Wednesday, January 25, 2012
PRESIDENT JONATHAN, IT IS TIME TO INVITE THE AMERICANS!
The likely disavowal in some quarters that this commentator sounds like a sell-out taken under advisement, Icheoku says to President Good(BAD)luck of Nigeria to hurry up and invite the Americans now to rid Nigeria of Boko Haram infestation or forever regret his inaction. It is obvious to any impartial observer that the security agencies in Nigeria have failed to live up to the billing of their offices and have also shameless refused and/or failed to resign as should be expected. Therefore, any similarly challenged president, privileged of some survival skills, would urgently look elsewhere to provide security for both himself and the people under siege; as a vote of no confidence on the local security apparatchik. President Jonathan therefore should immediately proceed to Washington to plead his case for help and assistance from the top-shelf security operatives the world has ever known - the Americans. Icheoku admonishes that no president or head of a family would stand by, hands akimbo, and watch helplessly as some maniacal Muslim terrorists incessantly kill, maim and destroy the citizenry without throwing his best punch forward and forcefully to help stop such wanton destruction of lives and properties. The level of the devastation, alarmingly, makes the president's signature speeches sound too hollow; now is the time to bring out the big sledge hammer and with it give those bastards hell. So President Jonathan, when would your red-line on the sand be deemed to have been crossed or are over one thousand Nigerian lives so far wasted not enough to say enough, never again?
WHOLESALE JETTISON OF POLICIES, BANE OF A NIGERIA STALLED?
Icheoku laments the wholesale throwing overboard of ideas and policies of past governments by their successors and the lack of continuity of some laudable programs started by such previous administrations, as the major problem militating against Nigeria's overall development. It is akin to a house which is midway to completion, being demolished by its new would be occupier who then starts it all over beginning with the drawing plan, blueprint and then foundational works. Then right before its completion but in advanced stage of construction, there is a change in title deed and yet again, the same old song plays itself out de-novo. The result is a house in perpetual state of being built which is never finished nor completed and which can never be finished just because subsequent occupiers find it psyche-soothing to always press the reset button each time and every time there is a change of guard.
One popular aphorism has it that doing the same thing repeatedly and expecting different result is the shortest form of insanity defined; hence Nigeria cannot expect to grow into a major player within the un-enabling environment of its ever temporary governments and the cavalier manner with which they abandon or change existing policies put in place by previous governments. Such fluidity of policies make it impossible for any country to solidify and have a directional core; which in turn denies it the character of a tangible and meaningful place to attract investors and their investments. Recently the Nigerians Aviation minister was quoted as saying that the concessionary contracts entered into by the previous administration as it concerns airports in Nigeria would be reviewed and Icheoku wonders which investor would like to risk his money in such a quicksand, roller-coaster investment climate where one's investment is not secured nor assured; but is malleable to political dictates of whoever is in power.
Icheoku says any incoming new administration worth its name and in a place where things follow conventional procedure and not obfuscating parochial and primordial pandering, would first go through a well detailed and comprehensive transition or handover note to determine what policies of the past government need continuing, which needs dumping and which parts could be conveniently continued with some targeted fine tweaking. That way there would be a real bridge of connectivity between the past and the present government and by necessary implication, provide a platform for the new government to build upon. But a new government which does not see anything good in its predecessor or the need for there to be some basic life saving and preserving umbilical cord retained, will end up groping for direction for the duration of its term on how to steer the ship of the state. As a consequence thereof, such an unguided infantile government ends up failing as it most times performs worst than the one it succeeded; due to the simple fact that it was not properly grounded or anchored.
The situation is not helped by the peculiar nature of Nigeria, where government is personified in the person occupying the seat of government; and the two becomes one or the proverbial "two-nity" (pardon my attempt at pun of trinity). The new comer brings along with him only his own people as every official that served in the previous government is swept out and with it, goes all their policies and ideas on how to move the government forward. With new officials, comes new ideas and untested policies; and the revolving door keeps on oscillating as successive governments emerge to continue the circus that leads to nowhere.
Take for example some laudable Nigerian programs of the past which are now defunct and where still existing, are but their ghostly apparitions. The genocidal Yakubu Gowon, a man between who and Icheoku there is no love lost because of his controlled Federalist army genocide on Biafrans especially the women and children, initiated the three "Rs". A commendable policy geared towards making amends for the atrocities committed against the people of Biafra and to enable the war-wounds heal. No sooner was his government overthrown by Muritala/Obasanjo than the new regime discarded the reconciliation, reconstruction and rehabilitation program that would have gone a long way to assuaged the ill-feelings of Biafrans and thus create enabling environment for the wounds of that war to heel. But unfortunately the man who ordered the Asaba massacre, Muritala Mohammed, did havoc to this palliative policy alongside his eventual successor Obasanjo, a man whose disdain for the Igboman is legendary. As a result, the psychological damage of that war of survival, a war which was forced on the Biafran people by the pogrom against the Igbo people in the North, still effervesce till today. This three "Rs" would have been the proverbial shot in the arm for Biafra and by extension Nigeria heeling process, but Muritala and Obasanjo decreed otherwise as they wished they had dropped an atom bomb on the entire Southeast?
