MALLAM NUHU RIBADU, MISSING?

 

Icheoku has noticed the conspicuous absence of the first EFCC executive chairman and ACN presidential candidate in the last election, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, from the political scene as well as national discourse in the country recently. Whether this is a leave of absence, deliberately employed to create anxiety or additional interest over the where-about of the mallam, Icheoku cannot say. Or could it be that Mallam Nuhu Ribadu has lost favor amongst Nigerians and is no longer the media-favorite of the Nigeria fifth estate, that his visibility has suddenly waned? Anyway, whatever be the case, the fact of the matter is that Nuhu Ribadu has not been available nor availed himself upon recent political developments in the country; which forced Icheoku to ask, where is the mallam? Why has Mallam Nuhu Ribadu suddenly disappeared from the political circus since alleging that Olusegun Obasanjo is corrupt or tolerated corruption during his presidency via Wiki Leaks?  That Nuhu Ribadu should so suddenly go blank on the radar screen should be a cause for concern to many Nigerians but so far it doesn't appear so? Icheoku says to Mallam Nuhu, if you are okay and still around, please hollah at Nigerians!

HERMAN CAIN IS NOT A REAL AMERICAN - HULK HOGAN.

Icheoku says without doubt racism is alive and well in America, which explains the unceasing bashing and resistance which President Barack Hussein Obama is getting despite his best efforts. Now the man leading Republican Presidential candidates wanna-be field, businessman Herman Cain; and who himself also happens to be a nigger just like the president, has been described as not being a "real American" too? 

Former wrestling show-boy, Hulk Hogan, said he wants to be president and make taxation flat across the board. According to Hulk Hogan, "I think I should be president. I know nothing about politics. I think a flat tax across the board would straighten everything out." When reminded that his idea is similar to GOP leading candidate Herman Cain's "9-9-9 Manifesto", Hulk Hogan replied "Wow, yeah well he's not a real American like I am." 

Icheoku says for all those still pretending otherwise, the reality check is that a nigger occupying "their" White House is the problem and it does not matter what that nigger does to move the country forward, those racist American rednecks will not have none of it as they only see a blackman and not whatever the heck he is doing to improve things. Imagine a man who succeeded very well in the business world and who now leads the Republican Presidential candidates nomination field, being called "not a real American?" If he is not, then who? Yet a racist pig known as Hulk Hogan believes that policy trust similarity not withstanding, Herman Cain should not be president just because he is black and therefore "not a real America like himself?" 

Icheoku condemns this as another racist bigotry and says, simply because his jaundiced eyes tells him so, that does not make it so that only white skinned Anglo-Saxon descendants are the only "real Americans" in America. GOP Presidential candidate wanna-be, Herman Cain, has the right to aspire to any office in the land to which the likes of Hulk Hogan can including the presidency of this great nation. It does not matter how angry this makes those racists animals, America has since moved on from its past and any of them who does not like the progress we have recorded and seen in this country can take a hike. How dare this beefy pig say that black-people are not real Americans like himself; and he is not even a native Indian. To hell with Hulk Hogan and his likes; Hulk Hogan should better get it in his retired or retarded wrestling brains that Herman Cain is as real American as any other American can be, including his sorry racist arse!

GET THE NEW I-PHONE 4S TODAY, ITS STEVE'S LAST GADGET.

 Icheoku is getting the new IPhone 4S being released today October 14, 2011 and so should you as a tribute to the man who revolutionized the way we keep in touch with one another. I-Phone 4S is Steve Jobs last tech-toy on this earth, launched a day before he died; so it will be a great honor to his memory to get it.

OBASANJO'S SECRET LETTER TO JONATHAN, A FAKE OR FORGERY?

Icheoku usually does not agree with the Otta deity but in the case of this letter, is leaning towards an agreement with him that it is a forgery? All surrounding circumstances and political ramifications considered, only two possibilities exist - either the letter is certainly not from him or it was foolishly wrote and drunkenly dispatched; otherwise why would a man with unlimited and unfettered access to the man he made president, prefer to convey such conspirator's thought via a written document instead of just jetting into Abuja in the middle of the night to personally discuss such divisive and polarizing matter with his boy at Aso Rock? This is the fork in the middle of the road where Icheoku got lost trying to apprehend the merits and demerits of the purported letter coming from Obasanjo. 


Admitted Icheoku has not been privileged to previously see or receive a signed document from OBJ, nor do we claim expertise in deciphering signatures; but should it be conclusively proved in due course that Obasanjo was not smart enough to understand that he should not have written this letter under advisement, then Icheoku shall take away the title of "a fool at seventy is a foll forever" given to IBB from the same OBJ and hand it over to OBJ as the new custodian of the title. But that is where our position varies from what the general population is saying regarding the offensive discriminatory letter; especially allegedly coming from a man who have had the privilege of ruling the country - both north and south, on three occasions. If the letter is truly from OBJ, Icheoku says for Obasanjo to now want to use Jonathan to carry out discrimination against certain peoples of the country is unacceptable and should be condemned by all descent men. 


