PUTIN AND MEDVEDEV, HOLDING RUSSIA HOSTAGE?

 Icheoku once again reiterates that mother Russia is simply too big and too advanced to be held captive by these two men. It does not matter how good they are or how well intentioned they might be; but for them to subject the Great Russia to their whims is indeed regrettable. 

How dare Vladimir Putin and Dimitry Medvedev think rather arrogantly that without them there would be no Russia or that they are the best thing to happen to Russia after Vodka? Icheoku says it does not make sense for these two men to be playing ping-pong with Russia as there are millions of capable hands in Russia to pilot the affairs of the motherland. It is called democracy and it has no place for recycling or switching seats. Such joke is reserved for third world countries; except they are telling us that Russia has fallen so low?

HILLARY CLINTON'S NEW LOOK, TRIM AND RESPLENDENT.

Icheoku says we don't know about you but the United States Secretary of State is sure spotting a new fresh look. During her recent visit to Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, Hillary Clinton looked a million dollars in her pulled back hair and well tailored blue suit as she met the democratic symbol of Myanmar, Aung San Suu Kyi. Icheoku commends the terrific job Madam Secretary of States is doing globally and readily votes her the most successful Secretary in President Barack Obama team. Admitted other Secretaries  are pulling their respective levers well too, but so many happenings in the world including the Arab Spring made Hillary a permanent fixture on our minds as we prayed for her to successfully navigate through the maze of those cascading challenges. 


Madam Secretary, Icheoku likes the new look - younger, smarter and more appealing or should Icheoku confess, more appetizing. Hillary Clinton actually looked royal and queenly. Keep it up Madam Secretary as "HILLARY 2015" is almost around the corner to usher in the first United States of America female president. How about that HC? Before Icheoku forgets, her host did not look bad either and Icheoku commends her for being prepared to pay the price for her unabridged freedom. Well done Aung; your courage inspires millions world-wide. 

OJUKWU WAS GIVEN NO OPTION - SENATOR GANIYU SOLOMON.

“The Ikemba was a source of pride for those who had the opportunity to experience him, and he stood tall against elements of injustice, segregation and oppression, his death is “a monumental loss not only to his family, the Igbo land and Nigeria but also to the entire African continent at large. Ojukwu took up the responsibility as a leader of his region at the time he did, when it was necessary to do so, and it was the only option at the time he could have taken." -  Senator Ganiyu Solomon (ACN, Lagos), Senate Minority Whip. 

Icheoku says 'bee~eni' and only hopes that other Nigerians could be this courageous to speak up and admit that the Biafran war was forced on the peoples of the former Eastern region and that Chief Odumegwu Chukwuemeka Ojukwu only stood up like a real man to answer the challenge. Icheoku says thank you Senator Ganiyu Solomon for pointing out this much glossed over fact that Ojukwu was not the rouble-rouser some elements in Nigeria paint him to be, but a real patriot who said to the feudalistic north, ENOUGH, NO MORE SLAUGHTER OF MY PEOPLE. 

What a sad commentary it is that several decades after the Biafran genocide, that the same genocidal Yakubu Gowon's people of Jos Plateau State, who led the onslaught against the people of Biafra, are today at the receiving end of the butcher's knife; it is now their turn to taste the bloody dish they served on peoples of Biafra. A GOOD KARMA one may say? Anyway, may the restless fighting soul of the peoples warrior and real hero, Chief Odumegwu Chukwuemeka Ojukwu, now find rest in the bosom of the Lord. Ikemba was what every man should be or at least aspire to be. He was simply a giant and a selfless one indeed.

BOASTFUL NEWT GINGRICH, THE NOMINEE?

It is deja vu once again as the revolving chair of Republican Party's presidential nominee wanna-be front runner status has yet again shifted. The erstwhile Speaker and the man so mean as to divorce his cancer-stricken wife on her sick bed, Newt Gingrich of Georgia, is now the latest prince on the saddle. Icheoku says how long his reign will last is anybody's guess; but no one should underestimate the man who rebounded after his entire campaign team left him in the middle of the water this summer and  nearly drowned his presidential nomination bid.

From Mitt Romney to Michelle Backman to Rick Perry to Herman Cain, this mercurial and constantly changing very ephemeral front runner status has now foist on Newt Gingrich. Icheoku says what an early Christmas gift this would be for President Barack Obama and the Democrats should Newt not be displaced within the next few weeks and goes ahead to secure the nomination. A man with such a trailer-load of baggage that even a novitiate Democratic candidate would make a mince meat of his candidacy, is now occupying Republican Party's presidential nominee status and may for the sake of discussion, magically win? This accident of winning possibility is what is principally driving Newt Gingrich despite the obvious fact that his chances of being elected president of the United States in a national election is nearly second to zero.  Also it would appear that Newt Gingrich developed amnesia and have simply chosen to forget his ethical violations, marital infidelities as well as complicity in the lobbying industry; foibles which do not bode well for the electorates. Anyway Icheoku dares the Republican Party to hand President Obama a swift victory in 2012 by nominating Newt Gingrich as their presidential candidate. 

