NO BLOOD FOR JONATHAN, JONATHAN NOT A VAMPIRE!

Icheoku calls on all Nigerian politicians especially those presidential candidates to denounce thuggery, blood-letting and all forms of violence in the forthcoming April election. They should follow in the footsteps of President Goodluck Jonathan and call on their thugs and henchmen not to shed blood in their names. Icheoku commends President Jonathan for taking the initiative by warning that neither his ambition nor that of any Nigerian politician was worth the blood of any single Nigerian. So in one voice, may all Nigerian politicians declare "NOT IN MY NAME shall blood of innocent Nigerians be shed during the coming April 2011 election.

INTERNATIONAL MONETARY FUND WANTS ANEMIC NIGERIAN NAIRA DEVALUED FURTHER?

 Icheoku queries how far is too far and how can a man already on his back fall down again except into his grave? Otherwise how does one explain the International Monetary Fund demand that the Nigerian Naira which already trades at 150N to a dollar at official market and about 157N on the black market be further devalued.

Icheoku says it does not smell good nor sound encouraging for the IMF to be putting undue pressure on the infantile stabilizing democracy Nigeria to further weaken her currency or does IMF want Nigeria to become another Zimbabwe that its 1trillion dollars trades for 1USD? President Jonathan must not allow this and should resist such SAP-curse which Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida acquiesced to during his military interregnum. If President Jonathan cannot stand up to these anti-third world economies financial institutions, then he should step aside, get out of the way for a real man with some backbone to get into the saddle and face down this economic merchants of death. Not in our name Jonathan and Nigerians please say no to IMF new conditions!

A MESSAGE OF SUPPORT FROM ICHEOKU TO THE ARAB REVOLUTION!

To the brave people of the Arab world who are desirous of affecting a political change in their respective countries, Icheoku says to you do not waiver, do not falter. Revolutions come with a price and do not let the killing of a few of your own people deter you since this is the very instrument of cohesion that has sustained your despotic governments all this while. They are counting on your perceived cowardice that the moment a few of you are shot and killed, the rest will take to their heels. Icheoku wants you to prove them wrong and say to their mean faces, NOT THIS TIME. With a firm resolve, let them understand that a life in chains is no life at all; and that you might as well die trying to live free than to accept the fate imposed by one man's greed for power. So from Algeria to Libya to Bahrain to Iran to Saudi Arabia and all those other places on earth that have kept her people in bondage, Icheoku says rise up people and take your destinies in your hands! Like those brave Tunisians and Egyptians who sent Ben Ali and Mubarak away after such a long stay in power, you can as well send your own despots packing - YES YOU CAN! It can be replicated in your country and it is your responsibility to get it done, GOODLUCK and GOD'S SPEED!

LIBYA SHALL BE FREE, WHETHER OR NOT GADDAFI WANTS IT.

 Icheoku is in solidarity with the brave people of Libya, who following in the footsteps of their Arab-brothers in Tunisia and Egypt, are demanding that Muammar Gaddafi steps down. After 42 long torture-filled years, one would have expected the insanely crazed-out Gaddafi to take the next available flight out of Tripoli into exile now that he still have the window of opportunity. But like the saying goes, those whom the gods want to kill, he first make them mad and is possible the once strongman of Libya might already be in Cuckoo-land? Therefore it does not matter how vocal Gaddafi's rebuttal is and how bloody his present attempt to put the genie back into the bottle might be; and whether those Libyan protesters are under the influence of Osama Bin Laden or hallucinatory drugs infused with their coffee and milk, the people of Libya have spoken and they want their country back; so GADDAFI OUT!

MOUMMAR GADDAFI, CORNERED, NOW PLAYING DICTATOR USUAL FINAL SWAN SONG SCRIPT.