But until the letter is conclusively determined by forensic science to be fake, which should be the primary goal now instead of the intimidating arrests of editors and journalists of the publication that first aired the news, Icheoku says both Obasanjo and the Nation as well as the tax-payers' paid security operatives should sheath their sword and meticulously unravel the puzzle. Their investigation should primarily be to find out if Obasanjo did or did not in fact write such letter; if he did not, then they can start the prosecution of the publishers for libel and defamation of character. But in the event it was determined that Baba Iyabo authored the letter, further steps should be taken to find out if Jonathan acted on it or the letter in any way influenced any of his recent firings and appointments. Finally, Icheoku asks once again, assuming Obasanjo wrote the letter, why did he choose to become so dumb as not to read in between the lines of the ramifications of such letter. But our guts tells us the letter was not Obasanjos as he is too clever by half to act so dumb.

FOR SHALIT'S FREEDOM, ISRAEL DOES THE UNTHINKABLE?

 The statement "never say never" climbed to an entirely new altitude today, Tuesday October 11, 2011, as the Jewish state of Israel negotiated and agreed with the Hamas "terrorist" Movement to trade captured Israeli soldier, Gilad Shalit, for 1000 of their own prisoners held by Israel. The Israeli cabinet hurriedly and overwhelming approved of the swap under the cloak of darkness. 

Icheoku wonders what the true worth of this particular Israeli soldier is that the Jewish state was prepared to secure his release at such a huge cost of its prisoners of Palestine origin? Icheoku says 1000 for 1 is such a disproportionate cost to pay for "the soldier to be reunited with his family in the coming days?" The question on every body's lips are - has Hamas suddenly now become legitimate enough as a negotiating partner of Israel when they have been repeatedly excluded in the negotiations for the peace process? Has their support for terror ceased? Have they renounced violence against the state of Israel? Have they agreed to recognize Israel as a state? What suddenly changed to bring about this Israeli's camaraderie with an otherwise "terrorist" organization? 

Be that as it may, Icheoku says If Hamas is now "a credible partner" and good enough for Shalit's negotiated release, may be they should equally be considered a "fit and proper" party to be invited to the table of the Middle East peace process? May be they could be the catalyst that will quicken the Palestine question, who knows? Anyway thank God for the shifting quicksands of the Middle East political terrain, triggered by the Arab Spring; and suddenly what previously was considered impossible have now become possible - Hamas negotiation with Israel? Icheoku says may the same channel as made Gilad Shalit's release possible be exploited for a lasting peace among the two biblical peoples of the contested Middle East neighborhood.

BLACK OAKLAND POLICE CHIEF BATES, FORCED OUT BY CHINESE CITY MAYOR?

Icheoku says just take a look at those squirrel-eyes and condescending look of Chinese Mayor of Oakland, Jean Quan, at the departing black Police Chief, Anthony Bates, and the body language spoke it all - a kind of "just hurry up and get the fuck out of here" body language and demeaning look. What a day in the formerly Black Panthers city by the bay that a black police chief is frustrated out of his job in a black city by a frigging Chinese woman? Once again the endangered species in America's work places have lost a city job and in a city supposedly black,  founded and nurtured by blacks; and internationalized by the Black Panthers Organization? The fast becoming new minority among the minorities of America, the usually outnumbered-folks of America has lost one of their own's food-basket and in Oakland for crying out loud? 

In a well orchestrated move, the recently elected mayor by default, a Chinese woman, cleverly manipulated the black police chief out of office as she forced his resignation by making it very difficult if not utterly impossible for the chief to effectively function as a chief. Icheoku queries, how can you ask a man to police a city as dangerous and crime-laden as Oakland, reputed to be the most violent crime ridden city in California, without providing him necessary tools and manpower with which to do the job? First the city reduced the number of available police staff for the chief from 803 to 651 and severely cut his operational budget; they also set aside three crime-fighting proposals that the chief had supported; they also refused to implement federal court's mandated reforms of the city's police department just to give him a bad name as 'a not good enough incompetent black chief;' and lastly the chief was buffeted by a mayor that is bigoted and who never saw anything good of a black police chief from day one; forcing him to do so much with so very little as to compromise his ability to maximally function effectively and to the best of his ability? 

With the mayor's drowning waters to his neck, the chief had to "resign" - a politically correct term deployed not to rankle the polity any further. In the forced-out police chief's words, he said "I found myself with limited control, but full accountability." Icheoku says who could operate under such an unwanted environment made more difficult by a mayor who cannot stand black people especially one manning her city's police department? Should this particular blackman turn into "angry blackman in America," people will pretend not to know where he is coming from; but such shabby treatment as he just received in the hands of the Chinese Mayor of City of Oakland is the reason why some people in America are seen or perceived as perpetually being angry? Icheoku says America cannot fully heal until there is a real searching of souls and change in peoples perception of others who do not look like them; when content of one's character becomes the overriding factor and not just skin's pigmentation or melanin. Icheoku makes bold to say that were Police Chief Bates any other race including Chinese, his condition of work would have been much merrier and tools of trade adequately provided to enable him succeed and succeed well. 

Sadly enough, the mayor is blaming the failure to reform her city's police department on the outgoing chief; needless to say that the reform was mandated by a Federal Court since 2000 ever before the chief was hired on October 2009; and with so many thorns and road blocks strewn along his path to make any reform impossible under him, only as expected to now blame him for failure to comply with the court's order. This shameless Chinese Mayor of Oakland is saying with bold face that she didn't ask the police chief to resign? Quoting her, she said, "I didn't ask him to leave, but if he were to leave, this is a good time so somebody else can move this next phase forward." Icheoku says such lines as this are familiar as they are akin to the other firing words, "you have no problem with us, you did a good job, but we have decided to let you go;" and you are lost by the oxymoron. 