Buoyed by his current front runner status, Newt has gone into overdrive, declaring that he is going to be the nominee and Icheoku wonders what a too full of himself, very arrogant man, this overweight Georgia man is. In his own words, Newt Gingrich said, “I’m going to be the nominee. It’s very hard not to look at the recent polls and think that the odds are very high I’m going to be the nominee. And by the way I don’t object if people want to attack me, that’s their right. All I’m suggesting that it’s not going to be very effective and that people are going to get sick of it very fast. And the guys who attacked each other in the debates up to now, every single one of them have lost ground by attacking. So they should do what they and their consultants want to do. I will focus on being substantive and I will focus on Barack Obama.” 

Icheoku however beg to advise Newt Gingrich not to savor his polling victory just yet as we have seen so many other candidates occupy that front runner seat before his current ascendancy and where are they now? What a funny phony this man is; except of course, he is trying to psyche Mitt Romney out the competition, being the newest man on the block in the nomination process. Icheoku once again admonishes that the Republican Party does not have an electable presidential material this nomination season and would by default of any of these candidates nomination, hand President Barack Obama a second term. If only they have listened to the advise of Bush's brain, Karl Rove, and stayed off the tracks; but hey, their respective ego is more than ordinary hence the jostling. Oh Newt, how do you plan to secure the nomination and how are you so sure that you will be the Republican Party's presidential nominee?

OJUKWU WAS A REAL MAN, ICHEOKU MOURNS HIS DEMISE.

 

“Ojukwu will remain in the heart of every Igbo man or woman and even those yet to be born and that is the greatest immortalising anybody can live for. Monuments can’t make anybody’s memory eternal but what that person stood for. The Bible says, to live in the heart of those who love you is not to die. So, Ojukwu has not suffered death in the hearts and minds of Igbo people. In a hundred years, in two hundred years the Igbo people will continue to feel a sense of loss because Ojukwu lived and died an Igbo man.” - Chief Victor Umeh, APGA National Chairman. Icheoku agrees intoto with the high chief and adds that Chief Odumegwu Chukwuemeka Ojukwu was a man who truly lived like a man and stood up when it mattered most, guided by his unwavering convictions. 

The Igbo nation will dearly miss their only true son and proven leader; a man who mortgaged his very comfortable and uber upbringing and went to the mats to secure the dignity of the people of the then Eastern Region of Nigeria especially the Igbo people of  the Southeast. Icheoku says Ojukwu was not just a fair weather Igbo man or Igbo leader when convenient; Ojukwu was not also an Igbo leader contractor propagandizing for LPOs; no, Chief Odumegwu Chukwuemeka Ojukwu was the embodiment of the Igbo race and its alter ego extra-ordinaire. His wasn't about convenience but conviction. His kind is no longer made and cannot be found in Igboland as the Almighty patented and retired the mold with which he made him. Put in another way, Ojukwu is simply irreplaceable. Adieu Ikemba.

OJUKWU IS DEAD AND GONE WITH BIAFRAN WAR MEMOIRS?

 

Icheoku says unfortunately, procrastination has once again cost Nigerians and the world a rare insight into the Biafran war and the soul of the man who lead the three year Biafran war effort. He promised the world a true account and memoir of the Biafran war, detailing its causes, prosecution, successes and failings, as well as the final suspension of hostilities leading to his forced exile to then Ivory Coast. But like William Shakespeare said, the good are often interred with their bones and so has this great forensic opportunity into the soul of Biafra, unfortunately, died with the man who was Biafra's alter ego and chief protagonist. Dikedioranma of Igboland, Ikemba Nnewi Dim Chukwuemenka Odumegwu Ojukwu is dead and gone with his memoir of the Biafran experiment. Icheoku says may his courageous soul now rest in peace and may the spirit of Biafra never rest nor die. 

