TURKEY APOLOGISES, WHEN WILL NIGERIA?

Icheoku says the government in Ankara today apologised for its nation's atrocious Othman war which led to genocide of the people of Armenia several decades ago. Prime Minister Erdogan apologised for that infamy which preceded his headship of the Turkey State and on behalf of the Turkish people and government. Icheoku commends Prime Minister Erdogan's magnanimity and realisation that it is never too late to apologise for a wrong wrought against another, especially by a country which he currently represents. 

By this token, Icheoku asks when would the Nigerian State apologise for its genocidal war against the peoples of Biafra, especially for the thousands of Asaba Igbo people that were massacred at Ogbe-Asaba? Innocent war-weary Igbos that were assembled under the guise of welcoming some then Nigerian Federal Government delegation(army chiefs) led by Muritala Mohammed, who then ordered their summarily execution. Icheoku says that millions of other Biafrans especially women and children equally lost their lives in circumstances that were otherwise preventable and avoidable under that wicked war of vendetta waged by Gowon. So, Icheoku queries, would President Jonathan Goodluck, who currently represents the Nigerian State, in a similar fashion as Turkish Erdogan, apologise to the people of Biafra for that vengeful, wanton massacre of the people of Biafra using the forced insurrection as an excuse. Icheoku says it will be one heck of a good act of reconciliation should the man from Bayelsa with current abode in Aso Rock, find the courage to so do on behalf of the Nigerian State. Turkey did it, why not Nigeria?

NYANYA BOMB BLAST, THE FIGHT AGAINST TERRORISM - BUHARI

Icheoku commends Muhammadu Buhari for standing up to be counted in the ongoing effort to find a common solution to neuter the virus that is Boko Haram in Nigeria. The army man was statesmanly in his address concerning the insecurity situation in the country and for this, Icheoku says the process of finally warming himself into the hearts and minds of Nigerians have begun. Hopefully the Katsina man will not derail or fo off message BUT will stay on course the current trajectory and continue to speak like a man whose heart is in one Nigeria and one who has tolerance for others who do not knock their foreheads to the ground in prayers. Well spoken Buhari. Now happy trails with the said Buhari statement below and then you decide:-

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"Sinister terror and hatred have again reached from the shadows to steal the lives of innocent Nigerians.  In Nyanya, 72 people were killed by a car bomb. Hundreds more were injured in the devastation. Their killings served no purpose except for those who exalt in evil. The bomb blast quickly came and went like the deadly thief it was; but we shall be left to endure the pain and loss from this terrible act for a long time to come.

What the nation lost is irreplaceable.  The number 72 seems like just another grim tally among the death statistics that have become all too common.  But what occurred is much more than that. We must really stop and take notice of where evil is attempting to drive us. The abduction of over one hundred schoolgirls is unacceptable, condemnable and saddens me greatly. We cannot allow these merchants of death to make us numb to the tragedy they manufacture.  Those who were killed were not merely numbers on a page. They were human beings, made of flesh and blood body and soul like all the rest of us. They were someone’s father or mother, brother or sister. They had parents; they were someone’s children. They were husbands or wives, neighbouring friends and colleagues. They had dreams and hopes. They were loved and loved others in return.

Now, life has been taken away and those who cared for them must bear a grief, no person should be asked to carry. These people committed no wrong. Their only crime was to be ordinary working class people seeking to eke out a livelihood and tend for themselves and their families. For this, they were killed. They represent the backbone of the working people. Not many of them lived an easy life. Most of them worked hard and longed for modest wages. They lifted themselves up every morning to earn their daily bread. They faced the many social and economic challenges and obstacles our society poses, yet they worked not to destroy but to make this a better place by bettering the lives of their family and loved ones.

These people lived anonymously and died the same way. We do not yet know their names. But, in a fundamental sense, we know who they were. They were part of us. They shared the same aspirations we all do. We seek an improved fate for our children and hope to leave them a better life. We want to work and live in dignity and respect.  We want a life of peace and harmony with our neighbours regardless of religion, ethnicity or background. We seek prosperity not poverty. We seek brotherly understanding, not strife. We seek peace, not bombs.

It was not just 72 people who were taken in this depraved assault.  Each of us lost something that day. Yet, despite the loss and suffering, we must not cower in fear, and let the purveyors of death believe they have scored a victory over us. Those who committed this act have declared war on all that is decent and good. They have declared war not against the state or even the government. They have declared war on Nigeria and all Nigerians because this murder took men and women, old and young, Christian and Muslim alike. In trying to scare, frighten and divide us, the evildoers committed injury to their own cause. For they have shown us that we all suffer inhumanity in the same way.

No matter our religion or place of birth, we all bleed and are wounded the same way by injustice. Decency runs through the teachings of each religion and ethnic group that comprise the people of Nigeria. We may have our differences, but the vast majority of Nigerians stand united against the appalling violence committed in Nyanya and other places. These acts have no place in Nigeria. Those who commit them have no place in our country.  The perpetrators may look like human beings. They may have limbs and faces, like the rest of us, but they are not like us. In killing innocent people, they have become inhuman. They live outside the scope of humanity. Their mother is carnage and their father is cruelty. They have declared war against the people of Nigeria. They have shown that they do not want to liberate the people. They want to kill them. Yet, with all the energy of their evil and ignorant hatred, they shall fail. The good people of Nigeria shall triumph.

Such a wicked mission shall not succeed. We have gone too far in our journey to nationhood and endured too much to allow these terrible acts to divert us.  Not only have these agents of death killed innocent people, they also abducted over 100 young women from their school. Why abduct schoolgirls? Whatever they plan, they should be ready to face the wrath of Nigerian people. They should release these young girls unharmed. Anything else would be an abominable crime.

We all must take close heed at this moment and recognise the severity of what is upon us. A small minority seeks to bring the nation to its knees through terror. Thus, we must stand tall and united. We can ill afford to allow their crimes to go unpunished. I call on the government to improve and redefine its strategy in the light of this expanding menace.  Clearly, its intelligence gathering needs to be improved so that it can break terrorist plots before they hatch.  Moreover, it needs to enact greater social and economic reforms in the blighted areas of the nation to win the hearts and minds of the people.  Give the youth a viable alternative and they will not be duped by the lure of extremist dogma. A major initiative with immediate and long-term strategies for mass employment should be introduced right away.  Nigeria must and will overcome this scourge, but it cannot do so merely by wishful thinking. We need wise and decisive strategy.

As for me and my party, we deplore and condemn these and all such attacks. Those who commit them must know that the nation stands four-square against them. While we are engaged in tight political competition against the ruling party, we shall not play politics on this issue so vital to our national survival and wellbeing.  We pledge ourselves to the unity and safety of this nation and shall do nothing to undermine national security.  We seek no political advantage from this calamity and wish the present administration success in fighting it.

We stand ready to help in any meaningful and productive way to fight this battle against evil.  We extend our hand and earnest offer of cooperation in this regard. Nigeria and Nigerians have suffered enough. Those who now lead the nation and those who would lead her must overlook political differences to find whatever ways we can cooperate to make this a safer, more secured nation for all.

Thank you and may God bless the Federal Republic of Nigeria."

APC SNUBS SECURITY MEETING, POLITICS OF BITTERNESS GONE TOO FAR?

