BABANGIDA ALIYU AND HIS NORTHERN COMPATRIOTS SHOULD JUST GO AWAY!

For the umpteenth time the northerners in Nigeria have made a disclaimer that they are not leeches on the rest of Nigeria, claiming that they are not parasites and that they can stand on their own. Icheokudotcom now asks, were this assertion to be truly the case, what are they waiting for to just go away since nobody really want them in Nigeria? They should just secede from Nigeria and form an Islamic Republic of Arewa for themselves and live in a stone-age like manner as obtains in Afghanistan and some other medieval places including Western Wazaristan Pakistan. Nobody in Nigeria really wants these mallams because majority of them are primitive, back-ward, retrogressive, uneducated, religious zealots and fanatics, women-subjugators, social miscreants, lazy, non-industrious and for most part are the reason why Nigeria has not taken flight since independence in 1960.

The amalgamation of 1914 was a mistake and the Independence of 1960 a monstrous missed opportunity to just let these guys go away. These mallams have been in charge of Nigeria virtually since her independence in 1960 and today the comatose state of nearly everything in Nigeria is a testament to their inefficiency in running things. Without the rest of Nigerians contributing to the GDP who knows whether these guys would have still been alive. The south -south contributes their oil, the west contributes their bureaucracy as well as VAT to the federal purse, the east contribute their enterprising spirit as well as a sizable amount of VAT to the economy only for the North to act as the Master doling out other peoples money to their lazy folks up there in the Sahara desert.

When someone observes their dependency on Nigeria, some of their loud mouth-piece like this Niger State mallam rushes off to tout, a non-existence participatory of the North to the economic welfare of Nigeria. It is a generally agreed position that the forced marriage existing between the various nationalities in Nigeria is a ruse, which nobody wants. This newly found position of the North that they are capable of independent living, should be what the rest of Nigerians are waiting for! - a catalyst to quicken the dissolution of a non-functioning Nigeria. Under the family law, marriage could be dissolved on ground of irreconcilable differences and so should the Nigeria state. If the North, despite their flaunted declaration of their ability to exist without assistance from the rest of the country, in truth knows that they were merely faking it, then they should simply hush and continue their milking of Nigeria. Since nothing lasts forever, they can continue to ride the donkey until the emergence of a truly patriotic leader in Nigeria, who can ask some very tough questions regarding existing crass unfairness, tribalism and nepotism being perpetrated by the North ever since they usurped power in Nigeria in 1960. Gideon Orkar's attempt at addressing this most excruciating of Nigeria's problems was ill-managed otherwise the problem would have since been long solved; but until then, let the North know that it should not continue to be business as usual and that it is not yet uhuru!

On November 8th, 2008, one AbdulAzeez Sanni, reporting from Minna quoted Babangida Aliyu of Niger State as saying that northerners are not parasites, that the region has the comparative advantage, potentials and the resources to stand on its own. To this, Icheokudotcom asks, what then is the North waiting for, to simply take the hike and never come back? They should put their money where their mouth is - just prove it! The North should take that bold initiative of walking away from Nigeria - nobody really will mind their long-awaited departure from Nigeria. According to Babangida Aliyu, all they need to do is to identify and harness their comparative advantage in agriculture, arguing that the North has remained stagnant because the leaders have refused to challenge the people so as to bring out their potentials. Icheokudotcom responds that the North has no potential whatsoever to bring out and will remain in their abject want until their social and cultural perspective is changed for the better; wherein the ingrained cultural practises of almajiris, purdah, sharia law of stoning women to death for merely having sex and conscripted marriage of twelve year old girls to 70 year old grand-fathers is changed. In addition the North must learn how to separate their religion from the state and stop seeing in their rulers, gods who must be obeyed and worshipped. Until such epiphany takes place, there will never be any meaningful way forward in the quest to effect the fortunes of Northern Nigeria.

Until these fundamental medieval mindset of the Northern Nigeria society is radically shaken to its roots, nothing meaningful will ever come out of even the best intentions, such as was espoused by Babangida Aliyu. Aliyu said the Northern Nigeria region will only get out of its quagmire if it accorded education a priority attention, revealing that the 19 northern state governors have agreed to provide free and functional education in their respective states. To which Icheokudotcom says, it is not the lack of free education that is the impediment in the North, since the North does not pay school fees anyway. The albatross of Northern Nigeria is a classroom which is not usually filled by smart and bright students eager and ready to challenge their intellect. Also the North does not educate to really evaluate their folks, hence the low qualitative products from their schools which can hardly maintain their manpower need. The North is afraid of competition and they need to develop that knack to be a fierce competitor in a winner takes it all world. Mediocrity is the bane of the north! Icheokudotcom hopes that Babangida Aliyu now gets the true picture and will refocus his satellite on the real issues afflicting Northern Nigeria. This is the right thing to do, instead of his current feel-good speeches, patronising his people with an unfounded, unmerited make-believe self-sufficiency capabilities! Get it, Mallam Babangida Aliyu?

AMINA LAWAL, A REMINDER OF THE EVILS OF SHARIA IN NIGERIA!

The tear drop is the only window into a heart-filled with sorrow, at the oppressive, punitive and repressive Sharia system of warped laws unevenly applied to certain people in Northern Nigeria. It is unfortunate that evil men masquerading as custodians of Islam is afflicting untold hardship on people of Northern Nigeria for no just cause other than to repress and maintain a strangle-hold on her citizens and the Nigerian government tolerates this medieval devilish practice.