Regrettably many Nigerians alive then and now, as well as future generations have been robbed by his death of this promised first-hand's percipient account of what happened and may never know exactly what truly transpired during that Biafran war of survival. Icheoku had noted and is writing an article on the lack or not readily available chronicled history and/or biography of some Nigerian greats, and you wonder what history professors at various Nigerian universities are doing when they could have handed various assignments to their students and scholars to memorialized certain Nigerians history. You take a look at the Nigerian landscape and you hardly could find books on people like Gani Fawehinmi, Fela Anikulapo Kuti, Rotimi Williams, Tunde Igiadgon, MKO Abiola, Emeka Ojukwu, CC Onoh, Balarabe Musa, Maitama Sule, Wole Soyinka, Joseph Tarka, Aminu Kano, Mai Diribe, Adaka Boro, Tai Solarin, Beko Ransome Kuti, Sam Mbakwe and the brains behind Ojukwu Bunker, Ojukwu bucket, Uli airport lantern-illuminated landing strip etc. 

Icheoku asks where is the future of Nigeria when the past  of Nigeria dies without anything transferred as handouts or notes therefrom of how things were and who did what and how. It is called recorded history and biographies; and Nigerians are not doing well upholding this department of their society. So as Icheoku and the rest of the reasonable and rational humanity mourns the loss of the great one; and in as much as we shall miss his colossal presence, the thing that will be sorely missed is that his promised opportunity to take the world into the experience called Biafra is now also gone with the wind. 

Chief Odumegwu Chukwuemeka Ojukwu would have done a terrific job educating Nigerians on Biafra as only he could have done. Having led that heroic effort that called the bluff of the northern Hausa/Fulani bloody hounds and their collaborating marauders, people bent on dipping their Koran in the Atlantic Ocean beginning with the ethnic cleansing of the Igbos principally in Northern Nigeria, he is  the real insider as it gets. Icheoku, without being immodest, states that every Igbo man and woman owe the freedom they enjoy today to the bravery of the man who stood up to be counted when it mattered most. Chief Odumegwu Chukwuemeka Ojukwu looked into the eyes of genocidal Yakubu Gowon and told him, the SLAUGHTER OF THE IGBOS MUST CEASE AND STOP, no more! What a best seller this book of the real Biafran War story would have been; a true account from the man who should know, having personally led the effort. According to his ADC, "there is virtually nothing that happened during the war period that he did not know about. He was determined to get justice for the people of the Eastern region. He laid his life down for out people but unfortunately many people did not get to know more about him. He never went to war for personal aggrandizement. At all times during the war he was concerned about the people." Icheoku says this is exactly what is missing - a real account of the Biafran war by someone who actually knew something about what happened, an insider''s insider. Unfortunately, his death has permanently deprived the world of such a great opportunity and forever. Anyway, the Ikemba is gone but his spirit lives on in the millions of his admirers and other Biafran protagonists and apologists. So long Ikemba, Dikedioranma of Igboland Chief Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu, rest in peace, Adieu!

CASCADING STORIES WHILE WE WERE GONE.

Icheoku was in a situation this past few days from November 25 through 29; hence couldn't bring you our take on some fast developing stories. Please we shall endeavor to update our library sometime within this week and as soon as we fully recover from the blues of what intervened in our life program. However be informed that the long comatose Biafran war Lord, Chief Odumegwu Chukwuemeka Ojukwu has lost his battle for life as he died November 25 at a London hospital. Paradoxically, this is his second lost battle in life - the first being to the Nigerian federalist soldiers as leader of Baifra. Anyway may his soul rest in peace.

Also Nigeria is now an anti-gay country as the legislature there have outlawed and banned same sex marriage; making it an offense punishable with ten years imprisonment. Icheoku says lesbians, gays, bisexuals and trans-genders, beware as you may be locked up in Nigeria for professing your love to same sex partner. What a retard of a legislation by a do-nothing senate; which senate, if passed through scrutiny of a lie detector test would cough up so gay men and women still shivering in the closet. Icheoku condemns this legislation as intolerant and none progressive and hereby urges Nigeria President Goodlucky Jonathan not to sign the bill into law; in similar manner as President Yoweri Museveni of Uganda.

Herman Cain love for white trash bimbo is once again in the fore-front as another white-washed white woman alleges a thirteen year sexual orgy with the Republican Party's presidential candidate wanna-be. Ms Ginger White knowingly was screwing Mr Herman Cain exclusively for money and other favors; fully well aware of Herman Cain's marital status. Icheoku says this slimy conduct, by necessary implication, aptly qualifies Ms Ginger White a whore - trading sex for favors. However this another "lying" woman did it for Icheoku as we hereby call on Mr Herman Cain to stop torturing his docile wife any more and quit the race. Enough is enough and all these women could not all be lying and piling up on just Herman Cain at the same time. Now is time for the damage control and try pacifying his disrespected and dutiful wife; moreso since Herman stands no chance in hell of ever becoming the Republican Party's presidential candidate, whats the point hanging in there? Herman Cain, Icheoku asks you to just leave and NOW

PRETTY AND CUTELY SEXY?

