DONT ASK, DONT TELL IS OVER - OBAMA

"You don't have to hide who you love to serve the country you love - military's don't ask, don't tell, is over. That is what the promised change is all about and we delivered." Icheoku says, just the truth Mr President and four more years to "That One" who really gets it.

DOLORES HOPE JOINS HUBBY AT 102.

 One lady of song asked "what's love got to do with it" and Icheoku here responds the Hope couple is what love got to do with it. Married for sixty-nine years, husband, legendary entertainer Bob Hope (left) died in 2003 at age 100 and now eight years after, his dutiful and lovely wife, Dolores Hope (right) has joined him aged 102. Icheoku says it takes a lot ton of love to achieve such a milestone of life together for 69 years and living up to one century in this world. As graceful lady Dolores Hope makes her exit from this world, Icheoku says what a wonderful ride it has been for the couple and now she can rejoin her husband as they continue to do what they do best - entertaining the angels up there. Both died of old age related natural causes. Adieu Dolores!

KARA KENNEDY, ANOTHER KENNEDY BITES THE DUST.

 Icheoku says call it the curse of the Kennedy still swinging its hammer, but another Kennedy within so soon after their Patriarch Edward Kennedy died is rather a death too many for just one family to mourn. Kara Kennedy, the only daughter of Late Senator Edward Kennedy of Massachusetts, died while working out in a Washington DC area gym on Friday, September 15, 2011 of possibly heart-attack; she was 51 years old. 

According to her, 'What mattered in life was not the scale of an accomplishment, but that each person did his/her share to make the world a better place. Also that we learn we are part of something larger than ourselves.' Icheoku agrees completely and adds that it does not matter the possessions one amasses or the amount of money one has in a safe deposit or bank, when the time is up, one can only be remembered by the good deed he/she did wile alive. So advise your actions while there is still some air in your lungs with this perspective in mind. Icheoku says may the soul of Kara Kennedy rest in peace.

PALESTINIAN STATEHOOD QUESTION, GOOD FOR THE GOOSE, GOOD FOR THE GANDER.

 Icheoku says whatever may be the "harsh and grave consequences" threatened, the Palestine should damn it and try their luck for a statehood with the United Nations general assembly. Over 20 years of negotiations to no where has not yielded any meaningful result nor the statehood which they crave and desire as a people. Enough of all these make-belief negotiations which has proved to be a simple photo-up. 

Icheoku says It is called Options - if Option 1 is not working and has no likelihood of working or has simply put, failed, let the Palestine people try Option 2. Just do it Palestine and face whatever consequences that may follow; and with the Arab Spring still much in the air, the Palestine people could not have asked for a better time and golden opportunity. Unequivocally put, Palestine deserve their day at the United Nations, period; and if they fail it would not be for lack of trying. At least their people would see that their leadership did not chicken out but tried and failed due to Israeli superior lobby. Since they are guaranteed to fail, not trying at all would be a worst case scenario for the Palestine leadership before the Arab world; so they have more to gain by being seen as brave enough to venture where eagles feared to tread. 

It is pertinent to note that the present Jewish State of Israel traveled practically the same United Nation's route, now being sought by the Palestine people, to a statehood in 1948. So the question remains, why the objection, why not Palestine? Icheoku believes that what is good for the goose should equally be good for the gander and it is irrational for any party with sincere motive of bringing about a peaceful Mideast to find fault with this Palestine planned UN recourse to a stalled negotiation. The world wants to see two states of Israel and Palestine living side by side in peace and with a clearly delineated defensible borders such that these two little boys, pictured, could have an environment to practice what they preached by this picture - ONE LOVE.

$50 MILLION MEDICAL CARE COST, IS ANY LIFE WORTH THAT TO SAVE?

Icheoku says we do not know about you but sincerely speaking, no life is worth fifty million dollars to save; moreso since the victim is not Bill Gates or Steve Jobs or Warren Buffet whose presence in this world is tremendously very effective and productive as to worth every dime spent to prolong it. Call Icheoku callous, uncaring and/or unfeeling, but reality check speaking, this man's life is not that important to warrant such outrageous amount to save or try to save. 

