TESLIM FOLARIN, ANOTHER NIGERIAN 'SENATOR-KILLER' FROM ODUDUWA-LAND?

Icheoku says the only reason crime thrives in Nigeria is because there is no adequate  punishment or dire consequence for past offenders, to serve as deterrent to potential criminals. Senator Iyiola Omisore killed former Attorney General Bola Ige and instead of being marched to the gallows was rewarded with a senate seat of Osun East Senatorial District at the Nigeria Senate by Olusegun Obasanjo. Now lesser than five years later, another 'untouchable-feeling' senator from Oyo State has murdered yet another Nigerian. Senator Teslim Folarin is in custody, charged with the murder of Chief Lateef 'Eleweomo' Salako. 

But unbeknownst to Folrain, another man whose name is not Olusegun Obasanjo is now occupying the seat of power at Aso Rock and wants to do good by and for Nigerians. That man, President Goodluck Ebelesimi Jonathan has washed off his hands of protection and would not intervene in this heinous murder and in order to allow the law to take its full course. As a result, the murderer-senator has been arrested, questioned, detained and now stands indicted for the crime of murder and is still locked up in jail awaiting formal arraignment and trial. Icheoku commends President Jonathan for staying out of the way of justice in this criminal indictment of a senate leader; unlike his mentor Olusegun Obasanjo who is no respecter of the law and who has penchant of perverting justice. Equality of Nigerians under the law can only come to fruition in this manner wherein every Nigerian sees the law as all-covering, and that no Nigerian is above the law. 


The investigating police officers established a prima facie case against Senator Folarin based on confessions obtained by the trigger-pulling police orderlies assigned to the senator, who said that Senator Teslim Folarin ordered them to open fire on Chief Lateef 'Eleweomo' Salako, killing him instantly at Oyo State PDP state congress. This confession led the police to charge Folarin with three other accused persons with conspiracy to commit murder and committing murder by shooting the victim with a gun. Senator Folarin is currently in jail, awaiting formal arraignment in the High court as the Magistrate court of first instance declined jurisdiction based on existing first instance hearing of such capital criminal matters in the High courts. His case was continued till January 14, 2011. 


It would be recalled that former Attorney General Bola Ige was murdered in nearly similar circumstances by Senator Iyola Omisore, through thugs masquerading as bandits and Olusegun Obasanjo helped with the cover-up; as he resisted the police from thoroughly investigating the case or prosecuting the accused. But Folarin was not as clever, he thought that his high office in Nigeria as the Nigeria Senate Leader will provide him with a cover and legislative privilege and that he will go Scot-free; hence the blatancy with which he ordered the daylight extra-judicial execution of the former motor-park tout turned transport workers union leader, Chief Lateef Eleweomo Salako. It will also be noted that another motor park tout, Lateef 'Tokyo' Akinsola, previously had a fall out with the late Eleweomo, and Icheoku wonders aloud whether this final end-game was a continuum of that face-off manifested. May be as a conspirator which led another motor park tout, Mukaila 'Auxillary' Lamidi, the slain thug's deputy to take the laws into his hands in wrecking havoc on property owned by Tokyo. Icheoku says this is a definite case of thuggery gone awry in Yoruba Western Nigeria and 'Operation Wee-etie' is still very fresh in mind.

Some sympathizers have called the speed at which the investigation was completed, judging from the usual sluggish pace of Nigeria Police, a political jobber on steroids. Icheoku admonishes, that somebody witnessed someone pull a trigger at another's behest; so why waste time in prosecuting a perpetrator who was literally caught in the act? Unlike when Senator Iyiola Omisore (here right) murdered former Attorney General Bola Ige and Olusegun Obasanjo helped him escape justice and instead rewarded him with a senate seat from which the court of appeal has now ejected him. 


What goes around comes around and Icheoku is hopeful that someday, this other senator-killer would also be brought to justice. Luckily there is no statute of limitation for murder and so, Senator-killer Omisore should not feel it is already Uhuru for him over the murder of Uncle Bola Ige! An injustice to one is injustice to all, so if not today, it might be tomorrow; but the soul of Cicero of Oke-Onaa must be assuaged and allowed to rest in peace. The current freedom being enjoyed by Omisore is repugnant to justice and fair-play; and the sooner he joined his comrade in murder, Teslim Folarin, in the slammer, the better! 