Icheoku says the end is near for the 42 year old regime of Col Moummar Gaddafi. The tell-tale signs are there for any observer and follower of the current Arab Revolution sweeping across Arab North Africa and Middle East to see. The pattern playing out now in Tripoli were preceded by that of Tunis as well as Cairo where Ben Ali and Hosni Mubarak tried every trick in their sleeve to cling to power but failed anyways. First they tried to ignore the uprising, then they attempted to downplay the upheaval, they later followed it with some sort of conciliatory speech on their national television trying in vain to exude some sense of normalcy and being in control. When none of those approaches worked, they tried talking tough and threatening thunder and brimstone but as the people persisted in their demand for change, they spilled some of their blood thinking that would scare them. But when they saw a people willing to die to force a regime change; they scurried away - Ben Ali into exile in Saudi Arabia while Hosni Mubarak is under house arrest in the resort town of Sham el Sheikh, Egypt. Now Moummar Gaddafi is reciting the same tested but unsuccessful script trying to bluffing the will of the Libyan people, who tired of a one-man or should Icheoku say one family playing game on them for the past 42 years, have risen to demand for something new and different. Icheoku calls on the Libyan people not to falter and not to despair as their hour of dawn is fast approaching and demands a little perseverance. Like the Tunisians and Egyptians proved, it is doable even in Tripoli and please do not let the spilled blood of few patriots deter you; instead let it be the fuel to the revolution and when it succeeds, may be you can hang the mad-man of Tripoli to cleanse the land and atone for the innocents murdered. Away with Gaddafi, Viva Libya!

PRESIDENT ABDELAZIZ BOUTEFLIKA NEXT, AS ALGERIAN REVOLUTION BEGINS?

Icheoku calls on Algeria Trade Unions to wake up and smell the coffee. They should join hands with patriotic Algerians and the National Coalition for Democrat to make history by changing the political landscape of Algeria. Tunisia and Egypt showed that nothing is impossible for a willing populace and Icheoku hopes Algerians are as brave as their Tunisian and Egyptian Arab brothers and sisters. Now is not the time to sit on the fence as opportunity calls for every Algerian to rise up and make a difference. Icheoku says let the tinderbox go up in flame and NOW to remove President Abdelaziz Bouteflika from office! Saddam is gone; Ben Ali is gone and Mubarak is equally gone so what are other Arab countries waiting to also free themselves from their despotic leaders or are they not as brave and merely cowards of the Arab world? President Abdelaziz Bouteflaik OUT!

FREE AT LAST, FREE AT LAST, EGYPTIANS ARE FINALLY FREE!

Icheoku is happy with those sons and daughters of the Pharaohs who overthrew their present day Pharaoh Mubarak. Congratulations, admitted that no one knows what the day after Mubarak will turn out to be; but hey there will always be a way where there is a will.

AS EGYPT GOES, SO GOES THE ARAB WORD?

From left to right are exiled Ben Ali of Tunisia, soon to go Hosni Mubarak of Egypt, King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia and Kuwati's Jabar al Sabar. Icheoku asks were they all destined to fall as they are lined up in this picture - another case of nature playing its cruel joke on man? Anyway only time shall tell as Icheoku and the rest of the world continue to watch the unfolding history being made by the Arab people of North Africa, respectively 'deposing' their autocratic governments one country at a time!

MUBARAK OUSTED, EGYPTIANS WIN THE BATTLE OF WILL AND NERVE!

Just less than twenty four hours after his boast that he is not going anywhere, President Hosni Mubarak was eased out of power and he is now gone; GONE FOR THE GOOD OF EGYPT! Icheoku says good riddance. According to a statement by Vice President Omar Suleiman, “Mubarak has decided to relinquish the office of the presidency” and with those words several decades of despotism abruptly came to an end in the land of the Pharaohs.It would appear that Mubarak tried in vain to ride out the wave but would not get the support of the military to do the only thing left for him to cling to power - massacre those 'dissidents' at Tahrir Square and he had to go. This shows that his last statement to the nation was a ditch attempt to hang in there but the resolve of the people proved to be too much for that of one single old despot. Unconfirmed sources said Mubarak had already left Cairo for the Sinai resort of Sharm El-Sheikh enroute exile in Saudi Arabia to join his Tunisian counterpart Ben Ali.Icheoku says as Egypt now joins Tunisia as another liberated country in the Arab world, the tornado of change should move on to other countries in that region of the world and we pray it gathers awesome force enroute. With Iraqi Saddam Hussein gone; Tunisia Ben Ali gone and now followed by Egyptian Hosni Mubarak, the wind of change is packing much punch and must not cease or stop until the Middle East and North Africa are rid of these pestilence holding the region down. Icheoku have always supported the revolution but was inclined to accommodate Mubarak till September, provided it will ensure a smooth transition of power in Egypt as opposed to the madness that was witnessed in Iraq following Saddam's violent overthrow. But hey, Egyptians love their country and will do what is best for it. Congratulations Egyptians on your resolve which culminated into the overthrow of ages of a one-man madness; and should we rename the Revolution 2.0 the River Nile Revolution or what?