Icheoku says whoever this gal is, she sure looks good. She is damn sensual and in every sense and inch adorable - look at her mouth region, the puffy lips and white enamels. Check out her dreamy blue eyes but Icheoku does not know if she is wearing contact lenses. Her cheek tribal marks compliments her high cheek bones and Icheoku noticed the nasal piercing too. Anyway she is invitingly appetizing and appears to be possessed of a good heart too; but you never know? Anyway, does anybody know who she really is or is she just an Internet cloned damsel or an avatar? If she is human and a Nigerian, she is likely to come from either Ishan Edo State or Kano State and Icheoku would guess her name is Binta? Even those pimples on her forehead couldn't tarnish her appeal.

FARIDA FIRED!

The eagerly awaited, much anticipated and long overdue relief from duty of the Nigeria Economic and Financial Crimes Commission chairwoman, Farida Waziri, is finally here. It would appear that finally, the over-deliberative Nigeria President Goodluck Jonathan has come around full circle and summoned  enough courage to let the EFCC-madam go. 

Icheoku expected the hamstrung chairwoman to have resigned long time ago, but she fell victim to the Nigerian cultural shackle which does not permit the emergence of brave public servants of conscience, who could stand on principles but just tagged along just to get along. She took it both front and back, honestly thinking to persuade a society that was not listening, that somehow magically her commission would do their job; and was in this suspended state of euphoria until her unceremonious kicking to the gutter. How could anyone worthy of his or her weight in law enforcement operate under such a stringent condition where she was  constantly scornfully derided and ridiculed as a toothless bulldog? Under her soft-touch, touchy-feelly EFCC, so many high profile corruption cases including the corruption charges against former speaker Oladimeji Bankole just stalled without more. Anyway, good riddance and hopefully her successor Ibrahim Lamorde will be courageous enough to do what is required to turn in results. Icheoku hereby calls on Aso Rock to without delay confirm Mr Ibrahim Lamorde as a permanent chairman as that would make him a more dedicated and committed hands-on chairman, without creating a situation where he will be thinking "whats the point," since soon they will also relieve him of the post as they did before. 

However the symbolic changing of guard at the EFCC alone will not cut it or do the magic, as what the commission is facing is a contemptuous society which is so neck-deep corruption and fights bullishly to be left alone and undisturbed in their debauchery. Icheoku says, how about a committed judiciary to help put away these corrupt officials being indicted every day by the EFCC without any one of them ever going to prison? How about special legislation to fast-track some of these corruption proceedings through the courts? How about special courts and tribunal being created to deal with EFCC generated corruption cases only? How about procedural law being specifically tempered and tailored to deal with EFCC corruption trials only? How about the Nigeria Bar Association making commitment to help EFCC deal with these prosecutions without unnecessary delays on technicalities used as a clever ploy to frustrate prosecutions? How about judges handling EFCC corruption cases being made to take special oath not to compromise themselves and security agencies put on their trail to ensure they upheld their commitment? 

Icheoku says Madam Farida Waziri did not fail EFCC or Nigeria; but was simply frustrated out from doing her job by a society which did not want her to succeed in the first place because they loath her commission. In the former EFCC madam Farida Waziri's own words, "the best a law enforcement agency can do is to properly investigate cases and file charges; the frustrations faced by law enforcement agencies within the tedious common law process must be avoided." So there is really not much such a conscript agency can do in the circumstance and the Nigeria Chief Judge was heard to say that plea bargain would be abolished? Also an agency without full authority to decide its prosecutable cases and the best possible choices faced under unique circumstances, but is amendable to the wishes of the Attorney General, is to say the least, encumbered. 

On a lighter note, how about President Goodluck Jonathan just firing himself for not being at par with the duties of his office or is it just only Farida Waziri who could not do her job - wiping the corruption slate clean and had to be replaced? It is all political and seemingly an attack of a soft target - the womanhood, firing a woman corruption czar, otherwise why just her? This reminds Icheoku of the shoving off of the other previous Madam NAFDAC and later Information Mommy Dora Akunyili, who is considered a rabble-rouser and simply too much of a headache to be left around the corridors of Aso Rock? The headline of United States' Washington Post newspaper which reported of the EFCC chairwoman's sack was quite instructive on President Jonathan's ironical position. It wrote "President of graft-prone Nigeria suddenly fires head of anti-corruption agency." 

What a pun at the president, who could not or have failed to tame graft in his country, yet is firing an innocent woman who was doing her best to confront a ferocious glacier of highly corrupt and powerful people of Nigeria, who it appears finally had their way as they did her in? Icheoku says if according to President Jonathan's spokesman, "the removal of the chairwoman is part of President Jonathan's determination to revitalize the fight against corruption," how about removing IGP Ringim to revitalize the police force and some other security agencies to revitalize the fight against Boko Haram and other terrorists? If actually President Goodluck Jonathan was serious with giving his commission needed teeth, he would have begged Muhammadu Buhari to fill the position. Best of luck Ibrahim Lamorde and hopefully Aso Rock will make your occupation of the chair permanent.