Icheoku says to the Chinese mayor of Oakland, if publicly you did not ask Chief Bates to leave, yet makes it impossible for the chief to do his job, who is being fooled here? Who among us cannot read in between the lines unless those words "by necessary implication" have lost their meaning on you, Madam Chinese Mayor? We all understands fully the nature of the game and how people protect their rear-ends by turning themselves into the man behind the mask or the puppet strings puller just to protect themselves both legally and politically. So Madam Chinese mayor of Oakland, you do not need to tell the chief "You are fired" before he reads your lips and body language, including your evil-eyes that you want him so long gone that standing beside him on a podium is one hell of a disgusting chore for you! Look at the picture above, Madam. But hey, this is America and people understand that racism is very much alive and well; admitted most of it have gone subterranean. Icheoku says I don't need you to call me a nigger for me to know that you are looking at me and thinking of me as one - it is most times inbred and intuitive. 

The Mayor did not ask him to leave, yet her city dillydallied on all the chief's proposed crime fighting programs to move the city forward in its crime fighting effort or lack thereof? They delaying approval for their implementation continuously and without any cogent reason whatsoever, including the chief's planned expansion of an existing civil gang injunctions, implementing youth curfews and beefing up a loitering ordinance. Icheoku says that similar measures were implemented in a sister city across the bay, San Francisco, successfully and it made San Francisco a very safe city; yet a black police chief adopted same for Oakland but city  officials will have none of it. It is also important to note that some of these measures were in place and being implemented before the arrival of the now departing chief but were stalled by city bureaucracy under the outgoing chief and Icheoku would like to add, on purpose. But what do they care - they do not live in those crime infested neighborhoods of East Oakland and it is not their people and young ones that are daily being mowed down with AK-47s in the streets of East Oakland.

It is also heart-wrenching that Chief Bates came to Oakland police department committed to do the right thing to help folks move away from unnecessary violence against themselves but is now leaving frustrated? Views which was echoed by Oakland city council member Ignacio De La Fuente when he said, "We should be ashamed that we can't retain a chief who actually wants to do his job." To this Icheoku adds, such is the plight of the blackman in America, who although come well prepared to get a job done but is never allowed, motivated and at best ill-motivated to do the job when hired and eventually frustrated and/or fired from the job; much unlike his counterparts of other races who operate on much better pillow-top like conditions. 

This chief severally complained of the straight-jacket condition he was forced to do his job in, as Oakland police chief; but no one listened at the city hall as they methodically perfected and implemented a well choreographed template to shove him out of the chief's seat. They literally undermined his every effort to be as good a chief as he can be - they cut his staff, cut his budget, curbed the use of gang injunctions which had worked very well in the past, grounded the police crime helicopter and you wonder what the city expected him to do in hot pursuits of criminals and also refused to implement curfews in gang-riddled neighborhoods. To add insult to injury, the city undercut his powers by directly negotiating with the city's police union, giving them a four day 10-hour shifts per week instead of the more flexible five-day, 8-hour shifts which made it easier for a chief to deploy officers as the need arises. Who would take the shafting of his rear in this manner except a shriveling ass-licker, who values a job more than his integrity, which fortunately the chief is not. Icheoku applauds the chief's courageous' enough is enough approach to the unfriendly climate created in Oakland city hall by the Chinese city mayor. The chief was somebody before the Oakland city job and would remain a somebody thereafter; and like other forced out black top officials of Oakland city, with time he will land something bigger and greener elsewhere.

A willing soul, who came to Oakland police department, prepared and ready to do his job as the police chief, has now been frustrated and forced out of the department, leading to his lament that 'it was difficult in Oakland for a "chief to be chief." His marginalisation was so bad and so obvious that one commentator said, 'Chief Anthony Bates "was a chief in title only and he refused to play that game. Who could blame him." Icheoku says and so goes the story of every blackman trying to keep his job in America - either you condescendingly kowtow to dictations of every sort from all manners of funny looking people, whose qualifier might be their lighter paler skin, with grave heart-attack triggering silence or your ass is history in that workplace. But in the case of Chief Anthony Bates, he was courageous enough to walk away with his heads high instead of becoming a poodle of a Chinese mystery woman; who magically found herself occupying the Oakland city mayor's seat which was won by Senator Don Peralta, by reason of the ridiculous "ranked choice vote or second-overall best-option" mayoral ballot system implemented in Oakland last November. What a day in Oakland that a city, literally found and groomed by the Black Panther's Movement is now at the mercy of a Chinese Mayor who sees "repugnance" in a black police chief and wanted him out ever before she was sworn in?

BOSTON GLOBE PUTS A HIT ON BULGER'S INFORMER?

Icheoku says by outing the informer that led FBI to fugitive former Boston crime boss James "Whitey" Bulger (left), the Boston Globe has unwittingly pawned up Anna Bjornsdottir (right), the former Miss Iceland, to the mafia and pretty soon, she might be sleeping with the fishes? 

Icheoku does not know what the Boston Globe wanted to achieve by divulging the identity of such a high-risk informer; but whatever be the case, they succeeded in pointing Mafia hit-men directly to Reykjavik. Icheoku is afraid that her $2million reward money might not be enough to provide and ensure her a round the clock security and protection from the made-men, wise guys? What a betrayal of confidential information by those with knowledge as well as Boston Globe that calls for DOJ's investigation; or is the Globe owned by the Mafia boss, just asking?

SHAREEF ALLMAN, HIS CRY FOR HELP WENT UNANSWERED.