But one good thing out of this ugly saga is that the rich and mighty in Nigeria have finally been placed under the laws of the land, as a previously untouchable senate majority leader is now cooling off in jail while awaiting trial. It will be recalled that the first of such Nigerian untouchable to be brought under the law is the still imprisoned Bode George, a former Minister and PDP chieftain/chairman for the Yoruba South-west. Such novel jurisdictional authority and superiority of the law over these class of Nigerians, gives some flicker of hope that all is not yet completely lost in the Nigeria project hopeless. At last it feels and looks like God is finally ready to take control in Nigeria as a Senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria is now sharing a space with some common criminals, whose ranks he joined when he ordered that trigger to be pulled. 


Icheoku says it does not matter what the final dispositive outcome of the case becomes, since it might still come under the boots of the authorities in Nigeria in order not to embarrass one of their own; but the deed is done and there is no putting the genie back into the bottle. The gist of the matter is that Nigeria Senate Majority Leader Teslim Folarin has been arrested and indicted for committing the crime of murder; this is what is important - that such a high-up Nigerian could be brought under the law and made to answer for his deeds, period. We at Icheoku.com do not believe Teslim Folarin's prosecution is political or a witch-hunting as is being alleged by his sympathizers; no, it was someone who acted out under a feeling of untouchable arrogance saturated with the usual Nigerian high-up's impunity. But we shall see how it all ends; as Icheoku, the victim's family, Nigerians and the rest of the world are tuned in and watching!

TED WILLIAMS, A HOMELESS MAN WITH A GOLDEN VOICE!

 

A television news-reporter was searching for any news item and decided to interview a homeless man who was panhandling on the corner of highway I-71 and Hudson Street in Cleveland Ohio. The interview was posted on U-Tube and behold a homeless prodigy was discovered. 

In his baritone voice gift from On High, he put up an act which millions have since heard and convinced that a talent was wasting as a homeless man in America. Employers came calling and today, the once homeless man has a roof over his head and a means to maintain a lifestyle which he could not dream of last December 31, 2010. 

Icheoku says his American dream has now finally come true; given credence to the saying never say never. Just like James Bond 007 gave the world the man with the golden gun, now from the streets of Cleveland Ohio has emerged a man with the golden voice; who some have described as Geraldo Rivera's (FoxNews Geraldo at Large) body-double? Congratulations, Ted 'the Voice' Williams!

SALMAN TASEER, ASSASSINATED PUNJAB-PAKISTAN GOVERNOR IS A HERO!

Loyalty in that part of the world must be suspect; first it was the late Indira Gandhi of India that was killed by the man assigned to protect her, a Sikh bodyguard, worried-sick over the Amritsa Temple raid in 1984. Twenty-seven years later, another high ranking government official, the governor of Punjabi Province in Pakistan was similarly assassinated by his Muslim bodyguard, concerned over his stand against Pakistani blasphemy law. Icheoku asks, what is wrong with these fanatics inhabiting that region of the world. 


One thing certain however is that an idea is immortal, death-defying and murderers can kill a messenger but never the message once it has gotten out. Our Lord and Master Jesus Christ was similarly killed (Judas Iscariot is his inside man) to silence him; but he became greater in death which was climaxed by his resurrection. Martin Luther King was killed for his ideas that every man deserves some dignity irrespective of the color of his skin and today, he has grown larger than life and is celebrated around the world; especially his speeches. Icheoku therefore says, the coward of the country, the Pakistani dog that pulled the trigger that snuffed the life out of the governor of Punjabi for speaking out against an unjust law of blasphemy, a very subjective and selectively applied law against Christians by their Muslim overlords does not deserve the air of 'infamous fame' he is currently receiving in Pakistan. He deserves to be thrown to the jackals or a pack of hyenas, to properly  mete out to him an appropriate punishment, for his sins of the mind and for betraying the trust of a man who entrusted his life to his hands. 

