WHAT IS IN A NAME, ONE MAY ASK?

 The Beckhams - David and Victoria that is, just named their recently arrived baby girl 'SEVEN' (Harper Seven Beckham); Alicia Keys named her son 'EGYPT' (Egypt Daoud Dean) while Mariah Carey named one of her twins 'MOROCCAN' (Moroccan Scott Cannon). Icheoku wonders the significance of such exotic names to these celebrities or were those children conceived on the 7th day, in Egypt and Morocco respectively; or are they just fun-filled names with no particular significance other than to just try to out-name one another? Anyway, what is in a name afterall since those children reserve the right to change their names later, if they don't share their parents convictions for such names. Congratulations to all the newest mothers of Hollywood on your new bundles of joy; they are your babies and if you like name them "HELL YEAH!"

WHEN A JEW MAN KILLS A JEW BOY IN NEW YORK, A STORY OF DOG EAT DOG?

William Shakespeare was once again proved to be the idol he was, as 'their is no construction on this pictured right man's face to truly betray the workings of the inner recesses of his wicked mind? A stuff Hollywood horror movies are made of as this innocent-looking Jewish man beheaded and dismembered another Jew - a Jewish boy, in Brooklyn New York. Boy is appearance indeed deceptive!


8 year-old Leiby Kletzky of Borough Park Brooklyn, got lost while walking home alone from a summer day camp in his Borough Park Jewish neighborhood, when he spotted a fellow Jew - 35 year old Levi Aron, and asked him for direction. The suspect lured him in his car under the false pretense that he was taking him home and instead took him to his house where he beheaded and dismembered him; putting his severed feet in his deep freezer while the rest of the boy's body parts, he tossed in the trash. Icheoku says heavens must be roiling over as a Jew man killed a Jew boy and dismembered him in this manner inside a close-knit Jewish community. Who said it is still only Muslim  Arab terrorists who are capable of such man's vicious cruelty to a fellow human-being?  

Icheoku indeed agrees with Moses Klein, 73 that 'Levi Aron is not human'  but a callous Lucifer from Hades who took the life of little angel Leiby. It is also instructive that whenever it is time for something to happen, it gonna happen as it was the first time little Master Kletzky was allowed to walk home alone and the result is the tragedy of a Jew taking the life of another Jew.

Like the recent Picasso Art theft in San Francisco which was timely solved with the arrest of the suspect and the recovery of the valued art work, made possible through good old police detective work, the police in New York also got their man under one hour. Although little Leiby was not found alive by the police but at least they have successfully tracked and put away from circulation this murderer and will not allow him to ever kill again. Icheoku is mindful of the tragedy that is our prison system as people get killed inside prisons. Icheoku says to the police in New York, kudos for a crime timely solved and our condolence goes out to the bereaved Kletzky family.

ISLAMIC (SHARIA) BANKING IS A DECLARATION OF WAR - BISHOP AKINOLA?

Icheoku agrees with this opinion and have severally written against the imposition of a banking system that is purely Islamic on the entire secular Nigeria. However, nothing stops these mullahs and Imams of Northern Nigeria from introducing their ideological based banking system within their enclaves in the north, in the same manner and way they introduced their Sharia law therein; but without the unnecessary and provocative general application of a Sharia-based banking system on the entire country. It is simply a cannon of the golden rule of do unto others as you would done unto you - if you cannot eat something, please do not serve it to others. If those mullahs love their Sharia banking system so much, let them keep it for themselves but save the rest of Nigerians such intrusive interference on their freedom of religion as well as their right not to be discriminated against in the financial services industry because of the mode of worship they have freely chosen.

Fortunately enough a true apostle of Christ have finally, bravely risen to the challenge of protesting this absurdity of an Islamic Banking whatever; and have even gone a step further by alerting Nigerians that such a bigoted imposition of a very restrictive ideological banking system on everyone in the country could result to a religious war in the country with non Muslims taking up arms to defend their constitutionally guaranteed freedom of religion and right to assembly. Icheoku says this man of God is indeed right and sees no reason why Christians and other minority religions as well as non religionists would not resist such imposition by all means necessary including but not limited to vehement protestations; and if this results to bloodshed, so be it since anything worth living for is usually worth dying for. Icheoku says please do not force me to knock my head on the grounds in prayers or have to wash my privates each time I answer the call of nature. If they so love it, why not keep it exclusively instead of forcibly trying to force it on the rest of the country. It is sinister as it is very dangerous.