Icheoku says this is not how to be an opposition party as the APC has instead now turned itself into a resistant party trying to bring down the PDP government by all means possible. How dare the APC governors shun a parley meant to rob minds together about the scourge militating against the entire country or do they have another country to go to should Nigeria implode? A good and rational opposition would have honored the invitation by the president - first, as a respect to the office and secondly, to hear him out; thereafter they can stage a walkout or state their own position on the way forward. But to so blatantly ignore and snob the president over a matter as foundational as the security of the country calls for a punitive measure by the president against the APC governors. These APC governors should remind themselves that those states they are governing are still integral part of Nigeria and under the Nigerian state. They do not therefore have unfettered powers to do as they please with those states' security needs as well as that of Nigeria in general. 

Icheoku says ignoring such very important security meeting to help find solution to the Boko Haram scourge is rather politics gone crazy too far and is condemnable. The APC should as consequent thereof, pay a price and it has to be very consequential to deter similar future reoccurrence. May be for a start-dose, the president should withhold their federal revenue allocation until further notice as well as curtail some of their privileges such as international travels and other sundry things as would make them realize their foolhardiness. Icheoku recalls that Baba Iyabo once withheld Lagos State federal revenue allocation over then Governor Tinubu's stubborn refusal not to revert to previous number of local government areas in Lagos State, although Yar'Adua later released same. 

Opposition is good once sportsmanly; but when it goes too far as to suggest acute disdain and HATRED for the incumbent, then something is wrong and such should be condemned by all men and women of good judgment. There is watershed in politics and governing BUT unfortunately everything PDP as far as APC is concerned, is political. The meeting was not about Jonathan or the PDP but about a very urgent matter affecting the wellbeing of all Nigerians including those with membership of the APC, some of whom probably have fallen victim of the Boko Haram madness since it started. APC, Icheoku says, this is yet another ugly stain on your reputation as a party of rabble-rousers with no interest of Nigerians at heart; and this new tag was otherwise avoidable. Further it does not matter what their motive or protest-reason was; the fact of the matter is that they refused to honor an invitation to discuss ways to shore up the security needs of Nigerians and this by itself alone is sufficient to vitiate whatever grievances they might have that led to the boycott and therefore completely renders their boycott inexcusable. What a pity, what a black-eye; and it is indeed very regrettable the APC's decision not to attend such all important emergency meeting called for the security needs of all Nigerians.

NYANYA BOMBING, IS NIGERIA TARGETED BY THE WHITEMAN?

Icheoku says the unceasing attacks on Nigeria is seemingly multidimensional as added to the internal strife of Boko Haram is the concerted effort of the White people to not see Nigeria succeed, rise and become great? Before the Boko Haram uprising, no good news ever came out of Nigeria via them and with the advent of Boko Haram, all news out Nigeria has become Boko Haram-ed. Watching a BBC reporter comment on the latest Nyanya Bus Stop bomb blast,  Icheoku could but deduce the inert desire of some of these Western people to see Nigeria perpetually mired down in crisis such as the Boko Haram quagmire and thereby not have the opportunity to consolidate their gains and/or attain any glorious height. Hear him - 'despite the government's vaunted success over the Boko Haram crisis, the bomb blast inside Abuja Capital City of Nigeria shows that all is still not well with Nigeria as no one is safe both in Abuja and throughout Nigeria.' 

Icheoku says there is a subliminal message in this reporting, telegraphing to their people and would-be investors worldwide, who are foaming in the mouth over the new GDP database fuelled business prospects, that they should avoid Nigeria or go there at their own risk to lives and/or limbs. Query:-is the Nigerian Information Ministry doing enough or anything to counteract or at least contain such geared utra-negative publicity being piled up against the country?

But conversely, Icheoku asks who are Jonathan's advisers?  His NSA is a Northerner, his Defense Minister is a Northerner, his IGP of Police is a Northerner, his Internal Affairs Minister is a Northerner, his Chief of Defense Staff is a Northerner; his Attorney General is a Northerner, Boko Haram is a Northern establishment and their armed wing, and then it is the same Northerners who want him GONE? So it would appear that the same people who wants to see the back of Jonathan out of Aso Rock are the same people causing the Boko Haram mayhem and also are the same people HIRED to starve off the Boko Haram attacks? Now tell icheoku how SMART the arrangement is and why Boko Haram menace is ever going to peter to a stop under this arrangement? Just do the math and use your tongue to count your teeth and the puzzle of Boko Haram is solved, QED. 

IGP Onovo who was doing a good methodical job, identifying and harmonising the police force, when he was removed because he could not "end kidnappings quickly enough" barely six months into his stewardship, yet IGP Abubakar has been there longer and insecurity has gone through the roof? The then NSA Patrick Aziza was removed shortly into his term because Boko Haram was still setting off periodic bombings, yet Dasuki has been there longer and Boko Haram has gotten more daring? Ihejirika was nearly vanquishing Boko Haram when Jonathan was blackmailed into removing him as those Northerners labelled it a Biafran war revenge due to his successful campaign, now what is going on under the new COAS? Then to add insult to injury, Jonathan handed away the defense Ministry to a man who allegedly created and nurtured Boko Haram as a counter-balance force to the then Niger Delta terrorists, needless to add that the Defense Minister and the NSA are in-laws and you ask whatever happened to frowning at cronyism? Who knows what these officials discuss in private when they speak in their dialectic Fulani regarding the sleepless in Aso Rock Jonathan?

The other day Boko Haram struck right inside SSS headquarters, today it was Nyanya Motor Park, who knows whether they have established a contact point inside Aso Rock waiting for the right coordinates and signal before unleashing their regime`of terror? Icheoku prays that the nightmarish scenario of Rwanda which led to the genocidal civil war from which Hutus and Tutus are yet to recover will not replicate itself in Nigeria when a sitting president was shot out in the air and the country went up in smoke. Icheoku prays that this Armageddon will not occur in Nigeria as it will be the last tinder in the keg of gunpowder which cataclysmic explosion is better left for the imagination than witnessed. Nigeria should pray that nothing happens to Jonathan and it does not matter what, how or where - it will simply be unacceptable and inexplicable. Just imagine when Don Corleone in The Godfather was extracting assurances from other Capones regarding the safety of Michael who was returning back to New York from security-exile in Sicily, that even if thunder should strike and kill Michael enroute, they will be held responsible. Icheoku says that President Jonathan is no longer an Ijaw or Bayelsa or Niger Delta/South South issue, he has since morphed from that into a bigger and much heavier issue and these Northerners must bear this in mind while making their calculations.

Please Nigerians, especially the security operatives as well as leaders of thoughts, understand that there is only a country belonging to you and its implosion will leave everyone countryless at least for a while, regardless of the subsequent resolution, if ever. Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan, Somali and Rwanda are still reeling under fractured politics which no observer would wish on his or her enemy country, so why precipitate this on the motherland? Icheoku says if ever a time called for all hands to be on deck to solve the insecurity problem of Boko Haram in the country, now is the time. This Boko Haram madness ought and should and must be stopped and NOW. Enough of the madness, now is no longer the time to see it as "their problem"('dem, dem problem' as Kwankwaso would put it) or that it is Jonathan's problem. This attitude by Nigerians especially the APC and others must stop and all hands must be gathered at the common ground to save or rather salvage the only country which truly belongs to the blackman. May God save us all.

NIGERIA'S POWER PROBLEM, TIME TO SACK NEBO IS NOW.

Icheoku says it is about time this 'PASTOR-minister' is sacked so that he can devote his time fully to preaching the gospel. That the epileptic electricity supply in the country has grown worse under his watch is not an exaggeration and instead of tackling the problem he is busy preaching? Upon his inauguration, he promised Nigerians that he was going to "sweep away the demons affecting the power industry" and today few years later instead of "sweeping the demons away" and giving Nigerians power as he promised, he has turned his sight on Boko Haram and seeing it in a pedestrian way as being a spiritual warfare? In his words then, he said "I still believe that witches are responsible for the problems in the power sector but I believe that God will give me the power to chase out the demons in the power sector.” Today, he is now seeing Boko Haram as being a "spiritual warfare" which according to him, "only those of them in the spirit understands or knows" while the rest of other earthly Nigerians see it as a religious insurgency, for crying out loud?