Icheoku says in as much as we do not ascribe to the taking of life of another under any circumstance including the present taking of lives of two workers, we make bold to say that Shareef was pushed before he jumped. Hear him "There's some racist people at my job. They're messing with me," as he complained to a friend of the treatment he was receiving at his job wherein he is the only black employee truck driver. 

As is usually the case, he is now being described as a "disgruntled employee;" and thankfully they have not used the term "an angry blackman" just yet in addition? Such accusations are easy to make and so is the placing of such singling-out labels quick to stick; but no one has ever asked or tried to find out why "that blackman is angry;" or who, similarly situated in his position would not be if always ignored and treated with disdain as not being good enough? 

Most always, once you take the life of another in America and a manhunt ensues, the law enforcement agencies would not spare your life as they would shoot to kill upon sighting you. In this case they claimed that the dead suspect was "crouched behind a vehicle in the driveway of a home and displayed in a threatening manner his firearm?" Icheoku says we have heard such police narrative before, so it was not a surprise ending since 47year old African American male, Shareef Allman, became 'a dead man on the run' when he pulled his gun and killed those his co-workers. It was only a matter of time before he was tracked and dispatched to the world beyond with no questions asked. 

His former employer, Lehigh Southwest Cement Permanente Plant in Cupertino,  California according to him, is a racist establishment which employs him as the only African America truck driver in the company and he faced constant racism and repeated epithets until he snapped and became an enraged animal killing three fellow workers and wounding several others? Before that incident Shareef Allman had severally complained about the disparate treatment he is receiving at his work-place including punishment for offenses that are disproportionately applied just because of the color  of his skin? Icheoku says any average Joe African-American male working or who have ever worked in the US somehow could relate to the experience shared by Shareef Allman of what transpired at Lehigh Southwest Cement Plant? That it lead him to the deep-end is quite unfortunate as he could have simply just walked away. Such unconducive work environment becomes more painful because most times the management is aware of what is going on but either chooses to ignore it and do nothing; or ask such victim-employ to put up or shut up and in some cases to leave the kitchen if he cannot stand the heat? 

Icheoku says breaking the law or taking the life of another is not the answer nor would it ever stop such racist environments in American workplaces. The solution is for the management to intervene as early as possible and call parties to order and in some cases fire such racists co-workers before it creates such blood-letting environment. Shareef Allman's act was cowardly as he had other options including quitting his job and/or  filing complaint with the appropriate authorities and agencies. What a pity that this latest killing at a work-place will not be the end of an employee with axe to grind snapping and doing something stupid at a work-place or some racist co-workers continuously taunting  minorities in their work-places to such extent that they would lose it - their mind that is. His death in the hands of the hunters sent out to stop his madness and help end his misery has at least brought to an end to the tension in surrounding cities and neighborhoods that one pissed-off but certainly "not disgruntled" employee was out there with a gun, seeking vengeance.

MITT ROMNEY IS IN A CULT AND THEREFORE UNELECTABLE - PASTOR JEFFRESS.

 Dr Robert Jeffress, the senior pastor of Dallas-based mega-church, the 10,000-member strong First Baptist Church of Dallas, Texas, has declared presidential wanna-be Mitt Romney of Massachusetts a satanic cultist and therefore cannot be elected president of a Christian America? According to the pastor, Mormons are not Christians hence Mitt Romney whose faith is Mormonism is not a christian but a member of a cult - demonic cult, one may add? In his statement, the pastor said "Do we want someone who is a conservative out of convenience, or one who is a conservative out of conviction? Do we want a candidate who is a good, moral person, or one who is a born-again follower of Jesus Christ? We understand Mormonism is not Christianity and thus the difference between somebody who's moral and good like Mitt Romney and a true born-again follower of Christ, like Rick Perry. I really think the decision for conservative evangelical Christians right now is going to be, do we prefer somebody who is truly a believer in Jesus Christ, or somebody who is a good moral person but he's a part of a cult. It's not politically correct to say, but it's true. Mormonism is a cult. And for those reasons, besides Governor Romney's lack of consistency on social issues, I think Rick Perry is the most electable choice among Christian conservatives." 

Icheoku says wonderful as a house divided among itself is destined to collapse; and now that Republicans are devouring themselves, the Democrats and President Obama should stay on the sidelines and watch the Republicans implode for good. So with all the Mormon votes now lost by Rick Perry, let us see how only the fundamentalist Christians are going to pull the rabbit out of the hat and put him in the White House in 2012. A very divisive people giving Christianity and Jesus Christ a bad name; how dare they brand another man's faith and convictions cultism; but hey it is the South and they hold weird views on so many things. These are the people who see abortion of fetus as murder yet they joyfully execute adults in their prisons all the time and Icheoku wonders whether to this people, blood clot is now more of a human life than a fully grown adult? Anyway, it is gratifying to know that MItt Romney is a cultist and America does not elect cultists as president? So President Barack Hussein Obama's second term, here we come!

GOP PRESIDENTIAL NOMINATION BID, STILL NO FRONT RUNNER?

Bachman won in Iowa; Cain won in Florida; Romney won in Michigan and now Ron Paul wins Value Voters vote in their party's ongoing spread-out make-believe straw polls, prelude to the nomination of the Republican presidential candidate. Icheoku says what this trend shows is that none of the candidates has what it takes - a strong conservative appeal and pull, to take on President Barack Obama in 2012. Good news!

APPLE FOUNDER STEVE JOBS, SUCCUMBS!