JONAH UKADIKE ESQ, AN OBITUARY.

It is with sadness but gratitude to God for a meritorious life well spent that UNEC LAW Class of 1989 announces with regret the passing away of one of their own, Senior Magistrate Jonah Uchenna Ukadike. 

Barrister and Solicitor of the Supreme Court of Nigeria, Jonah Uchenna Ukadike, who rose to become a Senior Magistrate in Imo State judiciary was a course mate in University of Nigeria Enugu Campus Law Class of 1989. He died on September 24 2011 after a brief illness, aged 48 . 

His Worship Jonah Ukadike was survived by wife and children as well as many classmates. May his magisterial soul now rest in peace; hopefully he has ascended up there to preside over some time-sensitive very important cases, not just for anyone but Jonah, the reason the On High had to recall him this early in life. We mourn his loss and treasure his memory; he was a good classmate indeed - ever jovial and ready to render a helping hand or head as the case may be.

Signed

UNEC LAW'89

SUICIDAL IRAN INVITES ATTACK, MAY THEIR WISH BE COMMANDED.

To the boastful Iranian Revolutionary Guard Senior Commander Amir-Ali Hadjizadeh, Icheoku admonishes you to beware of what you wish for. Soon and pretty very soon, your wish might come through and it is going to be devastatingly so convulsing that you will not know what hit you. Instead of toning down the rhetoric as a necessary baby-steps towards creating enabling environment for a more peaceful resolution of their nuclear weapons pursuit generated world tension, the Islamic Republic is adding more insult to injury by pouring gasoline on a flaming fire. As the world fidgets and fiddles on what to do about Iranian's atomic weapons, Iran is yet again escalating and exacerbating the situation; and mouthing off acerbic threats in defiance of world opinion.

Now they have threatened to drop "a nuclear or dirty bomb on Israel;" otherwise what other weaponized 'energy source is capable of consigning a country to the dustbin of history?" In the mullah's very own words, he said, "Our (Iran) greatest wish is that they (Israel) commit such a mistake (attack Iranian nuclear weapons sites). For some time now there has been a hidden energy we hope to expend to consign the enemies of Islam forever to the dustbin of history." Who this threat is meant for and directed at is without doubt, the Jewish State of Israel and it technically qualifies as a formal declaration of war. Therefore, no person or country should blame Israel if they took this direct threat to obliterate them literally and go on the offensive this moment to preempt Iran's threatened annihilation. Israel reserves the right to defend their right to exist and actual existence; and also to preemptively guard against being turned into a powdery desert. The best defense is an intrusive offense and if not now, when?

EGYPTIAN MOHAMMED ELBARADEI, WHERE IS HE NOW?

As Egyptian Arab Spring revolutionaries, who drove Hosni Mubarak out of power last February, suddenly realizes that they traded a dog for a monkey; and that between Mubarak and the military they still have a four-legged animal running the affairs of Egypt, Icheoku asks where is Mohammed ElBaradei NOW? 

Icheoku remembers watching on television as the former IAEA boss marched alongside other revolutionaries, denouncing Mubarak and emphatically criticising Mubarak's September 2011 offer of a handover. Icheoku also recalls how Mohammed ElBaradei as well as many other Egyptians complained that Mubarak's September date handover was rather too far and before that time, so many democracy-struck Egyptians might die longing for democracy? They demanded to have their democracy and have it they must, NOW(then). 

Suddenly the September promised date raced by; came and went yet Egyptians have neither democracy nor an elected government. Instead the military that sired Mubarak, strictly speaking his catering primary constituency for all intent and purpose, are still firmly entrenched in Cairo and running things. It would appear that suddenly Egyptians had an epiphany and realized that Mubarak may still be very much around and could also possibly be calling the shots behind the curtain of his incapacitation? They would have none of that, so once again they trooped to Tahir Square to demand that the army help them finish and complete their revolution by stepping aside and allowing a free election to elect the government.

The army, not used to civilians telling them what to do, sent twenty four protesters to their early graves as a warning shot across the bow that resistance is futile. The world watched and is still watching to see what becomes of Egypt's answer to democracy. Icheoku is also wondering whether Mohammed ElBaradei and his cohorts are now suffering some buyer beware remorse and on hindsight, regretting why they did not take Mubarak on his September offer to cede power to a democratic government? May be, by now, Egypt's transition would have been three months long completed and leading the way of democratic transitions in the Arab world.