Icheoku laments the mindset of the men and women running the affairs of Nigeria, who instead of tinkering out solutions to the myriads of problems bedevilling the country, dismissively see it as ensuing from the realm? So, it is easy inference to make from their utterances that since these problems are either "DEMONIC" or SPIRITUAL", there is probably no earthly solution to them; hence their wait for divine intervention leading to the continued deterioration instead of improvement being witnessed in practically every sector of the economy particularly the power sector. Icheoku opined that enemies of Jonathan forced his hand in the firing of then Minister Nnaji who knew what he was doing or at least was trying to do in the power sector. At least he had the proverbial road-map to solving the energy problem in the country but was not allowed and these detractors, not wanting Jonathan to succeed or take credit for improved power supply forced him to fire a man for merely expressing an intent to participate in the deregulation of the power sector? All  the government would have done was to reject Nnaji's application and let him continue with the good job he was doing. But to just fire him for mere attempt than commission of an actual or real offense shows more than is being disclosed. Since then, the few gains made by the erstwhile minister trying to reposition the energy sector has been lost and Nigerians now sees lesser lighted-nights than the people of North Korea. 

In Nnaji's place is a man who is busy "seeing vision and prophesying" instead of articulating the way out of the woods of the comatose power sector. That all the orchestrated strikes and protests of the staff and workers of the Power sector during Nnaji's tenure have suddenly ceased and disappeared shows that Nnaji was targeted by the people profiteering from the decayed status-quo who engineered all those protests and events culminating in his firing.  Anyway, it is what it is - Jonathan's government has failed to deliver power to Nigerians and is practically failing Nigerians in every other sector. But unfortunately, the APC is not providing Nigerians with any viable alternative; otherwise 2015 would have been a landslide victory for the opposition. Not in power, not in security, not in employment, not in country's image abroad, not in tackling corruption, not in anything to do with the improved life of the average Nigerian has the Jonathan government performed creditably well, YET he is desiring a second term and Icheoku asks BASED ON WHAT?

NIGERIA, NOW AFRICA'S ECONOMIC POWERHOUSE?

Icheoku says to many a Nigerian, the news coming out of the world's financial headquarters about their newly minted bragging right status as Africa's number one economy, must be very balmy indeed? However before you start spending that your life's savings hoping to make many more in a now new "buoyant economy", please pause and ponder what it is exactly that occurred. The gist of the matter is that Nigeria's productivity ratio (Gross Domestic Product) has now surpassed that of South Africa; BUT remember that no one ever said that the purchasing power or standard of living (Per Capita Income) of Nigerians ever saw the finish line before that of South Africans? This is very important since it is very possible for a country to produce more while the expectant income or return on labor does not percolate or trickle down the populace. Sometimes it is hijacked or cornered by the top 1% elites, living the general 99% populace holding the plate. That corruption, nepotism and cronyism help in maintaining this societal disequilibrium is also without a doubt. 

Therefore for Nigeria to be truly atop of the pyramid or literally cross the poverty index in the strict sense of it, the policy makers must devise a more equitable way of distributing the country's resources in such a way that it percolates down to the masses or what redneck Americans call the "policy of redistribution of the Obama government."  That way more purchasing power can be handed to the people who really do the purchasing because their needs are many and vast. These Joeys and Janes of Nigeria need literally everything but have no bargaining power because they are cashless or cash-strapped. This economic silver-bullet has been tested and proved to be very decisive:- a very rich man can buy a $600,000 Rolls Royce but thousands if not millions of ordinary (not so rich) men can each buy a $25,000 Prius and you do the math and see who impacted the economy more? Whose purchase kept more hands busy in the factory and it translates from there into more mortgages, more refinancing, more investments, more savings etc. Real economy is all about earning and purchasing (spending) powers, period. When the masses are financially empowered, it becomes a real boost to the economy and more people can buy more things while sellers and producers(importers) can now produce and sell more things. Conversely, the society's standards of living will improve resulting in overall health of the economy which translates to high Per Capita Income ratio. 

Moreover, Nigeria's population far exceeds that of South Africa and with so much mouth to feed, it is going to take a lot of economic and social re-engineering to bring millions of Nigerians out of the poverty index hounding them. The street-level example is:- take a case of two families herein referred to as Family A and Family B. Assuming that Family A is making 100,000Naira monthly and is married with ten kids thus leaving twelve mouths mulching on the 100K. Then Family B is making a modest 65,000Naira a month and is married BUT instead has only two kids. So query:- whose standards of living is better at 10,000Naira per mouth and 15,000Naira per mouth respectively, despite Family A earning more than Family B? This is also the reason India is one of the poorest countries in the world with over 700 million of their 1.3billion humans living below poverty level. China has also come around and is beginning to address this problem by trying to empower its exponential population of 1.6 billion humans trying to arm them with purchasing power. This is what has kept Western countries' standards of living higher than most other geographies - low birthrate and planning and distribution. 

Icheoku posits that the United Nations and other agencies are right when they say that Nigeria is a poor country, notwithstanding the 20,000 plus heavy hitters (Nigerian millionaires and people doing well ) therein, 138 of who own private jets and 26 who own private yachts. So ask yourself at about .025% of the 160,000,000 humans that call Nigeria home doing extremely well, what fate befell those remaining 99.075%? Statistics do not lie and if in doubt, check how many people you are directly responsible for or personally supporting in one way or another and then configure the rest. So what the latest GDP index recalculation did to Nigeria, if they will imbibe the message, is to encourage them to do more. It is just like cheering a marathoner on the sidelines to urge him/her to push the extra mile for the finish line. 

Like one commentator chided, "possibly it is because the West wants something from Nigeria that they did the sudden recognition?" Icheoku says YES, the West wants new markets for their products and Capitalism runs on MONEY; so if there is money to be made from anywhere including Nigeria, why not. Finally, Nigerians must demand from their leaders to do more for and by them - translation, invest more in the goose that produce the golden eggs and let the gander not be too greedy BUT learn to share what belongs to all. Meanwhile Icheoku congratulates all those hands in the tiller that made this milestone possible; what a welcome relief from all these Boko Haram infested stories that Nigeria has become about. More grease to those elbows that engineered the feat. Congratulations.

BATTLES OF THE SEXES, A ZERO SUM GAME?

Icheoku says femininity is sexy and even sexier if it is self-respecting and does not unnecessarily and incessantly clash with masculinity. God made X and Y chromosomes so that they can compliment each other BUT not to compete amongst themselves as to who controls what or inadvertently get too confrontational and combustive against each other. There is a role for each person and understanding this cardinal rule of engagement makes some marriages seem tailored in heaven; while so many others are living, hellish nightmares destined to you know where - perdition. 

Icheoku understands that YES, women have rights, BUT it does not include trampling on the manhood of their male companions as this becomes a hostile takeover of manhood and no longer a relationship; which embodies the spirit of give and take and recognising that each has a distinctive role to play in a relationship. To those women who want to be treated as Queen, remember to first crown your husband the King of the house and watch him sizzle and dazzle you, her Queen. If you want to be treated as a princess, first make your husband a prince and watch him ride in shining armour in answer to all your needs. People want to feel wanted and the moment you discard your spouse, you have lost him or her.