The killing of Governor Taseer in a Kohsar public shopping center Islamabad now becomes the second high profile public assassination in Pakistan following the 2007 Benazir Bhutto assassination in her vehicle at a political campaign rally. A gentleman and a scholar whose liberal views is ofter times in dagger-drawn conflict with conservative Islamists, Governor Taseer was opposed to the Pakistani blasphemy law which zealots have wrongfully exploited over the years for vendetta. A blasphemy law which sprang back to the center stage last November when a court sentenced a Christian mother of four, Asia Bibi, to death by stoning; following a community dispute wherein her traducers accused her of uttering words considered unedifying and blasphemous of their Prophet Mohammed. It is instructive that a Christian is here being accused by Muslims of blaspheming their Islamic prophet Mohammed and you wonder why the law should be applied to a none-believer? Icheoku says this law was unreasonably applied to a Christian not minding what her believes were and whether or not she recognized her words to mean much as to be blasphemous of Prophet Mohammed. Icheoku asks, when shall Christians all over the world stop turning the other cheek for a 70 by 70 slap by these Muslims? When are Christians going to honor their manhood by standing up and defending what they too believe in, instead of the current turning of tail, whenever faced with Muslim extremism? When shall enough really become enough or must there be a war of religions in this world first, before these extremists learn to co-habit with people of other faith or different mindsets? 

Icheoku hopes that the late governor's prophesy of being 'the last man standing over the blasphemous law' shall not come to pass and that other brave men and women of Pakistan shall stand up and be counted as they face down these cowards who terrorize them. They must not let the animal, Malik Mumtaz Hussain Qadri, succeed as his ranting seem to suggest that "Salman Taseer is a blasphemer and this is the punishment for a blasphemer". The people of Pakistan must let Qadri and his co-extremists know that they do not represent the popular views in Pakistan and that they do not have the right or power to dictate who is what in Pakistan. This assassination has added to the political instability and volatility that has become part of life in Pakistan as well as the general Himalayan neighborhood; but life must go on. Governor Salman Taseer must not be allowed to die in vain; his idea for a more liberal Muslim Pakistan must endure which he has now paid for and purchased with his blood. Icheoku says, Governor Taseer is a hero and did not die in vain;  he lives on in the minds of all men and women of good intentions; men and women who would rather see a just and fair world enthroned; and who would always speak up and out against evil in order to engineer it. Adieu Taseer!

IGBO PEOPLE OF SOUTH-EAST, PRESIDENT JONATHAN IS NOT YOUR CANDIDATE!

If President Jonathan is 'Igbo' and runs in 2011; and Igbos also wants the presidency in 2015, where is the logic? Does it mean that the Igbos wants to continue with the presidency in 2015 long after one of them, President Jonathan, has ran in 2011; or that Jonathan's 'Igbo-ness' is not the correct one and is different from the real Igbos that desire the presidency in 2015? 

This is the conflicting fork on the road which the Igbos must themselves internally resolve before it is too late and jeopardize their chances in 2015. They must elect to either disown this Jonathan's claim to Igboness by unequivocally refuting that Jonathan is one of their own or they have to accept that his running in 2011 has already fulfilled that ornate desire by them to occupy Aso Rock. But the current prevarication by some Igbo people that Jonathan is Igbo and at the same time say that the Igbos wants the presidency in 2015 is equivocation of the highest dumbness. It is an 'either' 'or' situation but definitely not an 'and' and this is the challenge facing Igbo political leaders as they cast their lot with various presidential candidates this 2011 election season. 

Regrettably, the Igbos of the South-East are falling for the cheap propaganda that Jonathan is one of their own hence they must support him? Icheoku says the fallacy of this argument is that if Jonathan is "Igbo" and he gets elected in 2011, then he would have then served the Igbo term and thereby deflated the balloon of an Igbo presidency in 2015. His presidency, having taken out the sail from the Igbo agitation, the Igbos will have nothing to look forward to in 2015. It will amount to approbation and re-probation for the Igbo people to "again" want to the presidency in 2015, after "one of their own Jonathan" has already served in 2011. The Igbo people must therefore approach the issue of supporting President Jonathan in his opportunistic 2011 run with political professionalism, in view of what is in the best interest of the Igbo people. They must wisely man-up and let Jonathan and his South-South people know that the Igbo position is not borne out of hatred or lack of love for Jonathan or his people but strictly business - that Igbo's interest is paramount in molding or shifting their allegiances. 