If the Northern Nigeria must enforce their sharia law, nothing stops them from doing so, but they must make such inhuman laws outside Nigeria - they can break away into their own Islamic State and enforce whatever laws they deem fit. But to remain in Nigeria as a part thereof and bring such odium and ridicule to the rest of Nigerians by their refusal to wake up and smell the coffee of modernity, should be condemned by all right-thinking people. Icheokudotcom says it is about time the Ms. Amina Lawal's of Nigeria are saved from further pain and suffering in the hands of some crazed-mullahs. The Nigerian National Assembly should legislate Sharia out of existence within any borders of Nigeria and if the madmen up North wants to riot, then dispatch the military to tame them. Such inhuman practice is a threat to national security of Nigeria and if it means wiping away as many of them that are hell-bent on this sharia nonsense, so be it. But a bona-fide Nigerian citizen must not be compelled to a dual law enforcement, one of which is so archaic that it smacks of 19th century Nigeria.

Ms. Amina Lawal, 32 years old, was facing a certain death by stoning for an alleged adultery? Meanwhile the man that raped her walked away Scott-free. But this Northern Nigerian mother finally won her appeal against her death-sentence conviction in March 2002, just for simply having sex out of wedlock! It is also instructive that she did not commit abortion but had a beautiful baby girl whose innocence face being breast-fed by her mother was not enough to dissuade these mullahs from handing down the death sentence by stoning. What would have happened to this little angel were the sentence carried out is left for anybody's imagination.

Under the Islamic (Sharia) law, which convicted Ms. Amina Lawal, the Islamic Judge ordered that Ms. Amina Lawal be buried up to her neck in sand and then have her head crushed by a barrage of rocks being hurled at her head in a public spectacle. Gory, indeed! Ms. Amina Lawal would have been stoned to death with rocks and boulders if not for the appeal which set her free; and this is in Nigeria and in this present 21st century? It is very shameful indeed that the Nigerian government could not override this barbaric sentence because of mere fear of the riotous Northern Nigeria. To hell with this, where were the men and women of the armed forces - just dispatch them up there to take care of business. Icheokudotcom want to particularly thank the government of Brazil for offering Me. Ms. Amina Lawal an asylum, which her own government in Nigeria could not do nor the Africa continent. At least they could have secured her and put her in a protective custody pending when the tensions cools down. SHAMELESS!

ISIOMA DANIEL, A NIGERIA SALMAN RUSHDIE!

Icheokudotcom celebrates one of the leading voices of hope for moribund Nigeria! Her name, Isioma Daniel and for standing up against the religious zealots and fanatics of Northern Nigeria Islamic world, we acknowledge her as Icheoku favorite person of the time.

In 2003, the proposed hosting of Miss World competition in Nigeria was cancelled after all the event organisers and participants had arrived in Nigeria for the pageant. The reason was that the fanatics of Northern Nigeria unleashed mayhem and anarchy in the Nigeria, protesting what their ignorance led them to believe was anti their religion. The Northerners caused wide-spread violent riots across the northern Nigeria, that left over two hundred (200) people dead, one thousand (1,000) injured and about eleven thousand (11,000) homeless.

It took the brave voice of Ms. Isioma Daniel, a Nigerian journalist, to really question the Muslim discontent with the "indecency" of the pageant". Muslims who marry twelve year old girls, rape women and stone some of them to death for becoming pregnant while the man who raped them are hailed as heroes? Yet they cannot stand pretty ladies in bikinis? According to this affable pretty, the Muslims thought it was immoral to bring ninety-two (92) women to Nigeria and ask them to revel in "vanity". Asking rhetorically, what would their Mohamed do or think? In all honesty, he would probably have chosen a wife from one of them". That was the "offense" for which her life has changed as a result of a death sentence passed on her by some very religious lunatics who could care less if this lady was a Muslim and amenable to the Muslim code of speech and in utter disregard to her freedom of speech. A Fatwa was issued out on the journalist by the Zamfara State governor who authorises a reward for the head of Isioma Daniel. According to this zealot, like Salman Rushdie, the blood of Isioma Daniel can be shed; stating that it is abiding on all Muslims wherever they are, to consider the killing of the writer as a religious duty."

Icheokudotcom asks which good religion authorizes the killing of a human-being for simply expressing a viewpoint especially one that is very obvious? It is not a godly one as thou shall not kill is a grand injunction of God.! Be that as it may, we hereby honor this great lady for her bravery and declare her a person with great future. To Isioma Daniel, wherever you may be safely hiding, just know that so many descent Nigerians share in your pain of being declared a person non grata in your country by some crazed lunatic governor of Zamfara State.

PSA: Isioma Daniel or anybody reading this who knows her should tell her to contact us for her award for bravery!

YOUR SUNDAY WITH PROPHET M.K.O. TIBETAN!

Today Sunday November 16th, 2008 'Icheokudotcom' brings to you part five of our new series "YOUR SUNDAY WITH PROPHET M.K.O. TIBETAN". This man of God writes on whatever subject he deems topical and Icheokudotcom merely publishes same seriatim, without any input whatsoever, since we are not all that versed in the ways of God to have an opinion. Today, Prophet Marcus Korodele Oluwatomisin writes on "GOD IS ABLE". Please enjoy his perspectives:-

Reading Genesis 1, we saw the awesome power of God Almighty, wherein by just the word of his mouth, the world came into being. God is able and so can he change your destiny today, once you believe. By the strength of our faith, we believe that God owns the whole world and the entire thing inside it, so he blesses anyone he chooses with whatever he deems desirable for the individual. God is able! People do not want the truth today but unbekownst to them, they are rejecting God by their disposition, because the fact remains that God is the truth. God is able as He sees everything. Look at the case of Cane and Abel in Genesis 4 vs. 1-10, when Cane killed Abel, and God saw it, lambasted Cain and made a a fugitive and vagabond, a wanderer. God is able! God is the judge! God is the giver of all things. God is able! We must not behave like Cane, just surrender yourself to God and he will take care of your problems because God is able. God is the author and the finisher of our faith.

