PRESIDENT JONATHAN 2011 AMBITION, TOO DANGEROUS FOR NIGERIA'S UNITY!

Icheoku is convinced that but for  the goading and prodding of his wife, Lady Macbeth Patience Jonathan that President Goodluck Ebelesimi Azikwe Jonathan would not be running in the forthcoming Nigeria's  2011 presidential election. But when a company-man who knows how to tag along just to get along is married to an obtuse woman, a Lady-Thatcher, an iron-lady, an alpha-female, he just turns himself into a 'yes-man, how high do you want me to jump ma'am', sissy/girlie-man type of husband. The world and Nigerians know who wears the pants in the Jonathan's household; but when that domesticity impacts on Nigeria by way of governance, then it is time definite, men with conscience spoke up. 

This is the fate of Nigeria's President Jonathan and this man is now breaching every decency, decorum, trust, honor and honesty of purpose in going against the grains and principles of his party's agreement on zoning to run for the presidency when it is not yet the turn of the south-south to so do. The president's party's hierarchy admitted that much when in a nuanced statement they acknowledged the existence of zoning but to save the President's face, went further to split hair that any other person can also run. Icheoku asks, what then is the purpose of the zoning arrangement if other person/s from other zones are eligible to also run? It is a self-defeatist statement of equivocation and should have operated to send a strong message to shock Jonathan out of his power-induced state of oblivion, that the PDP was trying to send across a message with a basket over its face. But should Icheoku believe that it is not his willful voluntary act, since he is under the influence and spell of so many competing forces including his wife Patience, Edwin Clark, Olusegun Obasanjo, Anthony Anenih, Dahltu Tafida, Governor's Forum,  as well as PDP members of the National Assembly, just to name a few. Any man marooned in such an island of confusion, conflicted by his internals which are urging him to do the honorable and right thing and not run; and other exteriors and more dangerous and sinister forces of evil, who want to use him to get at certain preconceived destinations and derivatives, then such man is really in a deep doodle. President Jonathan of Nigeria is such a man and Icheoku does not envy him of such a caustic position.

For purposes of full disclosure, Icheoku must confess that we are not a fan, never been and do not have any immediate future plans of becoming one. We are averse to greedy opportunism and the crass pretensions of a savior-status for Nigeria, of President Jonathan and we make bold to say this. President Jonathan has confirmed once again that he cannot be trusted with power and if anyone is in doubt, trace his antecedental power-grab in Bayelsa.  Ask DSP Alamesigha, his former boss and former governor of Bayelsa State how he was forced out of office by the highhanded Olusegun Obasanjo, working in concert with then deputy governor Goodluck Jonathan, who later took over as governor. It is inferable that President Jonathan took some secret oath of allegiance to Olusegun Obasanjo, before he brought him in as a president in waiting and vice president to the ailing Umaru Yar'Adua. Icheoku makes bold to also say that Jonathan knew all along that he will eventually be made president upon the assured death of Umaru Yar'Adua; so all his pretended aloofness during the succession debacle was a stalker's well calculated and disquieting disinterestedness in his victim, while he bids his time  waiting for the right opportunity to strike. Jonathan is a snake and Icheoku hopes Nigerians will discover the real man behind the mask of President Goodluck Jonathan before it is too late as he takes Nigeria on a jolly ride to nowhere near progress-land. Twice has he disrupted other peoples' political gathering and in a democratic dispensation, and no one smells the emergence of a petty dictator in his action? A man not tolerant of any discerning opinion that he muzzled the Igbo Elders out of their Owerri meeting and also instigated chaos in Buhari's Bayelsa campaign meet should be held with suspect.

President Jonathan is like a shark which has tested blood in the water and will find the wounded source, usually a hapless victim and finish it off. He has tested power and its allure, and is almost desperate not to let go; so only Nigerians can and shall wrestle it away from his vice death grip. Icheoku does not condone such people, connivers and conspirators, who would rather hear with their throats instead of their ears and President Jonathan apparently falls in this category. If only he could hear and use his head appropriately, instead of supinely beholding and deferring to his Lady-Macbeth, may be he would have since submitted to the wishes of Nigerians by acknowledging that it is not yet his zone's turn at the presidency. President Jonathan is not the right person for the office at this particular time, when  the northwest zone has not served out its agreed upon, by implication, eight years term.