MUBARAK ACCEPTS GHONIM'S INFANTILE CHALLENGE, NOT GOING ANYWHERE!

President Hosni Mubarak did not mince words as he told thousands of protesting Egyptians and their Wael Said Abbas Ghonim who wants his immediate departure from office, that he is going no where. That whether they like it or not a man steeped and seasoned in warfare cannot be easily intimidated out of the Egyptian presidential mansion and not by ordinary Egyptian boys, many of whom were still pipe dreams when he ascended the seat of power in Cairo; first in 1975 as vice president and later in 1981 as president which office he has occupied till date.


Icheoku once again reiterates that the six months Mubarak is asking for is reasonable and that Mubarak should be accommodated with it instead of the long-drawn rough road those protesters are clamoring to travel. In our oped of day before, we called out Wael Ghonim as overreaching himself when he invited the Mubarak regime to kill him while insisting that Mubarak must  go and go NOW! Icheoku asks, now that Ghonim has not been killed by the regime and Mubarak is still in office or has rejected his call, what recourse for redress is then left for Ghonim and the rest of the Egyptian protest world? And how do they plan to pay their bills if they are not paid their wages as result of a long-drawn out society in disarray or don't those Egyptians pay bills?

In legal parlance what Mubarak did with his address to the Egyptian nation indicating his intention to 'adamantly remain in office is tantamount to calling their bluff and has now formally joined issues with those protesters calling for his immediate departure. According to him, 'I have said it before and in a plain unequivocal language that I am not going anywhere; Egypt is the land of my birth and in it shall I die and in its grounds shall my body be buried!' Icheoku says never has a bluff been called this blatantly, since the January 25th uprising begun than this frontal and direct challenge to the  protesting Egyptians main demand that Mubarak goes? Their demand in chief is that President Hosni Mubarak leaves office forthwith and Mubarak in turn just told them to stuff it; that he shall serve out his term of office. Now how would the protesting people of Egypt react now that someone strong and brave enough to call their bluff is the same person they want gone? Your guess is as goof as mine; but the end sure does not look good but very ominous. What happens thence is anybody's guess but Icheoku says the party with greater leverage shall force the issue to the fore, hoping for an opportunity to take a revenge.


Icheoku says what a clever speech delivered by Grandpa Mubarak, which was meant "to meet all the peoples demand" as earlier promised by the Egyptian military Chief. Meanwhile Icheoku likes and admires men of  great courage and President Hosni Mubarak is one of such men, a man who have severally put his life on the line for these protesting young pharaohs to have a place they can proudly call a home. The parties seem to be totally entrenched in their un-shifting positions and only the destruction of one by the other will sort the situation out at this point. Icheoku admonishes President Hosni Mubarak that the protest has lasted for too long and now is time to end it; either he cracks-down on it or he should meet the protesters demand and quit.  But to apparently remain powerless in a situation where exhibition of some power may be very productive shows a man whose regime is on life-support. Mubarak has no choice at this point but to decisively crackdown on the protesters if he wants to retain power and remain in office; and the other guys need to come up with something better to support their call for the early exit of the grandpa of the River Nile. But Egypt cannot remain in a state of anomie or a standing still position forever; something gonna give way and NOW!.

WAEL SAID ABBAS GHONIM, THROWS MUBARAK A GAUNTLET?