The way God dealt with Abraham when he unilaterally sent the birds away from the sacrifice as recorded in Genesis 15:11 tells us that God is in control of everything. The way God took the children of Israel to the land of Egypt via farming shows that God knows more than anybody. In Genesis 37 vs. 10-22 shows to us that no matter the problem you find your self in today, just believe in God and you will surely scale it through.

See for additional reading, Genesis 45 vs. 1-8; Exodus 12 vs. 12-21; Exodus 4 vs. 1-10; Exodus 14 vs. 14-21; Job 42 vs. 10-16; Acts of Apostles 27 vs. 21-28; 1 Samuel 17 vs. 45-50; Luke 14 vs 5 t0 the end. Read and understand these Bible passages and surely God will bless you tremendously.

Until next week when I shall visit with you again, please remain blessed and have a fruitful week ahead. Please note that I am still on assignment overseas and presently in Nigeria where I will remain until the November 24th, 2008. So you can reach me via 8054853828 (Nigeria). As you may know, I am always available for your spiritual needs and prayers. God bless!

REVEREND JAY SCOTT NEWMAN, A RACIST CATHOLIC PRIEST?

Still wondering why so many people do not go to church any longer? Wonder no more. It is because of this type of hate-filled, ungodly bigotry being propagated through the pulpit. Imagine a supposed 'man of god' preaching hate on the alter of Christianity? This racist pig in a cassock Reverend Jay Scott Newman of St. Mary's Catholic Church Greenville South Carolina damned his parishioners for voting for that "nigger". According to this redneck 'KKK' priest, voting for Barack Obama is a sacrilege and anyone who did so must do penance, repent and as an absolution, stop receiving the holy communion until further notice to be determined by him? His subterfuge for his racist remark is that Barack Obama stands for a fair-minded middle of the road solution to solving cases of unwanted pregnancies in America.

Icheokudotcom says this, because when Senator John Kerry ran for president, this priest did not urge anyone not to vote for him despite his widely known stance on abortion. This bigot masquerading as a priest did not urge any parishioners not to vote for Bill Clinton when he twice ran for president despite his publicly known dalliances and his stance on abortion? During the primaries of the Democratic party, the views of John Edward, Hillary Clinton, Joe Biden etc on unwanted pregnancies were generally well known yet this "man of god' did not raise his voice until a "nigger" became the president-elect of America. May be a taboo in his warped mind? This 'Nazi-priest' did not urge his parishioners not to vote for Senator John McCain despite his divorce of his first wife, without any justifiable cause whatsoever, except that she was cosmetically disfigured as a result of an auto-accident? It is instructive to note that this priest did not ask his parishioners to repent for voting for Senator John McCain despite that the catholic church is anti-divorce; and in view of what is known of John McCain's other anti-humanity positions like going to war and killing little innocent children of God. We now know who is crying wolf!

Racism and racist- bigots come in different shapes and sizes and sometimes some wear the cloak of a priest or even a catholic priest like this Reverend jay Scott Newman of Greenville South Carolina. He is of the catholic flock whose not so-godly antics is widely known including the most recent molestations and rapes of alter-boys by some of their priests. The catholic church in the past allowed a divorced high-up from Massachusetts to re-marry despite the stance of the church that thou shall not divorce. That some catholic priests in Rwanda are currently serving prison terms for gun-running, encouraging the genocide of Rwanda, is also on record. How much condemnation has the catholic church given to the genocide in Darfur or the human carnage in Somalia? What was the catholic church stance on past slavery or current racism in America or the apartheid of South Africa of yore? Icheokudotcom will not go as far back as the inquisition or burning at the stake of some suspected wizards and witches by the catholic church; or the crusaders or the genocide of Serbia-Kosovo, Rwanda, Somalia, Liberia and some other sundry surreptitious activities the catholic church have engaged in or encouraged over the years. For this fat-hog to declare all that voted for Barack Obama sinful and fallen short of the glory of God is blasphemous to say the least, especially for a priest who does not see anything wrong in the disproportionately and unfairly applied death penalty prevalent in the deep south including his South Carolina enclave?

What manner of "man of god" is this anti-progress catholic priest who was subliminally and in coded language saying that South Carolinas should not have voted for a BLACKMAN? Shame on you, Mister Reverend Jay Scott Newman for putting your hate-filled heart above and beyond what is good for the whole world. Luckily enough, Americans with your disposition are in the minority and the overwhelming election victory of President-elect Barack Obama proves that your political days, together with your fellow travellers in the land of hate, the Rush Limbaughs of this world has come to an end - Americans spoke and Barack Obama is our president-elect! Believe it or not!

According to this priest, "supporting Barack Obama constitutes material cooperation with intrinsic evil" and yet this holier than thou eunuch, Reverend Jay Scott Newman does not see anything objectionable with the shortcomings of Senator John McCain? Continuing Reverend Jay Scott Newman told his parishioners that "they must do penance and should refuse communion for voting for Barack Obama". Icheokudotcom says the parishioners of Saint Mary's Catholic Church Greenville South Carolina, should tell this priest to stuff his wafers in his you-know-where; and that they should feel very proud to have voted smart instead of according to the whims of a racist, hateful, bloated priest, the twin-brother of Rush Limbaugh!

The priest's alleged "Obama's pro-abortion" policies is merely a code for "that one" and we are not kidding! What ever happened to the separation of church and state, one may ask? And where was this priest when hurricane Katrina ravaged New Orleans and the Bush government failed to act promptly to save the so many lives that were eventually lost therein? This kind of priest is not fit for the pulpit and all the parishioners of Saint Mary's Catholic Church of Greenville South Carolina should cease and desist attending the Reverend Jay Scott Newman's officiated service until he atones for his sinful remarks. Better still they should call for his removal - he is divisive, hateful and not a proper, unbiased man to preach the good news! Oh Yes! and Icheokudotcom stands by its commentary.