How much is really too much for these mallams and mullahs to demand of other denominational Nigerians? Icheoku salutes the courage and bravery of the immediate past Primate of the Church of Nigeria Anglican Communion, The Most Reverend Peter Akinola, for calling the Sharia banking system for what it is - a weapon of mass destruction of Christians and Christianity as we know it in a supposedly secular society, Nigeria. According to Primate Akinola, Islamic banking system is a time-bomb waiting to explode and which can lead to the final and complete disintegration of the country - Nigeria.” Icheoku completely, fully and totally agrees with Primate Akinola's stand on the need for this Islamic Banking to suffer a premature death as an unwanted and highly divisive and super-charged cataclysmic phenom capable of shaking Nigeria to its foundations or even tearing her apart. 

In his words, Primate Akinola said - "Why must a banking system with Islamic background be forced on the throat of a country that is plural in religion? It should not be accepted or else Nigeria is heading towards disintegration. The Nigerian constitution is completely neutral about religion, so to use a religion to foster a personal agenda is nothing but illegal and unconstitutional, it must not be allowed to happen." Icheoku agrees intoto and hereby call on all other religious leaders in Nigeria including Archbishop Okogie, Oritsejafor, as well as none Muslim leaders to join the protest and at best, let those Muslims keep their banking system in their ten states Sharia enclaves, period! This moment calls to mind, Wole Soyinka's admonition that the "man dies in him who keeps silence in the face of tyranny" and it is tyrannical for the Muslim North to cunningly try to impose their ideological banking system on the rest of the country. Time for compromises or the proverbial golden silence is since over on this religious matter - those mullahs got away with Nigeria surreptitious membership of OIC and now they want to take another step towards a full Islamisation of Nigeria? Hell No!

Further the assurances of Okonjo-Iwealla not withstanding, Muslims of Nigeria should have domiciled their Islamic banking system within their political and religious geography only and without much ado or the braggadocio of trying to impose it on the rest of the country. The Nigerian Central Bank involvement and championing of this issue, as led by the Governor of the Central Bank, Imam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, is where the cookie crumbled. Icheoku asks, why must it be the CBN that is the tip of the sword in this debate instead of just concerning itself with managing Nigeria's receipts and expenditures as well as regulating the financial industry? Why must it be now that the north's military wing, Boko Haram, is on a military campaign to rid the north of anything Christian that this Imam at the helm of affairs at the Central bank is championing his own financial jihad? The coincidence and lack of understanding of the very touchy nature of the subject of Islamic banking at this particular time in Nigeria under the spell of Islamic terrorists Boko Haram, suggests a willful indifference on the part of Imam Sanusi or a meticulous execution of an agenda well scripted. 

It becomes more alarming as the north is known for its exclusiveness and reclusiveness in doing their own things, starting since 1957 when they did not want to be part of an Independent Nigeria. It is on record that Nigeria would have become independent in 1957 alongside Ghana but because the north was not ready yet to join the entity, it was deferred for three years to enable them make up their mind to be part of the country. The North does not ordinarily like to do things together with the rest of the country which led to the splintering of Nigerian Law School into so many campuses just to make it convenient for them to churn out mediocre-lawyers who cannot compete on a national level. They also have or had their Bank of the North which caters for Northerners; New Nigerian Newspapers was also their idea to take care of Arewa news business. They also in defiance of then President Olusegun Obasanjo's advise unilaterally introduced Sharia law in their ten northern states enclave only. But now that they have a hidden agenda to pursue and prosecute through their Imam at the Central Bank of Nigeria, suddenly they are flying the flag of Islamic Banking system for one Nigeria? 

Icheoku says this is extremely suspicious and calls for other denominations and various religiosities, including atheists and non believers alike to rise up in defense of their spiritualities in opposition to this planned imposition of Islamic banking system or rather, the spread of SHARIA throughout Nigeria. If these mullahs have their way through with introducing the banking system, they might make it a condition precedent to securing a non-interest loan that an applicant prove his "Muslim-ness" or immediate plans to convert to Islam. And assuming that they say such loan is not obligatory so you do not have to take the loan if you are not a Muslim; then by necessary implication, Muslims in Nigeria are being provided an unreasonably over advantageous business position over other faithfuls. Their taking these Sharia non-interest loans automatically gives them an edge over their competitors who obtained their own loan through the traditional interest-charging banking system as their cost of doing business will be drastically cheaper. As a correlation, Muslims can then sell at a cheaper rates, bid for contracts at a cheaper rates as well as have a wide marginal advantage over all their competitors who must factor in cost of their loans as they pursue their obligations. 