Icheoku says the time has never been so ripe and the moment rightfully so come, that for the survival of the quaking Mubarak led Egyptian government, it has to crackdown now and so hard on the stringing-out protesters in Tahrir Square. Such crackdown in order to shake the resolve of those protesters must be so bloody so red that Tienanmen Square will look like a child's play. The government of Mubarak must visit with vengeance the iniquities and angst of the past three weeks on these protesters; a crackdown so vicious in intensity that they will see enough red to scatter throughout the four corners of the globe? Such ruthlessness on fellow Egyptians is the only thing that will save the regime's skin, the resolve of these protesters considered; and in order to enable them survive what has come to be known as Revolution 2.0!


For the Mubarak regime to survive, now is the time to bring out the sledge-hammer to hammer down those 'dissidents' at Tahrir Square. Sixteen days and counting with each passing day emboldening the protesters and forcing the regime to sacrifice one thing after another; forgetting that until Mubarak is also sacrificed those protesters will not be placated. The regime have to shut out the country from the outside world and clean out Tahrir Square the best way despotic government knows best; such that blood will continue to flow until the River Nile once again turns red, but this time not because of a plague but with the blood of Egyptians massacred for standing up for democracy! That is the only other choice left for Mubarak here since he has decided to dig in and the protesters are not going anywhere either. According to the face of the protest, Wael Said Abbas Ghonim, President Hosni Mubarak should either go or have him (Ghonim) killed; and Icheoku hedges bet on the later? Icheoku says this sure sounds like two extreme positions which gives no room for manoeuvre or negotiation and this battle of the will is now more likely to boil over with an unpalatable result.

After watching Mr. Ghonim's interview with a CNN correspondent in Cairo, so many questions came rushing down our minds and begging for answers:- who is this man; what are his affiliations both political and religious; what were his antecedents of activism and why has Google suddenly become an activists nest, executives freely mixing business with politics? In the said interview, Ghonim threw caution to the winds, offering himself up to be murdered just to prove a point that he is not afraid to die for democracy? But unbeknownst to this guy, he is not in America or speaking to an audience that usually rationalizes issues and soon he may get what he bargained for and the heavens will not fall. Icheoku appreciates what he is doing and admires his bravery going up against an entrenched military offshoot government that has practically been in power since 1952; admitted Mubarak has been president for 30 years only, but people do such things with a lot of caution but not foolish bravado. Icheoku believes that Ghonim has made his point and would have joined the negotiation efforts currently underway; but for him to denounce all negotiations is an invitation for anarchy and no reasonable mind thinks the government in Egypt will allow him destroy the country or even the administration or even humiliate President Hosni Mubarak. The operating procedure usually is for the lesser of the mortals to go and this is our fears that soon and very soon, when the crack-down on the protesters eventually beins, that Mr Wael Said Abbas Ghonim might be specifically targeted as an expendable pawn in the unfolding game of chess playing itself out in Egypt.


One school of thought on the Egyptian crisis even went further to question how really grass-root is the uprising, that in a country of over eighty million people, only about one hundred thousand people are protesting the Egyptian government? To this group Icheoku says, they should prove their superiority by organising ten million man march throughout Egypt to showcase their strength in numbers and until then, the world is hearing the vocal chords of those few who are adamantly protesting Mubarak's open-ended stay in government. Icheoku's heart is with those protesting Egyptians but we believe that the cardinal objective of the protest was achieved when Mubarak agreed to step down and now all parties should join hands to ensure that he keeps his promise and in an orderly fashion. We condemn any attempt at unduly over-rushing the transition and having waited for thirty years, six additional months will not be too daunting a period to effectively trade Mubarak for someone else. A chaotic disorderly Egypt is not an option for Mubarak being rushed out 'NOW'; so Egyptians and the world must help him organize a transition that will endure and an Egypt that will be there for our future generations yet unborn. Nothing else matters, nothing else counts; not even one million martyr-ready Ghonims.