See the priest's provocative letter titled:- a letter to parishioners, Newman wrote

BARACK OBAMA, IN HIS OWN MANGER?

Our Lord and Master Jesus Christ was born in a manger and he rose to be the greatest name on earth; at death, he rose and resurrected to heaven in honor and glory of his father, our GOD! The guy on the right wearing a red t-shirt, lighting a cigarette in the picture above, is our future president, President-elect Barack Obama! Unbelievable, indeed?

According to the teaching of the Bible, one who exalts himself will be humbled but he who humbles himself will be exalted. From such a lowly self-humility in front of a thatched-hut in his father's countryside in Kenya to soon to be, the marvelous and opulent White-house as the chief executive of the United States of America, President-elect Barack Obama has transversed the legendary chasm from grass to grace! The moral lesson here is that what is written is written! What is ordained in heaven can only come to pass here on earth! When God has said YES nobody can say NO! Icheokudotcom strongly believes that there is a divine intervention in the phenom know as BO! We call him OBM, affectionately at http://www.icheoku.com/ ! We are a committed fan of the president in waiting of the United States of America! President-elect Barack Obama is simply speaking, God sent! In him we find our hope to change what was, to what could be! May God keep and protect him for us all, AMEN!

EMMANUEL OKPEDE:- A NIGERIAN SENATOR, DEAD FOR LACK OF OXYGEN!

Senator Emmanuel Okpede, the Special Adviser on Political Matters to the President of the Nigerian Senate, Senator David Mark (pictured here) is dead. The late senator who represented Nasarawa Central Senatorial District of Nasarawa State, died shortly after complaining of chest pain arising from respiratory difficulty. The late Senator had on Wednesday afternoon gone to a hospital for a check up, before retiring that evening. Subsequently, his health condition took a turn for the worse and he was rushed to a medical base for treatment. Upon examination at the medical facility, it was discovered that his blood-pressure was very high and that he would require oxygen-infusion treatment, which unfortunately was not available.

Icheokudotcom now comments as follows:- the death of anybody is regrettable and that of a Nigerian Senator is not an exception. However, the death of this Senator once again underscores the dilapidated state of medical care in Nigeria. If a Nigerian senator could die because there was no oxygen-infusion treatment, then imagine what ordinary citizens of Nigeria are going through on a daily basis, trying to tough it out, in a country which has no soul and which does not care much about her ordinary citizens. Now that a senator has fallen through the crack of a comatose medical-care in Nigeria, which he could have helped to fix if only he knew that he will not have enough time to fly abroad for treatment; maybe the Nigerian authorities will now do something to fix a broken health-care system?

Once again, while consoling the family of the deceased, Icheokudotcom calls on the authorities in Nigeria to see the death of Senator Emmanuel Okpede as a wake-up call to revamp horrible medical-care facilities in Nigeria as a matter of utmost necessity. May the soul of Senator Emmanuel Okpede rest in peace!

GIWA AMU, WHO KILLED THE BRIGADIER GENERAL?

He was a Brigadier General in the Nigerian Army! He was a Nigerian Defence Adviser in the United Nations in New York! He was the spokesman of the Nigerian Army! He was the Director of Nigerian Army Public Relations Corp! He was most recently the former ADC of then Olusegun Obasanjo! He was a devoted husband! He was a father! He was a brother! He was an uncle and he was a Nigerian! Today, Solomon Giwa Amu is no more! Killed in circumstance, highly suggestive of a hit-job carried out by a higher authority. He was after-all, a Brigadier General in the Nigerian Army and having served as ADC to Olusegun Obasanjo, is not just any other ordinary Joe in Nigeria; so the death that took him was sent from the high! Why do we say that? What are our grounds for such assertion, note that we did not say allegation? What are the evidence? In response, Icheokudotcom says that the test of the pudding is in the eating. Follow us now on this excursion, as we establish reasonable basis for re-introducing the subject of state-murder of a serving Nigerian Army Brigadier General Solomom Giwa Amu.

Was it possible that the Late Army spokesman was hacked to death? If affirmative, why and by whom? Did someone kill Brigadier General Solomon Giwa Amu to keep him silent or get back at him for some old score? WHO DUNN IT? According to Gabriel Giwa-Amu, a lawyer, human rights activist and the immediate younger brother of the late Brigadier General Solomon Giwa-Amu, his late brother was possibly clubbed to death! According to Attorney Gabriel Giwa-Amu, apart from the deep (gash) wound in the head, sustained by his brother during the purported fatal auto accident which resulted in his death, there was no other physical wound of any kind on the body of the deceased-victim; who the Army authorities said, have been in a car which had somersaulted several times! Continuing the lawyer said that although there is no conclusive evidence that the killing of his brother was out-rightly ordered by the Army, there are however other circumstantial evidence that he may have been clubbed to death by those who wanted him out of the way or who may have felt threatened by his still being alive. His contention is that the army's story that his brother was flung out of the small window of the accident-vehicle on impact does not check out in view of what is known. He contradicts the army by saying that there was no way his brother, with his size, height and weight coupled to his military training could have been flung out of a window of a vehicle that was travelling at a high speed, without sustaining other bodily injuries, apart from the deep cut on his head. Further, the window of the vehicle from which his brother was allegedly flung out was rather too small to allow easy passage of a man of his brother's size. Also the alleged somersaulted vehicle in which his brother allegedly died, was for most part substantially very much intact for a vehicle which allegedly somersaulted several times. Looking at the wholesomeness of the vehicle, it is difficult to conclude that some one died therefrom . Above all, it was only his brother that died out of the eighteen (18) officers and privates travelling with him in the severally somersaulted vehicle.