Moreso, Icheoku does not trust the ever-calculating son of the Niger Delta; and his most recent, unthoughtful utterances, geared at emasculating freedom of speech in Nigeria, did not help matters at all.  Now Wiki Leaks seem to have thrown another spanner at Mister President's attempt to hijack what does not belong to him or his South-South zone by revealing the incompetence and lack of preparation of President Jonathan for the challenges of nation-building in Nigeria. According to the leaks from Wiki-Leak, President Jonathan once admitted to an American official that he was not qualified for the office which he holds as he did not have requisite  political experience to steer the ship of state around and well. In President Jonathan's own words, "I was not chosen to be vice president because I had good political experience; I did not" and this is the man running affairs in Nigeria and planning to continue post 2011. Icheoku says not too fast Mr. providential president of Nigeria, as Nigerians will smarten up and do the right thing in the interest of peace and one Nigeria. 

The single most militating factor hindering Nigeria's development is the cavalier manner in which her leadership always emerges or is selected and foist on the people; when not by a rogue military man like Babangida staging a coup and usurping power. People are put in leadership positions who are not prepared - did not prepare adequately for the challenges of the office. Without necessary and adequate preparation, they look like a deer in front of the headlights  from the time they start until the end of their term, gambling with the fate of 150 million Nigerians; trying unsuccessfully to figure out the office. No past president of Nigeria has displayed this lack of preparation for office like the current President Goodluck Jonathan, who appears not to comprehend even the duties of a president, talkless of discharging them. Icheoku says someone fleetingly having been a Deputy Governor, an Acting Governor, a Governor, a Vice President, Acting President and President, does not make one an administrative expert or sufficiently equipped with the needed experience to be a wonderful president. So Ima Niboro was fortuitous in enumerating for Nigerians, President Jonathan's Ph.D, ten year lecturer-ship and the fact that he has been an assistant director of OMPADEC as his selling points.

In other more civilized countries, a president climbs series of ladders of longevity in office before getting to the presidency, in order to enable him properly and fully learn the tricks of the trade. But in Nigeria where coup plotting military men have successfully messed up affairs so much, anything goes; from making a freed prisoner Olusegun Obasanjo president, to now a zoologist academia, political greenhorn and a man who have never stood for any election in his short unprepared political life president. In the words of Tsav, "I must say that President Jonathan has no focus and he has not shown us any blueprint on how he would move this country forward. I do not think that is the kind of President that this Nigeria need now for it to move forward," and Icheoku concurs .  These Wiki Leaks revelations confirms that the Nigeria now suffers from intolerable and clumsy presence of accidental powers – power got suddenly, power got by chance, power got anyhow, power being exercised by an untrained and unworthy power holder, who never prepared for this special destiny-thrust. 

Icheoku says the north has expressed its intent to maintain Nigeria's unity by reasonably considering the concerns of majority of Nigerians especially the people of South-West regarding June 12th, by not nominating Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida, the architect of that infamous decision, as their consensus candidate. In his place they gave Nigerians another not so good candidate, a sort of the lesser of two evils, Abubakar Atiku. So the South must consider this overture of the North and someway reciprocate this amiable extension of their hands of fellowship, by now allowing the north to serve out its implicitly agreed term of eight years in office with the remaining four years. President Jonathan therefore should in good faith, quit the race, having accomplished a noble objective of forcing the north to take out Babangida by themselves. Jonathan is not a northerner nor could he be said to represent the north in anyway to enable him serve out their mandated term of office. Our initial contention was that Babangida should not be the northern candidate to serve out the northern turn; hence our campaign 'anybody but Babangida. But now that Babangida has been taken care of and is out the door, Jonathan must now step aside and allow the north to complete their turn and must not and should not be allowed to usurp the northern turn. Convinced that he is a puppet of his wife Patience, who like Lady Macbeth is goading him on to an impending disaster that is his intended run in 2011, Nigerians must then step in and resist him like they did Obasanjo and his third term craziness.

Finally, Icheoku opines that what President Jonathan is embarking on in 2011 is a complete affront on Nigerians and also represents a pure crass opportunism on his part to usurp what is not rightfully his. But assuming Atiku will be serving out the North-West's remaining term, where does his presidency then leave the previously agreed zonal rotation through the six geographical zones? Is it not possible that the North-West might later insist on serving out its zone's remainder or term or ask to be allowed to complete their turn? But the overall implication of the current consensus candidacy of a northeastern Atiku is that the hitherto zonal rotation agreement has now devolved into a regional rotation arrangement. The north has by presenting Atiku from the northeast unilaterally nullified the existing six-zonal arrangement and Atiku will now serve out the remaining one northern term before the baton goes back to the South.  But whatever the case, President Jonathan is not the right candidate at this time or the Messiah-candidate Nigerians have been waiting for and he should therefore not run; if he runs should not be voted for. Jonathan should wait for his turn, the South-South turn; but must allow the north to complete their turn!