Then enter NYSC, the National Youth Service Corp program which is now a shell of its old self. Well conceived by Olusegun Obasanjo administration as a laudable means of integrating Nigerians by having Nigerian graduating youth go to other parts of the country to serve their fatherland. This writer's first foray into Yorubaland was as a result of the program which took him to Efon Alaaye in the then Ondo State and there started the budding love for the people of the Southwest whose hospitality and social life is yet to be equaled amongst other peoples of Nigerian. From a personal experience, but for the NYSC, may be Yorubaland would have been out of my radar; but suffice it to say that greater part of my adult life was spent in the Southwest and it was memorable; all thanks that the vision of OBJ, the man who Icheoku do not agree with for most part. Admitted that NYSC was recently threatened to its foundational existence by the madness in Northeastern Nigeria, when those animals decided to kill Nigerian youths sent to their land to help them out, Icheoku is of the school of thought that says no matter the provocation, the program is highly valuable and should be maintained. Instead of dismantling it like they did to Nigerian Law School, the authorities should find a way to guard against what happened in the past and ensure it grows in reaps and bounds.
And speaking of the Nigerian Law School, Icheoku regretted the day that decision was made to cannibalize an Ibironke institution that helped harmonize law training in Nigeria and also brought lawyers in the making from every parts of Nigeria into one academic auditorium to interact and assimilate one another's legal point of view. The decentralisation is one huge mistake; yet they would not decentralize SANship and let every region or state award SANS to whoever plays the politics well instead of just the Lagos axis controlled body? If Nigeria is truly one, common percolating points such as the former Nigerian Law School Victoria Island should have been sustained to serve as a unifying institution for all would be Nigerian lawyers and by extension help various Nigerians meet and interact with one another towards understanding our differences and figuring a way out of the woods of prevalent suspicion and distrust that give rise to such idiocy as the ongoing Boko Haram siege of Nigeria. They have so far massacred hundreds of innocent Nigerians and counting; with the security agencies at best helpless or collaborating with them and giving them?
Then enters OFN, Operation Feed the Nation, another brilliant idea of Olusegun Obasanjo which makes Icheoku wonder whether if Obasanjo was simply smarter during his first time in government or he just lost his compass on his second coming? The demise of this wonderful and revolutionary program makes Icheoku wonder out loud what is it that is wrong with Nigerian leadership or does it take rocket science to understand that a country being able to feed her citizens is highly laudable and a program to die for to sustain? But there were some interests, both foreign and domestic, who saw it as a threat to both their farmers in their respective home countries and their ten percent kickback from imported agricultural and food products and they ganged up and sabotaged OFN to death. President Shehu Shagari attempted re-branding it to Green Revolution and Icheoku wonders what he found faulty with an operation which is feeding the nation; needless to point out that his then Transport Minister, Umaru Dikko, was making millionaires out of his acolytes and party faithfuls with rice import licenses and rice imported from Thailand, Vietnam, Philippines, India as well as other Asian countries.
But on a hindsight, Icheoku figured out that the Green in the then 'Green Revolution' stood for greenbacks and that it was meant to pile up some "Benjamines" in coded secret accounts of then National Party of Nigeria faithfuls in Switzerland as well as other offshore account heavens. Icheoku emphasis that there was nothing wrong in OFN as a name or in Shagari continuing with Obasanjo's OFN program as begun, except that Shagari's minions and town-criers saw OFN as an Obasanjo legacy and wanted Shagari to have his own. At the same time, they forgot that Obasanjo established OFN for Nigeria and did not take it along with him when he retired to his farms in Otta. Nigerians also forget that truth can sometimes also come from imbeciles and that it does not matter whose idea a great idea is, a great idea always remains a great idea and such was Operation Feed the Nation. Icheoku hereby emphasis that OFN was one heck of a missed opportunity for Nigeria to feed herself and the rest of the world and reiterates that those who killed the OFN are responsible for any hungry stomach in Nigeria today. Why should Nigeria be importing billions worth of food and agricultural products with such a blessed climate and fertile lands that are plentiful in various places in Nigeria; and the government of Jonathan is talking about petroleum products subsidy removal when they can put the scalpel on agricultural imports?
With the arrival of Imam Muhammadu Buhari, a man who Icheoku loves to detest because he murdered three innocent Nigerians based on a retroactive drug offenses death-penalty decree, came WAI - War Against Indiscipline. Icheoku have always maintained that but for the killing of these three innocent Nigerians, the Buhari/Idiagbon government would have still maintained its place in the annals of Nigeria history as the best government for correctly identifying and honing in on Nigeria's cardinal problem, INDISCIPLINE. But unfortunately however, the stubborn as an ass Buhari has refused till date to apologize for that his khaki-days rather youthful exuberant indiscretion, which still hounds him till today and would always stop him cold in his tracks on the way back to Aso Rock. Icheoku says not under our watch and not while Nigerians who lived through his gulag-like regime still have some air in their lungs. Icheoku says until Muhammadu Buhari makes a full mea culpa for the murder of Bartholomew Owo, Bernard Ogendengbe and Lawal Ojulope, apologizes and asks for forgiveness, that illegal killing would remain indelible in our memories and with it our vengeance through the ballot.