The late Brigadier General Solomon Giwa-Amu allegedly died in a motor accident on Monday, February 18, 2008, while on his way, in company of others, to the Armed Forces Command and Staff College, Jaji, Kaduna to deliver a lecture as result of a vehicle tire-burst. Brigadier General Giwa Amu hails from Sabon-Gida Ora in Edo State, Nigeria and was a Regular 27 officer of the Nigerian Defence Academy. Brigadier General Solomon Giwa-Amu had previously escaped from another "near-fatal accident" before the last one that ultimately took his life.

Commiserating on the death of his erstwhile aide-de-camp Brigadier General Solomon Giwa-Amu, Olusegun Obasanjo said "it is an untimely elimination of a bright star, an officer and a gentleman who had exhibited all the attributes of an officer who would make it to the top’’.

Icheokudotcom thought that politically motivated murder and murder sanctioned by the state is a thing of the past in Nigeria - gone with the monstrous government of Olusegun Obasanjo but we may be wrong, after-all! Brigadier General Solomon Giwa Amu (widow pictured right being consoled by a Nigerian army officer, ADC to Umaru Yar'Adua) was killed on February 18, 2008 and Umaru Yar'Adua has already assumed the stewardship of Nigeria then. Umaru Yar'Adua has been in charge in Nigeria since May 2007 and SGA was not just an ordinary citizen to just die except someone, somewhere very high-up approved. Does this now graduate Umaru Yar'Adua into the ignoble class of Nigerian leaders whose hands are stained with Nigerian citizens' blood? Remember Buhari and Bartholomew Owo and two others retroactive death decree episode, Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida and the Dele Giwa parcel-bomb murder; Sani Abacha and Ken Saro-Wiwa's judicial murder and a host of many others as well as Olusegun Obasanjo and Bola Ige, Odi and Zaki Ibiam massacres, Marshal, Dikkibo etc?

Icheokudotcom makes this claim as nothing else made any sense! The circumstance and manner of this Brigadier General Solomon Giwa Amu's death - the only who died among eighteen occupants of a vehicle, which allegedly somersaulted several times and without any ostensible body damage to the vehicle, with only one deep cut in his head for a person flung out of a small window of an accident vehicle going at top speed? There were no bruises, no broken bone and the clothing he wore during the accident were very much intact according to the story? Additionally no thorough investigation has commenced or is ongoing into the death of this man? The inaction by the authorities in Nigeria to investigate resoundingly and conclusively, the death of this Brigadier General smells of a cover-up. Anybody saying that his death was a result of mere accident under these circumstance as espoused here and other forums, must be speaking to a bunch of dullards who he believes can neither discern nor add one and one together. As for Icheokudotcom, such an army-story is a bull-crap and we are not buying it even at a discount. The death of this Brigadier General Solomon Giwa Amu is a testament to the hopeless condition still pervading present day Nigeria, where one state-death begets another! What a country? What a wasted generation? Who knows for whom the bell tolls next and for whom the conspirators are at this moment, plotting his/her story-line? God help Nigeria!

OPEC COLLAPSES WORLD ECONOMIES!

The Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries known by its acronym, OPEC has crashed the world economy and must be held responsible for all the hardship facing mankind today. It was a rude joke when crude oil price skyrocketed to $148 dollars per barrel last summer; and despite all the entreaties, cajoling and outright genuflecting by the West, the countries constituting the cartel refused to bulge. These little "big" guys of OPEC countries were feeling like demi-gods, beating their chest on their perceived victory over the West? This blogger remembers the hoofing and puffing of the little man in Tehran, Ahmadenajad, that in Caracas Hugo Chavez and their friend in Moscow, the face of KGB Vladimir Putin? Their pugnacity at challenging the West with their new found energy leverage shows that some people should never lay their hands on real power otherwise the world will be held hostage in perpetuity. The result of their stubbornness is that today, so many world economies have collapsed and several others, on life support.

These guys at OPEC forgot that we are in this together; that the whole world economies are intertwined with one another; that these economies are so connected that if there is a glitch on any of the wheels driving the economy be it in America, Asia or Europe that the ripple effect goes down stream to everyone, everywhere in the globe. They forgot that if America does not buy no one sells and if America does not sell no one buys! So one may ask, what the frigging hell was this OPEC cartel thinking in the first place? Today America has stopped buying and the factories in China, Japan , South Korea etc are scaling down their production. When China does not make money selling to America, they will not have money to buy Sudan's oil and when Sudan does not sell their oil they will not have money to buy Kalashikovs (AK47) guns from Russia with which to kill their citizens in Darfur. When the Russians cannot sell their guns, they will not have money to buy French fine cognacs and Hummer vehicles from America and when America cannot sell their vehicles, the factories either shut down or are downsized and there goes the vicious circle of world economies linked together in an unholy wedlock. What OPEC started is a dance of death which forebodes no one any good. They simply do not have control, despite their oil. It is a domino-effect where one fall triggers series of falls. The chain reaction goes on and on and before you could say Jack Robinson, the entire world economy is near comatose! The irony of this is that some of these OPEC countries like Iran does not even have the capacity or the know-how to refine their own crude oil or to develop its refining capacity. They buy refined gas from foreign refineries at the same high price and Icheokudotcom wonders what then is the use of the stubborn price hike?