Icheoku says were the victim a blackman or any other minority classed American, the plugs of life would have since been pulled; but at last, he has the right skin pigmentation and there is a deep pocket to be mined. Even Israeli Ariel Sharon, the longest artificial life sustained hospital patient in the world did a lot for the state of Israel to deserve his continuous artificial sustenance while in coma; but not an EMT staffer. If he is not brain-dead yet and all his motors are functioning, what are the prognosis of a long term full recovery to warrant this amount of hospital care? Icheoku simply does not get it; moreso under this very dire economic climate in the country. If he cannot recover, the family should seriously consider allowing him some dignified exit and discourage this outrageous medical care cost being prospected by his lawyers. 

Further, no one knows if the victim has a medical insurance or is part of the group of millions of uninsured Americans who were advised never to get sick and if, to die quickly? Anyway, Icheoku has no dog in this fight and the medical cost care might as well be one hundred million dollars for all we care; but we state for the record that no life including Bryan Stow's life is worth wasting $50 million on to save or trying to save. As you would recall, Bryan is a San Francisco Giants fan who travelled to Los Angeles to see a game between his team and the LA Dodgers, only to be beaten into coma by some out of control Dodger's fans. However, the pathetic nature of this unfortunate incident notwithstanding, Icheoku reiterates that $50 million medical care cost is not economically a smart decision sure to make just to save a life and it is sure to go into the Guinness Book of Records as the most expensive ever spent on just one person's life.

OUT OF THE DEVASTATION OF 9/11, A RISING PHOENIX !

Icheoku says as we marked the tenth anniversary of the horrendous assault on American soil by the now sleeping with the fishes Osama Bin Laden, thankfully one of the most haunting void at midtown Manhattan is finally being filled. With the sprouting World Trade One, hope now exists that the void left in our hearts with 9/11 will also begin to heal just as the terrorist wasteland in Manhattan, which was a constant reminder of the evil that men could do has begun to come alive. 

With that said, let us remember all those that were killed on 9/11 as well as those who have since lost their lives too with the counter-offensive against terrorism. A push-back counter-offensive started by those brave Flight 93 passengers, who in former President George Walker Bush's words, were the “first counteroffensive effort in the war on terror.” Icheoku says may those putting back the WTC never tire nor falter as they build a place of pride for our nation and all other peace loving peoples of the world. Finally at last, the Ground Zero is now fast transforming into "Ground Something" and so would lives after 9/11.

SEPTEMBER ELEVEN (9/11) MEMORIAL, BEAUTIFUL AND RIVETING.

Icheoku says the National September Eleven (9/11) Memorial in midtown Manhattan is indeed splendidly beautiful. Architect Michael Arad (right in the picture above) did a great job in capturing the essence of the loss as well as bringing to live the memories of those who perished in the tragedy. The dark reflecting pool as well as the cascading individual waterfalls indeed makes it for Icheoku as water is life and their individual essence marks the individuality of what was lost on that day. Luckily from the tragedy has sprung forth a national memorial which like those in Washington DC will now serve as another anchor to millions of visitors and tourists that visit New York City. The size is also quite awesome and complimentary to the Big Apple's otherwise grandeur and opulence. Icheoku heretofore congratulates the architect Michael Arad, all the planning and approving committees and those construction workers who brought to reality the conceived, for a job well done. Thankfully World trade One is chasing the skies at an awesome speed and before too long, it alongside other adjoining super structures that will replace the destroyed twin towers would be completed to give the entire acreage its full comeback. Icheoku will visit NYC soon to personally capture the work being rendered at the new Ground Something - the new moniker for the former Ground Zero, site of the World Trade Center. Until then let all Americans rejoice that from the ashes of 9/11 has risen and is rising, a new, reinvented and vibrant WTC. 

9/11 MEMORIAL LIGHTS, SIMPLY MAGNIFICENT.

Icheoku does not know about you, but this twin lights representing those twin towers that used to be is indeed captivating. The brains that thought it our as well as those who brought the concept to life should be commended. Icheoku therefore says thank you to those minds behind the twin lights. What an awesome piece of beauty this landscape picture is - reflecting East River and Brooklyn bridge as well as some Manhattan skyline. This is atypical of unparalleled American's ingenuity and very fertile creative mind. 

EGYPTIAN PROTESTERS LEAVE ISRAEL ALONE, BUILD YOUR DEMOCRACY FIRST.