WAI was effective as every Nigerian alive then would attest that the solution to all Nigeria's problem is the re-institution or reintroduction of the war against indiscipline. It was Buhari's war and a good war worth waging once more and forever; and for which Buhari/Idiagbo regime won so many of us over as fans to just that extent only. An undisciplined soul is susceptible to all manners of criminalities including the hydra-headed monster corruption, the 800 pound gorilla in the midst of Nigeria. Nigeria as a society is weighed down by millions of marauders for who anything goes and let the government worry about it; but who fail to realize that they are part of a whole and their indiscretion takes a heavy toll on the society. A report just realized has it that civil servants in Nigeria collected about three billion dollars in bribe within just one year and you tell Icheoku all is well with such a society? Who doesn't recall how people queued up for their turns in Nigeria during the WAI days of Buhari/Idiagbon regime? How police men arrested people who tried to offer them bribes? How NEPA and Water Board maintained a steady supply and flow of their utilities? How every Omo'EKo as well as other visitors in Lagos and other cities in Nigeria maintained a line to enter a molue?
Those were the good old days of WAI and you wonder why the program died and why not recreate those times once again to help fight all the indiscretion Nigeria is saddled with? Even the EFCC would be put out of business with an effective reintroduction of WAI; likewise would money be left by politicians to deliver democratic dividends to their electorates instead of ferreting them away? Bad none motorable roads would become motorable as contractors would do the job for which they were mobilized and not abandon same after collecting their cost upfront? Would the plague of ghost-workers still inundate government treasury, Icheoku does not think so as Bar Beach Sunday show could be re-instituted to dispatch criminals to the world beyond. It is just too painful that problems with readily available solutions are still bogging down Nigeria just because no one have decided to tame the rats and the man given the assignment is simply too scared of some Goliaths to effectively discharge his duties. Icheoku says, lets bring back WAI and assuage Buhari's restiveness; it is a right thing to do as it will help tackle so many currently intractable vices impeding Nigeria's forward match into a future that is both bright and promising. It is a legacy to have and Icheoku commends Buhari for going to the heart of Nigeria's problems and trying to extricate it.
But somebody discarded the program and in its place introduced his own version of mobilization called MAMSER. However Babangida failed to understand that you cannot mobilize a dis-shovelled society bogged down by indiscipline and that was the mistake that forced him out of power and which still hounds him till today. For instance, Dele Giwa's parcel bomb murder was uncalled for as Nigerians found out that one can kill the messenger without killing the message. The substance of the story he was pursuing and which his killers wanted to suppress still reached Nigerians and you wonder on hindsight, whether Babangida and crew are wondering why? But all things considered, Jerry Gana did a good job selling MAMSER as their sloganeering campaign "if you are a teacher, teach well; a truck driver, drive well; if you are a lawyer, lawyer well; if you are a politician, politic well" and so on; that every Nigerian felt valued in whatever trade or professional calling he was engaged in. Unlike the today's madhouse where every Nigerian including the clergy now wants to be a politician as politics has become the only guarantee to ensure stupendous livelihood, absent bank robbery? Those were the days of MAMSER and you wonder why the subsequent government did not adopt the program and pass it on to their successor?
There was also the Road Safety campaign slogan of "Dead men have no right of way, why throw your life away, drive with care for life is dear;" which have also gone moribund and you wonder the persistent carnage on Nigeria roads? Then factor in the harried fact that motor-parks have drinking parlors in them where drivers take alcoholic beverages minutes before embarking on their journey, then you have a perfect storm akin to pouring gasoline on a an inferno. Somebody is running the Federal Road Safety Corp and Icheoku wonders how many unlicensed drivers drive in Nigeria; how many drivers ed programs are available in Nigeria; how many times his department have revoked some bad driver's license deemed unfit to make use of the privilege of driving since it is not a right; how many defensive driving classes commercial drivers are made to undergo each now and then. Reading through the various reported accidents cases on Nigeria roads tend to reveal that majority of those accidents were avoidable human carelessness as when a drunken or sleepy driver fails to make a sound judgment and is overtaking a vehicle on a steep hill or in a hair-pin turn without a clear vision of what lies ahead. Some readers may accuse Icheoku of over sanctifying the issue and that accidents happen everywhere; but why not help stop those that can be stopped instead of busy picking up Nigerian dead on our roads all the time? All Icheoku is saying is that some driver education and PSA commercials could help lessen instances of road mishaps in Nigeria and should be encouraged by this government.
As far as Icheoku is concerned, Olusegun Obasanjo second coming to power left two most important footprints in Nigeria - the liberalization of telephones which makes it now easy for Nigerians anywhere to speak with their aged grandmas/pas in some remote villages in Nigeria and then his institution of the EFCC. Icheoku says but for the tragedy of desiring a third term, which caused the deviation of then Nuhu Ribadu led EFCC from its cardinal goal of fighting corruption into becoming an agent of Obasanjo, hounding vociferous perceived opponents, and thereby rubbishing a blooming legacy, the EFCC would have turned out to be another laudable legacy of Olusegun Obasanjo. But the shadow of a tragic hero which constantly foreshadows him cost him that feather in his cap. As it stands today, the EFCC is but a shadow of its old fiery self, a toothless bulldog which barks all it can but without daring enough to sink its fangs on any of the readily identifiable corrupt public official. Icheoku wonders why it is difficult for Nigerian public officials to just resign if they cannot do the job for which they were hired or are prevented from doing same by undue pressure of the state or its officials? The present EFCC is now a scarecrow hanging lifeless in a corn field in middle of Kansas or rather Nassarawa State compared to what Nigerians knew of the good old days when Nuhu Ribadu was manning the tiller as a corruption watchdog czar.