Nigerian non Muslims should not forget the bible story of Esau who was forced by hunger to sell his birthright for a pot of porridge; and pawning off religious faith or denouncing one's previously held belief just to secure an interest-free loan from a Sharia Bank might not be out of the ordinary should this Islamic Banking anomaly gain roots. Unfortunately the last time Icheoku checked, Vatican and Canterbury have no plans to match Riyadh with a competing Christianity Banking system that gives to Caesar what is due Caesar and to God what is God's with their own discounted loan facilities. There is a great urgency of now in resolving this matter and the best outcome is a still-birth for this Sharia instigated ideological banking nonsense being championed by Imam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi of the Central Bank of Nigeria. Nigeria could still outlast the fifteen years permutations of certain country's intelligence service if the right things are done and done NOW!

PAKISTAN, THE NEW AXIS OF (EVIL) TERROR?

Icheoku says if the New York Times story of the complicity of the Islamic Republic State of Pakistan in sheltering Osama Bin Laden, facilitating the Mumbai attack and the latest killing of a journalist for just doing his job, is true, may be it is about time the war of terror shifted from Afghanistan to Pakistan. To qualify as such state sponsor of terror deserving of invasion, the state has to be seen as sponsoring or supporting terrorists activities. Icheoku says the shielding and harboring of the late terrorist chief, Osama Bin Laden, by itself alone qualifies Pakistan as belonging in this group of States as it is the ultimate act of state terrorism. Icheoku says, nuke or no nuke, the United States should make a b-line into Pakistan to help flush the country of the several thousands of terrorists who have found a welcoming government and military establishment in that Islamic Republic. Major General Athar Abbas as well as several other Pakistan's military chiefs should be regarded as fair targets in the event the current impasse between Washington and Islamabad boils over.

'SOUTH-SUDAN INDEPENDENCE, OUR TURN WILL COME - an article by E.C. Ejiogu, PhD.

Like some of you, I have read today with mixed feelings of envy and glee, about the emergence of Africa’s newest state in south Sudan.  What the world just witnessed in that part of Africa is the outcome of decades of hard work by the distinct nationalities and groups that inhabit it, to achieve self determination from a unitary contraption that masquerades as a state.  Each of the several media reports on the event that I have read so far includes testimonies from joyful ordinary citizens of the new state who recounted their agonies and the incalculable toll in blood and treasure that the struggle took on them and their society.  I haven’t read anywhere about anyone amongst them who said that the outcome of their struggle is not worth the trouble and hardship they went through to throw off the yoke of oppression that unitary Sudan represented in the lives. 

No two quests for self determination are the same.  My attempts to contrast south Sudan’s struggle for self determination with the on-going desire and quest by us, the Igbo to achieve our own freedom from the unjust contraption called Nigeria, which exists and acts true to type, reaffirms the evident truism that the immediate assertion encapsulates.  We have fought and lost a war in our quest to achieve the same feat as the inhabitants of south Sudan.  I blame our defeat in that war partly on the schizophrenic character of the leadership that guided its prosecution.  However, even in defeat, aspects of our experience fighting that war constitute proof of our ability to run a modern state.  It gladdens my heart even further when I remember that leaders of the Nigeria project lack similar ability.  Granted that nothing shames them, Igbo accomplishments for the duration of the war— while were subjected to a chocking blockade, we refined our own petroleum, fabricated some of our own functional battle hardware, compounded some of our won effective pharmaceutical products without external assistance—are enough to shame them especially when it is evident that Nigeria under their hold, has proven itself incapable of achieving similar feats.  When I look at the failures of a united Nigeria, the Republic of Biafra, which will rise again, is proof that the wealth of nation is its intellectual property. 


The late Chief Anthony Enahoro once told me that the current century, which he aptly called the Century for Nationalities, will witness the achievement of self determination through statehood by most of the world’s distinct nationalities, especially those of them that were carved into aberrant supra-national states by external intervention. There is wisdom and logic in Chief Enahoro’s prediction.  Some of the events that have unfolded so far in the British Isle, where the British are being compelled by hard facts of history to continuously loosen their imperial shackles on the Irish, and the Scots have given credence to the Oldman’s prediction, which was part of his analytical responses to some of the incisive questions I often asked him in those days.  Although it is too early for anyone to predict the direction of the uprisings that began this spring in the Arab and Muslim world, it is only a moronic cynic who will make bold to assert that the peoples involved haven’t carved a unique path to self determination on the sandy and dusty lands in that part of the world.


