AILING MUHAMMADU BUHARI SIGHTED IN LONDON?

Icheoku wishes the ailing and very sick APC presidential candidate Muhammadu Buhari a speedy recovery. Hopefully he will recover enough to stand the shock of his soon to be fourth presidential race loss. But before the March 28 rescheduled election, would any of the APC honchos come clean and tell Nigerians the nature of what is troubling their presidential candidate. At least now they will have a convenient reason why they lost the election - their candidate was medically indisposed. On March 28, VOTE GEJ.

'YORUBA OBAS ARE USELESS' - BOLA TINUBU

Icheoku says as a pinhead, vote Muhammadu Buhari if you also agrees with Bola Tinubu and supports him in debasing and demeaning revered institutions of the Yoruba people, traditional institutions which have productively subsisted for so many centuries. This March 28, 2015, please tell Bola TInubu that you are not a party to such abominable sacrilege and that anything that will ridicule an entire race as well as their highly held monarchs is unacceptable and cannot be tolerated by you. VOTE GEJ. 

SOYINKA HAS LOST HIS MIND, DEMENTIA OR A HATE-FILLED SNEER?

Icheoku queries, what indeed does Mr Kongi Harvest expect or want Nigerians to make out of his now obvious prevaricated positions on the two major presidential candidates running for election in Nigeria? Muhammadu Buhari, he eviscerated in his "Crimes of Buhari" treatise as unelectable due to his crimes against Nigerians, including crime of murders? Now the same Wole Soyinka has directed his laser at President Jonathan, whom he chastised in his latest "Challenge of Change, the burden of choice" article, as someone Nigerians should not elect? Icheoku queries, which other candidate then does Professor Wole Soyinka want Nigerians to elect as their president, now that he has technically disqualified the two front runners for the office? 

Icheoku says Wole Soyinka's current posturing does not pass the smell test and it is very possible that he has been compromised into making this unusual somersault? Despite the numerous reasons he canvassed against electing Muhammadu Buhari, weighted against the only ONE reason he gave for also rejecting Jonathan's candidacy, he still titled Buhari and you ask why? Icheoku says barring any clear case of a compromised mind, the only other plausible explanation for the conclusive decision he reached would  be that he is troubled by his faculties? It is possible that his great learning has made him somewhat mad and the Nobel Laurette is  battling early stages of Alzheimer's disease and/or dementia. Otherwise how could a man fabled for his usually well considered firm thoughts and opinions, be vacillating between two major candidates for president,  simultaneously condemning both as not what Nigeria desire nor want nor would settle for; yet went on to repudiate himself by pitching his tent for one of them considered a worse evil? Icheoku says if Wole Soyinka has left it at merely condemning both candidates without more, may be some people would ask if there is candidate Wole Soyinka running for president?

Icheoku asks is it safe to argue that because the hatchet job now carried out by Wole Soyinka on President Jonathan came later in time, that his previous diatribe on Buhari has been overruled? Icheoku does not know about you, but this erudite professor of Literature lost Icheoku with this his latest attack on President Jonathan and his now seemingly new found romance with the man he was decried as a murderer and an unelectable quantum in the present dispensation - a Nigeria democratic politics? So Wole Soyinka, what affliction is it that has got hold of your brains or is it merely a sign of your troubled mind, where President Jonathan is permanently lodged in and you are pulling all the stops to disgorge and dislodge him? It was Wole Soyinka who said that history matters; that records are kept not only for the recollection but to serve as a guide for the future; so how does he expect Nigerians to consider his well reasoned opinion which is now a record, about Muhammadu Buhari juxtaposed with his current rattling and jarring seeming flip-flop in favor of the same murderer Muhammadu Buhari

Icheoku asks Wole Soyinka to please explain to a dumbfounded and bewildered Nigerian electorates how he reached his warped conclusion that the kidnapped girls of Chibok is now a more heinous crime than the murder of three innocent Nigerians plus more? Further how he arrived at his findings that a kidnap which was not masterminded  nor carried out by President Jonathan, but by anarchists Boko Haram, has now become weightier and heavier in criminality against President Jonathan than the murder of three innocent Nigerians by Muhammadu Buhari? Icheoku asks Wole Soyinka to please explain to an askance Nigerian electorates how he reached his verdict of guilty by reason of occupying of an office on President Jonathan, especially when the occupier of the office is making every reasonable effort to secure the safe release of those kidnapped girls under the very challenging circumstance? Icheoku asks Wole Soyinka when was the law of criminality changed to now hold liable a person who merely heard about a crime post commission like every other Nigerian, when security agencies charged with securing the country were the derelict party thereto?

So what indeed is the beef Soyinka has with President Jonathan that would make him to go so too far in his attempt to crucify the president; to the extent he shamelessly licked his vomit, Muhammadu Buhari, in the process?  Icheoku asks what manner of hatred does Wole Soyinka has against President Jonathan that would make him to not wish Jonathan a reelection, especially in view of the fact that the other choice is not a choice at all? A consequential fact, the same Wole Soyinka eruditely harped on and published extensively, in his well chronicled article, "Crimes of Buhari?" Icheoku asks Wole Soyinka, was it Jonathan that kidnapped those girls or was it Boko Haram that did the dirty deed? Wole Soyinka, please answer Icheoku, is it President Jonathan's job to personally charge into Sambisa Forest and rescue those girls or is it the job of Nigerian paid military? Icheoku asks Wole Soyinka to explain to Nigerians whether President Jonathan must first adorn military fatigues and with a Kalashnikov strung on his shoulders, go in search of those kidnapped Chibok girls inside Sambisa Forest and continue attacking Abubakar Shekau until he vomits those girls back to Chibok before he is convinced that the president is doing his best under the challenged circumstance?