To all those feminists out there, who have converted their husbands into glorified houseboys in the name of securing their "FREEDOM or EQUALITY", Icheoku asks, why did you get married in the first place or did you want to eat your cake and also keep it? Marriage is a bargain and like in every bargain, there is usually a trade-off bargained for. Remember it is easy to honor Rodney King's "why can't we all get along" in marriage or any relationship provided parties are mindful that all men out there see you through the lens of your husband and trying to please them is a vain effort if you cannot please your husband. Ditto all those "MUCHO MACHO" males out there who think that the only way to prove their manliness is through unbearable subjugation of their partners (wives). Apply the golden rule of reciprocal acceptance of what you met out and watch your relationship bloom like spring rose. 

Anyway, just a penny for your thoughts BUT be rest assured that spouses always want to do better and will always do better for their spouse if they are always acknowledged, encouraged and respected as a loving spouse. All those other "sidekicks" who are distracting you, ask yourself where were there before you met your spouse? That out of the billions of humans out there, you two found yourself is magical already. Remember that you cannot find love in a spouse whom you have shown no love BUT hate; and neither can you expect a sad and angry spouse to give you joy and happiness. No one ever gives what he/she does not have, own or possess. If you want something, give something first and in return, you will get a bountiful. Start today to be the best spouse you can be and see your wish of a dream home come alive. 

In conclusion, Icheoku wishes continuing happiness to all those happily married couples who are enjoying the warm comfort of each other and in the same vein admonishes all those whose households have turned into an unbearably, nightmarish living hell.  Remember to make your exit as quickly as you can if such situation cannot be sanctified and get out fast before it is too late. Life is not a rehearsal and only the living can maintain a relationship because the moment you are pushed off the cliff, your bereaved spouse will possibly fall into the embrace of your best friend? But hey, what does Icheoku know about matrimonial harmony except that you know you got it if it makes you feel good. Salute!

FORT HOOD SHOOTING, THE FALLACY OF GUN-CONTROL ARGUMENT?

For all those anti-gun apologists who said "just take guns away from the people and the problem of mass shooting will be solved in America," Icheoku queries would America also take guns away from her soldiers? Guns do not shoot and kill people, people do and this is where the rubber meets the road in the gun debate argument pitching NRA against those pacifists who believe that Americans should lose their 2nd Amendment right just because some loonies among them decide periodically to turn the weapon of defense into a weapon of mayhem. Icheoku, a blue-dog democrat or rather a conservative democrat, believes in the right of the people to own whatever their id desires and is affordable by them including guns, but also that people should act responsibly and be answerable for their actions. 

The problem of people shooting people in America is not new and will not end just because another lunatic shot some people in a Texas military base; it is a way of life and practically speaking, part of the cultural experiment that is America. People have guns, guns kill people and people are going to experiment by putting their guns to test to find out if they actually perform according to merchantability? 

Fort Hood, the largest military installation in the United States, which witnessed a mass killing by a PhD holder military psychologist few years ago, has once again been shot up and four people are dead as a result. Query:-how does anybody prevent against this type of misbehavior in a military setting with a lot of weapons and heavy ammo? 

Taking guns away from people or soldiers is not an option otherwise they will no longer be soldiers - armed and dangerous in defense of the people. Icheoku posits that the solution probably lies in addressing the mind-set that finds nothing wrong in dispatching unsuspecting innocent victims to their makers and without first seeking their consent? There is the issue of mental problem, there is also the issue of choleric anger and there is additionally the issue of human-life that has lost its meaning and has become so much devalued that animals (DOGS) are sometimes valued more than humans? So what does a society reeling under such upheaval do to prevent or rather address the problem? Icheoku says there is no single silver bullet to fire at the problem to make it go away BUT at least people should be geared to relearn their values including LOVING humans once again. 

The American society is a society that for most part, has lost real grounds in love as it is supposed or meant to be. Families are no longer what families used to be and limited resources inhibit proactive measures to nip such acts in the bud, hence the prevalence of these deranged fellas, who have nothing and no one to fall back unto when fighting their demons which force them to act out in this way and leading to such inglorious ends. If icheoku tells you that every day is not a real challenge at living, trying to stay safe, then someone must be lying through the roof. It is stressful, it is intense and it is hair-raising as you never know when another murderous thug will train his scope on you and before you could even find time to plead for your life, it is all over and it does not matter the setting or where you are including sitting inside the church or preaching the gospel in the pulpit or as this latest incident proves, inside a fortified military base. 

Violence especially by gun has become part of the life every person has to accept and live with in America and there is nothing anyone can do about it; not when the National Rifles Association wants to sell as many guns and ammos as they could manufacture and pad the bottom-line. But hey, risk of living commenced the moment your mother pushed you out of her womb and if you cannot deal with it, just find a way to crawl back inside; except that will be tantamount to a camel passing through the eye of a needle - IMPOSSIBLE. So in such a situation where your option is absolutely limited to just one direction, what do you do? You just soldier on until you cannot soldier on anymore. Our sympathies to the families of the Fort Hood killed as well as their killer, whose family equally lost someone and possibly someone who cried for help as s result of his mental ailment which went unanswered. Life is one huge JOKE and it is a fact - here today, gone tomorrow, if not earlier. The ephemerality of life, that is!

RUSSIA IS A REGIONAL POWER, DECLARES PRESIDENT OBAMA.

Icheoku says it is official - Russia is no longer a super (world) power. It is a mere regional power and that region is within the Caucuses enclave only, no more, no less, period. According to United States President Obama, it is the inferiority complex Russia is suffering from their much degraded status from a former super power to a mere regional power that has forced them into the overdrive of seeking relevance and influence by all means necessary, which led to their invasion of neighboring Ukrainian Crimea? President Barack Obama, the official leader of the free world, made this known while further canvassing for a peaceful resolution of the Russian aggression in Ukraine. The president inferred that it is not out of fear of the Russians or that they might win in an all out war with the West that is motivating the West's desire for a peaceful resolution of the aggression; rather it is to avoid sending the entire world in a dangerous downward spiral whose end no one can predict. Aggression or bullying is always a mark of weakness and not strength and this is what Russian Vladimir Putin exhibited when he sneaked into Ukrainian Crimea under the cover of darkness and blatant lies and grabbed their land. This petulant behavior of Vladimir Putin cannot and should not be tolerated or condoned by any peace-loving world citizen. 

Icheoku says what Western Powers have been protecting Russia from, in order to leave Russians' pride intact, has been outed and the only one to blame for this is the former KGB spy chief Vladimir Putin. Russia ceased to be world power decades ago following the implosion of the forcibly clobbered together Union of Socialists Soviet Republics aka Soviet Union. Since then, what remains of Russia has been on a steady decline and barely hanging in there; and suddenly tired of remaining the underdog, dictator Vladimir Putin is now rattling his sabre and saying, hey world, Russia is still here o! For all intent and purpose, Russia has been living a lie and under the afterburners of their former "glory" that they are still relevant in the world; but ask them when last they played any major role in world peace-making or keeping; or rushing to the aid of any country smitten with disaster and their hands are up in the air in surrender. But they miscalculated in Ukrainian Crimea and now the only authentic leader of the world and president of the one and only surviving true super world power has given that dog its true name - a regional power. 