ENOUGH OF IRANIAN PROVOCATIVE FIERY RHETORIC, LET THE SHOWDOWN BEGIN.

Icheoku is sick-tired of hearing Teheran's incessant threats of an apocalyptic reprisal, raining thunder and brimstone on its enemies, should there be any attack of their nuclear facilities. It is about time therefore the world or even Israel, acting alone or in conjunction with the US and its willing European partners, called their bluff by attacking those known nuclear facilities scattered throughout the Islamic Republic. If the attack causes the heavens to fall, so be it. If the attack causes the entire Persian Gulf and/or the Middle East to all go up in flames, it shall not be the end of the world. If the attack conversely causes the world to implode on itself, then let civilization as we know it come to an end; but stop, the world must, of Iran's nuclear weapons pursuit. 

Of all the things Tehran could be doing with their scientific expertise and/or abundant human and material resources, the only thing attractive to them is the pursuit of the science of splitting of atoms; and you wonder why such prioritization if there is no urgent maniacal fervor and determination by the mullahs therein to fast-forward their end-time?  Icheoku says this with confidence that a lunatic miscalculation by Tehran to drop the bomb anywhere including Israel will elicit an earth-quaking response that will render the geographical entity known as Iran, a once existed country. It will be so devastating a destruction that Persia will become a nuclear winter-land and you wonder whether those in leadership authority in Tehran are well seized of this fact of consequence as they, by necessary implication, progressively pursue their own destruction with their nuclear weapons pursuit? What the heck one would ask, do those mullahs in Tehran think they are doing, continuously thumbing their nose on the entire world and trying to bluff their way to the acquisition of weapons of mass destruction. Icheoku is emphatic that the time to give Tehran concrete deadline is now and bombs should start raining down from the skies over Tehran and/or Natanz at the expiration of such firm deadline. 

World peace is imperative and is at stake here. Admitted it is a general goal of all mankind but sometimes some people need to be coerced, even if forcefully, to get that into their zealotry skull and if it means by using deadly force, so be it. Listen to Iranian spiritual leader mouth-off on a possible confrontation with the West:- "Our enemies, particularly the Zionist regime of Israel, America and its allies, should know that any kind of threat and attack or even thinking about any military action will be firmly responded to. The Revolutionary Guards and army and our nation will answer attacks with strong slaps and iron fists." What is Tehran defending or are they merely boastful of a threat they are incapable of exerting? Icheoku says the world should take them on the strength of their boast and acquiesce that they have developed the capacity to walk their talk; hence rise up in unison to say to Tehran, no to your nuclear weapons pursuit disguised as energy purposes. According to former United States Secretary of State, no one should wait to see mushroom cloud somewhere in its territory before proactively preventing such a scenario. Iranian threat is real and they are actively pursuing weapon-capacity to bring it about; so what else is the world waiting for before swooping down hard on them to stop them from wrecking the threatened havoc, especially on the State of Israel? 

The fact that Iran does not recognize or acknowledge the existence of the Israel is a cause for serious concern and in the event they acquire the means to bring to fruition such an avowed fanatical hateful desire to see the Jewish State wiped off the map, they would suicidally do it without blinking an eyelid. Icheoku says the world must therefore not wait and watch helplessly as Iran acquires the means of carrying out their stated objective of destroying an existing State of Israel. It would be better to peremptorily deny Iran such capacity now, through an attack of their known nuclear sites; than to watch in askance as they terrorize the world with their newly acquired weapon of mass destruction later. A possible detonation of such annihilating weapons of mass destruction by Iran over Israel is a high probability; admitted it is maddening to contemplate. Icheoku says that volatile region of the world, already pulsating with so many time-bomb situations, could use less of such an extra nuclear-Iran triggered code-red tension. 

It requires gutsy political decision to put a stop on this recalling decimal of repeat threats out of Tehran. It is about time the rubber met the road with stopping Iran's quest for nuclear weaponry. Let the back and forth tirade come to a head and with it a final solution to whatever constitutes Iranian nuclear threat to the world especially Israel and the Middle-East/Persian Gulf. 