THE SLAUGHTER IN NORTHERN NIGERIA MUST STOP AND NOW!

Once again the people of northern Nigeria are spilling the blood of innocent fellow Nigerians, whose only offense is that they believe in a different way and manner of praying to a God; other than the knocking of foreheads on the ground. Icheoku says these extremist Muslims need to be told in a very strong language that they are not the only repository of violence; and that they must either stop all forms of violence forthwith or have violence visited on them twofold. Alternatively, since these northerners have continuously shown and manifested their inability to co-exist with other more rational and reasonable Nigerians in one geographical entity, may be it is high time the impending Sudan/South-Sudan solution is equally adopted and applied to Nigeria. Let Southern Nigerians as well as Christians of the northern Middle-belt be allowed through a referendum to decide whether they want to continue living in such a state of insecurity, sharing the same boarders with these barbarians or opt out of the contraption called Nigeria. 

It is indeed time enough really becomes enough and this madness of incessant blood shedding of innocent Nigerians by fellow Nigerians came to an end. These northerners have been killing innocent Nigerians since 1966 which led to the war of self preservation forced on the Igbo people of Biafra, through various coups and counter-coups, Maitatsine, Gideon Akaluka, to the latest Boko Haram domestic terrorists, terrorizing the country. Their present staging grounds is  the former pristine temperate Jos which they have extended to Maiduguri; and Icheoku understands the underlying philosophy of trying to now also capture and completely Islamize these areas which never fell to the Hausa/Fulani Othman Dan Fodio's Islamic crusade (jihad) of the last century. The worst is that the leadership of these northerners appear either powerless to stop this recurring mayhem or they simply look the other way just to remain in power; and the government in Abuja is not helping matters either by not decisively and drastically dealing with the situation. Till date none of the White papers on the several panels set up in the past to unravel the cause majore of these incessant bloodletting have been released nor did any of the well connected instigators and financial backers/sponsors of this terrors been brought to book; and the government knows or at least have a faint idea of who these sleuth-anarchists are. 


Even the white paper on the penultimate Jos massacre which forced President Goodluck Jonathan to set up  an investigative panel is yet to be made public several months after they concluded their work despite presidential promises to timely do so. The president it would seem is pandering to political expediency and in order not to jeopardize his current political adventure by not releasing the findings of that investigative panel. Icheoku's recommended solution, in the absence of guaranteed security of lives and properties for some Nigerians within Nigeria, is to convene a national sovereign conference for the different nationalities therein yoked in Nigeria to revisit the terms of their continued co-habitation and decide what is the best way forward. But to continue to be delusional in sustaining the current arrangement whereby one section of the country continually visit mayhem on fellow countrymen and women with impunity is unacceptable. 


A country that cannot guarantee freedom of religious worship and security of lives and properties of all her citizens in whatever part of the country they may chose to reside is not a country properly so called and something has to give way - either things change for the better or the entity yields its contents. Enough is enough. Nigeria is not at war yet her citizens are dying in hundreds, being killed in the country and by fellow citizens and the government looks helpless and unable to stop the bleeding?


Icheoku says victims and targeted peoples of this recurring Northern Nigeria slaughtering deserve not to be so regularly traumatized in their own country and by their fellow citizens. Enough is enough! But the government's continued tolerance and accommodation of these northern Nigeria murderers by not decisively dealing with them as well as their sponsors is an implied call for complete anarchy in Nigeria. These victims and those victimized peoples of Nigeria reserve the right to defend themselves and it is about time they exercised that right; and respond in kind, in similar manner of an eye for an eye according to Mosaic Law. This crass and arrant nonsense must stop immediately or the country is sure to implode as there are certain limits to elasticity of human-being's tolerance. If these perpetrators do not want to live in a peaceful country, they should move out and move faraway to the caves of Toroborah Afghanistan, where their impetuous kind live; but they must leave other more peaceful, more productively engaged and more rational Nigerians alone. Icheoku says, enough of this recurring madness.