Russia is a regional power in so far as the Caucuses is concerned from the east-border with Ukraine eastwards. Also, Russia has no true friends left in the world except for some rogue dictators with whom they do arms deals. Icheoku asks where has Russians been to lately to project their power - in relief efforts to needy parts of the world or provide peace effort? Apparently, they cannot even take care of their own population, over ten million of who are refugees in America, both economic and political refugees that is. They equally do not answer present in intervention forces to maintain world peace or participate in world's concerted effort to fight and defeat terrorism? Icheoku strongly believes that the West can kick Russians' butt in the event of an all-out war but is cautious that the rest of the world might be dragged into untold hardship and difficulty in a conflict. This will also force various countries into dealing with issues that they ordinarily would not or are not well equipped to because of America's engagement. 

The good news is that imposed sanctions are beginning to take a bite out of Russian economy already and an all out shooting war might not after-all be necessary to force Russia's about-turn in Ukrainian Crimea. A sign of this development is that Russia has been forced to make a u-turn and has entered into immediate talks with the Ukrainian government which they had hitherto refused to recognize as legitimate. Icheoku can confirm that following a flurry of phone calls between Kiev and Moscow, Russia and Ukraine foreign ministers met and held talks for the first time in a face to face meeting today. Who says all masquerades are equal?

Icheoku feels obliged to point out one fact of consequence - that gentle giants still exists and that can be found in the United States of America. A country which can conquer and take over so many countries but chooses not to; and even the mini-me Cuba still freely runs off its mouth within ninety miles of its backwaters. This is what Icheoku calls real strength - having the restraint ability and not throwing your weight around just because you can. It is the doctrine of you can easily do it but chose not to. It is discipline and it is the hallmark of a great one and America is the greatest country on the face of the earth as presently constituted or known to mankind. 

Going back into history, America has fought and won so many wars BUT none of which it ever started or was the aggressor? It is also instructive that but for Vietnam and the Bay of Pigs from where they withdrew, they never lost any of the wars. America first fought off the British colonialist in their war of independence, they fought and defeated the Spaniards over southern territories, they fought and defeated Mexico over territories, they fought and defeated Nazi Germany, Mussolini's fascist Italy, Japan's provocation and most recently the armies of Saddam Hussein as well as Al Quieda in Afghanistan. They also knocked  out Gaddafi's short lived resistance in Libya. Remarkably though, they did not occupy any of these countries but rebuilt them and handed them over back to the people. The war against Germany was provoked by Hitler, ditto Mussolini of Italy while the Japanese dragged America into second world war by bombing Hawaii. Saddam Hussein invited Americans into war by refusing to vacate occupied Kuwait and Afghanistan had a chance to pony up Osama Bin Laden but refused. Even the assistance Britain received over Falklands was because Argentina provoked the war by invading Maldives which the Royal Navy only repelled with American help? But unlike Russia and its Vladimir Putin, agent provocateur and land grabber, who is occupying other countries (Georgia and Ukraine) territories. Russia, Icheoku says, give up Crimea back its rightful owner.

BATTLE OF IDEOLOGY, IS BOKO HARAM WINNING THE WAR?

Just asking, is the Northern Nigerian Islamic terrorist group, Boko Haram, winning the war of ideology it is currently waging in Northeastern Nigeria? The answer depends on who you ask or which side of the divide is propagandizing the propaganda; but as far as Icheoku is concerned, it would appear that the government is inadvertently helping the BK in their stated goal of bringing to an end Western-styled education in that part of Nigeria. According to these terrorists, "Western Education is Dangerous", hence their sworn determination to end it, leading to the war of attrition and mayhem being visited on mostly hapless sleeping students of Western education in that region. Recall that no Islamic school or Madrassa or other Islamic themed center for Quoranic studies or their students has ever been attacked, burnt or destroyed throughout the long-running madness of indescribable torture and bloodletting. Icheoku says, now that the Nigerian Government of President Jonathan is closing schools in those affected areas as a means of safeguarding the students-targets of Boko Haram's madness, is the government unwittingly helping the Boko Haram's agenda? 

To date over one hundred schools have been closed in that region in order to help keep students safe BUT in their parents houses; where they have been sent on a long lasting vacation with no end in sight. Query:-if schools indoctrinating and teaching "Western-styled education" to these students are closed, technically ending "Western Education", is that not tantamount to ceding that argument to these terrorists? Have Boko Haram not achieved their objective, albeit through the backdoor by this action of the government? 

Icheoku says closing these schools is not the answer otherwise Boko Haram would have won since their stated objective was to not teach these students Western education? Icheoku believes the proper and right course of action is to heavily secure these institutions of learning and allow these students to continue to study. This will further spite these Muslim raving lunatics and eventually lead to their defeat. Any other recourse in tackling this problem is knee-jerk and laughable as these animals deserves nothing short of fire for fire and total destruction, period. It is a battle of ideologies and it is such case as calls for yea and nay - the good one ought, should and must always triumph. There is no acceptable middle ground between good and evil. If Nigeria does not have enough security operatives to effectively man these schools, let it create an all volunteer corp made up of retired military, custom and police personnel; augmented by other civilians to assist with the effort. Also a new security outfit to solely target terrorism such as Boko Haram could be established, modeled after America's Homeland Security or National Guard, to solely protect the country's institutions of "Western education" learning from terrorism. 

From the saturated unemployed youths in the country, Jonathan could find thousands of youths ready to do the job of safeguarding such institutions of learning in those volatile hotbeds of Northeastern Nigeria. Just give them the training, orientation and weapons needed and Boko Haram will forever become a thing of the past. That way the proverbial killing of two birds with one stone could be replicated, as while reducing the unemployment in the country, the security problem will also be solved. Now if there is no money to pay these jobbers, let the president, members of the National Assembly, the federal cabinet as well State governments take a pay-cut or revenue-cut of about fifteen percent to help pay for this new armed outfit. Zimbabwean government recently slashed salaries of its officials from $500,000 per year to $72,000 per year, so Icheoku shouldn't see why Nigerian officials cannot similarly take a little reduction in pay in the interest of the general welfare. 

The volunteer army will also invariably help relieve the fighting soldiers by policing already recaptured territories and allow them more freedom to hunt and decimate other remaining Boko Haram scoundrels. While the guards is protecting the rear and holding sanitized territories, the regular fighting military force will then be freed to run after these bandits until they completely rout them out of Nigerian Northeast. Just a penny for your thought.

L'WREN SCOTT, MIKEY JAGGER'S GIRLFRIEND KILLS HERSELF

Once again, another seemingly life of glamour has gone up in smoke, taken by suicide. L'Wren Scott, Mikey Jagger's paramour of over ten years was found dead in her luxury Manhattan apartment on 11th Avenue Chelsea, New York hanging on the doorknob of her apartment. Recall it was just a few weeks ago that Seymour Hoffman similarly took his own life, although his instrument of choice was drug overdose.

One would think because of who she dated and the circle of friends she hung around with and for over a decade, that she had it all until now. One would also think that because of who her boyfriend or rather granddaddy paramour is, and who is worth over $300 million dollars, that Ms Scott was also super rich. BUT no, as she killed herself because of a "paltry" $6 million dollar debt she was too ashamed to let anyone know of and with no way in sight out of it or repaying it.

Icheoku also wonders why the suicide did not take a second mortgage or borrow on her pad or even offload it entirely if that is all it will take to trim her indebtedness and regain her sanity? Why didn't she broach the issue of a bailout or even a soft lover's loan to Mikey Jagger and see if he will throw her a lifeline? May be, she was too afraid such request will spook MJ into dumping her and running to the hills with his fortune. She probably was also too ashamed to step down from her "Olympian" heights; and wondering what will she tell her high-flyer friends that made her lose such a crib, instead decided to continue faking it hoping to make it which sadly never was the case. The rest as they say it is now history. 