Icheoku calls on those Egyptian protesters to stop antagonizing countries or peoples, but to first consolidate and build their democracy and let other things follow or fall in place. The unsightly vandalism at the Israeli embassy building in Cairo is uncalled for and unnecessary as it will now portray the Egyptians as a riotous anti-Israel mob out to settle old scores instead of those admired patriots who got their country back from former President Hosni Mubarak's vice-hold. 

Please sons and daughters of the land of the Pharaohs, sheath your anger at the Jewish State or any other country for that matter and concentrate on getting your democracy off the ground and out of the incubator where it has been for the last six months. Please carry out less of this religious-themed vandalism which attracts only negative publicity for Egypt and Egyptians at large. If there are things to iron out between Israel and Egypt, it is one of the reasons why government exists as it is the duty of the governments in Cairo and Tel Aviv to sought them out but not riotous mob taking matters into their hands. Please do not imitate those Ayatollahs in Tehran who took hostages at an American embassy in 1979 and are still being called out for that intransigent several decades later. Also remember that the West does not forget easily and if in doubt, ask Moummar Gaddafi of Libya who has now been punished for his government's role in the Lockerbie PA AM plane bombing and his government's deceitful securing of the release of the imprisoned Libyan State security operative who was convicted over Lockerbie. 

If only Gaddafi knew better not to mess with the West or remembered that the West neither forgets nor forgives, may be he could still be in power in Tripoli as President and also as a self-styled King of Africa. So Egyptians, you better watch it as there can be no messing with the Israelis without provoking the wrath of America led West; so you are warned to desist from such thoughtless vandalism of a foreign state's sovereignty within your territorial geography. Icheoku further observes that the Egyptian security forces were rather too slow in acting to prevent and/or stop the vandalism at the Israeli embassy in Cairo; except they just played coy because Israel was the target as a way to continuing their pandering to those protesters who are yet to see the light of true democracy lit in Egypt six months after they deposed Hosni Mubarak. But who knows?

RIBADU'S BACKSTABBING AS HIGH ART - an article by Levi Obijiofor

If the information contained in the leaked United States’ embassy cables released last week by Internet whistle-blower Wikileaks is accurate, the former chairperson of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Nuhu Ribadu, must be seriously troubled. Reports published in this week’s editions of two national newspapers — the Punch and Vanguard (5 September 2011) — which was obtained from Wikileaks alleged that Ribadu told former United States Ambassador to Nigeria, Ms Robin Sanders, that corruption under Olusegun Obasanjo’s government was far worse than it was under the regime of Sani Abacha.

According to Vanguard and the Punch, Wikileaks reported that Ribadu’s comments were made during a four-hour private meeting he had with Ms Sanders in late December 2007. A major item on the agenda of the meeting was Ribadu’s transfer from the EFCC to the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS) for further studies. There were other issues that touched on national security.

This revelation by Wikileaks will worry not only Ribadu but also Obasanjo. It is odd that Ribadu, a man appointed by Obasanjo as the chief anti-corruption crusader of the government, would harbour such negative impressions about the administration that he served. This is classical backstabbing of the kind never before experienced by the Nigerian public. Why would Ribadu tell the US diplomat what he was unable to tell Nigerians for years about the level of corruption in Obasanjo’s government? And why would Ribadu portray Obasanjo’s government, the same government that he served, as an administration infested with corrupt officials? What this implies is that Ribadu’s capacity to judge human character is at best inconsistent.

Ribadu will not emerge from this latest scandal more honourable than he was prior to the disclosure. For years, he entertained national and international audiences with exaggerated accounts of the EFCC’s achievements during his tenure. At the peak of his power, he was seen as a superstar, an emblem of anti-corruption for which he was invited to international conferences and workshops. During Obasanjo’s tenure which coincided with the period that Ribadu reigned as EFCC chairperson, Obasanjo repeatedly challenged all those who accused him of corruption to produce evidence to substantiate their allegation. Ribadu did not rise to that challenge. He kept mum and fooled the nation into believing that Obasanjo’s government was most righteous.