The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), a cartel of 13 countries including Algeria, Angola, Ecuador, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Libya, Nigeria, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Venezuela has its headquarters in Vienna, pictured below. It was founded in 1960 in Baghdad - Iraq, at the initiative of then Venezuelan Energy and Mines minister Juan Pablo Pérez Alfonzo and his Saudi Arabian counterpart, Energy and Mines minister Abdullah al-Tariki, to unify and coordinate members' petroleum policies. Although OPEC's ability to control the price of oil has diminished somewhat since the 1973 oil war, due to the discovery and development of large oil reserves in the Gulf of Mexico and the North Sea, and the opening up of Russia oil to the west; OPEC nations still account for two-thirds of the world's oil reserves, and as of March 2008, controls 35.6% of the world's oil production.. Icheokudotcom says this is an example of what is possible were the West to succeed in its present quest to source alternative source of oil. Breaking the strangle-hold which OPEC has on the world energy supply will be hilarious indeed!

The next largest group of producers are members of the OECD and the Post-Soviet states which produce only 23.8% and 14.8%, respectively, of the world's total oil production.

These countries of OPEC, if they are smart should start placating the West now, otherwise, before too long they will be forced to 'drink' their oil since no one will be needing it any longer. The West, especially America are investing massively in alternative energy sources of solar, wind, natural gas, ocean-tide etc and with their well known shared, dogged determination will have a meaningful break-through soon, to render cartels like OPEC irrelevant. This is the time, for OPEC to hire hard-charging lobbyists to try and slow down the wildfire which the quest for alternative sources of energy has assumed in the West. Billionaire T-Boon Pickings alone, has invested over $2billion of his personal fortune into alternative energy research and development in the areas of wind and natural gas. President-elect Barack Obama owes to the American people, alternative energy supply sources, being one of his campaign promises - to set America free from the shackles of foreign oil. What becomes of the mono-economies of these OPEC countries once this oil freedom is secured is better imagined than fathomed as some of them will go bankrupt, turning into failed states with no money to support their existence. In the long run, nobody saves anything - American people started driving less because gas prices were too high, then some people stopped driving entirely, trading-in their vehicles; then the car manufacturing plants cut down on their manufacturing and more people who cannot afford their cars also entered the anti-driving group. Bicycle sales shot up and it is hard for people to come back since they are now used to a new normal. The effect is that some factories shot down, companies closed, fleets of airplanes were grounded all contributing to non use of gasoline hence less demand for OPEC oil.

The target for the West is to make oil a dinosaur that once was and it is our forecast that before too long oil will be out-fashioned. As has been shown by the recent downward spiral of oil from the high pedestal of $148 to today's misery $58, one thing is clear - these OPEC countries have no real control over their oil. They cannot find it! They cannot harvest or exploit it! They cannot transport it! They cannot refine it! They cannot buy it! If left with it, they do not know the heck what to do with it! If the West do not buy their oil they cannot sell it, so what the frigging hell are these heartless cartel OPEC thinking about. As far as Icheokudotcom is concerned the price of crude might as well fall to as low as $21.75 per a barrel so that Saudi Arabia and their minions in OPEC can learn one hard lesson in how not to be too mean-spirited. They failed to come to the rescue when oil price was squeezing so many Western countries and their economies. One good turn deserves another. It was their pure greed and ruthlessness that made OPEC to allow oil price to get out of control to as high up as $148 per barrel. One wonders how the world economy could have supported such a bloated price of oil - the engine and life blood of the world economy? Some of their membership were glee at the prospect of forcing the great America to its knees, God forbid! Don't these guys know that God blessed and is continuously blessing America?

Icheokudotcom calls the present free-fall of crude oil price, which has shaved off about $86 from its astronomical price of $148 to today's $58 within the last five months, a retribution from God. It is OPEC in QUANDARY! It will soon be a daylight nightmare for those little monolithic - economies of OPEC countries, when massive investments on alternative energy sources start bearing fruits. OPEC will then be cut to their actual size, with the demand for oil drastically reduced if not completely dried up! Until then, Icheokudotcom says, Good luck OPEC!

ADAMS OSHIOMHOLE, NEW GOVERNOR OF EDO STATE!

Once again the courts in Nigeria rose to the occasion - they reversed a sitting governor. Today, Comrade Adams Aliyu Oshiomhole, the erstwhile President of Nigeria Labor Congress is the new governor of Edo State. He was affirmed the duly elected governor of Edo State 19 months after the April 14, 2007 gubernatorial elections by the court of appeals sitting in Benin, Edo State. He contested the April 14, 2007 governorship election on the ticket of the Action Congress (AC).

The five-man court of appeal panel headed by the President of the Court of Appeal, Justice Umaru Abdullahi, unanimously upheld the decision of the election petition tribunal which had ruled on March 20, 2008 that the Action Congress (AC) and Oshiomhole won the polls in which the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had announced victory for the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its candidate, Professor Oserheimen Osunbor whom Adams Oshiomhole will be taking over from.

Against our tradition at Icheokudotcom, we congratulate Comrade Adams Oshimole on his victory at the court of appeals and wish him a successful term of office. Icheokudotcom does not believe that elections take place in Nigeria and this is the core of our apathy to "election" results!

OHANAEZE NDI IGBO OF NIGERIA, WHICH WAY FORWARD?

This apex umbrella association of the Igbo people of Nigeria has been in the wilderness for so long, trying but in vain, like Senator John McCain, to articulate its objectives. Series of infightings and drawn-out court battles have rendered this supposed pressure group into near irrelevance in the power struggle and positioning in Nigeria. Ordinarily, Icheokudotcom would not indulge itself, commenting on a local political pressure group but that we point out, few things that we believe Ohaneze Ndi-Igbo is doing wrong.

First is the failure of this group to adequately and more succintly marshall out what it is, that they want to do - clearly defined objectives are lacking. Following naturally is the route to get to the goals and sanctions for failure to deliver or penalty for any identified sabotage.