What a way to make an exit - fully clothed, made up and ready to go, she summoned her personal assistant to come over. She then tied a scarf at a doorknob, knelt down, put her neck inside and pulled away until she passed out and her weighted-down limp body then completed the task of transporting her out of this planet. Icheoku says while many suicides used drugs, guns and bridges or drowning in a bath-tub like Whitney Houston, Ms Scott decided on handkerchief tied on a doorknob. According to one sympathizer, “Everyone is shocked. She seemed to have her career going well and everyone assumed things were fine between her and Mkey. She was always on a plane. She was always very controlling and had a strong personality.” Icheoku says except that this person failed to advise himself properly that all that glitters is not gold and behind all that facade of glamour, plastic smile and well choreographed make-belief lifestyle lay a troubled soul that was crying out for help which never came until it was too late. Icheoku says most of these people with high visibility are not usually truly happy. They also lack the grit that makes real ordinary people the survivors they are and when faced with trouble, they always make for the quickest exit out - SUICIDE. 

Icheoku says Ms Scott's death has again proved that the rich also cries and that things are not always what they seem to be. Not even her paid-in-full $5.6 million apartment could provide her the much desired succour, security and shelter from the pangs of life and the onerous task that living is? Icheoku reiterates that sometimes life's best blessings come in the form of unanswered prayers. Here was a high flying chic who on the surface had everything any girl would die for - a multi-million dollar New York luxury apartment, access to private jets and helicopters, limousines, vacation spots around the world, diamonds, best restaurants and choice wines and above all the companionship of a world famous rocking roll superstar the incomparable Mikey Jagger of the Rolling Stones fame; although this particular rolling stone gathered some MOSS. That Mikey Jagger is 70 years old and old enough to be Wren's father notwithstanding, many a woman would still die for her place. But did all these make her fulfilled and satisfied? The preacher surmised it all - Vanity upon vanities all is vanity. 



The lesson again here is to cut your coat according to your cloth. If you have not bought a private jet several years after leaving school, don't worry, be happy. If you have not acquired Third mainland bridge just yet, don't worry be happy. If you have not converted all the money in the Central Bank for your private use, don't worry be happy. if you have not bought the entire Maitama DIstrict or Asokoro for yourself and family to live in forever and never die, despite all the shady business deals and looting of public purse, don't worry be happy. Just listen to McFerrin's song and you will have a better understanding and approach to life's struggles; as well as the unwarranted effort people attach to meaningless things that they think is important and will somewhat fulfill them; except however that McFerrin also similarly took his own life and you wonder whether he was just another Pharisee who only talked but failed to walk his talk. 

The secret to happiness is to be content with what you have. Do not be unnecessarily overtly competitive or jealous of other peoples' successes or needlessly try to be the 'IT' all of this world, admitted making reasonable effort is important. This is imperative because no matter how you try, you can never be the end it all of this world. You can only own so much BUT never everything and even Bill Gates still struggles, at least to maintain his grip at the top of the pyramid. Always remember that the today's latest will next year, become an old model and that the Miss Universe of today will become an old hag someday. If you cannot afford it, why buy it? This is life's lesson for you and if only Ms Scott understood that she could have still had a life with a scaled down lifestyle, for example an $800,000 apartment instead, she would still be alive today? This is the only assured way to achieving real true happiness in life - be your own person and don't live for anyone's approval. Life is like driving on a freeway or highway - there will always be people ahead of you and a lot more behind you. Just maintain your own speed and be thankful for what you got; otherwise why kill yourself trying to attain the unattainable? Thankfully you are still here and still have the opportunity to modulate your life as many have gone including now Mikey Jagger's girlfriend, L'Wren Scott. A piece of advise, when next you go to a funeral, remember it is not necessarily for the occupier of the casket, it should always be a coming to term moment with a certain assured end for everyone. Just trade virtual places with the deceased and ask yourself, is it worth it? L'Wren Scott was just 49 years old, RIP.

CRIMEA IS RUSSIA, DEAL WITH IT.

What is done is done and all the tough talks notwithstanding, Moscow has bagged Crimea. The people of Crimea have spoken and they loudly declared for a Russian membership. Icheoku says in the battle for Crimea, Moscow has again outfoxed Washington. It happened before in the threat of punitive sanctions against Iran and again in the "red-line" ultimatum Washington gave to Damascus. In both cases, Moscow's Putin won Obama's Washington decidedly. Now in the latest stare-down over Ukraine breakaway region of Crimea, it would seem the ex KGB boss is at the top of his game as he had surreptitiously used the Crimean people to push Washington and Europe as well as Kiev off the cliff in that standoff. What a deft calculating chess player this Vladimir Putin is that used Washington's game to outplay it - democracy is afterall all about the voice of the people and the people of Crimea have spoken thunderously that they want to move back to their old country, Russia. 

Vladimir Putin waited patiently for the Sochi Winter Olympics to come to an end while plotting his move following the revolution in Kiev that pushed out his crony president. Soon thereafter, he moved his defence forces near the eastern borders of Ukraine in the guise of a military exercise. Before the world could wake up to what was going on within the Ukrainian eastern borders, Russian troops and tanks moved into Ukrainian Crimea and the rest they say is now history. Icheoku says despite mountain of International pressure to dissuade Putin, an effort led by Washington, to scare off the Russian strongman, a plebiscite was engineered whereby instead of using his amassed army to conquer and subjugate Ukraine, the people were instead used to achieve the same result - ownership of Crimea. Icheoku says it is important to remember that when the history of the Ukrainian conflict is written, it will be recorded as the first ever conquering of a territory without firing of even a single shot. 

Icheoku had always maintained that Kiev and its Western advisers made a huge mistake in not resisting the Russian army when they first ventured into their territory. The primary responsibility and reason for the existence of the military of any sovereign country is to serve as a buffer and deterrent of any foreign aggressor(s) and invader(s). So when the Ukrainian military remained docile and cowered in fear while the Russian red army marched in, in violation of their territorial integrity, Icheoku knew it was a fait accompli for what the world is witnessing today. Although the Ukrainian army were no match to the all powerful Russian military, but so was Georgia in 2006, when the same Putin invaded the country but not without a fight; admitted that war ended with Russia taking two of Georgia's territories. The world watched and did nothing then because they could not do anything and in the same vein, the same world is now also watching in askance as Russia gobbles down Ukrainian Crimea and nothing will be done about it. It is deja vu Georgia scenario in Ukrainian Crimea as a stupefied world watch while Putin claims yet another prize in Crimea. Like those lions of Serengeti with their captured prey, Vladimir Putin is not and will not yield Crimea, not to Kiev, not to Washington and not to Brussels. If these people want a different outcome or want Crimea, they better come and get it reads the demeanor of Putin. 

Icheoku says it would seem that the only possible way this can be accomplished is in the all out war the West is coy about fighting with Russia. If not now, when? As with every bully, one unchallenged act always leads to another. So with Crimea now effectively gone or rather bagged, who knows which territory Putin's cross-hair is aimed next if his latest act of aggression is left unchallenged or unresponded to? All talks that can be talked has been talked and so are all threats of sanctions been made that can be made; yet all  have been ignored by the deaf man in Moscow. The world led by the West is now left with only one meaningful option - engage Putin in the same manner as they did against Hitler and now is the time to do it. All appeals have failed and so were all diplomatic niceties but like King Herod of Egypt, the Tsar of Russia will not hearken and the world has to muscle him to reason. 