ISRAEL'S PRESIDENT MOSHE KATSAV IS A RAPIST, SAYS THE COURT.

 

The people of Israel through their court, has affirmed to the world that they had as a president, a man whose libido was so high he rapes women? Their court convicted their former President Moshe Katsav of various sexual offences including rape, indecent assault and sexual harassment of female subordinates; one of who worked as his (sexual)aide until she was fired because according to her complaint, she was tired of being a sexual object for the president. Icheoku says it appears the former president forgot too soon that hell knows no fury like a woman scorned otherwise he should have been more smart going about the dismissal his former sexual mistress. But what is it anyway with men of power and their inability to keep their whiny zipped up inside their pants, from America's President Bill Clinton to the other Jewish former New York governor Elliot Spitzer? Anyway one thing that came out of this conviction is that the law is no respecter of persons in Israel and that every person is equal under the law; unlike in Nigeria where such dalliances are privileged of the men of power and considered sanctified by the victims that till date, no one has yet prosecuted Olusegun Obasanjo for his incestuous liaison with his daughter in-law, Mojisola Olugbenga Obasanjo. It also appears that there is a permissive culture of sexual oppression and exploitation of women amongst some Israeli men which led one commentator to say concerning the guilty verdict of President Katsav, "the verdict delivered a mortal blow to the macho culture that turns women onto an object of despicable sexual exploitation in Israel." Icheoku considers this commentary too hard and very telling on Israeli men, which is now somehow conclusively buttressed with the rape conviction of an Israeli former first man, President Moshe Katsav for series of sexual offenses. It will be recalled that an earlier reached plea bargain was rejected as an unjust protectionist ploy to shield the president from prosecution. Convicted President Katsav, 66, who served as president of Israel from 2000 to 2007 now faces between 4 to 16 years imprisonment, barring any successful appeal of the verdict or a pardon from the authorities. Icheoku says one of the moral lessons taught by this conviction is for men in authorities to control sexual drive while in public office or authority and never to enrage anyone holding them on the balls, especially when that one is a woman! Finally, Icheoku wants to know whether the convicted Israeli president would be required to register as a sexual predator and sex offender upon the completion of his prison term?

COMRADE VLADIMIR PUTIN, THE MAN WHO RUNS RUSSIA?

Just thinking out loud, Icheoku queries who really is in charge in czarist Russia, a President Medvedev or Prime Minister Putin? Is it true that President Dimtri Medvedev is just a president in name only akin to a ceremonial presidency and that his supposed Prime Minister Vladimir Putin is the real man of power who determines what goes and how it goes in mother Russia? Is Medvedev beholden to Putin and holds his office at Putin's pleasure? Icheoku's sudden interest in who calls the shot in the former communist enclave is born out of the now extended prison stay levied on the former oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky on the prodding of the Russian authorities. 

While some commentators say Putin influenced the decision of the courts, others thought it was Russia's lawyer president Medvedev weakness and inability to reinvigorate an already supine judiciary that gave room for such manipulation of the courts, in attaching extra six years for a crime which took place about seventeen years ago and which has been to all intent and purposes prosecuted and for which Mr. Khodorkovsky has been in prison for the past eight years. But in Putin's Russia, what Comrade Putin wants, Comrade Putin gets and now he wants Khodorkovsky put away until the 2012 Russia's election when he hopes to remount the saddle again; thus getting back the office which Medvedev is currently holding in trust on his behalf. Should this scenario play itself out in 2012 as is widely anticipated, Russia would have formally transformed itself into a full fledged banana republic where one man calls the shot. Icheoku hopes it does not happen and that Medvedev will develop enough political real estate and muscle as well as courage to emasculate Comrade Putin or even fire him from office before then; afterall he is the president and Putin is supposed to be serving under his pleasure as his prime minister? 

However, Icheoku is not interested in Mikhail Khodorkovsky or his current travails, but makes bold to say that anyone who goes to the devil to accept some favors must be prepared to remain at the devils beck and call; and if in doubt, he/she should watch the movie, Devil's Advocate. If you accept a bequeath from the devil, then be prepared to accept the terms of that gift since the devil does not give any free meals; and in defiance, have the big hammer from hell descend on you to knock you down worse than you were before the encounter. This is the extent Icheoku understands the underlying reasons of the political schenanigans playing itself out before the world with the current six more years of elongation of prison term for Mr. Khodorkovsky. 