Icheoku says if as Wole Soyinka pointed out in his latest article "Challenge of change - burden of choice", that '2015 election is not a choice between “saints and demons, not one between salvation and damnation; that both candidates are not palatable choice', is it not then more discerning a choice for Nigerians to settle for the lesser devil they know rather than Lucifer himself? Icheoku asks Wole Soyinka, is it not a wiser decision for Nigerians to settle with the current "devil" who at least does not have the blood of Nigerians in his hand, unlike the other head devil who has killed Nigerians before and will likely kill them again? If as Wole Soyinka would like Nigerians to believe, "the choice between Jonathan and Buhari is closer to a fork in the road where uncertainty lurks - whichever choice is made,” is it then not better for Nigerians to go for the safer, choice-road already safely, travelled once? Icheoku is emphatic that the "timid" President Jonathan, who can do no harm, is definitely a safer bet than the other sadistic brutal guy, who does not shy away from inflicting a punisher's harm and seemingly enjoys it too? 

Icheoku admonishes Wole Soyinka why still yearn for an encore of Buhari's presidency, when according to him, in his "Crimes of Buhari" treatise, Buhari's first coming resulted in “grievous assaults against Nigerian humanity, with a landscape of broken lives that continues till today to lacerate our collective memory.” Icheoku says it is only a sadist or a person who has lost his mind or one with an axe to grind with a more palliative incumbent, that would rather so grudgingly hanker for a caustic despot, whose first time around was indeed very bitter and bone-chilling scary.  So Wole Soyinka, once again, Icheoku asks you, what did President Jonathan do to you to stir your bile to this level of caustic hatred; and cause this level of angst in your choler that made your repudiation of him to rise so disproportionately too high? What is it Wole Soyinka?

Icheoku rebukes that contrarily, a leopard does not change its spots and so it is most unlikely that Muhammadu Buhari is now a “born-again” civilized human being, worthy of a second chance at power. It also does not matter how saturating the pretentious APC propaganda is, that would like Nigerians to believe that suddenly the mean and lean Buhari has morphed into a Mother Theresa, waiting to lead Nigeria to the promised land of no malice, no toils, no travails, no trials, no tribulations, no want and of course, no lack. Icheoku says it is not so Nigerians and even Wole Soyinka knows this; except that he has forcibly joined some of his "kpalakpos" in the Southwest in their conspiracy against President Jonathan reelection bid. A grand conspiracy which has now come full circle and so crystallized that Nigerians can now finally see how deep and multifaceted it is. 

When Buhari ran against Obasanjo, he was unelectable; when he ran against YarAdua he was unelectable; when he first ran against Jonathan, he was unelectable but suddenly now, his baggage of stinking skeletons have suddenly become disinfected and deodorized? Wole Soyinka's several years of gospel of the unelectable Buhari has suddenly changed, just a few short weeks ago, to now an electable Buhari? Icheoku says Wole Soyinka has thus soiled his hands and will now be counted among the haters of a Nigeria moving forward, who wants to halt the progress by bringing Jonathan down through intimidation. Icheoku says Wole Soyinka knows that "it is pointlessly, and dangerously provocative to present General Buhari as something that he probably was not,” yet he wants Jonathan OUT; and who replaces Jonathan but his challenger, the same murderer Buhari, about whom Soyinka said the above?

Icheoku says the greatest tragedy in this whole Wole Soyinka volte-face about Muhammadu Buhari is that he is fully aware of the "inflexibility and unchangeability of a military man," yet he wants Nigerians to proceed full throttle in choosing Muhammadu Buhari as their president, despite "the ill experience of Olusegun Obasanjo, the other military man?" Quoting Wole Soyinka, "Obasanjo, a former military ruler who was presumed to have become democratized, yet showed Nigerians pepper of autocracy. A former ruler, who, having been presumed to have been “purged and transformed by a close encounter with death, and imprisonment, has turned out to be an embodiment of incorrigibility on several fronts, including a contempt for law and constitution" and regrettably." So in view of this, ask yourselves Nigerians, whether Wole Soyinka is still possessed of the faculty and retains the credibility to advise Nigerians against a civilian President Jonathan who is running against "another untransformed former army man?"

The former vintage personality Wole Soyinka knows that Buhari would not be any different from Olusegun Obasanjo, since both men were cut from the same army cloth, yet he clamors for Buhari? Icheoku berates that it is also a wishful thinking for Soyinka to think that 'the demon that got into Buhari which made him declare his intention to spread Sharia throughout Nigeria' has been exorcised, yet he craves Buhari for president of a secular Nigeria? Icheoku surmises that this Wole Soyinka's thinking, without any verifiable or viable basis to anchor it, is but a puerile indignation fueled by his acute hatred for President Jonathan and nothing more. Wole Soyinka is by necessary implication, cutting off his nose in order to spite his face; and because Jonathan made him mad, he now wants Nigerians to descend into a fellowship in hell with the devil Muhammadu Buhari?

Icheoku says the worst part of this conspiracy against President Jonathan, which Wole Soyinka is now a full bona fide member of, is that it has no basis or rhyme or reason but fully fueled by eternal hatred. Imagine, against Buhari's many strikes, totaling about eight; Jonathan has only one strike against him - the failure to rescue kidnapped Chibok girls, yet Wole Soyinka wants Nigerians to hold this one failure against him far and above the over eight more serious failures of Buhari, including the murder of three innocent Nigerians? Icheoku says a logic canvassed and a conclusion reached have never been so paralleled before; and you wonder if Wole Soyinka's great learning has finally made him mad? Could Wole Soyinka  have purposely lost or relaxed his intellectual reasoning and situational assessment  simply to get at Jonathan? Otherwise how could a person who scored lower points of strikes ever be the one adjudged more culpable than the guy who got much higher and much serious strikes against him? 