Politics is not about sentimental or emotional outburst of love and affection or even loyalty; no, it is about protecting a peoples' interest and with it comes their bargaining power. So anything or anyone capable of jeopardizing the Igbo presidential agenda 2015, must be stopped at all cost; and treated for what it is - a threat which must be decisively crushed by the Igbos. President Jonathan's run in 2011 is such a threat and must be summarily sabotaged now before it becomes a clog in the wheel of their agenda. Jonathan's run is an existential threat which will greatly affect the chances of the Igbo people in 2015 and therefore it must be preempted, in order to make way for the Igbo 2015 dream to come true. In the movie Godfather, Mafioso Virgil Sollozzo in company of corrupt cop McRuskey in a dinner, while explaining to Micheal why his father Don Corleone was shot, said it was not because of malice or hatred that a hit was placed on the Don but because of purely business reasons? He maintained that his family loves the Don but that he is stopping them from a lucrative drug business, hence the decision to get him out of the way. In similar manner, Jonathan's 2011 must be got out of the way of Igbo 2015 agenda and NOW!

The Igbos should now emulate the people of the South-South themselves and align their forces correctly in the forth-coming presidential primaries 2011. The South-South people themselves have been aligning themselves with the North and disregarding the Igbo people for as long as Icheoku remembers, dating back to the first republic. The South-South sabotaged the Biafran war effort when they aligned with the federalists to embargo Biafra and equally fought on their side. The South-South also gave Dr. Nnamdi Azikwe the finger when they in 1978 aligned with the North's NPN against Zik's NPP. The issue of abandonment property also did not take place in the North or Yoruba South-West but in the same South-South; so the Igbos should by now know who their true friends in Nigeria are and with who their destiny truly lies. Look at Jonathan's cabinet, how many Igbo people occupy juicy positions, talkless of his inner cabinet of advisers and assistants. Even the former Minister Dora Akunyili, who was instigator in chief of his presidency, was not rewarded with any meaningful portfolio and was subsequently pigeonholed into a corner of near irrelevance by Ima Niboro, the presidential spokesperson before she resigned. IGP Onovo was forced out office and likewise Paul Dike the former chief of staff, Ernest Ndukwu of NCC, Ojo Maduekwe of Foreign Affairs and the list goes on and on. So in essence, the Igbos did not fair any better with "their own" in charge compared to under the late former president Umaru Yar'Adua.

Icheoku asks all those Igbo retards who are saying it is either Jonathan or nothing; and who are clamoring for a Jonathan's presidency in 2011, where is your sense of history and pride? Why must it be now that the South-South is warming up to and remembering that they have brothers among the people of the South-East, when they have been showing allegiances over the years to the core North and distancing themselves from the South-East Igbos? Icheoku asks why must it always be the Igbos who are asked to bend over backwards or down, and take it through the rear in order to build a united Nigeria? Every time and each time, the Igbos are the ones required to always to show some understanding in Nigeria and urged to support someone from somewhere else. Why is it always the Igbos that should love Nigeria so much and expected to make concessions including becoming the gypsies of Nigeria with nomadic homes every where in order to foster unity among Nigerians? Why must it be the Igbos that are developing other sections of the country and always being easily short-changed and compromised at every turn.  Now they are once again being asked to support Jonathan in 2011 and by necessary implication foreclose on their 2015 run?  instead of having enough courage to confront this their nemesis in chief in Nigeria. Icheoku says it is about time Igbos' developed a strong backbone to confront their nemesis-in-chief in Nigeria, their second-fiddle role, and assert themselves as equals; forcefully too if need be. 

The choice between Jonathan and Atiku is somewhat a Catch-22 for the "Project Igbo-extraction President of Nigeria 2015"; as either man's success at the polls will operate to defeat or at least dilute the 2015 Igbo presidential agenda. Both Jonathan and Atiku, because of their relative young age and zones of origin are sure to seek and subsequently insist on a second term in 2015. Jonathan will insist that he wants to use the opportunity to serve out the South-south turn and likewise Atiku, who will say that his northeastern zone is equally entitled to a second term. During his last meeting with conference of Governors, Jonathan was non-committal as to what happens when the 2011 term runs out. It is equally instructive that none of Jonathan's supporting Igbo folks have paused to ponder or ask Vice President Namadi Sambo what his political game-plan post 2011 is? Icheoku says it is highly delusional and naive for anyone or any Igbo-man to think that Vice President Sambo will just walk away from the plum job of a president after being president in the waiting as vice for just one term. Who in Sambo's shoes will not like to graduate into a full president and this is yet another missing puzzle piece in the 2015 Igbo agenda? 