Late President Umaru Yar'Adua was only a blimp on the radar and his terminal sickness did not help matters at all nor allowed him to bequeath a legacy for which he could be remembered. Even his seven-point agenda have been devolved into a no point agenda; and his successor, the man who wears his tribal Ijaw native outfit so often that Icheoku wonders if the Ijaws of the Niger Delta Nigeria are the only one he is their president, is to put it mildly, have LOST himself in the labyrinth and maze of a Nigeria complex political landscape. Icheoku says except President Goodluck wakes up immediately, his government might go down in history as the government with neither an agenda nor any meaningful accomplishment and would not be remembered for anything talkless of a lasting legacy. All his electioneering campaign promises are still unfulfilled and supposedly being held hostage by some Goliaths, which have forced the president into a frightening tunnel-vision governance without really appreciating Nigerians numerous and diverse problems hollering for his urgent attention in the peripheral vision. If only the president is brave enough to send his sling shot into these Goliaths' foreheads and free himself of his mortal fear of their mortal threat. But he could not dare and is even afraid of mentioning that the principal Goliaths facing him down are Obasanjo and Babangida for crying out loud.
All said and done, were Icheoku a president, we shall resuscitate back all or most of these laudable programs of past administrations and bring them back to live and with it vault Nigeria into a place of reckoning. All that is required is the will to face-down enemies of progress and even those proverbial Goliaths who the current president is afraid of, not even to look into their faces and call them out for who they are. Icheoku had once advised that these Goliaths be named and shamed for the president and Nigerians to free themselves of their stranglehold. At least the biblical Israelites identified their nemesis Goliath, so David had a face before he swung his slingshot or catapult. So how would Nigerians supplicate to God to help President Jonathan overrun his Goliaths when they have neither a name of face to take to God in their prayers? Icheoku says the first order of business for the president is to name those Goliaths and then see Nigerians charge after them; but a weakling who sees shadows or former military head of states and/or an ex-president and calls them Goliaths, might not be the proper person to follow into battle.
Icheoku says nostalgically many Nigerians who were alive and could bear testimony to some of these laudable programs would attest that were these programs still alive today, the country would have been a different place, totally transformed, reformed and for good. But often good men are interred with their bones and so were these programs; hence a Nigeria in perpetual journey to lalaland is still going in circles round and round to nowhere just because successive governments choose to throw the baby away with the bath water and some good policies and programs got incinerated in the peculiar Nigeria politics of we and them and the lack of continuity coupled to the complexity of egotistic self-effacing new occupant of seat of power. Icheoku says this is very unfortunate, retarded and not progressive; it is the reason Nigeria is stalled and going nowhere meaningful soon and should be done away with!
Tuesday, January 24, 2012
TERRELL OWENS CRIES OUT, LAMENTATIONS OF A BROKE AND DEADBEAT DAD?
"I don't have no friends. I don't want no friends. That's how I feel; I am in hell and I am broke" says Terrell Owens, former NFL wide receiver who made eighty million dollars in earnings during his career playing in the National Football League. He attributed his changed fortune to primarily some gold-digging four baby-mamas and other bloodsucking financial advisers who siphoned all his money?
According to Terrel Owens, who pays a total of $44,600 a month in child support for his four children, ages 5 to 12, whom he had from four different baby-mamas (unmarried women having a child for financial benefit), "If there's anything I'm sorry about, it's getting involved with all that women." Those women are presently suing Terrell for owed back child support and Terrell is not laughing about it, stating that those baby-mamas are not being fair, are unreasonable and conniving?
Icheoku says, it does not at this point really matter how Terrell Owens feels about his financial ruins or his expressed surprise that his baby-mamas have refused to understand that he does not currently have a job. What is important is that he was not forced on any of those women and that despite what the doctors ordered, he was engaged in unsafe sex practices with four different women simultaneously. This was at the risk of contracting STDs including the dreaded HIV/AIDS as well as the resultant children; therefore he deserves no one's pity, understanding or sympathy whatsoever regarding his financial state. However, Icheoku queries how he could have ploughed through $80million dollars trove within such a short period of time; and despite all the pretentiousness of people not getting his back, he never told us if he had listened to these people's advise or simply fell a victim to the "heedless-virus" which afflict many young black youths' rags to riches stories, who thought their financial spigot will never stop spitting greenbacks? So fellas, the next time you are in Los Angeles and finds Terrell in Skidrow, holler !
Monday, January 23, 2012
NEWT GINGRICH IS AN INFLUENCE PEDDLER - MITT ROMNEY
Icheoku says give it up for semantics as the man who can never be elected president, Mitt Romney, the cultic Mormon, has now taken to words juggling to compound things further, calling rival Newt Gingrich a lobbyist by another term.
Practically speaking there is no difference between six and half dozen and as between a lobbyist and an influence peddler, both trades in effecting an outcome. So whether Newt Gingrich is a lobbyist or an influence peddler makes no difference really, as both by definition, implies that Newt Gingrich always exacts pressure to force his views and/or position on someone so as to effect an outcome. So America, Mitt Romney says that Newt Gingrich strong-arms people to have his way and would show no mercy if nominated and no compassion if elected; admitted the later is a Mountain Everest climb.
Sunday, January 22, 2012
UNABLE TO SACK RINGIM, A LAME PRESIDENT MAKES LAME EXCUSES?
