigeria that the United States of America has posited that Nigeria will become a failed or a rogue state within some years if the endemic nature of corruption practices in the country were not tackled. According to available reports, the amount of graft in Nigeria is so high that development is impossible. We cannot continue like this in the midst of plenty where the basic amenities are not there for the masses. Mrs Farida Waziri lamented that governors hide under the cloak of immunity to evade the watchful eyes of anti-graft bodies but vowed that the EFCC under her leadership, will not wait for the expiration of their tenure before taking action as investigations into their activities are already on and will be updated continually till they leave office and answer for their crime. Speaking further Waziri said the gap between the rich and the poor is getting wider, adding that while the masses don’t even have access to basic amenities of life such as pipe-borne water, electricity, hospital etc their political leaders are swimming in stupendous wealth. "It is a well-known fact that a country is not known for its greatness by the amassing of wealth but how the country treats her poor". To this Icheoku will like to add that any governor with a credible culpability should be made to resign and face the charges immediately; there is no need to wait for their penultimate end of tenure before prosecution. If only the Senate and House of Representatives have the will to fight corruption in Nigeria, they can use the instrumentality of law-making to checkmate corruption but albeit one of them Alhaji Nuhu Aliyu made it known to the world that they are populated by criminals - 419 practitioners. So it becomes almost impossible for the legislators to legislate themselves out of business.

Madam EFCC please consider pursuing these measures with necessary authorities in your quest to eradicate corruption in Nigeria. See if they can make certain grave financial crimes a High crime and/or misdemeanour with severe penalty including the death sentence, just as a deterrent (China has such laws). Such a public servant/politician/military should also be banned for life from holding any position of trust including any political office and have all the proceeds of corruption confiscated. Seek the western countries support and cooperation if you are seriously geared to fight corruption in Nigeria - that is where they bank their loot and launder some with property acquisitions. Solicited their help to discourage these criminals from banking their proceeds in these countries such that they have to explain the source of any deposit exceeding $9999.99dollars USD anything they bring such money overseas. Such explanation will be cross-checked with your agency back in Nigeria. Sign pacts with FBI, M15 and Israeli MOSSAD (their financial crimes branch) to assist Nigeria combat financial criminality world-wide. Also start a whistle blower prize for any public official whose information leads to a successful prosecution of a financial criminal. Finally, get rid of corrupt officials in the EFCC - periodically demand they declare their assets and pay random visit to their homes and make them explain disproportionate assets found in their possession including cars, houses, homes and fat bank accounts.

You also said that you are aware that each time monies are released to the states and the local government to do certain things in those areas, these monies are shared. According to you, plans are already in place to put up preventive measures to checkmate these excesses. You are going to be very proactive monitoring money earmarked for certain projects in those areas and cross check physically with what is on ground and take up those we know are in position to steal these monies. Those who sign vouchers, who sign cheques, those who counter-sign and when we get them, they will tell us where the monies are. "The governors at the moments have immunities but they don’t have immunity of investigation. We will go ahead to investigate them, compile their case file, up date them from time to time and wait till they are available. These are what we are going to do" she said. Sounds very lofty indeed and hopefully your courage will see you through.

"What we have today is not encouraging because cases drag so much in the court. We have some lawyers who are not following the ethics. When they know that their clients have very bad cases, they play for time. They first challenge the jurisdiction of the court and this takes ages and you know the case can last up to one year in high court. "They can appeal which may last another one year. It may also last another one year in the Supreme Court so a case takes ages to be completed, meanwhile, the culprit is on bail and is enjoying his loot and other Nigerians are watching and this is not helping matters. To this Icheoku will like to add that a Special Adhoc Tribunal should be established to try corruption cases expeditiously. Such a tribunal will have specific instruction and timetable to dispose all corrupt cases before them and within an allotted time. No technicalities, once evidence exists to the culpability then they will jump in and out of the matter immediately. No rigorous trial procedures will be allowed or encouraged; just proof of evidence. You own such and such, how did you acquire them? If they are not yours who owns them and what is the source of the purchase money? if there is no satisfactory explanation, then their confiscation by the State. If the property is real estate or vehicles or machinery or other tangible accouterments then auction them to the State government owners of the looted revenue and they in turn can dispose of it as they may deem fit. if it is cash, then use the cash for a state's road project or any other project that would have ordinarily absorbed the earmarked money which was embezzled. A "Forfeiture of Crime Proceed Act' may be the anecdote to this criminal behavior and the National legislature should be encouraged to pass such bill for the president's signature.