Closer home, some of us join the resilient inhabitants of south Sudan to herald the birth of their new state.  Nothing trumps history and the justice it ultimately holds for victims of the political oppression and injustice.  At the flag lowering/raising event that marked the sunset of unitary state control and the birth of a new state in south Sudan yesterday, Omar Hassan al-Bashir, the man who went to great length in his use of illegal violence to perpetuate the absurdity similar to the unity that has been used in the Nigeria project to dehumanize the Igbo especially, to hold inhabitants of south Sudan down, admitted defeat.  He was quoted to have said in a New York Times story that:  “Sudan’s unity would have been better,” but “I convinced myself that unity shouldn’t be through war.”  Are his likes all over the continent who sustain unity through violence and dehumanization listening? 

Notwithstanding that Igbo quest for self determination is yet to attain the status of a struggle, it still encapsulates all necessary ingredients for an outcome similar to what just dawned in south Sudan.  There is no iota of doubt in my mind that our own turn will come.  Time will prove me right on that. 

E. C. Ejiogu, PhD, is a political sociologist. He is the author of The Roots of Political Instability in Nigeria, published in March by UK-based Ashgate Publishing Ltd

CASEY ANTHONY, WHITE PEOPLE FINALLY GETS THEIR OWN OJ SIMPSON?

Icheoku says finally the races of and America are even as a jury in Florida sets free a young white woman, Casey Anthony, who murdered her own child, Caylee Marie Anthony (inset in the picture of the formerly accused mom). The white people of America, who have been furious as hell ever since "that nigger Orenthal James Simpson walked free" after allegedly killing some people, can now breathe a sigh of relief that finally one of their own, under a not too different circumstances has also walked? 

Admitted that unlike OJ, who allegedly killed a white guy who was messing up with his "wife" in his home alongside the "wife", Cassie killed her own biological child who she had carried in her own very womb for nine months. Which of these crimes is more heinous depends on who is answering that question but Icheoku says it takes a heart of Jezebel for a parent to snuff out the life of his or her own child - just take a look at the face of the little darling and see the innocence that was snapped away by a callous mother.  

Icheoku says may the tragedy of this murder, compounded by a jury's decision to set free a murderer who took the life of her own child, make us all try to be better persons in the society. May be it is a call for time-out in the ever silent but sometimes vocal racial war going on in America, particularly the way and manner justice is often dispensed in America. It is about time everyone went back to their positions ante both cases and forget that OJ Simpson as well as Casey Anthony's crimes ever took place or were deliberated upon by a hallucinatory juror of their peers, who saw what the rest of the world particularly Americans did not see? 


Jurors of their kind have set both persons free, possibly because they were under the influence of some sort when they reached their inconceivable verdicts not to see what every other American saw as most probable guilty verdict for both formerly accused persons respectively. But hey, justice sometimes is both blindfolded and inebriated, otherwise how else could anybody explain the not guilty verdicts returned in both cases. OJ and Cassie's hands were both dripping with blood of their victims, yet they were found not guilty respectively? What else can Icheoku say except that it is now one for the blacks and one for the whites; so let us all just forget about it, try to get along and move on!

"LET'S LIGHT THIS FIRE ONE MORE TIME" - COMMANDER FERGUSON!

 "Let's light this fire one more time and witness this great nation at its best!" With those words the commander of Atlantis space shuttle, Christopher Ferguson, sent off the shuttle for the very last time into space; marking the end of an era that saw America doing what they do best - meeting and surpassing challenges. Icheoku while wishing those who made these several decades of space exploration possible, says life must go on. What a scientific feat it was, so long!

RECYCLING CONTINUES UNDER JONATHAN - THE CASE OF HALIRU MOHAMMED!

"I was a small boy in secondary school when you were commissioner. Today, I am a Senator of the Federal republic of Nigeria and you are standing before me as a Ministerial nominee. I want to ask you, when will you allow fresh air to blow in the system?" - Senator Kabiri Marafa questioning Haliru Mohammed. Icheoku says it goes to show that President Jonathan is part of the problem and not the solution as appointing a nearly seventy year old man a minister, is definitely not part of the "breath of fresh air" he promised Nigerians during his last presidential campaign. Icheoku says, kudos to Senator Marafa for bravely asking one honest question during Nigeria's make-belief ministerial confirmation hearing. Way to go Marafa!

BOKO HARAM MENACE, ODI AND ZAKI IBIAM TREATMENT IS THE ANSWER!

 Icheoku says on hind sight, many Nigerians are wishing that the "do or die" politician from Otta is still in the saddle of power to checkmate the menace of Boko Haram. Unfortunately, it appears President Jonathan's desire to please every Nigerian is now affecting his ability to decisively send these lunatics to hell. Just send the khaki-boys up there and allow them some free time to roam? Otherwise and if the continued passivity of the government persists, Icheoku is afraid that Nigeria as we presently know it might not survive.