Icheoku says the current frustrations caused Nigerians by their linguine-spine President Good(BAD)luck Jonathan is likely to boil-over if not checked. Imagine the latest inexcusable-excuses on why the none performing Inspector General of Police Hafiz Ringim cannot be fired. How could an executive president with all the presidential powers he has be so circumspect and hamstrung about reliving an official of his government of his job, when such official's job performance at best could pass for mediocre. Nigerians are dying in their hundreds, being killed by Northern Nigerian Islamist Boko Haram terrorists and all the president is doing is considering mundane and petty factors for not firing an incompetent police chief who could not or has failed or even deliberately refused to arrest the security situation in the land?
Please tell Icheoku this is not actually the reason why IGP Ringim has retained his job despite all odds and his glaring case of woeful none performance and shall go down in history as the wprst IG of police NIgeria ever had and under whose watch Nigerians were blown away the most by Boko Haram Northern Nigeria Islamic terrorists' bombs. According to one insider source, the president cannot or is afraid to fire the IGP because firing him "could create problems for him with the North?" Icheoku queries how about firing the IGP and replacing him with another Northerner; afterall there are several DIGs and AIGs of Northern Nigeria Islamic extraction to douse whatever feeling of exclusion the IGP Ringim's firing might foster? Further, whatever happened to the Nigerian state as one unified indivisible entity or was there not a time when all the security heads usually came from just the North; so what is wrong if all of them, provided they are competent and very professional, came from the south now? The only conclusion deducible from this misguided calculation is that the president is not getting any good advise from his advisers or at best is being told what he would only like to hear, but which definitely is not in the best interest of his administration or Nigeria at large. Icheoku asks, would those Boko Haram killed Northerners have preferred to have an IGP who shares their last name and Islamic faith or one who would have kept them alive by protecting them against those killer Islamic Boko Haram terrorists, irrespective of the geography that produced the IGP?
It is, simply put, very mind-boggling indeed the type of mundane considerations which usually precede this particular Nigerian president's decisions. Icheoku states that such morbid fear of a section of the country or its people to the extent that it jeopardizes government action or decision making is very grave indeed and forebodes no Nigerian any good. Moreso such consideration or fear of a people or section of the country was however not extended to the South-East when the same President Jonathan unceremoniously relieved the former IGP Ogbonna Onovo of his duties. It is noteworthy to recall that due to the recurring kidnapping cases in Nigeria and just barely six months into office and before the program he had put in place to checkmate and tackle such criminality ever germinated nor took root, IGP Ogbonna Onovo was sacked without blinking the eyelids about the feeling of the people of his section of the country. But suddenly, the fear of very violent and irrational Northern mullahs have forced President Jonathan hands to put up with a none performing IGP, who has successfully dragged his incompetent government down into the cesspool of gross insecurity of lives and properties of millions of Nigerians?
Also the alleged President Jonathan's decision to extend to IGP Ringim a "dignified exit" is unmerited and undeserving, the circumstance of his abysmal job performance considered. It is also pointy that such "dignified exit" consideration was never factored in when the previous IGP Onovo and Balogun were summarily removed from office? Atypical Nigerian double standard operating procedure, simply because those lunatics sharing Nigeria with the rest of other more sane human-beings s are more prone to irrational violence, Icheoku may ask? So the imperative or narrative seems to be the fear of Northern Nigerians is the beginning of governance in Aso Rock which shows that irrationality and violence pays; but what example is being set by this standards or are they the only one that can generate mayhem or they telegraphing to other more rational sections of the country on what gets result?
Finally the most laughable of all the argument made for the retention or allowing the incompetent mallam IGP Ringim to finish his term in March, while Boko Haram holds sway, killing and maiming hundreds of innocent hapless Nigerians as well as their properties, is that “you cannot just fire top officers of the IGP status when you are not very convinced and you don’t have hard facts to support your action; you must investigate such issues to arrive at decision?" Icheoku asks but what about Ogbonna Onovo or even Balogun; since both men were summarily fired without full investigation and conclusive evidence of their culpability established first through similar investigative panel? Icheoku berates this as one heck of a lame argument that flies in the face of history of previous hiring and firings of Nigerian IGPs as well as other top government officials. The then finance minister and now reappointed Finance Minister and alter ego minister Okonjo-Iwealla, was once fired while in a meeting on behalf of the country in New York and even the last Army Chief Dambazzu was summarily fired while on an official visit to New York? So whosoever brains this crap of an excuse is coming from deserves a brain-scan for early signs of amnesia as he or she seems to have forgotten the inglorious exits of past Nigerian top government officials including those of IGP status.
Such a "fool and bait them" excuse make many decent Nigerians want to lose their minds and Icheoku hereby calls on the incompetent President Good(BAD)luck Jonathan to wake up and smell the coffee before he falls victim to the same conspirators bent on denying his government necessary wings or winds to soar. It is indeed very unfortunate, the circumstance of Nigeria; which have hounded its growth and still hounds it till today - different people wanting and desiring different things in life and varied means to get there. On a hindsight, Icheoku laments If only Dr Nnamdi Azikwe had obliged the Sarduana and let the North wait for their own independence whenever they were ready, may be Nigeria as epileptic as it is today would not have been sired. But going forward, any articulations on how to move Nigeria forward, must decisively deal with its present configuration question, as what is now, seems not to be working and at best struggling for oxygen like an emphysema patient. President Jonathan, just fire the damn IGP Ringim and NOW!
"A WRONG THING IS A WRONG THING" - GOVERNOR ALIYU
"We cannot only depend on prayers without hard work. The ongoing Boko Haram crisis is lingering on because those who should speak out lacks the courage to do so and people can do and say whatever they like without consequences. The spokesman of Boko Haram was arrested and only given three years for misdemeanor when we all know that it is terrorism and then we begin to wonder what is going on.