Icheoku says the man who put some powerful tools of modern technology in the hands of millions world-wide has finally succumbed to his debilitating, terminal illness; which saw a fully grown adult man depreciate in weight to less than seventy pounds.

He was 56 years old and if to live is to live your footprint in the sand of time, then Apple's departed alter-ego, Steve Jobs, left one heck of a giant's footprint and by doing so, has forever transformed himself into legend. He lived. He underwent surgery for killer pancreatic cancer in 2004, he received a liver transplant in 2009 and survived for seven years against his doctors' odds. 

Steve Jobs helped develop so many products which has become both iconic and status symbols; and heavens owe it to him to welcome him with trumpets for putting smiles on so many faces and making humanity connect with one another more conveniently. He put unquantifiable catalogue of music, libraries and the Internet in hand-held devices and/or in our pockets, among his numerous accomplishments. According to one obituary, "Rarely has a major company and industry been so dominated by a single individual, and so successful. His influence went far beyond the iconic personal computers that were Apple’s principal product for its first 20 years. In the last decade, Apple has redefined the music business through the iPod, the cellphone business through the iPhone and the entertainment and media world through the iPad. Again and again, Mr. Jobs gambled that he knew what the customer would want, and again and again he was right." Icheoku says thankfully for men of letters, no better eulogy so succinctly spoke of the genius for whom the world mourns. Steve Jobs was indeed very effectual and his life very effective. 

Admitted his exit will initially shake Apple group but Icheoku strongly believes that just like Ford, Edison, Alexander Graham Bell and other great inventors and innovators of the past, whose inventions and products became better with time following their exits, Apple would only become better; as capable hands and visionary egg-heads abound therein to take it to the next level. Even Christianity became stronger with the passing of Jesus Christ as the Apostles, now bereft of their mother-hen, became more brave to do whatever it took both to survive and thrive following the visit of the Holy spirit during Pentecost according to the Bible. The Apple group and its products will not be an exception as Steve was to a large extent just the alter-ego and necessarily the only tinkerer therein; so they will be fine in his absence and will continue to innovate and churn out products that are both eye poppers and head-turners. 

His was the story of another college dropout like Bill Gates, who succeeded in life. Steve was a Buddhist and an adopted son of an American father and a Syrian mother. Although he died at quite an early age of 56 but like most trailblazers in history, he was old - Jesus died at 33, Martin Luther King died at 38, etc; but he entered immortality with his products and will now live forever. And as Google Chairman Eric Schmidt said and Icheoku agrees, Steve 'uniquely combined an artists touch and an engineers vision to build an extraordinary company' which made products that are both art and functional known as I-this, I-that; admitted no one really knows what those "I" stands for? Adieu Steve!

SARAH PALIN DREAMING, SAYS SHE WILL NOT RUN IN 2012?

Icheoku says so she really thought she could be America's president, leading the free world? What an ego-intoxicated daughter of Eve this pretty faced Alaskan wild life killer is, to think that she possesses the necessary gravitas and the mental wherewithal to be president of the United States of America? 

Anyway, being delusional is part of being alive and Icheoku gives prop to the all beauty and no brain Sarah for also thinking that the presidency of America is an all comers beauty pageant? But for Senator John McCain, no one would have been  ever bothered about one Sarah from the Alaskan wilderness junketing through the mainland and feeling the waters of a possible run for the White House. Good enough she has sampled the populace and the news is not good as no serious thinking and minded American would entertain the idea of such a dumbo becoming the commander in Chief of their armed forces. So she made the most natural face-saving political about-turn there is - announced that she will not seek the GOP nomination for President of the United States in 2012. Icheoku says she would have added "nor any other future time whatsoever!"

AMANDA KNOX, 'TOO GOOD AND TOO SPECIAL' TO REMAIN IN PRISON?

Icheoku strongly believes that Amanda Knox walked because she is a white American girl and therefore simply too good to remain in prison just because of an "ordinary" British girl that was murdered, at least with her complicity? If she did not physically drive the knife into the victim herself, at least she watched as whoever the heartless murderer was, butchered Meredith Kersher and she failed to intervene? At minimal there is a legal guilt by her omission to prevent the commission of the crime of murder or even as an accomplice to murder that aided and abetted the commission of the crime? 

But an Italy, eager to please America, used its appellate court in the same manner the mullahs in Tehran did with the three trespassing Americans, to free an imprisoned all-American white-girl, earlier convicted by a jury which heard the evidence of her culpability first hand. With the added media blitz that held Italian judiciary hostage for daring to hold an American white-girl responsible for her "crime", it became just politically incorrect to continue to retain Amanda Knox behind prison walls in Italy and she was set free? When OJ was found not guilty, they still wanted him convicted; but here was a person who was convicted of a crime but hell no, she does not belong in prison? Icheoku says who knows whether additional buttons were pressed or some phone-calls placed and received to facilitate the result recorded. 

Anyway whatever may have been the magical waters under the bridge that flushed convicted Amanda Knox out of Italian prison, one thing remains unchanged - her knowledge of what transpired that night the British girl was brutally raped and murdered as well as her conscience will keep her company for the rest of her life. Further if stories of ghosts are real or those Halloween ghostly stories of the haunted are true, then Amanda Knox have another thing coming as her present regained freedom might eventually turn into daylight nightmare with Meredith's ghosts shadowing her every move for the remained of her life or until she confesses or is pushed to jump off some bridge somewhere. The bible tells us that those who kill by the sword dies by the sword and there is no rest for a guilty soul until the dead is avenged. All these postulations presuppose that she is complicit in the murder; otherwise her freedom is deservedly earned and her ordeal calls for an apology and compensation from the Italian prosecutorial authorities.