Icheoku have watched with seething anger as both the Iranian Spiritual Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and the President, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, continuously taunt the United States of America as well as Israel and daring them to attack Iran if they can. Whether this is a ploy to coerce some response from the West, Icheoku does not know; but suffice it to say that Iran with its current disposition towards the State of Israel should not and must not be allowed to go nuclear as they will drop the bomb somewhere as soon as they acquire same. They run their mouths as if they are not rational and nuclear bombs in the hands of such religion-driven zealots are not a bargain the world should make or be ready to accept or accommodate. Whatever be the cost in the short run, it would be much cheaper than its long term cost of having to perpetually cajole and plead with a nuclear armed Iran not to detonate such weapon over Israel or any other place. If it means oil price momentarily rising above $200 per barrel or the near annihilation of mankind through a resulting devastating third world war, so be it. That way the economies of the world still in doldrums, will receive a much needed steroid-shot in the arm to help it bounce back fast; as mankind takes time to rebuild its destroyed infrastructure and restock its depleted reserves. So a third world war, triggered by attempt to stop Iran from acquiring nuclear weapon capability, might be the silver bullet the world needs to fire-up the sauntering world economy.

Icheoku have weighed many possible scenario in the event of shooting hostilities between Iran and the West over its nuclear weapons match and came to the conclusion that although it might stretch resources, it might cost a lot in blood and treasure, especially with a possible Russia and China taking sides with Tehran, but eventually,  Iran will be defeated and shamed. Moreover Russia and China cannot afford to antagonize old friendships by directly fighting a shooting war against the West in defense of Iranian's nuclear weapon. Both countries are more interested in economic benefits for their countries and as happened with the Arab Spring, they would take a passive none confrontational position in the event their voicing of concern was not enough to deter an American led attack of nuclear-weapons bound Iran. In that circumstance, all that is foreseeable is a none-governmental indirect weapons and possibly mercenaries flow into Iran to help it prosecute its self-imposed war. Icheoku wonders how an Iran which could not convincingly defeat Iraq in their wars of the eighties could now make a mince meat of an American led assault on its nuclear facilities? The possibility of such a Persian victory is utopia at best; so with such a favored outcome but nasty scenario as a guide, Icheoku says the recalcitrant Iranian situation calls for a military confrontation - let the showdown to stop Iran's match to acquisition of nuclear weaponry start and start NOW!

NIGERIANS MUST DISCARD OLD THINKING - BOLA TINUBU

"Mandatory rotation of elective positions in Nigeria is an affront to democracy and places us further down the road of selection rather than election. It exalts mediocrity and access over talent and worth. This type of mind-set is what had fed the anachronistic and false distinction between indigenes and settlers that has cost so many lives, destroyed so many communities and marred our national identity.  We must apply the constitutional guarantees in this kind of situation. If we must deploy tanks and armed soldiers for peace, we have already lost something. 

After the civil war, the military sought to re-fashion Nigeria in its own centralist image. They thought the way to manage the country’s diversity was to bury it under the suffocating control of an all-powerful centre. By imposing a unitary state on a naturally federal society, the military sought to substitute a chaotic diversity with imposed uniformity, which they thought was necessary to promote order and development. Unfortunately, all the supposedly democratic dispensations since the civil war have substantially mirrored the over-centralised and unduly bureaucratic military political cultures. The consequence of this rigid model retards pluralism rather than advancing it. The Nigerian state thus presents the baffling paradox of appearing at once so powerful when protecting the narrow interests of the elite, yet so fragile in providing the barest services of a modern nation to the bulk of the populace. 

Nigeria is run like a closely held private corporation with a revolving ownership.  While the leaders may change, one thing remains constant. Those who run the corporation, run it solely for their own benefit. A nation that does not respect pluralism and the diversity of its own people can never achieve her full potential. A disregard for pluralism means a disregard for the peculiarities of citizens. Any nation that operates with such herdsman mentality will only end up diminishing itself. To free ourselves of the old mental shackles, we must discard old thinking.  We cannot do this by talking as we have talked before. The problem is that we have not produced an alternative world view. People must think and act on something.  Before they leave the old, you must offer them the new, which is superior or more preferable. The nation that we model our government on has a saying, ‘from many, one’ to signify America’s unity.  We have distorted this fine saying in our own regard. Our motto has become ‘from many, even more. 

The progressives want to change the way we interact politically and economically to bring greater democracy and economic development.  The conservatives believe in the status quo, hence have gotten us into this hole. The progressives believe in the development of new ideas and its operationalisation. I believe when the progressives win power, they will be able to lift Nigeria out of the hole by turning our riotous diversity into cooperative pluralism. No more the lack of continuity in development planning which has seen different governments enunciate different and often confusing socio-economic policies." (Culled from speech delivered by Bola Tinubu at the National Institute of Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS), Kuru, Jos, Plateau State.)

TIRED OF LIVING A LIE, ASHTON KUTCHER WALKS AWAY FROM AUNTIE DEMI MOORE.

"Marriage is one of the most difficult things in the world and unfortunately sometimes they fail." - Ashton Kutcher, Demi Moore's former boy-husband. Icheoku adds, but who said it ever works; except that society puts a facade to it while they pine away in hellish sorrow beneath. Just get a life and be man enough to say hell no to the "M" word. It never worked, does not work and will never work. 