“There are also people who said they would make Nigeria ungovernable if they didn't win the presidential election and I don't think anything has been done about that. Someone else took the opportunity of the fuel subsidy removal protests to call for regime change and they are all allowed to walk freely on the streets after their treasonable statements. The problem is that people don't want to tell the truth. If we are all able to come out and handle things the way they should be handled, we would have nipped everything in the bud." - Governor Babangida Aliyu of Niger State speaking on the fast deteriorating state of Nigeria.
Icheoku says this man has a fan in us as he has consistently rose above board to speak up on matters affecting Nigeria as a threatened entity, principally due to the irascibility of the ever violent and easily provoked Islamic Northern Nigeria; particularly their insurgent Boko Haram. Icheoku says if only all other Northern so called leaders like Danjuma, Gowon, Buhari, Babangida, Useni, Ciroma and of course Atiku could bravely rise up and face down these terrorists in their midst and tell them to back down and back off. What a people that are not deserving of inclusion in the Nigeria experimental geography which makes Gideon Orkar's failed attempt at redressing the problem continually more regrettable.
Saturday, January 21, 2012
HEIDI AND SEAL HEAD TO SPLITSVILLE, SEVEN YEARS AFTER?
Icheoku asks, how is that your marriage especially working out for you as no sooner has the ink on Kobe Bryant and ex-wife's Vanessa's divorce settlement has dried out, news is out that Heidi Klum and "Scarface" husband Seal are no longer an item. What a ruse or should Icheoku say scam that ancient institution is that makes people dependent, afraid, fearful and always on edge. Anyway whatever society may say against being single and free, juxtaposed with the hiccups of married today divorced tomorrow, the certainty of being alone and single appear more palatable option. Anyway, do not see this commentator as anti-marriage or anything like that; but suffice it to say that the headache is simply too much it is not fun. But Heidi and Seal are not saying what it is that finally did it for them; but who cares as the bottom line is that their marriage has also fallen victim to that virus which eats away the institution called marriage. Any solution fellas?
GINGRICH WINS SOUTH CAROLINA, NOMINATION GETS MORE INTRIGUING?
Icheoku says never has the nomination primaries been this interesting as three different candidates have won three different states respectively, thus denying anyone candidate the leading candidate front-runner status. One clear thing to emerge from this topsy-turvy Republican Party's presidential primaries is the obvious rejection of perpetual candidate wanna-be, Mitt Romney of Massachusetts, who has severally made a bid for the presidency but have always been stopped at the primaries; thus making him the president no one wants.
Icheoku calls on Mitt Romney to upon failing this year's nomination to quietly coil back into his shell and know that America does not trust him nor his membership of the Mormon cult. This way he can at least save face and apply his energy and whatever resource he has left elsewhere, where they may be needed especially at the Mormon cult or somewhere else in Massachusetts, his home state. So far Rick Santorium have won in Iowa, Mitt Romney in New Hampshire and now Mitt Romney in South Carolina; thus granting the upcoming Florida the noble role of deciding who gets a second state amongst this three collective front-runners. However if Floridians want to throw spanner in the works of the nominating process, they could go ahead to vote for a fourth candidate, may be Ron Paul; and it will become deja vu and a political ala carte for the Republicans.
All things considered, the loser here is Mitt Romney, the man who thought this year's nomination was his to keep, as he once again watch it slip through his very oily and wet spasmodic political fingers. Also the Republicans will be pining away in pain as the stark reality of President Barack Obama second term appears more likely now than ever before and who says the gods are asleep or would allow America return to the sad days of "good ole boys" only politics or governance in Washington. Further Newt Gingrich win was a big blow to ABC Network as their aired rejected wife's diatribe had no effect whatsoever; as Americans are now lethargic and tired of the "angry wives' syndrome" of bring down bolting ex-husband at whatever cost including lies and made up stories or whatever it takes. Or who cares whether a marriage is open or closed; afterall most parties in a marriage of any sort cheat on their spouses anyway. She was even lucky Newt broached the idea of polygamy to her; may be she needs a marriage counsellor from the Middle East or any Muslim country where men can marry as many as four wives or even here at home, if only she had talked to Mitt Romney to get his advise how his Mormon cult navigate the waters of polygamy.
Icheoku says congratulations to Newt Gingrich for clinching the South Carolina primaries against all odds, including the rantings of a jilted ex-wife out to take a pound of flesh on the eve of the election, after ten odd years or thereabout since the marriage crashed and Newt long moved on. Now lets see how Florida sizzles, Go Newt; Go Romney and Go Santorium!
Friday, January 20, 2012
MICHAEL BAXTON, A POLICE CHIEF BUSTED FOR THEFT?
It would appear that the saying 'it takes a thief to catch a thief' is really a truism as the police chief of East St Louis, hired to protect and serve, turned out to be the one society needed to protect itself and property from? The now awaiting trial former chief, Michael Baxton, was busted in a sting operation for stealing game-boxes(four Xbox360 consoles) and now faces about 15 years in prison and $500,000 in fines.
Icheoku says this is what is inherently wrong in some police department hiring a supposedly repentant criminal as a cop thinking that having done his time in a previous crime that he has learnt his lessons. But unbeknownst to them, a leopard does not change its spots as this criminal former police chief who had two prior felony convictions including theft has once again turned to his old ways. Several decades later, he was now using his high office as a police chief to continue his nefarious activities or what Icheoku would term his undercover job as a thief; but good enough he will be going away for a very very long time and being a thieving cop will not help his case?