Thankfully, CNN Headline News anchorete and presenter, Nancy Grace, has added her voice to the existence of probable cause for the prior conviction of Amanda Knox which has now been inexplicably over-turned. According to Nancy Grace, a great miscarriage of justice was done in freeing "murderer or murder-accomplice" Amanda Knox, who she said remained rightfully convicted for the crime of murdering Meredith; admitted she has now been freed by an Italian appellate court. In Nancy Grace's own words, she said, "I was very disturbed, because I think it is a huge miscarriage of justice, I believe that while Amanda Knox did not wield the knife herself, I think that she was there, with her boyfriend, and that he did the deed, and that she egged him on. That's what I think happened. I think that people in general, including myself, want to believe good about other people and the population wants to believe that Amanda Knox is innocent. They want to believe that and I don't blame them, I'd like to believe it too, I just happen to know the facts." 

Icheoku says however that Nancy Grace did not or failed to disclose the private facts which she knows to support her assertion that Amanda Knox was guilty as earlier charged and convicted or that her boyfriend actually wielded the instrument of murder? Except of course an inference could be drawn that 'Nancy Grace was a percipient witness to the murder of Meredith Kercher and is also telling the world that women are incapable of killing people?' Few weeks ago, a southern California woman chopped off her husband's phallus and technically killed him, so which Nancy Grace still says that women are too wimpish to drive a knife into a human body or is Amanda Knox not that type of woman and on which facts would such assertion be supported? Icheoku says for the heck of dragging out Nancy Grace's argument, any woman capable of keeping the company of a "murderer" might as well be capable of committing the murder herself - the Bonnie and Clyde twosome example?

As  a lawyer which she is, Nancy Grace would have swallowed the benefit of doubt pill that the appellate court's overturning of Amanda's initial finding of guilt was founded on the existence of some reasonable doubt of her actual complicity, and not because of any other ulterior or primordial considerations? Were these doubts to pervade our society, then it is finished for what we hold dearly in common to be a truism, that those black-robed men and women will always do right and just for the society being the reason why they exist. But hey, Nancy Grace, as always will have and hold her opinions and they are usually very pointed and sometimes fixated; and not necessarily what others might want to hear in a politically-correct environment where people tend not to tell you what they are really thinking for fear of stepping on your sensibilities.

For a refresher, Amanda Knox is the American white girl convicted alongside her Italian boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito, in the 2007 killing of British housemate in Italy, 21-year-old Meredith Kercher; and now set free by an appellate court which overturned her sentence. Yet a black-man was just recently given the death-injection in Georgia despite a mountain of evidence of his lack of culpability and you wonder if pro-color justice is a universal thing as Icheoku wonders if Amanda Knox was of any other race, whether her fate would have been the same? Anyway, that is the reality of the world we live in and an Italy whose prime minister, Uncle Berlusconi, not too long ago, wished that President Barack Hussein Obama was rather tanned, since the notion of a black American United States president was very hard to swallow among some Caucasians? Strangely, Amanda Knox's springing from Italian prison is another example of Orwellian Animal Farm re-lived; but the family of the deceased should find solace that there exists also a prison called conscience, which although has no immediate physical confining walls but is more punitive?

KATHY SCRUGGS LOTTERY WINNER, IS SHE SAFE?

Icheoku is just paranoia about certain things and hopes that our fears are not founded with this black Georgian woman who just won the lottery. Already they are saying it was "mistakenly" won and you wonder how somebody who purchased two different tickets could have "mistakenly" win the lottery? 

Abraham Shakespeare of Florida, a blackman, once won $30 million in lottery prize only to turn up later dead and entombed in concrete behind his girlfriend's yard? Hopefully the latest lottery winner in Georgia will stay safe and utilize her winnings in the best possible productive way. Goodluck Kathy; and may your luck not bring you untoward sorrows but joy and happiness. May be it was a payback for the wrongly convicted and recently executed blackman in Georgia for a blackwoman to now win the lottery in Georgia?

PRESIDENTIAL MEETS, WHAT DO THEY REALLY TALK ABOUT?

Icheoku sometimes wonders what the heck in the world do presidents talk about behind closed doors whenever they meet; especially Nigerian presidents with American presidents, whenever they are privileged to be invited to the White House? Icheoku is deliberating this thought in view of those seemingly intractable problems facing Nigeria which to America and the rest of the advanced world is not really much of a biggie, having encountered and conquered similar problems during their years of progression to modernity. 

Put in another way, why can't Nigerian presidents via these presidential meets, tap from the wealth of experience of these advanced countries which have since figured out how to draw rings around such problems which still constitutes Nigeria's 800-pound gorilla in our midst? Icheou says if these countries, through their shared experiences of the past, have devised and mastered solutions to Nigeria's current seemingly daunting problems, why does our so leaders or presidents so called, not exploit such forums as their private meets with presidents of these advanced countries, to seek and harness solutions to Nigeria's still existing and recurring many problems? All they have to do is to put the American President or British Prime Minister on the spot during such meetings and extract firm promises on their countries helping Nigeria resolve its many problems. Such Nigerian president should follow up such meets with a press conference and announce to the world what their hosts' commitments to helping Nigeria are; and let such host president or prime minister recant it or fail to live up to the promise.