The result of the Crimea referendum has again put the Obama's foreign policy team on the spot; forcing Icheoku to gravitate to the opinion expressed by former Defense Secretary Gates that it is not in the proper hands. While foreign policy Team Obama held the bag, Putin and company snarled the pricey Crimea and as far as the Russians are concerned, Washington can go on hollering, but Crimea is theirs for keeps and no one can do anything about it. Despite the threatened sanctions and unquantifiable price to be paid should the Crimea referendum proceed, Putin's Russia ignored it and went ahead and have now captured Crimea by proxy of Crimeans. What happened in Crimea will be difficult if not impossible to undo or will the West now force an unwilling people of Crimea, who have expressed their preference for Russia to now go back and remain in a forced unholy matrimony with a Kiev they despise with passion? 

Icheoku says this scenario is not likely going to happen as it will be tantamount to forcing a people against their will and democracy does not support this. At best, Russia will in the end keep Crimea but asked to go no further with capturing more of Ukrainian territories. Crimea will be the opportunity cost of greater Ukrainian territories or the pawn of the chess face-off. Moreover, Crimea was Russia and used to be Russia until Krushev in a drunken magnanimity in 1954, in the same manner Obasanjo gave away Bakassi to Cameroon, gave Crimea away to Ukraine.  So what is wrong in a people returning back to the land from which they were literally thrown away from and without their say or support for the action? icheoku says with the development in Crimea, hopefully Bakassi people of Nigeria will someday in the future return back to their Nigerian roots while giving Cameroon and the international gang up their middle finger. Like the people of Israel who left slavery in Egypt and returned to their land, the Russian people of Crimea have peradventure returned back to their mother Russia, case closed. 

ASO ROCK 2015, WAY STILL OPEN FOR APC?

Someone recently asked Icheoku, is there any way whatsoever possible the APC could win the next 2015 Nigerian presidential election? Icheoku says although it might seem an improbable scenario, but were the APC to pull a masterstroke of fielding a core Igbo Christian presidential candidate with a Middle Belt Muslim vice presidential candidate, it will be history for Jonathan and his PDP. Calculation:- Buhari brings in the six Northwest and six Northeastern states, Bola Tinubu brings in four or five Southwestern states, the Middles Belt (North central) veepee candidate brings in two or three states, Rotimi delivers Rivers and added to the Igbo five states, it is a fait accompli and there will be an APC mounted flag in Aso Rock 2015. But hey if wishes were horse, beggars will mount. 

Icheoku knows this might sound a very impossible contemplation for the party of Muslims fundamentalists, but for a seemingly desperate APC, nothing is unthinkable in their rabid quest to occupy Aso rock come 2015. So who knows what they are keeping so close to their chest to throw spanner in the works for the PDP? Also since politics is a game of chess and it takes deft adroitness to masterfully corner and whack the other party's queen, this may be the sudden-death joker APC is trying to bamboozle Jonathan with. After the election, they can then turn around and impeach the president and later also impeach the succeeding vice president president to make way for their preferred Islamic president for crying out loud.

Now you know, so advise the Islamic party that they will be killing two birds with a stone by fielding such a ticket. By fielding a Christian Igbo, they would have laid to rest the perception that they are an Islamic Party of fundamentalists and also undercut Jonathan on the knees by snatching his priceless Igbo support and votes. This is the only viable road map into Aso rock as it stands today for the APC and many political pundits are in unison on this. Now you see that it is not yet all over until it is over for the party owned by Bola Tinubu with Buhari holding minority shares and largely financed by Middle East Islamic countries.

APC'S MUSLIM SUMMIT OF EXCLUSION IN ABUJA?

Icheoku says the theme of the summit of the Angry Peoples Converge(APC) - a 'NEW party for a NEW Nigeria', would have been quite nice except that it is not true. There is nothing new about the coming together or merge of old parties as the 1914 amalgamation of Nigeria has thus far shown that mergers do not solve a thing. Old distrusts and parochial allegiances still persist and such do not help create the enabling environment for proper revolutionary trends to take root nor in any way do they help move the process forward. Those mundane things remain entrenched and constitute clog in the wheel of progress and therefore the APC will not bring any succor to a Nigeria in need or be the messiah Nigerians so desperately crave just because so many parties transformed into it. It factly does matters that Buhari, Tinubu and now Atiku are the faces of APC and these men's records do portend bad news for Nigeria. They collectively have been around and Nigerians know their resume` and what they are about; and teaching an old dog new trick is not usually an easy task nor would the leopard change its spots.

Evolution is not analogous to new? Morphing into different things does not change the primary physiology of the matter so displaying? Merger does not change form? Dressing up an old man in jeans and t-shirt and tennis shoes with a face cap to match does not make him a tenager once again? The ecdysis of the snake does not make it new? The changing color adaptation of a chameleon to an environment does not make it new? Pouring an old wine in a new skin does not remake the wine, it only affects its packaging?  So in essence what the APC is rather doing or trying to do or attempting to do is to confuse and fool unsuspecting Nigerians that Muhammadu Buhari has lost his draconian fangs; that Bola Tinubu has lost appetite for crass gluttony and unbridled greed: and that the fugitive on the run, Abubakar Atiku, has suddenly shed his toga as the MOST CORRUPT Nigerian public servant and that the United States is no longer looking to prosecute him, being an accomplice to a felony? 

Icheoku says Nigerians must be wary and remain extra vigilant of these men because they are desperate people. If a group of desperadoes are this hell bent on wrestling power that they would go to the extent of trying to conceal their true identities as the APC is seriously trying to do, then something must be wrong. Query:- why are these men so desperate? Why have they also totally excluded WOMEN from the party or is because of their ISLAMIC faith's complete disregard and lowly placement of women as mere footnotes of the society? Nigerians beware, the ultra fundamental Saudi Arabian brand of Islamism is headed to Nigeria in the unfortunate event the APC succeeds in bullshitting its way into Aso Rock. 

Lastly, Icheoku says it would seem that this gathering of Muslims and their "NEW NIGERIA" agenda excludes the region known as BIAFRAAAA and you ask yourself what is the game plan here; - have they decided to let Biafra go and not be part of their "NEW NIGERIA" or are they so averse and disturbed at the predominant Christian religion being practiced there that they have excluded it? Only time will tell but an APC as presently constituted and being run is not good for a SECULAR and all inclusive Nigeria. Admitted that President Jonathan is not that inspiring but Nigerians should better go with a docile angel than embrace proven demons. Muhammadu Buhari, Bola Tinubu and now Abubakar Atiku are conceited and conniving people; they have also passed the age of character formation and cannot change now who they have always been. Therefore this their very unholy alliance should be a cause for serious concern and worry for Nigerians who must inoculate themselves from this poisonous men by running as far away to the hills as they can, from whatever sermon these guys are preaching. It cannot be anything good for the general welfare of NIgerians; it also portends calamity for unity, the treasury and religious freedom of NIgerians. Nigerians, Icheoku says, please just say thanks but NO to these great pretenders.

HONORING ABACHA, A SHAMELESS ASSAULT ON GOOD BEHAVIOR.

Icheoku says the reason given by the inept President Jonathan's government for bestowing honor, during the Nigerian Centenary celebration, on a decrepitude sub-human specimen called Sani Abacha, the midget of Kano State, is indeed very laughable. It is also as watery as it is without merit and defies every attempt at rationalization to say that simply because Abacha did "some good" and led Nigerians qualifies him as an eminent award recipient? Mussolini was a leader and he did some good for fascist Italy? Saddam Hussein was a leader and he did some good for the people of Iraq? Ghana's three former heads of state Acheampong, Afrifa and Akuffo, were once leaders and they also did some good for Ghana? Ditto Augusto Pinochet, Adolf Hitler as well as so many other world's ignoble persons who once led their nations and did some good for their people. These men shared one thing in common - they all met a very tragic end in the hands of their people, who they once led and did some good for, because of the greater infra-dignities they perpetrated on the same people. Icheoku says Sani Abacha belongs to this swine of humanity and deserves no less a fate instead of being elevated on a pedestal he did not deserve or merit. 