The Russian mafia led by Putin made him an emergent oil billionaire overnight and they expected him to at least show some gratitude and a little respect by staying off the political trails; but like all money people all over including Nigerian MKO Abiola, he thought that his wealth can see him through. But boy was he wrong and he was drastically burnt in the process with all his wealth taken in the same flash as it was handed over to him. Mikhail Khodorkovsky forgot too soon how he became stupendously rich and that somebody made it possible by skewering the system to favor him. He also forgot that the somebody who made him can also unmake him and that somebody is still around and in the Kremlin and that somebody's name is PUTIN. Now you know the veracity of the Igbo adage that 'the okro shrub can never grows taller than the planter who planted it;' get it. But this still does not conclusively answer the Russian political question, who is really and actually in charge in Russia; except you bought into the western media talking-point that Vladimir Putin is it.

JIM JABLON, A BIBLICAL DANIEL IN A DEN OF LIONS?

 

Icheoku was thinking that biblical stories were exclusive of that times until we ran into this story of a Florida man who has recreated the story of Daniel in a den of lions? Icheoku does not know or pretend to comprehend the science of this domestication of wild killer lions; but Mr Jablon of Spring Hills Florida knows best and we can only wish him a full and complete command and control of his environment as well as his playmates/guests!

GBAGBO, HIS CUP IS NEARLY FULL.

Icheoku says Ivory Coast hold-over President Laurent Gbagbo won't be laughing for long very soon, as the threat of force is now more likely than not to come to fruition now that he has rebuffed all entreaties to surrender the presidency. The only regret is that Gbagbo is planning to commit mass suicide with a lot of Ivoriens, who will die for nothing trying to defend his indefensible claim to the presidency. Icheoku asks, where are those agents from Langley who served Nigerian MKO Abiola some "sweet" tea? They should infiltrate Gbagbo's kitchen staff and make him some milk-shake or hot cocoa and put him to sleep forever. That way the current political imbroglio in Ivory Coast would just disappear without the added cost of first destroying his rag-tag army before getting rid of him. Icheoku calls it the "Abiola Tea Solution"; and this is exactly what Dr. Democracy ordered to be administered on the Ivorien strongman Laurent Gbagbo. Just get rid of the scumbag, wanna be sit-tight leader and spare the blood of innocent Ivoriens. Another typical case of those whom the gods wants to kill he first make mad; and the world will soon know who laughs last.

GBAGBO, NO MORE NEGOTIATIONS WITH A DICTATOR!

 

"All dictators are alike and all dictators will not negotiate their departure — they are made to leave," - Guillaume Soro, Ivorien Prime Minster. Icheoku agrees that dictators are impervious to reason and therefore parties should end further attempt at persuading this wanna-be sit tight former president Laurent Gbagbo forthwith and set the machinery in motion to forcibly evict him out of the government house in Abidjan. There is really nothing to negotiate with a man who lost an election and has been told in unmistakable words that he is an illegitimate, hold-over president and must go. Icheoku asks where are the bombs as more delay gives Gbagbo impetus to dig in and presume he has something to defend

GBAGBO SCOFFS 'THREAT OF LEGITIMATE FORCE', ECOMOG HOSTILITIES NOW!

 

Icheoku says the hold-over president of Ivory Coast Laurent Gbagbo must, should and have to go and without any negotiated pre-conditions whatsoever. To accommodate such will only succeed in bolstering and encouraging other sprouting Mwai Kibakis and Robert Mugabes of Africa to always reject the will of their people, the electorates and refuse to cede power when voted out. 

So far ECOWAS is following the Ivorien political impasse as is expected of any regional power bloc or pressure group and must now that the de-facto president Gbagbo has thumbed his nose on them, follow through with their threat of force. What is needed now is for their diplomats to lobby the United States of America and France for logistics and weapons to do the job that needs to be done and immediately. Gbagbo's threat of taking foreign nationals living in Ivory Coast hostage or expelling diplomatic staff is a no brainier and must not operate to attenuate the military option. 