Icheoku is surprised that visiting Nigeria presidents do not determinedly broach such issues of helping Nigeria with their host presidents or prime ministers; and even beg them to please help Nigeria solve her many debilitating problems. There is no shame in begging and it takes a humble mind to admit to one's shortcomings/handicaps and then ask for assistance.  Any audacious and courageous patriotic president of Nigeria, who wants to do good by the Nigerian people, would always use such opportunity of a meet to seek assistance from these advanced countries to help Nigeria travel their own journey of developing their own country.  But unfortunately, it would seem that various Nigeria presidents do not exploit this diplomatic avenue beneficiary and fruitfully; and are merely content with the photo-op that follows it? 

Icheoku sometimes queries whether these Nigerian presidents are too coy, naive, shy or even too proud to "beg" for such favors; knowing the haughty genes running inside the average Nigerians' gnome. Sometimes too, Icheoku is forced to believe that these Nigerian Presidents are awe-struck and dumbfounded being in the presence of these White-men presidents and prime ministers of these advanced countries to even voice an opinion; talkless of making some demands or requests? They are simply put, held spellbound at the presence of their colonial masters and are wary of offending them by saying certain things that they may not ordinarily want to hear? Or could it be that these Nigerian presidents are simply too stupefied during such meets to make any meaningful demands of what it is their country wants in form of assistance from such advanced countries? Such presidential meets it would appear is a forum where Nigeria presidents are given handouts of what those  advanced countries want out of Nigeria; and how they would like certain things to be done by the Nigerian president as would be beneficial to their own countries, especially in the areas of oil and gas? Any close observation of Nigeria presidents emerging from such meets often depicts an image of a little misbehaving child who have just been scolded and reprimanded by her parents or superiors; and asked to go and sin no more? 

For instance, the biggest engineering country in the world - the United States of America, a friend of Nigeria, could easily have been cajoled by a deft and crafty Nigerian president into helping resolve the intractable engineering challenges of Lagos-Ibadan and Ore-Benin roads; or the second River Niger bridge which could be easily finished in a matter of weeks or at worst just under few months? What about the West-East road which the terrain is inhibiting its completion, or the South-North rail-lines or even the under-producing Kainji dam? Icheoku have witnessed civil engineers perform timely construction magic with roads and bridges the world over especially in the United States of America; with some principal  engineers in some construction companies pledging their lives should their work ever fail for want of quality. Icheoku hereby challenges Nigeria President Goodluck Jonathan to beg the American President Obama for help with those impassable roads in Nigeria and see those roads put in good pleasurable use for the next twenty years without any major repair work or damage; talkless of a complete non-motorable failure, provided adequate maintenance culture is imbibed. Or better still, let Jonathan beg Obama to help give Nigeria the elusive power supply and have Nigerians "powered" uninterrupted for less and very few power stations. Nigeria's electricity power need is very minimal comparatively and could easily be supplied with uninterrupted power minimally. 

But every engineering project in Nigeria is left for Julius Berger which in the world of engineering, has not secured a berth in the lofty shores of proven engineering marvel or feat; yet in Nigeria, because of the manner of commandeering every business as a monopoly, it is all Julius Berger or nothing? Of all the engineering wonders of the modern world, Julius Berger cannot point to any with their "prized" logo on it, but in Nigeria they enjoy a near-total monopoly of major construction projects and you wonder why the roads and bridges in Nigeria are in despondent state? Icheoku is not saying that Julius Berger does not do a "good job," but that they should have some viable competition to fight for all those jobs that is usually theirs for asking or sometimes unsolicited. Nigeria government should liberalize that sector of the economy and allow some other engineering firms and companies to move into Nigeria for business. That way, Nigeria's engineering sector will be better with services rendered in order to attract future contracts and not as a monopoly who knows that the government has no other option. 

Sometimes Icheoku feels it is loosing its mind thinking about Nigeria's missed opportunities and those seeming impossibilities and problems of Nigeria which have readily available kindergarten-solutions; yet one sees all those pretenders to the crown of solution and problem-solving, pontificating endlessly without resolving those problems. If Icheoku were in a position, every minister or commissioner in charge of any department or ministry of government would have less than six months to prove that they can get the job done or be showed the way out. The money to do the job is there, so Icheoku does not understand their excuse, for year in year out, telling Nigerians they would soon have this and that but without ever delivering the promised result? Icheoku says if it means going to planet Mars to hire some aliens to do the job that needs to be done, so be it; but please just get the job done or their arse is history. But unfortunately, the Nigeria situation is so convoluted that it precludes really accountability and performance as tasked-offices are occupied by partisans who were simply rewarded for their contributions and support during the election, hence they see their respective assignments as goldmines to recoup and pay themselves first, before doing the job for which they were selected. 

Nigeria still have power problem in today's world when universities and colleges have their own independent private power stations and sometimes even sell power to cities and governments in the United States? Nigeria have security problems when institutions and colleges even have their own independent and private police forces and sometimes help cities and governments with their own policing needs as might from time to time arise and  which overstretches their own police force? Nigeria cannot maintain its three refineries when Koch Industries refineries are looking for where to sell their refined petroleum products and/or where to build new refineries. Nigeria Airways cannot maintain its few airplanes when United Parcel Service courier company has over four thousand continuously flying airplanes; and United and American Airlines have a combined total of airplanes in excess of eight thousand? Nigeria's national hospital is a glorified clinic when Kaiser group, a privately held hospital, employs over four thousand doctors with several state of art medical centers to die for and the list goes on and on. 