Icheoku therefore posits that were Nigeria a country that frowns at perfidy, a sadistic megalomania like Abacha, instead of being honored for "some good" he did while forcibly leading Nigerians against their will, should have elicited curses and condemnations for the hell he unleashed on Nigerians while his terror-infused regime lasted. But regrettably, President Goodluck Jonathan who has sold his soul to the devil and is now beholding to the Hausa/Fulani Northerners and carrying out their every wish, found it not too risky to honor one of North's most destitute gift to Nigeria. By this act of betrayal of bequeathing honor to an animal deserving of no such honor, President Jonathan has joined ranks with Muhammadu Buhari and Ibrahim Babangida, who while visiting the grave of Sani Abacha in Kano few years ago, described Abacaha as the best thing that ever happened to Nigeria and you wonder which planet these guys inhabit? Jonathan has sold out on Nigerians and is now one of them.

Icheoku says a man who wantonly shed so many Nigerians' blood deserves no honor by Nigeria, regardless of what he did or did not do. A man who stole to his heart's delight to the tune of several billions of dollars in addition to the latest over $400 million seized by the United States of America government cannot be said to be patriotic and loving of Nigeria and therefore is not deserving of any honor by Nigeria. How can any sane assessor consider a man with as heinous violations of human rights as Sani Abacha an appropriate candidate for any national honor including a Centenary award, especially when in addition to killing so many Nigerians, the bespectacled dictator also over-stole from Nigerians' national treasury. Further the same Sani Abacha was part of the Muhammadu Buhari 1983 military coup that toppled the first republic's democratically elected government of Shehu Shagari thereby truncating democracy. Yet a man who put such spanner in the works of a country trying to take off was honored for which "unity effort" one may ask? The same Sani Abacha muscled his way into Aso Rock, overthrowing Interim President Ernest Shonekan, thereby imposed himself on Nigerians regardless of Nigerians wishes, and unleashed the worst reign of terror ever witnessed in the history of the country short of the Biafran war; yet he is being honored for loving the country? 

Icheoku says this act of President Jonathan, honoring Sani Abacha, defies every logic and common sense justifying it and not even the extra-judicial murder of his kinsman Ken Saro-Wiwa was not enough to dissuade the president from this misdeed. Icheoku further says that any country which frowns at nasty or which has zero tolerance for bad behavior cannot and should have no business honoring a demented person like Sani Abacha and should have instead lampooned him on how not to be a leader. To this effect therefore, Icheoku joins Wole Soyinka and other few morality-driven Nigerians, who protested the charade that was Nigerian Centenary celebration of nothingness, to condemn the honor bestowed on Sani Abacha as well as on other coup plotters who truncated democracy in Nigeria, Ibrahim Babangida and Muhammadu Buharim; as undeserving, misplaced and a self-serving gesture geared at the 2015 presidential election, specifically targeting Kano State. Icheoku categorically states that such pandering is the reason why corruption and bad governance still persist in Nigeria because there is no consequence or shame for past misdeeds nor odium for former leaders who behaved badly or who gravely abused their office. So what deterrence exist for future prospective wanna-be Abachas, Babangidas or Buharis when these past humanoids are being bestowed with honors and you asks yourself whether the word "honor" has lost its meaning? What a shame!

FYI:- Icheoku hereunder reproduces Wole Soyinka's statement of rejection of what he described as "his share of this national insult" as follows:- 

“The sheer weight of indignation and revulsion of most of Nigerian humanity at the recent Boko Harma atrocity in Yobe is most likely to have overwhelmed a tiny footnote to that outrage, small indeed, but of an inversely proportionate significance. This was the name of the hospital to which the survivors of the massacre were taken. The name of that hospital, it is reported, is none other than that of General Sanni Abacha, a vicious usurper under whose authority many Nigerian lives were snuffed out.  Assassinations – including through bombs cynically ascribed to the opposition – became routine. Under that ruler, torture and other forms of barbarism were enthroned as the norm of governance; nine Nigerian citizens were hanged including writer and environmentalist Ken Saro-wiwa. By honoring the late soldier, Jonathan had scooped up a century’s accumulated degeneracy in one preeminent symbol, and placed it on a podium for the nation to admire, emulate and even – worship. Such abandonment of moral rigor comes full circle sooner or later. The survivors of a plague known as Boko Haram, students in a place of enlightenment and moral instruction, are taken to a place of healing dedicated to an individual contagion – a murderer and thief of no redeeming quality known as Sanni Abacha, one whose plunder is still being pursued all over the world and recovered piecemeal by international consortiums – at the behest of this same government which sees fit to place him on the nation’s Roll of Honour! I therefore refuse to partake and hereby reject my share of this national insult.” Icheoku says what a beautiful poetry from one of Nigeria's finest minds. Highly commendable.

RUSSIAN INVASION, SADDAM HUSSEIN OWED AN APOLOGY?

Icheoku says when the first Bush moved troops into Kuwait to dislodge Saddam Hussein's army, which snowballed into his execution by America using their minions in Iraq, the excuse then was that Saddam Hussein invaded a sovereign territory of another? That story and its attendant war and lingering sectarian conflict is now for the history books to try and piece together. Now Russia has similarly invaded a "sovereign territory" of another - Ukraine, and all America and their coalition of the willing and the unwilling could do is to condemn it and make threats while Putin's army continue to dig in and call their bluff. Query: what is the difference here warranting the difference in approach between Saddam Hussein's army and the red army now under Vladimir Putin's thumb? 

Anyway, Icheoku is just asking but suffice it to say that the strong and mighty will always have their way while the weak and meek will continue to reel under the crushing thumb of these behemoths as bottom feeders. Icheoku asks is it out of fear of possible defeat by Russia or that these white people do not want to kill themselves in an all out war that is impeding the deployment of the West's army led by America to confront these Russians? Your guess is as good as mine BUT the policy of non meddling in another's sovereign territory should be a one cap fits all and not according to other considerations. Query:- if Nigeria has invaded Cameroon to reclaim its Bakassi for example, would the international community led by France's response be merely to issue threats and demands OR would they have already issued Abuja a 24 hours ultimatum to pull out immediately or face invasion and tomahawks bombardments? Anyway, it is life and it is a jungle out there meant for only the lions and hyenas of this world to thrive and lord it over the rest of all of us, the lesser mortals. 

Ordinarily icheoku would have loved to see the mother of all battles between America led West and Russia come down to real firefights to settle this age long rivalry once and for all. Ukraine provides a perfect opportunity for that scenario to play itself out but in any other event, places like Taiwan, Japan, South Korea, etc should better watch it as their threatening big brother CHINA might similarly send in boots to take over their disputed territories since America's West can only bark and not bite? As the Russian invasion of Ukraine unfolds, Icheoku and the rest of the world is watching to see how the Russians are finally persuaded out of Crimea Ukraine. But hey, they have the bomb as well as control gas supply lines to Europe and might as well be said to hold the aces; hence the task at hand might not be an easy one afterall. Oh Putin, the former KGB boss, is back at his game of chess, trying to outwit and outsmart the West and so soon after the Sochi Winter Olympics ended, which the Russians also won or is the metaphor lost on anyone!