Ribadu’s silence about his knowledge of corruption in Obasanjo’s government was probably driven by an overriding interest in his own ego. His persona was sustained by the folk hero status which showed a dashing senior police officer without blemishes in pursuit of corrupt men and women across the country. Unbeknown to foreign officials and some Nigerians, Ribadu was not really the quintessential 21st century anti-corruption law enforcement officer despatched by natural forces to clean up the corrupt and filthy nation known as Nigeria. He was not deeply committed to the war on corruption because now we know he believed the government he served was stinkingly corrupt. And yet Ribadu’s EFCC took pride in harassing corrupt rodents – small men and women who constitute a blot in the corruption map – as well as critics of Obasanjo’s government.

The Wikileaks revelations have shredded the mystique surrounding Ribadu. Everyone now knows, through his own confidential discussion with the former US diplomat, that Ribadu the prophet did not truly believe in his anti-corruption sermon because he understood his boss to be a shepherd who managed a government of corrupt men and women. Evidence from the leaked diplomatic cables suggests unambiguously that Ribadu was not truly dedicated to the government’s campaign against corruption. If he was steadfast, he would not have remained loyal to a government he believed to be soaked in endemic corruption.

I would argue that the late disclosure by Ribadu of what he knew about Obasanjo’s government may have also harmed his (Ribadu’s) integrity. Whatever drove the man to make such spiteful, if not vicious, comparison between Obasanjo’s government and Sani Abacha’s regime needs to be unpacked carefully. All through the years that Ribadu served Obasanjo, he told the nation in public and private fora that Obasanjo was spotless and that the EFCC had no evidence of corruption against Obasanjo’s government. However, the leaked cables suggest that Ribadu had a different idea about the level of corruption in the government that Obasanjo led. If corruption was so widespread in Obasanjo’s administration, as Ribadu reportedly confided in the US diplomat, why didn’t he take a dignified exit from that government, by resigning as the boss of the EFCC?

The entire revelation has cast Ribadu in the image of a double agent, a man who must never be believed or trusted. While he pretended to be a loyal servant of Obasanjo during the time he served as the EFCC chairperson, he also found time to sneak out to convey to a diplomat allegations which a genuine law enforcement officer would have used effectively to prosecute all those believed to be corrupt. This sneaky kind of behaviour qualifies Ribadu to be conferred with the unenviable title of the man with a double face.

On the basis of the Wikileaks’ disclosures, there are many questions that Ribadu alone must answer. The longer he delays his response, the more the leaks will damage his previous image as a well respected senior police officer. He has no reason whatsoever to act like a mole for the US diplomat in Nigeria. That conduct raises a more serious question that touches on our national security. Has anyone considered what would have happened to our national security interests if Ribadu had won this year’s presidential election? No one would guarantee that Nigeria’s national interests would be secure in the man’s hands, given that he finds it fashionable (as shown in the Wikileaks’ report) to relay matters of national interests to agents of foreign governments.

After reading the accounts of the Wikileaks’ revelations published in the Vanguard and the Punch newspapers this week, I wondered what might be going through Ribadu’s mind. His reputation as the no-nonsense incorruptible anti-corruption watchdog who was dreaded at the time he headed the EFCC has now been blemished by revelations about what he knew and how he failed to do anything to stop corruption at the highest levels of government. Ribadu bottled up his knowledge of corruption in Obasanjo’s government while he portrayed himself as the unstoppable anti-corruption chief.

What could have motivated Ribadu to say all those nasty things he said about Obasanjo while he presented to the nation an exaggerated image of the man he served? Did Ribadu intend to establish himself as the pillar of wisdom on which American diplomats would draw secret information about the weaknesses of our national leaders? All the statements Ribadu made in the past to absolve Obasanjo’s government of corrupt practices could now be regarded as one man’s untruthful accounts of the government’s fight against corruption.

While I will not defend Obasanjo and his government (I have never really been an admirer of the man and his eccentric ways), I would argue that Ribadu’s confidential comments about Obasanjo were driven chiefly by self-serving objectives. Unfortunately, those confidential assertions have been transformed into public knowledge, thanks to Wikileaks. Ribadu would have realised by now that in the complex world of diplomatic exchanges, nothing really qualifies as confidential conversation anymore. What is classified as secret information today will eventually become unclassified or unrestricted information tomorrow.

It is unimaginable that one man could talk so single-mindedly and clandestinely about the high level of corruption in the government that he served and yet ignore the fact that he was the head of that government’s anti-corruption agency and also the model of morality for the nation. Although we are all better informed about Obasanjo’s government owing to Ribadu’s unrestrained conversations with an American diplomat, Ribadu must now feel he has committed a major blunder.