This sit-tight wanna-be scumbag has been in power for 10 long years and Icheoku wonders what else he wants to prove therein in Abidjan; except as he shamelessly intoned there are other African leaders who have been in power for ages without legitimacy and you now see what is driving his obstinacy and refusal to yield power. He just wants to become another African henchman in the mold of Hosni Mubarak, Moummar Ghaddafi, Robert Mugabe and of late Mwai Kibaki. A highly noted Mafiaoso once said, never make a threat unless you are willing and capable of carrying it through; so ECOWAS chairman President Jonathan of Nigeria must now show cause to remind Gbagbo that if only Sadaam Hussein had listened to international entreaties to quit, may be he would be alive today and on an exile somewhere, living out his old age. But dictators everywhere always believe that somehow they will extricate themselves from any given woven yarn. 

Icheoku calls on ECOWAS to immediately fire some warning shots across the bow of former president Gbagbo today. Or does Gbagbo need a direct talking, unscripted Olusegun Obasanjo to be sent to him to drum the message right into his cranium before he can understand the seriousness and urgency of the time. Icheoku calls on ECOMOG and even the CIA to take this suicidal power-hungry maniac out now and not allow him take down Ivory Coast with him into the abyss! Gbagbo must go and now and unconditionally without any landing cushion or parachute!

OLD MAN WINTER STRIKES EAST COAST.

 

Icheoku marvels at the awesome power of mother-nature as nothing and nobody or authority controls what it does. This car was illegally parked in a no parking zone at her insistence and was supposed to be ticketed; but hey who will be the responsible party assuming the parking maid para-glides her way there to write up a parking ticket? Or is it a case of buried alive in a pack of powder?

MERRY XMAS TO YOU, ICHEOKUANS!

Baby-Jesus in the manger the story goes and his birth is the reason we celebrate today. It is Christmas and so have yourself a merry happy Christmas. Icheoku loves you all fans and visitors!

CHIEF (DR) ALEXANDER EGEMASI EMEZIEM, KSM; DEATH OF A COMMUNITY'S GIANT!

CHIEF (DR) ALEXANDER EGEMASI EMEZIEM, KSM

The  family of Chief (Dr.) Alexander Egemasi Emeziem of Obibii-Nguru, Aboh Mbaise Local Government Area, Imo State, Nigeria, announces with a heart-filled with sorrow but joy for a meritorious life well spent, the passing away of their dearly beloved father, husband, grand-father, father in-law, brother, uncle and patriarch of the Emeziem family, Chief (Dr.) Alexander Emeziem, Knight of Saint Mulumba. Chief Emeziem died in the United States of America of old age related infirmities, complicated by diabetes; he was 81 years old.

A noted second republic politician/businessman, Chief Emeziem was a commissioner under the late Governor Samuel Onunaka Mbakwe NPP government of then Imo State from 1979 to 1983; and variously held different portfolios as Commissioner in charge of Ministry of Public Utilities; Ministry of Finance; Ministry of Lands, Survey and Urban Development as well as Ministry of Establishment respectively. 

During his early days before venturing into politics, Chief Emeziem variously worked as a teacher, a banker, an oil industry executive and rose to become regional Manager for British Petroleum (BP) in Northern Nigeria region. He left BP and went into private business from where he joined politics. To his credit as a politician and commissioner were series of infrastructural developments including several regional water projects, rural electrification and the establishment of three independent power stations, including Izombe and Amaraku Power Stations in Imo State. He also facilitated the formation of Progress Bank of Nigeria PLC. When the military junta led by Muhammadu Buhari interrupted Nigeria's democracy in 1983, Chief Emeziem was one of the many politicians that were clamped down in detention by the junta which lasted for 22 months before he was released without any charges, having being found  clean as a wind driven snow by various military investigative tribunals which looked into various politicians stewardship. Thereafter he went back to business spreading into real estate acquisition and development, haulage and manufacturing.  Chief Emeziem was a respected community leader in Nguru and environs, a benefactor, a philanthropist, a visionary, a church patron and above all a very meek and humble man; who in 2004 set up the 'Chief Alexander Emeziem Foundation' which gives educational grants and scholarships to indigent peoples of his area. Chief Alexander Emeziem will be sorely missed by his wife Chief (Mrs) Maria Emeziem and surviving children Charles, Kenneth, Vincent, Alexander, Anthony, Augustina and Florence; as well as his Nguru community, friends, beneficiaries and people who were lucky to have been touched by his most benevolent large heart. His life is a definition of a fruitful fulfilled life well lived; and he left an indelible footprint on the sand of time while his sojourn on this mother earth lasted.  His long drawn burial proceedings commences in the United States of America on December 29, 2010 with a requiem high mass/viewing by 4.00pm at Cathedral of Christ the Light, Grand Lake Merit, 2121 Harrison Street Oakland, California 94612. It will be followed by the  celebration of his life/wake-keeping by the Nigerian community in Northern California and their friends by 6.00pm at Bayshore Pavilion, 2203 Mariner Square Loop, Alameda, California 94501. His remains will be flown back to Nigeria thereafter to continue the process of his transition to his ancestors; which will climax with his interment in the new year at his country home, on January 7, 2011.  One mourner who described his loss as irreparable said that the late Chief Emeziem "was very religious and always one of the most trusted, enterprising and generous individuals around. His people of Nguru as well as their local community's Holy Trinity Catholic Church will greatly miss him". Icheoku says if to die is to continue to live in the hearts of those people who love you, then Chief Alexander Egemasi Emeziem is not dead but have merely transited to a higher plain, from where he will continue to overshadow his family, his people and countless number of well-wishers, mourners and beneficiaries with abundance good love and protection from On-High. Icheoku says, Adieu Chief! RSVP Charles Emeziem - 510.385.5912 Kenneth Emeziem - 510.772.2822.