Possibly, Wole Soyinka, like Obasanjo once pointed out, is such a petty rascal; a jealous extrovert, who does not accept that any other person is better than him or has superior ideas more than him, and therefore may be begrudging Jonathan's successes as president of Nigeria? A position President Jonathan attained before Wole Soyinka,  the Nobel Laurette. After all they are both PhD holders and if Jonathan can be president, why not Wole Soyinka - a President Wole Soyinka? Icheoku is convinced that there is something more Wole Soyinka is not telling Nigerians for his sudden repudiation of Jonathan and love for Buhari; but it is certainly not solely because of the Chibok girls incident. Icheoku asks how can kidnapping ever out-weigh murders of innocent Nigerians in degree of heinousness; as to merit such outright condemnation by Wole Soyinka, moreso of a president who neither orchestrated it nor authorized it. Please Wole, Icheoku says, give Nigerians a break, a very fat ass BREAK for that matter. This your irreconcilable somersault on Muhammadu Buhari, a man whom you previously dubbed a murderer, and to prefer him over a man who is merely trying his best under the circumstance, is convoluted at best and very weird if reasoned; otherwise what logic from hell justifies your preferring a murderer as Nigerians' president?

NO CERTIFICATE, NO DEBATE, YET WANTS THE JOB?

Icheoku says any applicant who wants a job normally applies, enclosing his or her necessary qualifying certificates as proof of qualification for the position. The prospective employer, after reviewing the enclosed certificate/s and determines the requisite is met, then invites the candidate for an interview; to then assess his or her understanding and ability to do the said job if hired. But the drama that is unfolding in Nigeria where a candidate for the job of Nigeria's presidency, neither has necessary qualifying certificate nor would agree to interview for the job he applied for, leaves so much to be desired. 

Icheoku queries how then can any prospective employer evaluate such candidate for suitability for the job, with neither his certificate nor his availability for a one on one meet?  Then ask yourself, faced with such lack of certificate and denial of opportunity to meet and talk, how would any employer seriously consider such candidate for the job applied; since there is nothing the employer could use to assess qualification for the job and readiness/ability to same, if hired?  Icheoku says APC Muhammadu Buhari has no certificate and will not debate, yet he wants the job of Nigeria's presidency? So how else possible could this be except through quota system, where meritocracy is sacrificed on the alter of 'born to rule' Fulani ideology, that has dragged Nigeria into the sewer from which it has been  trying to pull itself out all this past years?  

Icheoku says by neither producing his required qualifying certificate nor agreeing to interview for the job, by way of debate,  Muhammadu Buhari has shown serious contempt and ridicule to the Nigerian public, his prospective employer? His conduct shows someone not seriously applying for such a very serious job and therefore should be rejected and not hired. The Nigerian public must therefore, with their votes, reciprocate this Muhammadu Buhari's snub of them, by not  hiring him to be their president, come March 28. How can any Nigerian still vote for this man, after he so thumbed his nose on Nigerians by not conforming to their stipulated rule of engagement to participate in their presidential election.

It is also laughable that Muhammadu Buhari does not want Nigerians to judge him by his murderous past record as a brutal military dictator? But ask yourselves Nigerians, if Buhari wants his sordid past made a no-go area in this election, why is he then beating his chest as a fighter of corruption, when he earned the same honor during the same past he now wants Nigerians to file away in their checkered past history? So what is the merit of such selective heroism if not to mislead and misguide Nigerians in this election season? Why remember to honor my anti-corruption stance but please forget my murderous enslavement of Nigerians? 

Icheoku says this plea for  selective amnesia as it appertains to some misdeeds but brilliant recollection as it affects others must be igored by Nigerians. Otherwise if they listen to Buhari to ignore his past, it must be totally and completely; they must as of necessity equally ignore everything in Buhari's past including his fabled anti-corruption image. This done, Muhammadu Buhari must default back to what he is - a complete  tabula-rasa and therefore running on empty and with nothing to prop him with. So Muhammadu Buhari, Icheoku says you must decide, whether Nigerians should still heed your plea and completely erase all your past or hold you accountable for your past, which is the only records Nigerians have of you? Please Nigerians, ignore this snake-oil, VOTE GEJ.

NEW YORK TIMES EDITORIAL, GAY LOBBYISTS PILING UP ON PRESIDENT JONATHAN?

Icheoku says isn't it now obvious that the cards are finally stacking up, in a well choreographed manner, all in their attempt to pay back President Jonathan for passing anti-gay marriage act in Nigeria? Icheoku knows the gay lobbyist would not rest until they draw their pound of flesh from the man who made it illegal for sodomy to thrive in Nigeria. In all their editorials, both the one from London and now this one from New York, none of them ever mentioned the fact that America refused to sell arms to Nigeria to help them fight Boko Haram; neither did they mention that the same America pressured out South Africa, Saudi Arabia and Israel from helping out. But here they are telling the world that President Jonathan failed woefully in tackling the menace of Boko Haram; meanwhile America is still engaged in tackling Al Queida in Iraq, Afghanistan, Yemen, Somalia  and currently ISIS as well and their task is still ongoing in all these places and several decades later, despite being the world's ONLY super power? 

But hey, Nigerians will decide who rules them come March 28 and not all these foreign vultures who do not mean well for black people especially those in black African continent. Imagine they are not questioning the rightness of a murderer and a man who truncated democracy from even standing for an election; but are busily telling Nigerians that their president failed woefully. This are the same guys who stood by as President Bush invaded Iraq, resulting in the crisis which is now enveloping the entire world with previously caged restless Islamists now freely killing and maiming people all over the world. But come March 28, Nigerians would tell all these naysayers to shove it as they would not choose a MURDERER as their president over a man who is trying his best under a very challenged and sabotaged environment and circumstance. 