Icheoku says if the negotiation is called off, what other wind is left in the sail of those protesting the regime; since they neither have overwhelming disruptive numbers of protesters to shut down the government nor the instrument of cohesion to otherwise achieve their objective. There is already enough of Egyptian blood (302 people dead) shed so far to water the planted seed of democracy in Egypt and such obstinate foreclosing of any negotiation with the government, tantamount to hardening of the hearts (akin to the pharaoh who will not let go the Israelites, so it may be an Egyptian thing not to compromise) will only accelerate to more ugliness. January 25 till February 10 is such a long time for such a number of people to be protesting a government which has dug in and will only go on its term; so why bother thinking they will bulge now or just throw their honcho under the bus just because one Ghonim said so?  It must not remain this my way or the highway and Icheoku hopes these parties will hearken to a wise council and come to a meeting point instead of being strung out with their positions. Like his hero, Mohandas K. Gandhi, Ghonim has provoked a thought and Icheoku hopes he will ride out the storm and achieve democracy for the people of Egypt. 


Icheoku says, if like Ghonim himself conceded that Mubarak has "sacrificed a lot" for Egypt and ought to be treated with dignity, does it not therefore make sense to just indulge him with the six months he is asking for to make a seamless transition instead of rushing him out of the house he helped build like a common thief? There is some contradictions here and Icheoku only hopes that this Ghonim is not part of some clandestine organisation trying to cause unnecessary upheaval in Egypt. SIX MONTHS AIN'T TOO MUCH TO ASK. Icheoku admires the courage of Ghonim, trying to make a difference in Egypt and we wish him God's speed; however we would rather he does not take positions of extremism in this matter as there are principally two egos at play here - Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak's and that of the protesters. Let a common reachable goal be agreed now so that both parties retains something of value of their ego in order not to humiliate either. Simply put, both parties should try and meet each other half way and let there be peaceful transition. Icheoku warns that should negotiations fail and the government becomes agitated enough to become edgy or feel that they have been overly cornered, Egyptian blood will flow and the River Nile will turn red!

HILLARY CLINTON, SHOULD SHE BE FIRED FOR MISHANDLING THE EGYPTIAN CRISIS?

 

First it was 'Egypt was stable' followed by 'reform now' and later ' Egypt needs time to reform'. Icheoku asks which one of this is the real government foreign policy position with regards to the ongoing peoples power movement in Egypt? Icheoku says such mix-messaging is capable of misleading both President Mubarak and the Egyptian protesters as well as other Arab countries and their henchmen. Icheoku asks who is best to take a fall for this other than the person in charge of America's foreign affairs, Madam Hillary Clinton! But hey Madam Secretary of State was doing a superlative job until the Egyptian uprising caught the administration flat-footed and napping?

NIGERIANS SAY NO TO THEOCRACY, REJECT BUHARI/BAKARE TICKET.

Behold the two religious fanatics who want to rule Nigeria - one an Imam and the other a Pastor. But unbeknownst to them, Nigeria is a secular state which practices democracy and have no place for a government of religionists by religionists and for religionists. A theocracy which Imam Muhammadu Buhari and Pastor Tunde Bakare will foist on the country if they have their way. Icheoku says, reject this two zealots and tell them their places are in the Mosque and the Church but not Aso Rock.

SOUTH-SUDAN SOLUTION, MAY BE GOOD FOR OTHER AFRICAN COUNTRIES?

Icheoku congratulates the soon to be newest country in the world - Republic of South Sudan; which in an overwhelming landmark 99% votes, voted to secede from Northern Sudan. Icheoku says this plebiscite sure looks attractive as a panacea for the rest of other African countries with intractable internal strifes. Contraptions called countries, which were forcibly and against the will of the peoples, yoked together by uncaring colonial Europe despite their different and divergent peoples. The result is the never ending bloody internecine war ravaging the continent. Now at the slightest opportunity, black African South Sudan have voted to say enough for the oppression, subjugation and injustice being meted on them by their Arab Northern Sudan strange bed fellows. Icheoku wishes that other African countries could have similar opportunities, beginning with Nigeria!

BAKARE COMPARES HIMSELF TO JOSEPH THE DREAMER, VERY ARROGANT.