Man was not born that way - to be monogamous for life and under the perpetual spell of a singing anopheles mosquito which never gets tired of buzzing. 


At last the scales have fallen off Ashton Kutcher's eyes and he saw he was hitching a ride of life with his sugar-mummy and not a real soul-mate within his age grade? Auntie Demi thought what men can do she can do better as she preyed on a younger male for a "husband". Just reminded that Demi's husband number two, Bruce Willis, recently took a girl half his age for a wife?

OBASANJO, HAPPY OVER WESTERN COUNTRIES ECONOMIC TROUBLE?

 Icheoku is at a lost that former Nigeria President Olusegun Obasanjo felt elated over the economic woes militating against many Western countries of Europe. The former Nigeria president speaking at his investiture as the First Grand Patron of Nigeria-China Business Council (NCBC) Lagos Nigeria recently, expressed gratitude to God for Western countries economic quagmire. According to Olusegun Obasanjo, “While Europe is wobbling and fumbling; thank God for that; America since 2008 has not come out of economic recession. I doubt if it will not affect Obama’s second tenure.” 

So Icheoku asks Mr. Olusegun Obasanjo of Nigeria, what is it to be grateful that people are suffering and why he is rejoicing for the deep six most economies of the West are in or is he manifesting his notorious sadistic behavior, jubliating at other people's tribulation? Such expressed lack of empathy is rather unbecoming of a former president and an aspiring world's statesman and should be condemned. Icheoku therefore decries Mr Olusegun Obasanjo's remarks as being off the mark, having strayed off the reservation of diplomatic speaking. It is indeed very careless and reckless a statement to make.

OBAMA, SARKOZY AND CAMERON'S NATO, HOW ABOUT SYRIAN PEOPLE?

So many have died, so many are dying and so many will still die. Syrian people, being slaughtered by their own government; yet those pretender-keepers of world order, alleged protectors of world civilians, the police men of the world are looking the other way. Icheoku asks is it because Syria does not have oil and therefore nothing to plunder therein-after, that the lives of Syrian civilians, being wasted by Bashir Assad, is not worthy of protection by NATO and its principal promoters. 

The world was recently told that NATO had to intervene in Libya because Gaddafi was just about to massacre Libyan civilians? But in Syria, where the massacre is no longer merely preparatory but ongoing, Icheoku asks, why is NATO not similarly bombing the oppressive regime's army or declaring a no fly zone over Damascus or the entire Syrian real estate in order to protect the Syrian civilians? Icheoku does not know or pretend to understand such a blatant double-standard indifference when it comes to a people with oil and those others without that black gold as it appertains to Western definition of "protected and protectable" civilian population. May be it is about time the West simply came forth and shamelessly confess and admit to the world, that the actual underlying consideration for their interventions such as recently happened in Libya, is the covet of resources and in the case of Libya, their prized oil.  They should also admit that their mission-statement of protecting civilians or women and children is simply a subterfuge to make their mission look dignified and their effort appear noble; otherwise why their continuing passive indifference to the unfolding carnage in Syria. 

Or may be it is about time Turkey and other surrounding Arab/Muslim countries take the initiative themselves and intervene militarily in Syria. They should not wait as usual for the West to once again do their dirty job for them in Syria, only to be told later to take a hike as was the case in Iraq, Afghanistan and every other place they have spent their blood and treasure liberating the people only to find an ungrateful population mouthing off against "imperialists" occupying their lands? 

To the infamous butcher of Damascus, King Bashir Assad, Icheoku warns you to learn a lesson from history especially the recent history of Libya's Gaddafi, Egypt's Mubarak, Tunisia's Ben Ali and Iraq's Saddam Hussein that dictators never outlast their people. It also does not matter how many Syrians you slaughter or are forced to die under your despotism, a day shall come when they will certainly take their revenge. Hopefully you will wise up before it is too late; put a stop to the ongoing needless blood shed in Syria of Syrian civilians before the world watches a U-Tube or phone-camera of you begging for your dear life; followed with your lynching in the streets of Damascus like a dog. NATO and America, time to intervene in Syria is now; or at least encourage Turkey to take the lead. If Russia and China does not like it, let them take sides and if it results to a third world world, so be it as it is about time stuff are destroyed and in the process of rebuilding same, there will be jobs for the world to do and peradventure it will help fix the world economy. But what is it with dictators who don't know when it is to go or so deaf to hear the end is near or think that by killing their own people they are making the needed blood-offerings to remain in power? King Bashir Assad, Icheoku says please go away - just go and leave the Syrian people alone and in peace and NOW!