In and out of office, Ribadu radiates the image of a man who is specially equipped with an over-abundance of wisdom. But public perceptions of his good judgment have been undermined by his prattle about Obasanjo’s government. Let me be sharp here: Ribadu’s secret statements about Obasanjo’s government have typecast him (Ribadu) as a cold-hearted and manipulative man who has immeasurable political ambition. Ribadu’s allegiance to Obasanjo must now be regarded as fragile as a piece of chinaware.

Obasanjo is arrogant, insufferable and lacks decorum in public places but why did it take Ribadu so long to reveal that Obasanjo’s government was far more corrupt than the government that Sani Abacha led in the mid to late 1990s? Ribadu and Obasanjo are locked in a game of wits.

PDP RAISES THE BAR, SAYS PARTY WILL RULE NIGERIA FOREVER?

 Icheoku says when one thinks that the former Peoples Democratic Party chairman Vincent Ogbulafor was a crazy basket mouth for saying that his PDP shall rule Nigeria for sixty years, here comes the crazier mother of all blabber-mouths, the current acting chairman of the PDP, Alhaji Kawu Baraje. According to this mallam, Vincent Ogbulafor's sixty years was too modest and not ambitious enough; and so in his own power-drunk estimation, the PDP dominance of politics in Nigeria shall be FOREVER! 

Nigerians, you have heard it, so it is now for opposition parties to unite and team up and tell PDP, not under our watch. But such camaraderie among the opposition is not possible because of the selfishness of Nigerian political leaders who are in it for their own personal gains only. Moreso Wiki Leaks just disclosed that Nigeria Supreme Court Justices were purchased by late President Umaru Yar'Adua for $57million to return a favorable verdict for him. Icheoku therefore says even it means that in a case where the PDP were to even lose an election, they would buy a favorable verdict since they are already in power and control the power of the purse. So is there any solution to the PDP declared monopoly of power in Nigeria?

AS JOS MAYHEM RETURNS, HOLD PRESIDENT JONATHAN RESPONSIBLE?

Icheoku says the resurgent killings and reprisal killings in Jos is because President 'Drag-feet' Goodluck Jonathan has not acted on the recommendations of the Solomon Lar panel of inquiry into the previous Jos disturbances which Icheoku believes, were they implemented, would have starved off the resumed violence. Nigerians, Icheoku does not know about you, but this particular president is not managing time prudently; which leaves the memory of Baba Iyabo's road-kill approach to governance not so faded away as many Nigerians are beginning to nostalgically wish that a do or die president is still in office at the present very bleak time in Nigeria.. As Jonathan meticulously deliberates and thinks through issues several times over, Nigerians are dying, being butchered by their fellow countrymen. Icheoku says it is about time President Jonathan threw away his academia hat of clear thought and put on an "agbero" get-it-done-now hat of results, as that is what it takes to govern Nigeria; otherwise how else does the president plan to explain the death of this little innocent girl or the several bombings being unleashed on the country by Boko Haram? Please President Jonathan, whatever it takes, whatever works - just do it to put an end to this carnage in the country!

WAR OF THE GENERALS ROUND TWO, BABANGIDA JUMPS RIGHT BACK IN THE RING!

 Icheoku says may be the toothy fairy prince of Minna was afraid of area-boys whose area-father he was confronting when he claimed in Lagos that he wish to embrace Baba Iyabo. Now that he has returned to the safe confines of his Hilltop enclave in Minna, his blabber-mouth is once again unbuttoned. 

Icheoku says it would appear that IBB has not learnt the hard way, the lesson of do or die politics and street brawl for which OBJ has a double PhD. Anyway Icheoku had prayed and continues to pray that the battle between the two generals never abates until they both reveal how they messed up Nigeria so badly during their collective 19 years in power. Now Babangida has taken back his word of surrender and boastfully restates his claim that Obasanjo was a complete failure. 

Icheoku says who knows what next Baba Iyabo will call the Evil Genius - may be a murderer or a drug baron; just asking? In his latest salvo, Babangida said that he stands by his previous statement that Obasanjo was the most incompetent and wasteful government Nigeria ever had. So Icheoku joins the rest of Nigerians in waiting to see Baba Iyabo jump right back into the ring for round two of the bout  of the generals and possibly land a knock-out punch on IBB this time. icheoku prays that the war of the generals never ceases and let the thriller in Nigeria get more explosive!