Icheoku says to hell with the New York Times and their attempt to play their own part in the David Axelrod organization well scripted code-derail Nigeria from continuously moving forward. Icheoku is emphatic that were all these pretenders sincere in their intention, they would have strongly resisted the thought of an itinerant human right violator and despot extraordinaire trying to preside over a democratic Nigeria. But no, what they would not take nor accept in their clime, they wish for Nigeria. What a hatchet job indeed, the NYT has just done; but luckily the voting Nigerians, majority of which are rural, do not read New York Times nor care about what their opinion is, concerning a purely internal affairs of Nigeria. Icheoku says it is Nigerian election, damn it. It is Nigerians election, stupid and ONLY Nigerians would vote to choose as they like. Icheoku says to hell with the New York Times and their editorial opinion which does not reflect the truism on the ground in Nigeria but merely pandering to their retainers.

OBASANJO FORCED OUT OF PDP, GOOD RIDDANCE?

Icheoku says the only regret is that he was the one who preemptively pulled the plug and not the other way. A very fast one indeed, following the decision of the party's NEC to axe him from the party which filtered to him and he decided to beat them to their game. But regardless, it is still a good riddance to his nuisance and convulsive value to the party; a party which gave him so much but which in turn got mere damnation from him in return. 

Icheoku called it correctly and rightly in our article of November 17th, 2014 titled "Obasanjo defecting to APC," wherein Icheoku predicted that Olusegun Obasanjo was on his way out of the PDP. But the rest is now history, admitted he did not go full hog by also walking over to the APC immediately; but whether Bola Tinubu would tolerate and accommodate a rival in his APC is a matter for future discuss. Icheoku says it is only people with impaired political vision that did not see it coming and did not know that Olusegun Obasanjo  had made up his mind a long time ago about parting ways with the PDP. These are the people now flipping over and about because of the dramatic manner Olusegun Obasanjo ended his marriage with the PDP by publicly shredding his membership card and calling it final quits from the party. 

Icheoku maintains whether Olusegun Obasanjo can still be accommodated in Nigeria as the "statesman", he so desperately desires, is very much debatable in view of the so much damage he has caused his reputation, leading to President Jonathan calling him a motor park tout. Many Nigerians agree with President Jonathan that Baba Iyabo of Ota is a rabble rouser, whose behavior is anything but statesmanly. Like the two women of the Bible who went to King Solomon over custody and ownership of a child - wherein the biological mother wanted the child to live, but the putative mother wanted him killed; this is now  Olusegun Obasanjo and how he has dealt with the PDP that gave him its all. So now Nigerians have watched how someone who did not know how a party was brought into being, did not care about what becomes of it either. A party he never mentored nor nurtured, but walked out of prison, a convict, to be rewarded with a gift of its presidential candidate and went on to do two terms of eight years as president of Nigeria and now in gratitude, he is shredding their membership card on public television. A party he merely leeched off and parasit(ed) on without more, he destroyed their property in this manner which goes to show that he never cared about its well-being in the first place. 

The biggest loser of the Olusegun Obasanjo final ouster is not the PDP, for they will survive and thrive. The biggest loser is Abubakar Atiku, who alongside his fellow  PDM  accomplices in 1998, conspired to deny Alexander Ekwueme his midwifed baby and gave it to Olusegun Obasanjo, thus having Obasanjo reap where he did not sow. That Abubakar Atiku even survived Obasanjo's machination is equally a miracle on its own; admitted Obasanjo so damaged him that today Abubakar Atiku is but an unelectable political untouchable, a corruption pariah in Nigeria; courtesy of Olusegun Obasanjo who stamped an indelible ink of the face of corruption in Nigeria on Abubakar Atiku. But hey, Alexander Ekwueme has outlived and out-survived both Abubakar Atiku and Olusegun Obasanjo in membership of the PDP and who says God is asleep. 

So going forward, Icheoku says the PDP will now have to move on without Olusegun Obasanjo's nauseating distractions and refocus itself towards winning the forthcoming elections and convincingly. The PDP will now  have to reconstitute itself into the formidable party to beat it is, without the needless maniac of Ota, whose penchant for shouting fire in a crowded theater house of the PDP is  very well known to Nigerians. As the PDP goes on to win the presidential election of March 28 as well as other subsequent elections, Icheoku maintains that on no grounds whatsoever would they ever consider readmitting both Olusegun Obasanjo and Abubakar Atiku back into their fold. The PDP should use their post election victory to finally clean house, weed off all trouble makers and rebuild the party for the future. What a deed that was so long overdue; so long Ota Deity; and now may your evil deeds finally catch up with you in your miserable retirement into political irrelevance and obscurity in Nigeria. And finally Olusegun Obasanjo's curtain is drawn and may not be opened again  till his final sunset; enough of him and enough of his troubles! The PDP is better off without Olusegun Obasanjo!

NIGERIANS SHOULD VOTE FOR BUHARI - WOLE SOYINKA?

Icheoku says provided of course you meet the eligibility requirement, as the same Wole Soyiinka rightly spelt out, of those Nigerians who can vote for Muhammadu Buhari. So Nigerians, before heeding the advise of Mr Kongi Harvest, first ask yourself, if you fall within the listed categories of those who can vote for Buhari as Wole Soyinka himself duly  listed out. Otherwise tell Wole Soyinka that his great learning has made him mad; that you do not fall into any of the listed categories and so will VOTE GEJ. Icheoku says to remember that Wole Soyinka himself will be voting GEJ because he does not fall into the listed categories either.