Continuing, Madam EFCC, said "we will expose those who come in to public office poor and go out very rich. They go back home to demolish their little shanties and build a paradise in the villages, with high walls, and bore holes and all such thing that make modern life livable". That is a lofty idea provided it is not bogged down with implementation; as what Nigerians want in real term, is nothing but justice, fairness and end to corruption. So Madam EFCC provided you will be fair in your decisions as to who gets investigated and/or prosecuted; you must be seen to be the opposite of your predecessor in office, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, who shielded his boss Olusegun Obasanjo. if you can pull off this, then Icheoku will supports your effort as laudable. Icheoku hopes this includes military and para-military personnel as some of these retired military men, customs, police and navy are known to be stupendously very rich.

Now that you have your assignment cut out for you as you eloquently identified them, Icheoku wishes you all the best and hopefully Aaandokaa and cohorts will allow you to achieve your set out laudable goals. In any event that they do not let you operate, please shout out to Nigerians so that they can rally round you; but do not ever die in silence. Once again congratulations on your appointment as the new helms' woman at the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission!

DEATH, WHY THE FEAR?

"No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main. If a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as well as if a manor of thy friend's or of thine own were. Any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind; and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee..."

These are the famous words of John Donne, which passage was taken from his Devotions Upon Emergent Occasions 1624 Meditation 17; although originally written as prose were later made into a poem "for whom the bell tolls!" This is one of my most favorite writings of all times as it asks a soul-searching question which "our mad rush to nowhere" has never allowed us to answer ever since! Who is the "thee" referred to in the closing lines above? It is you, me, a relative, a friend, a family member and sometimes a total stranger! The same goes for an open casket - for whom is for instance, the above casket door open? It is open for you, me, a relative, a family member and sometimes a total stranger! The above two examples affirm one thing and one thing only, - that we are all in this together; just passing through!

The irony of life or life's essence is that no one really knows who answers that call first and it is not by age, wealth, beauty, size or any other considerations that death chooses whom to kill. Surely all of us shall one day be forced into that tight confines of a casket and it does not matter if you once lived in a twenty bedroom mansion or your bedroom was the size of Georgia dome with a California canopied king size bed nestled in one corner of it. The only exception however is if one is so unfortunate not to have a body to be so confined such as those victims of a fiery plane crash in an isolated jungle or some other inaccessible place on earth; or those washed away to seas by a ravaging tsunami or those who simply disappeared without a trace or were eaten by wild beasts some where in the African wilderness. So if you are fortunate to take up a confined space final residency at your last call, to God be the glory as you can still move on with it to the land beyond. The most important question as you churn these passages in your mind is to ask yourself, "Have you made peace with your inner self? Have you done all that you can necessarily do today to prepare for your passage into the life beyond? Have you done all those favors you want to do today and not necessarily wait till tomorrow to do them, as tomorrow may never come? What are your death plans? Have you disclosed to your loved ones and family how you would like your final rites to be performed and whether you will like the fiery final exit of cremation or choreographed burial! Whether you would like your remains shipped to motherland if you are in the Diaspora or interred where you are domiciled? Are there any wills or plans to make one? If you have not done so, immediately after reading this, do yourself that singular favor; you can always update them as time goes but know that tomorrow may never come!

Afraid? You shouldn't be, as death is the only certainty in an uncertain world! Why do men still fear death, the great equaliser? Ajanaku! It, that takes one when life is supposedly sweetest! The humbler of all humanity! The thief who steals whenever it pleases - in daylight or nighttime! What name has not been used to described this end of all beginnings? Yet men fear thee! Why? Poet MJA once wrote, "Death, thank you for killing mankind otherwise life as we know it, will be really too unfair!" Can you imagine if death has a price and some people can pay that price? Can you imagine if death can be bribed and some people can bribe Mr. Death? How unlivable and hellish life would be for some very unfortunate ones who would be the butt of the death insured fellows? Death, life will be incomplete without thou! Isn't it beautiful that such a leveller exists? Have you ever for once stopped in your tracks amidst all your running around to ponder, where, when and/or how your ultimate end will come? Is the fact that you are oblivious of the time, place and manner of its coming not enough to turn you into a new leaf today and for the better? If you do not have any control over it, why then do you think you really matter so much? Introspectively everyone is really a nobody and this should be the beginning of our wisdom on earth. Take a second to try and remember all those you know who have departed? The number is rather mind-boggling because they are too many of them who have moved on. As at the last count this blogger counted one thousand five hundred transited people since last July 2007 who this blogger remembers. Where are all these people today? They are all dead and gone forever, but to where?