ISLAMIC BANKING SYSTEM, AGENDA-DRIVEN NORTHERN INITIATIVE.

First they created their own constitution of Sharia laws and decreed same in their ten core Islamic states? Next their military wing, Boko Haram, was constituted and the attempt by former IG of police Ogbonna Onovo to decimate them was aborted by his premature removal from office. Now they are at liberty to run amok, equipping and arming these bandits heavily for a possible final showdown with Nigeria.

Having taken care of the political and military components of their Islamic Republic agenda, they have now set their eyes on establishing their banking system that will stifle Southern enterprise and give undue advantage to their people similar to the bureau d'changes.

Icheoku says only a fool watching the trending of events in Nigeria will not see the underlying agenda to forcibly impose Islam and Islamic ways on all Nigerians in fulfillment of their Islamic oath to dip the Koran into the Atlantic Ocean. Regrettably, President Jonathan is keeping mum on these urgent combustible developments, preferring not to have his boat rocked. But the president must find some wisdom in Professor Wole Soyinka saying that 'the man dies in him who keeps silence int he face of tyranny;' so Mr President, Icheoku urges you to take a stand, speak up and provide the leadership needed at this time of when Nigeria is at great cross-roads.

ABUJA TRAFFIC GRIDLOCK, DEFEATS PURPOSE OF RELOCATING CAPITAL OUT OF LAGOS?

One of the principal reasons adduced by the promoters of Abuja, a new Federal capital city, was to de-congest Lagos and establish a new capital city that will be more sanely and orderly. 

Unfortunately it seems that their dream have been aborted as the new capital city, Abuja, instead of just remaining merely the envisaged political capital of Nigeria with elected government officials, bureaucrats, their support staff and very restricted number of the general public, has turned into another mega city, with all manner of people and businesses struggling for the use of the infantile limited amenities and infrastructures currently available therein. One of such over-burden infrastructure are the narrow roads of Abuja (Icheoku used narrow roads in context to what a capital city really deserves) which are now heavily burdened with all sorts of vehicular contraptions. Regrettably, the authorities in Abuja do not seem to be alarmed enough to do something very drastic to address the emerging problem with the urgency and seriousness it deserves and before it reaches the stifling condition that forced the move out of Lagos to Abuja in the first place. 

Pictured above is the cataclysmic essence of daily-life for so many who call Abuja home - a picture which told the wonderful story of a typical day for so many Abujaites. The picture was taken at a time and/or moment when the military jackboots descended on an Abuja road to frisk out Boko Haram and their bombs from the hundreds of thousands who ply that Abuja road? One wonders what type of military would carry out such "stop and search" security operation without first taking into account that such traffic nightmare scenario was a great possibility in the city? Further, seeking out Boko Haram and their bomb amidst this madhouse is akin to locating a needle in a haystack. 

But in Nigeria, leadership is somewhat completely detached from the lead aloof; hence the usual rowdy and disorderly manner of doing things; including constructing roads without taking into account the exploding number of road-users or causing such great inconvenience to attempt nabbing some Boko Haram members and one wonders if those terrorists wear a tattoo on their foreheads? Icheoku laments that Abuja is gradually losing its pristine allure and speedily metamorphosing into another Lagos with its horrendous traffic. It would seem that by relocating to Abuja, the Nigerian government sold a monkey and bought a dog as a trade but forgot that it still has a four-legged creature in its house. A city in gridlock is a city in chains and every effort should be made by the necessary authorities to put some wider lanes or even ten-lane freeways in and out of the city of Abuja; for it to remain attractive and competitive. What a nightmare on Abuja road!

"ISLAMIC BANKING IN NIGERIA IS CONSTITUTIONAL" - IMAM SANUSI

"Wallahi tallahi, dis thing acall-am Islamic Banking dey for we constitution!" Defending his jihadist obstinate march towards islamizing banking in Nigeria, the governor or rather Chief Imam of Cebtral Bank of Nigeria, Mallam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi has vowed to wage a jihad if that is what it will take to islamize banking in Nigeria. Speaking to other Muslim zealots in Sharia State Kano, Nigeria, Imam Sanusi said, "The whole concept of Islamic Banking System was introduced in the country through Banks and other Financial Institution act of 1991 that allows the operations of Non Interest Banking services in Nigeria." 