OBASANJO IS A VULTURE - FAYOSE?

"Obasanjo is only fighting President Jonathan because Jonathan prevented him (Obasanjo) from ruling Nigeria from his Ota Farm. Obasanjo is a cancer that may never get cured in a lifetime. The moment Obasanjo is not the one controlling a house, he will want the house pulled down but this time around, he has failed. Obasanjo has always benefitted from the misfortune of others and he is living with the impression that he is the wisest person in the whole world. 

When Murtala Mohammed was murdered in 1976, Obasanjo was the beneficiary. In 1993, he said the acclaimed winner of the June 12, 1993 presidential election, late Chief MKO Abiola was not the Messiah Nigeria needed. Instead of Obasanjo to join the clamour for the actualisation of Abiola’s mandate, Obasanjo was canvassing for an Interim National Government, which he schemed to head. MKO Abiola died in detention in 1997 and Obasanjo became the beneficiary of his (Abiola) death. Despite the fact that it was the blood of MKO Abiola that Obasanjo matched on to power, not even a street was named after Abiola throughout Obasanjo’s eight years as president. 

Today, Obasanjo is fighting President Jonathan, the man who has done what he failed to do for Abiola, the Yoruba people and Nigerians as a whole when he was president for eight years, simply because he does not want anyone to equal his record as Nigeria’s longest serving president. President Jonathan has made it impossible for Obasanjo to run his presidency for him and for this reason, he is supporting Buhari, hoping that he will be the one to nominate ministers for Buhari if he becomes president. However, I have this bad news for Obasanjo. Nigeria is not his football that he can kick around as he likes. President Jonathan will be reelected, and Nigeria will be freed from his (Obasanjo) bondage once and for all.” - Ekiti State Governor Ayo Fayose.

CHAPEL HILL MURDERS, ANOTHER CRAZED-OUT AMERICAN KILLS PEOPLE?

Icheoku says regardless, so many Americans are walking on pins and needles and are easily tipped over by little things, into unleashing extreme  rage and fury.  The case of the triple murders of those three Muslim students in Chapel Hill North Carolina may not be because of who they are or what they look like or how they worship; admitted it might have somewhat contributed, it might just be another case of an American gone berserk and unfortunately took it out on some victims who happen to be Muslims. The gist of the matter is that any deranged man or woman in America can easily find gun to carry out wanton act of murder; and if the victims happen to be an identifiable group, then all the hullabaloo about hate crimes rises to the top. It is our culture and gun violence is here to stay in America until the National Rifle Association changes their mind and decides to choose life over profits.

Craig Stephen shot and killed his neighbors Deah Shaddy Barakat, his wife Yusor Mohammad Abu-Salha and her sister Razan Mohammad Abu-Salha over an alleged parking spot dispute and right inside the victims home. Icheoku disagrees that the victims were primarily targeted because they are Muslims as people get constantly murdered in America who are not Muslims nor of any other identifiable faith based group. But coincidentally the victims here happened to be Muslims and people are reading religious bias to their killing. May be everyone has to wait until the police concludes their investigation before categorically ruling on the exact motive. Admitted also that their murders may have been "brutal and outrageous" according to President Obama, but Icheoku queries which murder is not? 

Here is a disturbed man who decided to take it out on his neighbors and three people are dead as a result. This is America, and people get whacked here all the time, regardless of who they are or their religion. It has been that way and will continue to remain that way, because NRA would not bulge in curbing easy access to guns and gun availability in the American society. Icheoku says President Obama was only being diplomatic with words when he said that "no one in the United States should ever be targeted because of who they are, what they look like, or how they worship." People in America get killed for whatever reason their killer decides is good enough and in some case, without any reason other than to see somebody lay dead in their own blood. It is what it is and no amount of words would stop a deranged person who has particularly made up his mind from executing his rampage. It is only mother-luck that protects the people and there is nothing anyone can do about it. Americans get killed everyday, whether they are Muslims or blacks or Jews or Protestants or Catholics or Hispanics or whites or Indians - it is an equal opportunity, one-size fits all, daily occurrence.  It is a gun culture and it makes us indeed truly Americans and we live with it daily.

But like with every other murder and killings in America, the routine is the same - secure the crime scene, conduct preliminary investigation, pick up the deceased, hose off the blood, conduct autopsy, bury the victims, investigate further and thereafter put the accused through the justice system. So with the victims now buried and the accused already in orange jumpsuit, he will be tried by a jury of his peers and if they find him guilty he will be punished and if not, he will walk. If he is found not guilty by reason of insanity, he will be confined and institutionalized for treatment. That is the American way and the already commenced judicial process will take its full course.So all those people led by Turkey President Endowang, going into a tizzy because some three people who happened to be Muslims were killed should butt out and let the justice system work its way through. As Americans, we already know the drift; except that now some Muslims are feeling they are now having a taste of what has become somewhat a way of life for African Americans, whose life don't matter. Icheoku extends our condolences to the bereaved family as well as the accused's family, especially to his wife, who must be wondering what happened to the husband she married and turned him into a ravaging murderous vampire. But hey, we are Americans and we are used to our crazies and their periodic havoc and mayhem which they unleash on our general psyche. Quite pitiful that some parents lost two of their own as well as their son inlaw in this manner.

ICHEOKU SAYS, HAPPY VALENTINE TO YOU ALL !!!!!