Unfortunately, who knows how many innocent victims this bad cop had done in in the past - people who were wrongly framed for crimes they did not commit or pursued by him because they wouldn't play ball by cutting him a piece of their criminal booty pie? Anyway it serves bad cops better to know that once they cross-over to the other side of the law from their "protect and serve" side, the tendency of their being caught is as clear as day and night. They must and should therefore rise above board by avoiding such thieving temptations that come with their job, where they have to daily deal with all manners of criminals and their loot. Icheoku says, it is good to periodically make an example of any bad public servant; moreso a cop who turned out to be a criminal.
KOBE BRYANT LOSES IT ALL TO EX-WIFE?
Icheoku once again asks, why do it when you know it is going to eventually hurt? While he toiled, the former wife spent lavishly like a drunken sailor - her husband's money that is. Now as if there is no too much hurt already, the divorcing wife have cleaned all that is left of the once great basketball MVP; taking all their three homes including a whopping $75 million in divorce settlement.
Icheoku says give it up to America, the land of women power where a man is literally forced against his will, to labor in vain just for the benefit of a gold-digging wife who knows that the law is so skewered against men and in their favor. Anyway, what can Icheoku say or tell you, except to be smart about it or simply and more bluntly put, DON"T DO IT.
What a sad day it is for Kobe that all he worked for all these years have gone in one fell swoop; but that is exactly what a kiss and tell does to diarrhea-mouth people. The rule of the thumb is, if you must cheat on your wife do not let any ear hear it as words travel and always be guided by the Mafia law of Omerta that two can only keep a secret when one has assumed room temperature.
Just some pieces of advise:- Kobe Bryant should consider moving to Kobe Japan where so many girl-fans still die for him and take one of them for a wife. Icheoku is optimistic they will not take him to the cleaners just for sharing his body with other women of easy virtue, who cared less if he was married or not? Further, Icheoku would like to know why Kobe did not consult Republican Newt Gingrich to advise him on "Open Marriage" or better still, had a present state of mind then during his marriage to have signed a pre-nuptial agreement with his then jobless high-school heart, now ex-wife, Vanessa? What a world we live in and what a good day it is to be a divorcing Bryant Kobe's wife in America!
Thursday, January 19, 2012
IGP RINGIM AND COP ZAKARI BIU, MEMBERS OF BOKO HARAM?
When President Good(BAD)luck Jonathan recently cried out that some of his top officials are members of the Northern Nigeria Islamic terrorist group, Boko Haram, little did Nigerians know that it will not take long before some of their identities were revealed. Just a few short weeks thereafter, the Inspector General of Police Hafiz Ringim and his acolyte Commissioner of Police Zakari Biu have been unmasked as possibly active members and/or sympathizers of Boko Haram?
It would appear the duo actively facilitate the ongoing Boko Haram terrorist's bombings in Nigeria and have just staged an escape for their Boko Haram foot-soldier, Kabiru Sokoto, who was in their police custody? Icheoku says it is not surprising, since anyone who knows how down and dirty the Nigeria Police Force is and could be, would be surprised they have not yet quelled the Boko Haram intransigence. But it would seem that Boko Haram had and still have active collaboration at the highest echelon of the Nigerian Police Force; thus making it easy for them to freely operate, killing and maiming innocent Nigerians in the process while the police that is supposed to checkmate them looked the other way on the orders of their big boss.
But Icheoku blames President Jonathan for not summarily meting out to IGP Ringim, the disgraced IGP Balogun treatment of marching him out of the police headquarters in handcuffs, body-chain and/or leg iron. Anyway a weak and toothless bulldog of a president can only make hollow treats and sometimes irk out a faint bark but can never bite. Cry for thy beloved country Nigerians as the man supposedly in charge of national security, the IGP, is somewhat sympathetic and in bed with his supposed worst nightmare, BOKO HARAM. Such an enemy within should be immediately SACKED, FIRED, DISMISSED and/or RETIRED and made to face whatever other punishment his atrocious misbehavior commands. What a pity that a guard employed to guard the barn now facilitates thieves coming and going from the barn; only in Nigeria. Icheoku calls on the weak president to fire and arrest for trial today IGP Hafiz Ringim as well as the suspended Commissioner Zakari Biu for sabotaging his government - a case of TREASONABLE felony may be?
Tuesday, January 17, 2012
NIGERIA IS FALLING APART, WEIGHED DOWN BY SEVERAL BURDEN
When asked "whether he knew about the level of corruption in Nigeria before initially endorsing removal of fuel subsidy, which he later withdrew, Jeffrey Sachs said: “They didn’t have to tell me." Icheoku says corruption in Nigeria is of a general world-wide knowledge; what a big deficit to the country. Mr Sachs also said: “I’ve noticed how the politicians barely care about the universities. Sad and costly for Nigeria." To this Icheoku adds, most of those politicians are semi-illiterates who loathe education and begrudge educated people as they feel shortchanged by their own lack of education and/or proper education where applicable and do not understand the imperative of good sound education enough as to encourage one. (FYI: Jeffrey Sachs is special advisor to U.N. Secy General Ban-ki Moon on Economic matters)
Monday, January 16, 2012
MAGNET BOMB, A KILLER PACE-MAKER?