"But if you are a student of the Bible and you read your scriptures and the word of God, Joseph was a prisoner and not even a pastor. He came out of prison and his only experience was when he was in his father’s house at the age of 17 and then he was sent into slavery. His only experience at resource management was human resource, material resource that he gathered in the house of Potifer. From there, he was lied against; he was sent to prison, and he was never a lawyer or a pastor and he rose out of prison to become a world class ruler." - Pastor Tunde Bakare on his experience to serve as Imam Buhari's vice president. Icheoku says Bakare is not Joseph as he is not an Israeli, never a prisoner, was never sold by his brothers into slavery, never saw truthful visions , was not lied against by a seducer and above all, Joseph was not a product of a polygamous Islamic home like Gbolahan Sindiku Babatunde OluBakare. Therefore it is very arrogant for this politician masking as a man of God to make such gloating allusion or comparison. Icheoku says Nigerians deserve better than this two religious fanatics - one an Imam and the other a Pastor; now trying to surreptitiously introduce theocracy in Nigeria. Nigerians must not allow themselves to be hoodwinked by this two holier than thou cunning men and should therefore reject the duo of Buhari and Bakare as simply being religiously too extreme for a secular Nigerian society!

TUNDE BAKARE, NEITHER AN ELECTORAL CAPITAL NOR A POLITICAL PROFIT.

Simply stated he is not an asset. Icheoku has been paralyzed in thought for sometime now trying to understand the rational for the choosing of Pastor Tunde Bakare by Islamist Muhammadu Buhari as his running mate. As a confession, Icheoku is still at sea; but will only say that this pastor has pulled a fast one on every Nigerian who thought he meant well leading the SNG group to herd our political leaders in the right direction not knowing that he was only cultivating grounds for staging out his own preconceived political agenda. However, Icheoku is emphatic that Nigeria does not need a theocracy and shall not have one; and neither Imam Buhari nor Pastor Bakare can force it on them or be allowed to foist a religious extremism themed politics on the secular polity. Wrong choice. Wrong candidates. Wrong partnership. Wrong party and wrong religious extremist ideology!Nigerians must resist this attempt to pull a wool over their eyes by this two men especially Buhari since in Nigeria vice presidents do not affect policy direction of the country and Buhari is yet to say whether he will pull Nigeria out of the OIC or would Bakare make him do so? Nigerians, just forget about this two strange bed fellows! A man who purportedly sees vision should have seen that there is no way in hell Islamist Muhammadu Buhari would win a presidential election in Nigeria and therefore not accept the offer of the vice presidential candidacy; but who knows whether his is a double-vision similar to his 1999 vision that Olusegun Obasanjo would die before he is sworn in as president? Maybe he might even be a con-man out to con Nigerians using the facade of some type of Christianity?

'TUNDE BAKARE IS AN ISLAMIC APOSTATE AND DESERVES TO DIE?' - SENATOR JIBRIN.

According to Islamic injunction, any Muslim who deserts the faith and/or converts to another religion is condemned to death. It is also the duty of every Muslim to ensure that the Fatwa is carried out. Icheoku says, now that the vice presidential candidate of CPC Imam Muhammadu Buhari, Pastor Tunde Bakare, has fallen within the category of Islamic deserter; and by necessary implication, condemned to death for forswearing Islam; one wonders when the sentence will be carried out?

What happens when Bakare steps into any one of those Buhari-friendly Islamic Sharia States of North-Western Nigeria on a campaign with his boss is anybody's guess? What if the imams decide to execute a warrant of arrest as he campaigns through their state and summarily convict and stone him to death - a vice presidential candidate? The possibilities are endless; forcing the Sharia issue once again to the fore and Icheoku wonders why there should be dual laws in one country.

Icheoku asks, since the offense of leaving Islam was committed by Bakare and is of general knowledge, which imputes Buhari with its knowledge; and the Islamist Buhari went out of his way anyway to appoint such "infidel" as his running mate, should Buhari therefore be equally "stoned to death" for knowingly appointing such an "infidel" deserter of Islam as his running mate? May be as an accomplice to violate this tenet of Islam; since one expect a devout fundamentalist Islamist such as Buhari to be fully aware of what he did and he did it anyway - an affront?

FYI:- It took a zonal coordinator of President Jonathan's campaign, Walid Jibrin, to figure this albatross out but what says Buhari