Icheoku says to all those humans out there who are lucky in love, happy Val's day to you. Remember to always appreciate what you got - your partner;  because without him or her, you would probably be still wallowing in the loneliness and loveless wilderness of life.  Remember you are nobody until someone loves you and now be happy that someone really does. But for all those other sapiens and aliens out there, who are from outer space and who are daydreaming of that suitor molded after their delusional fantasy, Icheoku says, wake up and smell the coffee before it is too late; as you may have to wait until life hereafter to ask your maker why HE did not create your idealized and customized spouse in addition to Adam and Eve. 

In any other event however, have yourselves a wonderful love-filled Valentine's day and continue in that travel-lane till this time next year. Remember to make loving your partner the second oxygen in your life - a constant intake and a never ending dosage. Happy Valentine's day to you and please remember to love more today than you loved yesterday and continue doing so, incrementally and in perpetuity, in all the days after February 14th. 

Acceptance but not mere tolerance of your partner is the key to ever lasting happiness in every relationships. You must see and treat your partner respectfully as one of the best things that ever happened to you; the one meant for you and the one always there for you, otherwise your paths wouldn't have conclusively crossed in the first place. Always see in your man that Brad Pitt you wished and still salivates for; and of course the man must also always see in his wife the Angelina Jolie of women, he shudders at their imagination. 

Also endeavor to appreciate your spouse more today than you did yesterday. Appreciation includes saying thank you to your spouse for anything he or she does in furtherance of your happiness and in making your life more livable, no matter how small. Remember that the thought of the deed  is far more important than the deed itself, admitted the deed finally crystallized the hitherto unknown thought for you to actually see or feel. Appreciation also includes saying that you are sorry and asking for forgiveness whenever you err; instead of the destructive, obstinate, headstrong show of stubbornness and claim of right or entitlement to do whatever and however you please, regardless of the hurt and pain caused to the other spouse.  This includes finding the time and patience to listen through concerns when expressed. Unneeded and avoidable strong-headiness never yields anything good but estrangement; and tone deafness is the number love-killer known to mankind. 

Remember that the Golden Rule rules supreme in every relationship and if you don't want some nasty, please don't dish nasty to the other spouse; otherwise what makes you think that such would be liked by or acceptable to him or her? In every contested position, try fitting your feet in the other spouse's shoes and ask yourself would you take it yourself if the table turned? if his or her lens are seeing things in different shades, why not momentarily borrow them to see if you could similarly so see from his or her perceptive? Ask yourself, if you at the receiving end of the arrow you are throwing at your spouse, how receptive would you be at watching it piercing your heart in the same fashion? Always remember that it is not for you to determine whether your action was wrong or offensive to the other spouse; it is the victim-spouse who reserves the sole right to so point it out and for you to atone for your infra-dig and make up. 

Finally remember that both of you are humans with feelings which can sometimes be hurt and needs some sincere acts of mea culpa in order to heal properly. Do not wait until your action ruins what you have going for you by turning the other party to a living-dead zombie, who is either forced to tune-out or simply ignore you, leading to other consequential vices including cheating and lying that may eventually lead to divorce and other not so happy endings. So to couples in love, the real lovers not the jokers, Icheoku says, resolve today to be the best spouse you can be and there is, and sit back and watch your relationship sizzle. Choose today to be a lover not a fighter; a lover not a  nagger; a lover not a cheater; a lover not an abuser and watch your love-life take a turn for the best. Please remember to love like you really mean it, with all your heart, head and body; and without any reservation whatsoever. If not for him or her, who? That's the spirit of the day and so, once again Happy Valentines Day to you all. Ciao amore!

SUGE KNIGHT, SURGING TO PRISON?

Icheoku says it would appear that rap mogul, Marion Suge Knight, has finally been cornered; having played himself into the hands of a justice system which has been patently and eagerly waiting to snatch him and put him away and for a long time too. With his latest indictment for murder and other ancillary crimes, which the prosecutor described as “very large stack of uncharged crimes”, the founder of Death Row records label, which once had under its sleeve, rap artists Tupac Shakur, Dr Dre and Snoop Dogg, appears to be headed to the big house, where he would likely live out the rest of his life, under California's three strikes law, if convicted. 

A man who has had several running-ins and some very close calls with the law; and who instead of becoming sobered down and turning literally into a born-again, completely retired from his bad-boy machismo lifestyle/image, has continued barreling down that road to perdition. Now he is finally in an orange jumper suit and may have to wear it for the rest of his life. 

Surge Knight was indicted for murder and attempted murder resulting from vehicular run-over of two people - Terry Carter and Cle Bone Sloan near Universal Pictures Straight Outta Compton. He is currently locked up and awaiting trial, his bail application originally set for two million dollars having been revoked because he is a flight-risk. As a possible three-strike candidate under California sentencing law, he is looking at a mandatory life sentencing  if convicted. Suge had previously served five years in jail for assault and federal weapons violations; following his release in 2001, spent another 10 months behind bars for violating parole by hitting a Hollywood nightclub valet

icheoku laments that unfortunately some of our African American brothers do not learn from their experiences in order to understand that the justice system is always gunning for their black asses, desirous of catching and incarcerating them for good. With Suge Knight, it would appear that his ears were deafen by his mistaken believe of invincibility as a result of some rumored dirty work which he does for the FBI in African American communities? But now Icheoku and the rest of the watching world know that he is not after all what he thinks of himself - that cat with nine lives. That living a thug's life does not get anyone very far, especially in the American society where as a black-man you are a perpetual target of the justice system out to corner you and incarcerate you, thus solving another social menace problem or rather eyesore? 