It is a subject-matter difficulty, which Icheoku had hoped a north-western presidential candidate would have extinguished, so that the zonal rotation wheel can continue run smoothly, unencumbered. But is anyone in Igboland listening and hearing that neither Jonathan nor Atiku's successful candidacy in 2011 will be helpful to their 2015 cause; which would have made Gusau the best candidate, all circumstances considered. He is from the same north-western zone as YarAdua and would be too old to insist on a second term in 2015; also his northwestern zone would have been timed-out as agreed. The alternative presented by the current consensus candidacy of a northeastern Abubakar Atiku should therefore be embraced by the Igbo South East as the least of the two evil choices; and pray that Atiku will serve out the remaining one Northern term and hand the baton over to the Igbo South-East in 2015. 

This is the only possibility that might see Igbos through with their '2015 Project Produce Nigerian President'; as a Jonathan's presidency will make it highly impossible since there cannot be a concurrent South-South to South-East power transfer or successive presidency at the exclusion of the entire North. Such a South to South transfer of power will produce a lot of unintended consequences and it will defeat both the zonal agreement as well as any otherwise regional arrangement; so it will be fiercely resisted by the North. So the ball is on the court of Igbo people to currently articulate their political game-plan as the decision on who runs Nigeria from 2011 comes to a head with the coming PDP primaries. If the Igbo people want the presidency in 2015 that bad, they must see President Jonathan's attempt at usurpation in 2011 as a threat and therefore help in terminating it. President Jonathan's run in 2011 is detrimental to the 2015 Igbo presidential agenda and must be stopped. Icheoku says this is the only logical line of action by the Igbo South-East heading into the primaries as any other contrary permutation on this subject-matter, is akin to the tales told children, (akuko ana akolu Bia-ati, akukuo-iro) or tales by the moonlight!'

PRESIDENT JONATHAN, A JONATHAN WITHOUT A JONATHAN'S JUDGMENT?

A man who would have easily secured South-south's turn at the presidency when their turn comes and serve eight full years is completely risking everything just for an opportunistic four years and the risk of totally alienating the north forever. What a mere pot of porridge this Esau is willing to trade against the greater general good of his entire South-south region; and he is coveting what does not belong to him or his zone. 

And the people in unison hollered, 'behold at last a Jonathan has come to judgment.' The bible tells of 'a Jonathan which has come to judgment' to illustrate a sound, reasonable and sensible decision making; but Icheoku regrets that this particular Niger Deltan President Jonathan of Nigeria does not belong to the genre of the Jonathans contemplated in the bible. Were it otherwise, he would have since known that he is embarking the wrong horse as his current decision to usurp what was entrusted to him is rather of a very poor judgment. It will boomerang on the entire peoples of the South-south and possibly the entire Southern Nigeria region as power will eventually crawl itself back to the north and they might never relinquish it again and forever. 

A wise Jonathan would have respected the standing rule of his PDP on zoning and not run in 2011; thereafter in four years, he would have come back as a beloved and unopposed presidential candidate/president. Age is also still on his side, so the rush is explicable except to say he is being an irrational and intoxicated opportunist who has tasted power and finding it difficult to yield it. Icheoku calls on President Jonathan to think through his decision to run in 2011 including the ramifications; and advise himself accordingly. It is not too late to step-aside and having accomplished the Ibrahim Babangida push-aside, this is the most honorable thing to do. Once again, Icheoku calls on President Goodluck Jonathan to discontinue his divisive run for president in 2011 and let Nigeria's healing begin.


As for what Atiku said concerning those who make violent change in inevitable, Icheoku does not find anything treasonable in it. It is either those who are accusing him are ignorant or Atiku failed to properly context his quotation. He is not the originator of that statement which had been severally referenced by people all over the world including former American President Kennedy once, to buttress the need for orderly transfers of power from one elected official to another. Atiku only emphasised what every democracy loving person knows and prays for, that there be smooth transitions; he also used similar phraseology during the infamous Olusegun Obasanjo's third term debacle and no heavens fell then; so why now? Except of course a power-hungry Jonathan is looking for any reason to hang his opponent to dry and stop him from wrestling the seat of power from underneath his feet, Atiku made reference to an honest and harmless democracy-speak. Nigerians, President Jonathan has shown that he cannot be trusted with power, his conversion of north's turn at the presidency exemplifies this; and there is really nothing much to show for his one year in office to warrant the clamor and push in certain quarters to hand him yet another four years of unmerited term? President Goodluck Jonathan should therefore wait for his South-South's turn!

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.