Icheoku says it is rather very easy to find a provision to back up whatever idiocy any fundamentalist is propagating or wants to spread - be it those supposed Christian fanatics and zealots who will always find a quotation in the bible to back up some of their most fraught  proposition or position. Icheoku asks Imam Sanusi, what about money laundering, afterall it could be conducted without interest or a minimal interest charging Christian banking; or better still an Atheist or Idol banking for crying out loud? Since his argument for pursuing his Islamic banking is the constitution, Icheoku asks, would Jihadist Sanusi similarly pursue  the establishment of other denominational banking with the same vigor as he is currently deploying towards establishing a conflicting Islamic banking in a secular Nigerian society that already operates a world-wide banking system that is flawless? If such other religion-driven parochial banking applies for license, would Imam Sanusi who is methodically liquidating some southern Christian controlled and run banks enthusiastically approve their licenses? 

Anyway, Icheoku blames a lilly-livered President Jonathan that is too timid to call a man serving at his pleasure to order or better still fire the darn zealot and let heavens fall. Simply put, if these mullahs want a separate republic for their Islamic way of life, let them have it in their ten Islamic Northern Sharia States with Kano as their capital and possibly Imam Sanusi as the first executive president or whatever they call their head of state. Let their wish be granted and now so that Nigeria can finally get rid of the clog in its wheel of progress as so many Nigerians are tired of all these in-your-face attempts by these mullahs to convert the whole Nigeria into an Islamic Republic. Ten Sharia Northern Nigeria states and Imam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi's Islamic Banking must not be allowed to sprout; especially in this period when their military wing - Boko Haram, is waging a non-stop blood letting war against the country. If they succeed, then it is over for the political entity known as secular Nigeria as they will start forcing every one to  recite the Koran at daggers-point failing which the victim risks being declared an A'runa that needs to be helped get out of this planet earth? 

President Jonathan, Icheoku says, it will be very shameful if this Islamic Banking system takes root in a secular Nigeria under your watch. Enough of being intimidated by and afraid of these fanatics; if they touch you, Nigeria goes down; so firm up and be a man with some steely back-bone! If they want trouble, let them get trouble. If they want war, let them bring it on; and unlike the Biafran war, which the whole world waged against the then Eastern region,  this time around will be drastically different. The world is now better educated on the religious/geo-politics of Nigeria and the West will find it unconscionable to support the mullahs of the Ten Sharia states of Northern Nigeria once again. Better still, let Nigeria consider the Sudan example as the silver bullet to end all frictions and let us resolve this problem once and for all - just get this thing over and now! Who the heck are these guys that they should continuously inundate a secular country with very parochial and retrogressive ideas that never moves the country forward. If a bank does not earn interest, how does it support its operations and take care of its overheads? Icheoku decries Imam Sanusi's Islamic Banking as crass nonsensical attempt to propagate Islamic religion and may all reasonable Nigerians rise in unison and say no to Islamic Banking in a secular Nigeria, period!

ANYIM PIUS ANYIM, 24 HOURS FITNESS TO THE RESCUE?

 Icheoku wonders whether the Secretary of the Federal Government of Nigeria, Anyim Pius Anyim, understands the need to keep fit and healthy? Maybe he needs to invite fitness gurus or the fellas at "24 hour Fitness" to establish a franchise in Aso Rock to help him get trim and lose those piglet eyes? What a beefed-up human being the SFG is but he could be better when all those excess pounds are gone; except that Nigerian "big men" do not work out after all the goat-heads (isi-ehu) and big stouts (odekus) that make their day!

THE BLOOD OF ANY NIGERIAN KILLED BY BOKO HARAM, ON PRESIDENT JONATHAN'S HEAD!

Icheoku says as long as President Goodluck Ebelesimin Jonathan refuses to fire the incompetent Inspector General of Police, Hafiz Ringim, that long shall any Nigerian killed by the intractable Islamic religious sect, Boko Haram, be squarely placed on his head. 

Icheoku has severally called for the removal of the IGP like any other incompetent person who had failed woefully to perform his duty should and ought to. The governors forum has similarly echoed the same call likewise so many other brave and courageous Nigerian of reckon. President Jonathan however refuses to get rid of this IG; instead he is asking for the Hafiz Ringim to be given more time within which to fix the problem. It is on record that the president did not give former IG Ogbonna Onovo "more time to fix the problem?" In the interim Nigerians are dying, being killed, slaughtered, assassinated and bombed to smithereens by a lawless Northern Nigeria Islamic terrorist group , Boko Haram, while the president is still buying time for his IGP and refusing or has refused to fire the man who could not man or guarantee security for Nigerians? 