For any Igbo political pressure group to be effective, it must be an all inclusive outfit - of all Igbo-speakers or Igbo speaking areas of Nigeria. When the north speaks they are cohesive and embraces all the multiple tribes of the north including hausa, fulani, birom, tiv, junku, igbira, gwari, bornu, kataf, zuru, etc. WHen the west speaks it includes all the Yoruba speakers and speaking areas including Kwara State. It is therefore only in the Igbo area of Nigeria that people of Igbo ancestry are excluded from "mainstream" Igbo simply because they live across a river or are not within "their" warped delineated and identifiable geographical enclave of Igbo section of Nigeria. Icheoku wonders aloud why the Delta Igbo speaking areas of Asaba, Ogwashiukwu, Onitcha-ugbo, Onitcha-Alona, etc should not be included in any associations articulated for the Igbo man? Why also should some Igbo speaking areas of Rivers state such as Isi-okpo, Portharcourt, Ikwerre etc not be given a full status in any organisation representing the Igbo man? Same goes with Akwa-Ibom and Cross-River state and possibly some parts of Benue State. It is called 'Politics 101' and the bigger the merrier and the more powerful. So many rivers criss-cross the north yet it does not present any boundary problems between the various ethnicities in the north from coming together in matters which affect them. In the west we have Ogunpa river as well as many other rivers, yet when political chess-game sets in, no Oduduwa area or speaker is left out. Therefore Ohanaeze Ndi-Igbo must restrucutre itself and expand its tent to incorporate every Igbo speaker and Igbo speaking areas of Nigeria into its fold. There is strength in unity and numbers help too.

Another area of adjustment for Ohaneze is to explore co-opting all such other Igbo outfits like MASSOB and Bakassi Boys into their fold to serve as its enforcement arm. Ohanaeze, to be effective, must have an effective mechanism in place to coral any recalcitrant Igbo man or woman who may want to sabotage the Igbo agenda, once fully and comprehensibly articulated. Such would be agent-provacateurs, who may have received money/contract from Igbo detractors in ABuja or elsewhere to pervert the fruition of the Igbo agenda, must be checkmated. Such an identified pervert must be made to understand that he has no place throughout Igboland and that no amount of federal protection force will suffice once he has been adjudged an anti-Igbo agenda renegade. If the enforcers cannot reach him then the Igbo should ostracise such an element from the Igbo society completely and entirely. The Odua peoples congress was effectively deployed by Afenifere since June 12th; so why not Ohanaeze copy a winning formular from the west?

Thereafter, Ohaneze must face its biggest challenge of the century - securing the Igbo presidency of Nigeria come 2016. Ironically Icheoku recalls that the ulterior motive behind Islamist Buhari led coup of December 1983 was to reap in the bud any chance of Alex Ekwueme becoming president of Nigeria after Shehu Shagari's term. Ohaneze must articulate its line of attack and agitation like the Afenifere did after June 12 which led to their own Olusegun Obasanjo's eight years Yoruba in power in Nigeria. Although it was a nightmare but which Arewa government ever succeeded? So who cares? According to the United States of America President-elect Barack Obama, power doses not concede easily, so if you want it you must fight for it! Igbo people of Nigeria, you have been thrown the gauntlet so if you so much want power act like your depends on it! Get it by all means necessary! WHatever it takes just get it! Ohaneze should in no uncanny terms let it be known to the world especially the other component parts of Nigeria that the Igbo of Nigeria are ready, willing and prepared to die, if that is what it takes, to secure their turn in Nigerian presidency in 2016. Further that no amount of conspiracy, intimidation, oppression or sabotage will frustrate this effort again or in any other manner operate to avert it. In other words, an Igbo presidency of Nigeria in 2016 is a fait accompli. It should be without any option whatsoever - now or never mantra! If it means turning Nigeria upside down on its head to "get it did" so be it! It should be put in the head of the other Nigerians that the Igbo time has come and anything short is unacceptable and will not be accepted in an entity known as one Nigeria! That what is good for the goose is also good for the gander, and that all is fair that begets fairness. Ohanaeze must put paid to the percieved cowardice of the Igbo nation and that the experience of the Biafran war is a plus and not a negative and that their hands should not be forced again.

The only man ever taken serious in any given situation is that man who has been so backed against the wall that having no more room to retreat any further, comes back charging at the aggressor like a raving lunatic. Ndi-Igbo of Nigeria are almost at that point in Nigeria and Ohanaeze must be able to relay this message to the other constituent parts of Nigeria in a clear unmistakeable words. Ohaneze's mantra henceforth should therefore be "no retreat no surrender!" to the undeclared war being waged against Ndi-Igbo of Nigeria by the other components part of Nigeria.

Ohaneze should henceforth make one objective and only one objective its only preoccupation - 2016! They should forget begging Nigeria any longer to treat them fairly and with some human diginity! They should be getting ready to draw a line on the sand to say to Nigeria, enough is enough! Treat the Igbo as a component bona-fide Nigerians or they are out of the contraption known as Nigeria! Haven't the Igbo reached a breaking point in Nigeria or must Igbo youth continuosly be seen to ask, are we there yet? The River Niger bridge debacle and the alleged missing blueprints and worksheets is yet another pointer that the anti-Igbo conspirators of Nigeria are perpetualy working overtime to subjugate the Igbos. Icheokudotcom asks, how can contruction papers and files of a mega project such as a bridge construction be missing and if, how many of the multiple copies usually produced are missing? Who is the custodian of the missing documents and what is the state of investigation thereto? Wasn't the contract for the construction of the bridge awarded during the dying years of the Olusegun Obasanjo mayhem called administration? Did the contractor's copies also miss?