Have you ever thought of dying? How would you like to die? Have you ever watched a person die? Have you ever witnessed death in real time as it takes over one's body? Have somebody close to you either a relative or a friend died in your arms? Have you ever had the singular most sorrowful experience of throwing a fare-well earth to earth dirt on on a casket containing the remains of a dear one who is being buried? Have you ever thereafter thought that it could have been you in that casket that was covered with dirt and walked away from, condemned to bone chilling loneliness in perpetuity? But why haven't you, since you are born a mortal and that grim fate awaits you. That is the greatest gift to mankind! The mother of all gifts! Scared now? Aren't you? But hate the message or love it, death will come when it will come; so said the great William Shakespeare and he was wise! Icheoku counsels you to live everyday as if it is a borrowed day since tomorrow may never come! Live every day knowing that may be your last day on earth with any viable pulse! Be good to all you meet as a second opportunity at meeting them may be aborted by MR. DEATH! Do all the favors you can today as that long awaited "D-day" reserved for favors may never come to pass because of the almighty killer, DEATH! Make peace with yourself. Want more, just be good and always remember your mortality!

DISTASTEFUL, NEW YORKER!

No one said it was going to be easy running for president in a predominantly white country, which was once very racist, being a person of color. However the attacks are beginning to pile up and sometimes very subtle like this ignoble front page cover of The New Yorker, which luckily no one reads any longer.

It is very disheartening to see such stereotypical fear mongering cover on a magazine out of New York; depicting all the numerous rumours making rounds about Barack Obama. It feeds the fear factor of those Americans who are not comfortable with an "outsider" running for the president; imagine those along the Appalachian belt such as West Virginia who will take this as gospel? To The New Yorker, Icheoku says "shame on you" for feeding the ember of flames of falsehoods about Barack Obama, which has for some time now been dogging his presidential campaign run. It does not matter the context, even the pretext of satire which you tried to explain it away with, is as distasteful as it is disparaging. Icheoku has hence branded you an anti-change and anti-hope yellow tabloid of the Union.

By your cover of the July 21st, 2008 issue titled "The Politics of Fear" depicting our beloved Democratic Party's presidential candidate Barack Obama dressed as a Muslim and his wife as a terrorist, you have crossed the line of decency and now becomes a full fledged idiotic partisan. And your artist, Barry Blitt whose warped mind created the cover will never sleep well again, as he has murdered sleep by regurgitating all the innuendos of the past concerning our candidate of change and hope; which innuendos you full well know to be falsehoods and purely a tactics to derail his campaign. You are guilty of abetting and inciting a hate speech!

To your lame duck defence that your readership is sophisticated enough to get the joke; Icheoku will like to respond, did you guys at The New Yorker ever factor in the not so literate many who will see the picture literally and take it for its face value? Did your editor ever consider that there are still so many Americans incapable of nuancing issues and who will take the cover for what it depicts and swallow that as a given fact, alluding to the fact of its publication as the evidence of its truthfulness? You guys at The New Yorker are rather very shallow and very myopic with this your inept attempt at defending a defenseless hit job of a cover. And whatever defense you guys may have had falls flat on its face when the inside page fierce critique of Obama's political skills by your writer Ryan Lizza is taken into advisement. The totality of both referenced proves a concert - there is a willful and deliberate attempt by your tabloid to sabotage our Obama's campaign but you will go the way of all the other antagonists of yore.

Even the Washington Post, a conservative right wing publication identified your cover as "incendiary", so where are your allies? Icheoku's verdict on you for this infradig is that it shall not be well with all you conspirators out there, who are having a nightmare over the present cataclysmic shifting political climate in America!