GBAGBO'S REMOVAL, NIGERIA SHOULD ASSERT ITSELF!

 

Icheoku says an opportunity calls for President Jonathan of Nigeria to become an international statesman by leading the current effort to shove former President Gbagbo of Ivory Coast out of power. The defeated former president is boxed in and merely clinging to power; so any little push or threat of it is all that is required for this African wanna-be sit tight leader to turn tail and scurry from Abidjan. 

Therefore President Goodluck Jonathan should give the former Ivorien president an ultimatum - a maximum of two weeks to vacate the seat of power or have the Nigeria fighting machine sent his way to destroy his rag-tag army and capture him alive for trial at The Hague. If he is even killed in the process, good riddance! Hundreds of Ivorien people have already died as a result of his obstinacy and he could be held accountable for their loss as an enemy of democracy who would rather see Ivory Coast go down in flames than concede a lost election. President Jonathan should therefore re-assemble ECOMOG and with it set Ivory Coast free of this impending despot and thereafter reassert Nigeria as the regional power in West Africa. 

However, President Jonathan must first extract a binding promise from France, America and the United Nations to foot the tab of such international assignment, both in weapons and cost of the exercise; - remuneration and upkeep of soldiers as well as logistics of moving equipment and troops must be underwritten by these interest groups before Nigeria embarks on such nation saving mission to Abidjan. Icheoku is confident that former President Gbagbo, faced with a threat of Nigeria fighting forces and the prospect of becoming a war criminal will drop his claim to the Ivorien presidency like a hot-potato. President Jonathan, this one is for you and an opportunity never called this rosy!

WIKI LEAKS JULIAN ASSANGE, HIV POSITIVE?

 

Icheoku asks how can a sexual liaison between two or more consenting adults possibly become an assault? This becomes imperative in view of the Swedish authorities impending charges against WikiLeaks Julian Assange, who claimed that both women-complainants are among the numerous women who in his own words, 'have been very generous with their bodies to him'. 

According to the story, his condom broke during one of the encounters resulting in the assault claim. Icheoku says the only way consensual sexual contact between two adults can become an assault is where the resulting sex was not that which was bargained for or consented to, like an HIV positive person not disclosing his status prior. Admitted that the fear of such infection suffices; but what could have founded such fear in the two women? Does it mean that WikiLeaks Julian Assange is HIV positive or suffering from some other sexually transmitted disease (STD) to trigger this sexual assault charges. Icheoku hopes Julian will make himself available to the Swedish authorities asap and clear his name as well as exonerate himself of these charges.

PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA GETS IT DONE, HE KEEPS HIS PROMISES!

With just a stroke of a presidential pen, the previously 'archaic and retrogressive' don't ask don't tell military policy finally came to an end. It ceases to be the law of the land and in its place is a new policy which could aptly be called "Ask N' Tell" policy; and now our brave men and women who happened to have different sexual preferences can now openly profess their love as they heroically face-down our enemies. President Barack Obama signed into law the legislation repealing the policy which the House of Representatives and the Senate had earlier voted for. Icheoku says, this president gets it and he gets it done! Well done Obama and thank you for equalizing the battle field for all its players. Fair minded and conscionable Americans shall never forget, as 2012 hurries into focus. It is been a wonderful two years of milestone accomplishments with you in the saddle of power. Icheoku says, have yourself a jolly merry XMAS Mister President.