It is indeed mind-boggling that IGP Hafiz Ringim still finds favor before the president as to still have his job, supposedly protecting Nigerians? Anyway, the solution is simple - just blame President Jonathan for any and all continuing death of Nigerians in the hands of the Al-Queida in Northern Nigeria menace called Boko Haram. Since the president has refused to fire the incompetent Inspector General of Police Hafiz Ringim and replace him with someone more knowledgeable and more competent to provide the much needed but presently elusive security Nigerians deserve and desire, Icheoku says the buck should effectively stop at his desk.

AREWA IS BOKO HARAM?

Arewa boasted that they will make Nigeria ungovernable should President Jonathan win the last presidential election. Boko Haram is now making Nigeria ungovernable for the president; therefore it is logical to infer that Arewa is Boko Haram and Boko Haram is Arewa. The only subtlety is that cowardly Arewa is hiding under the subterfuge of their alter ego, Boko Haram, to carry out their nefarious terrorist's threat. Icheoku had expected them to instead, bravery stand up for and own their terrorist mayhem in furtherance of their previous threat. So it would be a winning strategy for the government to declare every Arewa member, a member of Boko Haram and start picking them off, one after another and let Nigerians watch the scourge of Boko Haram end immediately. It is a simple solution - similar to the tactic Sani Abacha used to end NADECO or at least force them on the run for their lives, if if you get the drift.

DOMINIQUE STRAUS KAHN "FREED", THE RICH WILL ALWAYS HAVE THEIR WAY!

Icheoku says nonsensical as the issue on trial is not the accusers immigration petition status or her other domestic activities or even her alleged questionable associations with detained petty drug peddlers. No, what is at stake here is an alleged criminal rape of a hotel janitor by a powerful and influential French millionaire and former IMF president Dominique Strauss Kahn. Therefore it is very irrational and unreasonable to say because the accuser have some questionable past that her present allegation of being raped by the French man is now suspect. Icheoku asks, even if she is herself a criminal, does that now make her loose her inalienable right not to be sexually violated by anyone including Dominique? 

The finding of fact that she lied about details on her application for asylum in the United States of America, including her unproven allegation that she had been previously raped in her native Guinea should not be any attenuating circumstance to the present allegation of rape; admitted it might weigh much on the credibility of her testimony at trial. Borrowing the words of accuser's attorney, Icheoku reechoes that the hotel maid could have made some mistakes in her past, but that does not and should not mean that she is not a rape victim.  However the lawyer seem to have added another twist to the previous account of what allegedly transpired between DSK and the hotel maid when contrary to the "polishing of the knob" which the victim earlier alleged, her lawyer now says that "Strauss-Kahn bruised her genitals". This greatly triggers her credibility question as her lawyer appears to suggests that there was indeed penetration of her vaginal walls while the victims account only alleged a forced blow job? Icheoku believes this mix-up is not similar to the understanding of what constitutes sex as President Bill Clinton once did when he said "I did not have sex with that woman Monica Lewinsky"; misunderstanding or misinterpreting sex to exclude blow job. Hopefully the mix-up would be resolved by lawyer and his client.

It is indeed regrettable that the prosecution came to this conclusion despite the facts of the matter as made available to the public - here was a DSK who initially denied that anything or contact of any nature took place until his semen was found where it was spitted on the carpet by the accuser; then he changed his story to being consensual; and now it is the prosecution that is helping DSK defend his case by stating that the accuser's veracity for truth is suspect? Icheoku says give me a break as this is yet another high-powered game being played by high-powered men with the help of very high-powered lawyers against a helpless Guinea immigrant from West Africa. Admitted that Icheoku had previously written that the accuser's story is weak and feeble at best, that it is not water-tight; our objection to the current "free on bail" status of Dominique is that such determination should not be based on the accuser's past conduct or lack of truthfulness; but on the strength of her present criminal allegation against the French Dominique Strauss Kahn. Any other explaining away or attempt to crucify the accuser because of her past conduct or penchant for untruthfulness as to deprive or deny her the right to a redress is unconscionable and smacks of great injustice. 

Icheoku maintains that it is not the place of the prosecution to do the case for the defense in this matter; and instead of the prosecution conducting "an extensive background investigation of the hotel housekeeper accusing DSK of sexual assault" which  "gave them pause", the prosecution should have spent its time investigating the background of the French man including his many sexual liaisons even in his native France. The very fact that the accused tried to escape justice by attempting to run away but was nabbed inside a ready to take off French plane back to Paris is by itself a weighty evidence of some wrongdoing. Also his initial flat denial of any wrongdoing including that no contact of any nature whatsoever took place between him and the hotel janitor should have been taken into account as well. Lastly the very fact that he was forced to later recant himself following the discovery of his semen, DNA evidence, should have been additional grounds to carry out "extensive background investigation" on Dominique Strauss Kahn for his untruthfulness but certainly not the other way round. 