Suge Knight is not above the law neither is he an untouchable underground boss as he erroneously previously thought of himself. A man who has severally ran afoul of the law but miraculously pulled a Houdini each time, has now finally spent his last luck and is currently playing guest to the law. Recall how Tupac was assassinated under questionable circumstance in a vehicle driven by Suge Knight in Las Vegas? Ditto was Lisa Left Eye Lopes suspicious one-victim accident death while traveling in La Ceiba Honduras in company of the same Suge Knight and a few others? But hey, like the saying goes kill by the sword, die by the sword, so the world is waiting to see how Mr Suge surges out of his present legal tango or otherwise, surge himself into the big house instead. Icheoku asks when are black Americans going to learn their lesson and modulate some of their lifestyles in order to help avoid all these pointy accusatory fingers which is laser-focused on them by a law which is skewed against them. 

WHY I LEFT UNCLE BUHARI FOR GEJ - ZARA ABDULLAHI.

Icheoku says behold a brave and courageous Fulani lady from Muhammadu Buhari's village, Daura, who has abandoned his ship and is now sailing with Team Jonathan cruise boat to second term 2015. icheoku says isn't this lady amazing, at least she uses her brain to think and weigh issues rather than allow herself to be swept away in the flood of misinformation propaganda of the desperately fanatical APC. 

According to this iyarinya, commenting on the scourge of Boko Haram and the deliberately wrong accusation the other side are levying on President Goodluck Jonathan, she said:-

"You are in your bedroom talking about the GEJ administration not doing anything about Boko Haram. So why do you think Boko Haram has not taken over the whole country if GEJ is not doing anything about Boko Haram or do you think Boko Haram hates traffic so much they don't want to come to Lagos and/or Abuja to similarly take over both cities too?' Please get a life and open your eyes to see the wonders of the ongoing transformation agenda throughout the country, including the successes our great military are recording over Boko Haram.' - My name is Zara Imam Abdullahi, I am from Muhammadu Buhari's village, Daura, Katsina State. I am voting GEJ and hope you too. On March 28, please do not help send me to purdah, reject BUHARI, vote for Jonathan.

NATO NO LONGER USEFUL, DISBAND IT NOW.

Icheoku says Ukraine needs weapons to defend itself from the aggression of Russia and the West owes Ukraine, at minimum, the supply of those weapons without any more dithering.   Ukraine is not asking for boots of the West on their ground to help them fend off Russian aggression, no, they are merely asking for weapons to enable them defend itself from a clear aggression by an oversupplied and overwhelming Russia army, using the subterfuge of some eastern rebels. Icheoku says if Russia is supplying weapons to the other side and enabling the rebels to advance rapidly on Ukrainian territories; and the same Ukrainian people risked it all by making a bold democratic move of completely freeing themselves from all Russia vestiges and apron strings, and desiring to fully join the West, it is therefore immoral for the West to stand idly by and watch, while internationally recognized territories of Ukraine are gradually redrawn and decimated by an invading rebels supported by the Kremlin. What is the logic behindRussia could supply weapons to the rebels but the West doing so to Kiev would amount to escalation of conflict, when Russia has steadily escalated it.

Icheoku says the rebels advance thus far would not have been possible if not for Russian help, supplying them  weapons and logistics as well as cognizance and intelligence gathering. So if it is acceptable for Russia to aid and abet rebels who are ravaging a sovereign country, why is it not similarly acceptable for the said country to be able to help wade off or defeat such rebellion? At least Ukraine is not planning or going to invade or attack Russia with the supplied weapons; it will merely use them to secure their territorial integrity and retake already lost territories. Icheoku is convinced that but for the Russian help, those rebels would have since been routed by the Ukrainian military, which unfortunately now stands helplessly outgunned by a previously ragtag rebel with now Russian supplied advanced weaponry and superior military technical know-how and advisers.

Query: what does Ukraine then benefit from taking all the risk they took, thumbing their nose at Russia, if only to now wait and watch as their new foe Russian aided rebel make a mince meat of their sovereign territories, gulping it one square foot at a time and rapidly advancing towards Kiev?  What Ukrainians are asking for is not for NATO to put itself into the fray but to help them with weapons to defend their sovereign territories. So what is stopping Western countries but fear of the Russians; and you ask yourself wouldn't that be the same trembling argument should Putin's Russia decide to invade other former territories of the former Soviet Union that are now part of the new expanded West. 

Icheoku is of the opinion that the deathly afraid European countries would in similar manner argue for Russia to just take back what used to belong to them in order not to disturb the peace of Europe. In taking this position of weakness in the face of an aggressive Russia, the Europeans would have forgotten that peace is never free; it is never achieved nor possible without fighting for it; and to guard and protect it as enthroned, sometimes wars are a necessary continuum, whether cold or hot.  Icheoku maintains that the peace the Europeans are currently enjoying was once fought for and still requires periodic upgrading of training and weaponry to keep it, as well as for its defenders to be top heavy ready in case it is threatened.  So what if Russia is emboldened by the knee-jerk response of the West into asserting itself further, either more intrusively inside Ukraine and more closer to Kiev or by invading some other surrounding countries such as Poland? 

Icheoku says Russia has been probing NATO defenses all these years and is becoming more embolden each day in their quest to assert themselves once again in the world. It needs and must be stopped now; and inside eastern Ukraine, that is. There is no other better place to draw the line on the ground for Russia's latest show of strength than in eastern Ukraine, before they begin to gulp down other European countries towards reestablishing their long gone Soviet Union; and in the process, probably set the world on fire. Icheoku says this lingering contest of superiority between Russia and the West should be decided now, once for all. If they win us, we will learn to speak Russian; but if we win them, God bless their hearts for we shall saturate the land of the great tsars with McDonald's and Starbucks. 