It is about time this bullshit stopped and only a galvanized Ohanaeze that speaks with one vocie under the Igbo flag can put a stop to this silliness in Nigeria. Commenting on the alleged missing construction files and papers, the President General of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Dr. Dozie Ikedife, pictured left, regreted that the Igbo have had enough of these insults and sabotage in Nigeria. To whcih Icheokudotcom says, the biggest insult is yet to come in 2016 baring a concert by Ohaneze to morph into a credible, undistracted single force for the Igbo nation. The lords of the manor in Nigeria will try throwing up some dusts close to 2016 and hope the Igbo will be distracted from their goal and then and only then will Icheoku remind Ohaneze of this posting should they allow themselves to be baited once again by such a schematic.

The Igbos will not die off before 2016, having survived the pogrom of Biafra and all subsequent annihiliation-schemes of past and present tribalistic anti-Igbo Nigerian governments. Ohaneze should recoil into a bunker and continue to fine-tune and strategize on how to make 2016 a reality for the Igbo dream of a Nigerian president. As a starter, Ohanaeze should get a few select candidates, vet them and start grooming them for presentation to Nigeria come 2016, as a consensus Igbo candidate for president. Ohaneze should avoid the fate which befell them during the last PDP chairmanship tussle when there were over twenty-eight (28) Igbo candidates for the job which once again, forced the other Nigerians to impose Vincent Ogbulafor on the Igbo as their Igbo chairman of the PDP. Once beaten twice shy - fool me once shame on you, fool me twice shame on me. As for possible candidates to shortlist for the job, Ohaneze should look at and consider for positioning, as Icheokudotcom recommends, Orji Uzor-Kalu, Ken Nnamani and Andy Uba for reasons already adduced in prior postings herein and we shall gladly meet in a fora to further canvass our position, if asked. So which way Ohanaeze?

MIRIAM MAKEBA IS NO MORE!

South African music legend, "Mama Africa" Miriam Makeba is dead. She died of heart attack in Caserta, Italy following a concert. Mama Africa was just 76 years young. Miriam Makeba was born in 1932 in Johannesburg, South Africa and died in 2008 in Caserta, Italy.

Icheokudotcom says, singing bird continue to provide entertainment to all African freedom fighters that have since departed, in the world beyond. We shall miss your crooning! Adieu!

PRESIDENT JOHN FITZGERALD KENNEDY, MEMORABLE WORDS!

Change is the law of life. And those who look only to the past or present are certain to miss the future.:- John F. Kennedy

Forgive your enemies, but never forget their names.:- John F. Kennedy

If we cannot end now our differences, at least we can help make the world safe for diversity.:- John F. Kennedy

Let us think of education as the means of developing our greatest abilities, because in each of us there is a private hope and dream which, fulfilled, can be translated into benefit for everyone and greater strength for our nation.:- John F. Kennedy

Liberty without learning is always in peril; learning without liberty is always in vain.:- John F. Kennedy

Our problems are man-made, therefore they may be solved by man. No problem of human destiny is beyond human beings.:- John F. Kennedy

So, let us not be blind to our differences - but let us also direct attention to our common interests and to the means by which those differences can be resolved.:- John F. Kennedy

The American, by nature, is optimistic. He is experimental, an inventor and a builder who builds best when called upon to build greatly.:- John F. Kennedy

The ancient Greek definition of happiness was the full use of your powers along lines of excellence.:- John F. Kennedy

The great enemy of the truth is very often not the lie -- deliberate, contrived and dishonest, but the myth, persistent, persuasive, and unrealistic. Belief in myths allows the comfort of opinion without the discomfort of thought.:John F. Kennedy

The great French Marshall Lyautey once asked his gardener to plant a tree. The gardener objected that the tree was slow growing and would not reach maturity for 100 years. The Marshall replied, 'In that case, there is no time to lose; plant it this afternoon!' :- John F. Kennedy

The time to repair the roof is when the sun is shining:-. John F. Kennedy

There are risks and costs to a program of action. But they are far less than the long-range risks and costs of comfortable inaction.:- John F. Kennedy

Washington is a city of Southern efficiency and Northern charm.:-John F. Kennedy

We must use time as a tool, not as a crutch.:- John F. Kennedy

We set sail on this new sea because there is knowledge to be gained.:- John F. Kennedy

We stand for freedom. That is our conviction for ourselves; that is our only commitment to others.:- John F. Kennedy

When we got into office, the thing that surprised me the most was that things were as bad as we'd been saying they were.:- John F. Kennedy

The men who create power make an indispensable contribution to the Nation’s greatness, but the men who question power make a contribution just as indispensable, especially when that questioning is disinterested, for they determine whether we use power or power uses us.:- John F. Kennedy

Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable.

:- John F. Kennedy

And so, my fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for you - ask what you can do for your country. My fellow citizens of the world: ask not what America will do for you, but what together we can do for the freedom of man.:- John F. Kennedy

If a free society cannot help the many who are poor, it cannot save the few who are rich.: - John F. Kennedy

We must never forget that art is not a form of propaganda; it is a form of truth.:- John F. Kennedy

For in the final analysis, our most basic common link, is that we all inhabit this small planet, we all breathe the same air, we all cherish our children's futures, and we are all mortal.:- John F. Kennedy

Our problems are man-made, therefore they may be solved by man. And man can be as big as he wants. No problem of human destiny is beyond human beings.:- John F. Kennedy

The ignorance of one voter in a democracy impairs the security of all.:- John F. Kennedy

All of us have in our veins the exact same percentage of salt in our blood that exists in the ocean, and, therefore, we have salt in our blood, in our sweat, in our tears. We are tied to the ocean. And when we go back to the sea -- whether it is to sail or to watch it -- we are going back from whence we came.:-John F. Kennedy

We need men who can dream of things that never were.:- John F. Kennedy

The Chinese use two brush strokes to write the word 'crisis.' One brush stroke stands for danger; the other for opportunity. In a crisis, be aware of the danger - but recognize the opportunity. :- John F. Kennedy