How did the prosecution suddenly switch sides and now become an advocate for the accused, literally doing their case for them and conducting "extensive background check and investigation on the accuser"; instead of naturally going after a prospective criminal rapist who violated a hotel janitor's womanhood with absolute impunity? Or was it a case of a poor black African immigrant going up against the mighty and all powerful white Frenchman Dominique Strauss Kahn that should be placed where she belonged? Icheoku reiterates that an injustice to one is an injustice to all as we are convinced that this lenient "free on bail without preconditions" is a prelude to setting DSK free. The good news however is that every person shall die someday and if the biblical tales are true, then face judgement before the On High who has no prejudices against the poor or black or immigrant; and has no regard for a person's social or financial status. On that day, Icheoku wonders what DSK will say to his maker in defense of his alleged rape of a helpless hotel janitor? 

Unfortunately though, Icheoku is sometimes wont to believe the bible story as may fable, otherwise why would Catholic priests, who should know better, rape and molest alter boys fully aware that they would face judgment on account of their stewardship here on earth as Christ ambassadors? Also how about the other numerous injustices pervading the earth, being perpetrated by supposedly men and women of God and some God-full nations? But borrowing the phraseology of former American Defense minister Donald Rumsfeld, Icheoku says that there are simply so many things we don't know about the nature of man; there are things we know that we do not know - the many known unknowns of this world. Icheoku empathises with the accuser for being unnecessarily harangued in this case because of her not too stellar past as we bemoan the lopsidedness of our justice system which tends to categorise people based on their net worth, the "we and them stuff" and sometimes race; despite the fact of its alleged blindness? Or is it possible that justice sometimes peeps through its blindfold whenever it chooses or is rather convenient for it to see the parties seeking its intervention in order to make up its mind on how to strike its sword? Just asking! 

If every other thing outside Dominique's bail condition are to remain as it is - his passport surrendered, his not going to leave the country and his sexual assault charges to remain; Icheoku asks, what then is the ground of removing his bail conditions? If the accuser's case is not such as would easily find the accused culpable, why only remove DSK's bail terms and not completely set him free with profuse apologies for being "wrongly" accused in the first place by a hopeless African immigrant hotel janitor? By extension of this line of thought, may be DSK should also be given back his gig at the IMF and apologized to by Madame Christine Lagarde for prematurely usurping his office just because he was wrongly accused of sexual impropriety by an ordinary African immigrant hotel maid? Based on the trajectory of the case, this is the natural thing to do except if Dominique Strauss Kahn is a victim of a global conspiracy and gang up which used a hotel maid to nail him and get rid of him both from French presidential politics as well as the IMF? 

What a world we live in that is both unfair and unjust and were Dominique Strauss Kahn a poor nigger, would the prosecution have acted so swiftly to discredit his accuser and allowed such a very lenient freedom to be granted? Those poor expendables; even where they are wrongfully murdered by the law enforcement agents those agents are too often found not guilty; and you wonder if keeping the nigger's population in check is an unspoken standing rule within some law enforcement departments. Anyway pardon the side digressions as Dominique is the object here and should have remained the sole issue; but the brain often wanders about.

UNIMAID CLOSURE, BOKO HARAM WINNING THE WAR OF TERROR?

Their bombs are still going off; Nigerians are still dying on the streets being blown away by these murderous Islamic thugs and street urchins; and now they seem to have scored a major victory with the forced indefinite closure of the 36 year old University of Maiduguri. Today, Boko Haram, which means "Western education is bad for you," would be toasting this closure as a victory in their plan to eradicate western education in Nigeria; which by necessary implication, has been given a direct boost by such thoughtless action of the government. The rush to close this university is cowardly and wrongful; as any government really worth its salt would rather beef up security in the university; at least to say to Boko Haram, no we cannot grant you, your wish by closing a Western-education impacting institution. But regrettably, just as Ibrahim Babangida recently said, it appears that President Jonathan does not think through his decisions before carrying them out and seems to have ordered this closure in his usual panic mode. Icheoku says to President Goodluck Ebelesimi Jonathan, do not aid the enemy or provide comfort to their psyche, reopen University of Maiduguri immediately and right NOW; just send a battalion there to beef up the security!