"IN HIS TIME" - A BOOK OF DISTORTIONS BY DICK CHENEY.

Icheoku has not read and will not read and advise others not to read the latest attempt by former vice president to George Walker Bush, Dart Vader Dick Cheney to distort record and burnish his stewardship in that government. Mr Cheney took pleasure in blaming everyone else but himself that served in that administration for all the foibles of that ill-fated Bush/Cheney government that brought more harm than good to Americans and damaged us globally. The snippets so far are not a correct account of what transpired in that government, as witnessed by those millions of us who watched as the most ideological driven government America ever had, unleashed indescribable things on both Americans and the world in general. 

So for Dick Cheney to now attempt to rewrite history or in anyway try to punt the blame on all others but himself is a great disservice to all those presently alive and the future generation who would study that government in which he was the most powerful vice president America ever had. Dick Cheney piled up on Colin Powell; did not spare Condoleezza Rice and now says that Hillary Clinton would have been a better president than President Barack Obama? According to his assessment, "perhaps she (Hillary Clinton) might have been easier for some of us who are critics of the president (Obama) to work with." Icheoku says there must be something about black people that ticks Dick Cheney off and makes his heart sputter as his two most criticized and identifiable foes in his book are all blacks. Now for him to say that "it would have been easier for his 'good ole boys' to work with Hillary Clinton than Obama suggests that the color of President Barack Obama is the principal reason why the Obama government has been so vociferously criticized by the rednecks of American right wingers and not that the president is not doing his best to man the tiller of state effectively. 

The good news for all civilized Americans and bad news for all the Dick Cheneys of America is that nothing can change the fact of what is - that a Nigger is occupying the White House; his tenancy runs till 2012 and is most likely to be renewed for the next four years thereafter. Until then, Icheoku urges you not to enrich Mr Halliburton any further by buying his memoir of distortions; boycott this his latest whitewash of his role in that infamous Bush/Cheney government in which he served as vice president for eight long torturous years. Please Americans, do not waste your money in buying or your time in reading "In My Time - a personal and political memoir by Dick Cheney with Liz Cheney" as its toxic content will only bring back memories of the nightmare that was that administration which everyone is trying so hard to forget and file away. Icheoku says Americans do not need to be reminded through a book by Dick Cheney of what that government was or the role played by any of the principal characters therein especially Dart Vader Dick Cheney.

IT IS SEPTEMBER, YET NO DEMOCRACY IN EGYPT?

 When the people of the land of the Pharaohs led a revolution against their then sit-tight President Hosni Mubarak; the president elected to handover power to a democratically elected president within six months - precisely in September 2011. Like the unthinking mob which they are, they would have none of that and like the Jewish mob who forced Pilate's hand on Jesus shouted "crucify him, crucify him", those Egyptians wanted the head of Pharaoh Mubarak on a platter immediately. With their deafening shouts at Tahrir Square not abating, the military intervened and Mubarak became history as a once was Egyptian president. 

Admitted that Icheoku does not support any sit-tight ruler, we however asked for the Egyptian people to accommodate the six months offer to handover to a democratically elected president made by then President Mubarak, considering the logistics of building a democracy and conducting an election. Even respected figures like Mohamed El Baredi, former Atomic energy boss, joined the mob that will not see or hear reason in the short six months period being requested. Anyway the loudest had their way and the rest as they say is now history. Icheoku says the six months has now come, yet Egypt has neither a democracy nor has it conducted an election nor have an elected president; so the question remains whether the Egyptian mob or democracy activists are now regretting on hindsight their rejection of President Hosni Mubarak's offer? Just asking since the September has now come with no real or apparent movement towards real democracy by the military in Cairo.

WAR OF THE GENERALS, BABANGIDA BACKS DOWN!

Icheoku says thank God for Obasanjo, the only man from the entire Southern Nigeria who the Hausa/Fulani feudalistic North is really afraid of. Suddenly Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida realizes that Baba Iyabo is and forever remains his boss as he makes a u-turn from his provoked fight with OBJ. 