DIEGO FERNANDEZ CEVALLOS, FREED AFTER 7 MONTHS AND A KING'S RANSOM.

It would appear that kidnappers in Nigeria are afterall, still very amateurish, dirt-cheap and not daring enough compared with the kidnappers in Mexico. There a wealthy and powerful high profile lawyer and politician, an influential member of the president's party, a senator as well as a former presidential candidate was nabbed and held for seven long months until a king's ransom of $20 million was finally negotiated and paid for his release in what was described as the highest of the high profiles and most brazen kidnapping in Mexico's recent history. The fact that the negotiation lasted that long is a testament to the Mexicans trouncing their Nigerian counterpart in the mastery of the game and it safely ended without the shedding of blood. There was no shaking on their part; but a steady and surely footed bandits turning into ransom negotiators?

Diego Fernandez de Cevallos who was freed Monday, December 20, 2010 said that as far as the kidnappers are concerned, he being a man of faith, he has forgiven them; but as a citizen, he thinks the authorities in Mexico have some work to do to stem the tide. Icheoku says if it takes such a high profile case to awaken the Mexican authorities, may be those Nigerian kidnappers should target those high profile politicians in Abuja and elsewhere instead; and leave poor innocent and hardworking Nigerian women and children alone. A statement by Cevallos' kidnappers said that he is "corrupt and arrogant" and that his kidnapping was "a blow against the plutocracy and an act of reparation." Icheoku can understand the frustration of many hungry people in a highly corrupt country but does not in anyway support or approval of such criminality of kidnapping for ransom or any other untoward means to achieve a means or make a statement.

It would be recalled that the family of Cevallos during the negotiations for his released urged the Mexican authorities to "stay out of this process in order to help the negotiation." Icheoku says they probably understood the game better than the government, and what it takes to play to win and did not want any government meddling with the negotiations. Icheoku congratulates Cevallos for making it through the seven months his ordeal lasted and hopes he will write a book about his experience to assist other would-be kidnap victims live through it and survive to write or tell their own stories.

RODGERIO DAMASCENA, A BRAZILIAN, OUTDOES NIGERIAN IBRAHIM BABANGIDA!

 

When one thinks that Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida was out of his mind when he killed his best-man of his wedding, Mamman Vasta; here comes Rodgerio Damascena of Recife, Brazil who in addition to killing his bestman also killed his newly wed wife as well as himself. Icheoku says this world is full of crazed-out people and Nigerians might start treating their evil-genius as a case of a psychopath that needs help instead of the current derision with which he is treated by decent Nigerians. 

According to the story, the newly wed man announced to guests at the wedding reception that he had a surprise for them before he started shooting his victims with a gun he brought hidden to the wedding. What made him snap no one knows, but it is possible he was not prepared for the societal imprisonment that is marriage or he felt caged, trapped into what he cannot handle; ensnared by a scheming wife? Anyway, the rest as they say is now history; as Ibrahim Babangida now has a comrade in best-man's killing?

EQUALITY AT LAST, ASK N' TELL IS THE NEW POLICY!

 

Her wish as well as millions of other gay Americans, particularly servicemen and women, just came through as the Senate voted 65-31 to repeal the discriminatory 1993 "Don't ask don't tell" law. Now the policy has changed from "don't ask, don't tell" to "ask n' tell" and henceforth, all brave men and women who prefer same sex can now openly enlist and serve their country, freely as newly emancipated gay service men and women of America's military. Their shackles have been broken and the fog of unacceptability lifted from their shoulders with this legislation. According President Obama, "It is now time to close this chapter in our history. It is time to recognize that sacrifice, valor and integrity are no more defined by sexual orientation than they are by race or gender, religion or creed' and Icheoku concurs. But whether the already dismissed 13, 500 homosexual service personnels would be allowed to re-enlist or return to the military is not known at this time; but one prays it is the case as what one does in the battle field should not be equated with his private moments or preferences. Icheoku congratulates the 55 Democrats, 2 Independents as well as 8 thoughtful Republicans who made the passage possible. Icheoku says to gay people of America, President Obama has now made you a firm believer and it shows what is possible when both parties work together in order to solve real problems. President Obama, this congratulations is for you for yet scoring another humongous victory with this repeal now added to your accomplishment in office. What a wonderful and beautiful Christmas present to give to the gay-world.