A device so little, the size of an average pace-maker or a tin of shoe polish, yet so lethal that its explosion instantly kills the targeted victim. Such is the awesome power of a Magnetic bomb that once nicely placed near the victim and remotely detonated, its consequences is so devastatingly effective in eliminating the victim instantly. It is a well-rounded tool in the arsenal of modern covert operations; dispensing the need of silencer guns or poisoned darts or such other manner of eliminating a target requiring closer proximity that risks exposure and being caught. Who would suspect two innocuous motorcycle riders, riding by without much than a closed fist, of being agent of death? Such is the beauty of this exploding pace-maker and secret agents cannot ask for a better weapon for their dirty-work.
The latest victim of this lethal pace-maker, Iranian Mostafa Ahmadi Roshan (pictured), a chemistry expert and a director of the Natanz uranium enrichment facility, was murdered when two secret agents on a motorcycle drove near his moving vehicle and affixed the device by his car door. The rest as they say is now history as the fabled scientist now rests permanently in peace or should Icheoku say, in pieces and can no longer continue to be a threat to world peace as an asset to the Iranian nuclear weapons pursuit program. Although to the Iranian State, he might be a hero having lost his life in service of their nation, but to his family and friends, his death was avoidable and should have been avoided if only Iran was reasonable enough not to continue on the current trajectory where their action is infuriating the entire world. Icheoku asks what is the rationale of Iran developing or trying to develop a weapon that they can never deploy or use, since its deterrent is tantamount to the cessation of Iranian existence as a civilization? Which leader wishes his people a near complete annihilation, one may ask; being the consequence of Iran ever dropping the bomb anywhere including Israel or wherever, should they acquire it.
Icheoku's interest in magnetic bomb stems from the fact of its very miniaturized size and its devastating efficacy and efficiency; such that the several times it were deployed by successfully attaching it within the parameters of intended targets, that several times have the result been so devastating that such victims literally did not know what hit them or the vehicle that transported them outside this planet. It is the stuff science fictions are made of as made popular by James Bond 007 and Star wars; admitted that the world have seen cigar-bombs that explode upon lighting it, lipstick poison, etc but this magnetic bomb makes it very unsafe for any wanted or known enemy of any powerful government as his/her elimination is a matter of gathering a concise habitual data with a view to assessing the best way to get the bomb attached close enough for it to do its damage. Who knows what other gizmo is out there in the arsenal of these world powers and waiting to be revealed just like the other terrorist-nightmare, drones, which have turned every terrorist the world-over into restless nomads, just to avoid being incinerated and vaporized from the sky within milliseconds of their target acquisition.
The latest Iranian victim of magnetic bomb, the fifth so far, will definitely not be the last as the country's nuclear quest is still ongoing and many countries of the world want it stopped and will continue to do whatever is within their powers short of outright declaration of war, to in the interim sabotage or frustrate it. As usual in clandestine covert operations, the suspect countries or countries that has reason to kill the scientist have categorically denied their involvement with the murder. The other question rearing its head now is whether it is still cool to be a nuclear scientist in Iran or in any way trying to assist the government of Iran with its program when you know that you will be definitely targeted for elimination by agents acting under the cover and cloak of invisibility. According to one analyst, "the ongoing series of assassinations in Tehran traffic strips key brainpower from Iran’s nuclear program, spreads fear among scientists, and undermines the security services, which seem unable to prevent the attacks;" and Icheoku adds palpable fear is one heck of a cloud to hang over a country or community of persons and bodes Iran no good. The only meaningful solution for Tehran, before the crisis escalates to shooting conflict, is to come to terms with the reality facing it - that on no account would the world stand by and watch it acquire nuclear weapons and so should do the realistic thing by verifiably abandoning the program. Anything short of this will only hurt the Iranian people either by procedural elimination of their best brains in their nuclear industry and the eventual collateral damage that will be caused its infrastructure and population when a retaliatory strikes take place following a declaration of war, likely coming very soon and may be before summer. However the dog the gods want to kill, they first make deaf, dumb and then mad so that they are not amenable to reason or thinking; otherwise Iran at this juncture should make a b-line retreat from a cause that can only spell disaster for the country.
Finally, Icheoku says, realistically speaking, Iran can never win a shooting war against vested countries who would be coming with vengeance dating way back to the Embassy hostage taking as well as Iranian interference in the Hezbollah and Hamas nuisance in the Middle East to the bombing of the Marines Kobah Tower in Saudi Arabia as well as their most recent meddlesome interference in Iraq. Icheoku says a clever Iran should know when to beat a retreat and NOW is the time because once the first cannon of real war is fired, there will be no more discussions short of total surrender and on terms to be spelled out by the invading forces including regime change and eventual trial of the principals of the Tehran government and their forgone guilty verdicts and executions by hanging. A smart Iran should and MUST beat a retreat now before they cross the final rubbicon into fireball hostilities which one does not need a soothsayer to know that the hour is drawing near very closely. If Iran could not decisively defeat Iraq during their only known warfare in recent history, what makes Tehran think that when faced with the most fearsome awesome military and its allies known to the world, that it stands a chance? Worst still Russia and China will cleverly avoid direct confrontation and Venezuela's Hugo Chavez is too cunning to place a cross-hair on his forehead by openly declaring support for Tehran. So what are the aces not known to Icheoku; so could Tehran or someone more informed with Iranian game-plan please throw more lights.
Sunday, January 15, 2012
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