It would appear that IBB forgot that Baba is an area-father well versed in street brawls and never afraid of taking on anyone including the toothy fairy prince of Minna. Babagida now blames slip of the tongue, blames his press Secretary Kazim Afegbua, blames journalists for doing a hatchet job on him by taking his statement out of context; but failed to blame himself or take responsibility for striking the match which started the fire. Icheoku is not surprised that Babangida is blaming everyone else but himself for the altercation as is usually his stock in trade; but he forgot that there was a tape recorder of what he said. Babangida has now made a weasel u-turn, saying that Baba Iyabo is and forever remains his boss and claiming "the report was not what he meant”. 

Icheoku says to IBB if that report was not what you meant, can you please now tell Nigerians what exactly you meant and didn't you remember that Baba was your boss when you first ran your foul mouth? If according to IBB, the report had cost him a lot, Icheoku says Babangida should be grateful that Baba did not avenge the death of MKO Abiola or the annulment of June 12 directly on him while in power as that would have been what "a lot" really looks like. Despite the report, IBB still has his live intact unlike Abiola, Dele Giwa and Mamman Vasta who paid the ultimate price. But no one should be mistaken that because Babangida turned tail and made a shriveling mea culpa that the matter is now dead and buried; no, as any student of OBJ behaviorial tendencies knows that Baba Iyabo's unforgiven heart is legendary. So until death do them apart, Babangida is a marked man in the cross-hairs of Baba and so does the war of the generals continue!

OBASANJO, CUNNING BUT CERTAINLY NOT FOOLISH.

Icheoku makes the final rejoinder to the now seemingly rested or truce-weighted war of the generals between Aremu Olusegun Obasanjo and the denuded Maradona Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida by stating that to call Obasanjo foolish or rather "more foolish" is a stretch of a dumb imagination or the product of an unthinking rustic mind. Icheoku says the deity of Otta Olusegun Obasanjo may be every other thing and any other thing including the most abhorable of all things, but to include "foolish" in that epithet is exaggeratedly overreaching. 

Icheoku takes strong exception and umbrage at those paid hacks and hired hands, minions of Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida, who moronishly ascribed "foolishness" to Aremu Baba Iyabo's resume` because any person who had ruled Nigeria three times on his own terms and survived is definitely not foolish. The record is unbroken and Icheoku stands challenged on the assertion that it takes a fox to navigate a jackal infested terrain and make it safely back to its hole. The treachery, the political horse-trading, the banana peels, the fifth estate, the daggers and sabres and all those vultures who masquerade as friends at the banquet waiting to take that Brutus stab as well as the intrigues involved in running a state, especially one as complex as Nigeria, is not a job for either the faint-hearted or the foolish. It is akin to an upstream swim in a crocodile and shark infested waters where just one unthinking foolish move will find one either in the belly of the beast or in the jaws of death at best and therefore demands pin-drop alertness and every cunning tricks in the books just to stay alive and well. 

Icheoku therefore states that if any of the fighting generals could be equated with foolishness, that general is definitely not Olusegun Obasanjo. By the same token Icheoku will not dismissively call Babangida foolish either, since he had successfully navigated the minefield of running Nigeria; admitted that Icheoku had amplified that description of his by Obasanjo. But if Icheoku must, it is safer to say that if anyone in the mix is foolish, it is that man who did not have a water-tight contract of his perversion to get a country back after first pawning it off to that other? It is that man who did not have a plan B of a king's ransom or breaking of knee-cap to enforce an illegal contract like the mafia would, when he imposed the other man on Nigeria in 1999 expecting that other to be "honorable" enough to respect their illegality by giving him back "his country" in 2007. Icheoku says that is what "foolishness" really looks like; it is foolishness defined. When one cannot protect his behind from being badgered when dealing with a man whose penchant for disrespecting everything including contracts and gentleman's agreement is of general knowledge, that is what qualifies as foolishness for Icheoku. Therefore Icheoku emphatically maintains that the toothy fairy prince of Minna is the "foolish" one for trusting too carelessly and in a cavalier manner but certainly not the foxy Deity of Otta. Dishonorable, disrespectful, conceited, deceitful, rabid, clever by half etc; just name it but please exclude "foolishness" in describing the deity of Otta because it is not part of his attributes. Olusegun Obasanjo is simply stated, cunning as a fox.