So with such recurring opportunities to smooch American presidents or British Prime Ministers or other world leaders, Icheoku asks why are Nigeria presidents not being more exploitative of such openings? Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar etc are all well developed, yet none of their citizens knows how to lift a tool since they do not work but are on permanent scholarship and gratuity; but their leaders have dutifully employed to good use their oil blessings, twisting arms and playing politics of oil to their country's benefit. Their engineering tasks are done by Western countries using abundant Asian labors, yet an ordinary road in Nigeria called Ore-Benin road has remained impassable and a death trap. Most recently it added a top flight Nigerian musician Dj Moph to its litany of victims and it is also important to remind our readers that eminent writer Professor Chinua Achebe became confined in a wheel chair as a result of a car accident on the same  stretch of roadway. But for Nigeria's oil, it is a free for all scramble, where the West "freely" take without giving back tangibles in return or should Icheoku say, the Nigerian minders could care less if dividends are ploughed back to the society. 

Icheoku asks what is the use of these meetings if nothing concrete is discussed and obtained therefrom towards helping Nigeria surmount its legion of problems? Icheoku wonders what President Goodluck Jonathan said to President Barack Obama during their last meets at the just concluded United Nations meeting in New York? Was he just like the dutiful servant, who listened with head bowed as Obama dictated to him what America would like to see become of his clay-footed administration in Nigeria? Or was President Goodluck brave enough to man it up to Obama and let America know that on his shoulders rests the fate of over 150 million blackmen and women of Africa who call Nigeria home and who expect the same good quality of life available in America. Did the president after Obama has finished asking about the menace of Boko Haram, plead with him for some assistance both in finance and manpower as well as technical know-how as he struggles with the hydra-headed blood-letting monster that Boko Haram Islamic terrorists has become? Did President "Goodlucky" Jonathan look President Barack Obama right in the eyes and say to him, 'Mr President on behalf of my people - the people of Nigeria, I want to report to you that Boko Haram has become an octopus which we do not have the necessary wherewithal to kill or cage and could you please rush needed aid to Nigeria as we struggle to put it under control?' Icheoku says Mr President should have added to whatever it was he discussed with Obama the following:- 'President Obama, please remember that US gets part of their oil from Nigeria and if Nigeria unravels, so would your access to cheap oil. So come to Nigeria's aid at this their hour of most need.'  What a day that will be when there will be a Nigerian president, standing tall in the comity of nations, who truly gets the back of Nigerians; and not one who is just pandering to those world leaders, whose commendations he values more than the "hold-his-feet-to-fire" criticism he gets at home.

FACE OF OGONI, FACE OF AGONY!

 Icheoku says something is inherently wrong in Nigeria and for Nigeria's leaders to allow or tolerate the degree of pillaging by oil companies in the Niger Delta, resulting in the despondency therein. A Kegbara Dere woman, Rivers State, Nigeria woman pictured, mirrors the agony of the people of Niger Delta South-South Nigeria, caused by oil. They are forced to live in subhuman condition with little or nothing to show for their God-given oil wealth, day in day out?

Look at her face of pain and suffering, with a stick for toothbrush and a skeletal body that is barely holding up. Yet the bellowing black smoke is gas being flared directly behind her hut and on her land making others rich while her condition  gets worse. One wonders what then is the benefit of having oil flowing in one's backyard if this image is all that is left of inhabitants of the Niger Delta area of Nigeria? If Icheoku were President Jonathan, a state of emergency or a Niger Delta 'Marshal Plan' would have since been declared to help these deprived peoples of Niger Delta wipe away their tears. 

Niger Delta's abject poverty in the midst of plenty and their plenty for that matter, since the oil is in their land, makes the case for a total rebirth of that part of Nigeria absolutely imperative. Icheoku says what is going on in the Niger Delta is simply unacceptable and it does not matter how many militants are on some government scholarship or skill-acquisition program - a total make-over of those communities and their people is required and now. Enough of this man's inhumanity to his fellow man - it is their oil wealth so give something back to them. It is only in Nigeria that someone else would be reaping the benefit of oil found in another's land. If elsewhere, such as Texas, USA, the Sheriff will come to town shooting with both hands from the hips. Icheoku urges you to just take one more look at this face of an Ogoniland Nigeria woman and behold a face of immense agony, reflecting a people whose only offense is being endowed with natural resources of fossil fuel which produces wealth they are not allowed to partake in? It is callous, it is depraved, it is inhuman and ought and should stop!

WARNING, POLISHING THE KNOB KILLS?

Icheoku says once again, medical research is out to panic the Monica Lewinskys of this world, as they have added oral copulation to those practices that will kill you? In addition to smoking and drinking, some crazed-out research fellows now says that 'cleaning the chalice and polishing the knob' will give you cancer of the mouth and throat aka Oropharynx cancer. 

Icheoku concludes that either these research people are agents of the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine manufacturers and wants more commission from getting men also vaccinated or they are simply a bunch of sadists who are not happy seeing humans enjoy their life and are bent on frustrating any enjoyment whatsoever. No smoking, no drinking and now no polishing of the knob or cleaning of the vessel? Icheoku says it is better to die doing what you enjoy than to die miserable; afterall everybody gonna die, so what the heck of trying to live your life on someone else standards? To hell with these detractors and inhibitors!