Icheoku is of the opinion that the Ukrainian crisis gives NATO the greatest opportunity to actually put to test the reason for their existence. They should accept the gauntlet which Russia has technically thrown to them by supplying weapons to the rebels fighting an insurrection against a sovereign nation. If Russia reacts by furthering their incursion into Ukraine, then it should be accepted as a declaration of war and NATO should help Ukraine defend itself from Russia. If it results into a third world war, so be it; after all one is long overdue and it will surely help the world recover from its economic malaise, rebuilding destroyed infrastructures. 

Icheoku says if NATO does not and could not stand up to Russia now, when? Admitted that the purpose of its existence is to fight for one another member and Ukraine is only but a prospective member not covered by its charter; but what happens when a far much stronger country Russia is bulling a smaller and weaker neighboring country, Ukraine? Any lack of show of will by NATO would drastically compromise NATO standing in the eyes of Russia and this should be avoided at all cost. Further since the envisaged enemy for which NATO was originally formed was Russia, why not test NATO's capabilities now, using Ukraine as a trial run. But in any other event, if NATO turns a cold feet in the face of an emboldened and aggressive Russia, then that relic of the old cold war era has no more relevance and should therefore be allowed to go defunct. The thing to do under such circumstance is to JUST DISBAND THE GODDAMN ORGANIZATION and to their tents oh its members. 

Icheoku says it is also increasingly becoming very obvious that Russia and the West will never engage themselves in a shooting war, so why continue to maintain an aggressive postured organization that its charter on defense will never be invoked or activated or ever called to action. So just let North Atlantic Treaty Organization go and let there be peace on earth. Let the world thereafter channel its energy and resources towards fending off the new enemy - the emerging global Islamist terrorism; which is readying itself as the next big threat to confront the world and which is going to be indeed the real world scourge. Icheoku says the West should supply those weapons to Ukraine; Europeans should also man up and do the needful and not let Putin intimidate them into doing nothing or scurrying away with their tails tucked in between their legs. If Vladimir Putin does not want further escalation of the conflict, let him dry up the swamp of weapons supplies to the rebels and force them to the negotiation table in order to achieve a comprehensive lasting peace. But his current support of those rebels ravaging a sovereign neighboring country is both reprehensible and condemnable and should therefore not be tolerated any further.

LIU HAN EXECUTED, CHINA TAKES NO PRISONERS ON CORRUPTION?

Icheoku says it does not matter who you are or how high in the society you are placed; that your bank accounts are bursting at the seams or that your fleet of Bentleys or Ferraris and Rolls Royces are everyone's envy, it does not matter; once your cup is full and they catch you, boy would you pay with your life for your corrupt activities. The Chinese authority does not play when it says it fights corruption, hence anyone engaging in corrupt practices does so at the risk of his or life, billionaire or no billionaire and it also does not matter if you are a high ranking government official. 

The Chinese authority just executed their ninth billionaire within the past eight years, Mr Liu Han, alongside his younger brother Liu Wei and three other accomplice for corrupt offenses against the state. Liu Han was a former mining billionaire who collected very expensive cars, cigars and wrist watches as if they are mere toys, soon going out of production. But now he has reached the end of the road  of his life on a very fast lane, executed for all his shadiness. 

Icheoku does not know whether the supreme penalty is the best solution or the most effective way to fight corruption; or would completely confiscating every asset owned by such person and deeding it over to the state be more effective? Admitted some people would argue that such executions serves as deterrent to other intending perpetrators but it has not proved to stop corruption as people still dare take their chances. Icheoku however believes that completely impoverishing such corrupt persons would be a more effective deterrent than just putting them to death. But hey, at least everybody is treated equally under the said death penalty law - rich or poor, government official or the man on the street. Icheoku says this is what equality under the law really looks like as another billionaire could not purchase his life, not with all his billions.

NBC BRIAN WILLIAM LIED, SHOULD RESIGN OR BE FIRED!

Icheoku says stepping aside will not cut it. What was good for CBS Dan Rather should also be good for NBC Brian William. In Dan Rather's case, it could even be argued in his favor that he mistakenly told a lie based on a third party's account that George Bush never served in Texas Air National Guard; but unlike Brian William, who intentionally and purposely told a lie just for his personal egotistic aggrandizement. At least Dan Rather never claimed he was in Texas when George Bush failed to serve, but Brian William was rehashing a first person account, somewhat a percipient-witness's account, of his "valor" in a war front. Therefore he told a blatant lie aimed at misrepresenting of facts and misled so many people into believing he is one strong son of a gun who flew into heat of battle but made it out alive and well, albeit a little shaken up. 

Icheoku says Brian William "taking himself off the air for several days" is not enough deterrent or punishment; he should rather take himself off the air forever and permanently or the network should do that for him by firing him. Icheoku says Brian Williams has lost all credibility whatever and the network leaving him still on air would be a tacit approval by them that it is okay to lie. He should not be allowed to to taint news from the network going forward as anything he reels out henceforth would carry some degree of incredulity. The best thing is to let him go permanently and let the NBC begin to heal its image of having an anchorman who told a a blatant lie. Icheoku calls on Brian William to do the needful and RESIGN his office now as the anchorman of NBC nightly news and failing which NBC must let him go, FIRE HIM. 

The Washington Post fired its reporter Sari Horwitz for plagiarism; the AP fired its reporter Bob Lewis for lying about Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe; The Los Angeles Times fired its reporter Jason Filch for false reporting, CBS fired Dan Rather for a mistaken report, so why not NBC portion out the same treatment to Brian Williams? So if all these media outlets could uphold the honor of their reports and disciplined their offending correspondents, what is NBC waiting to tow the line and see the back of Brian Williams from their network? Icheoku says such self gloating and self promotion, without merit or any basis, by Brian William, should be seriously frowned at and never tolerated of an anchorman or any other person for that matter, especially one with an apparent authority or influence over the people. What Brian William claimed was an over exaggerated sense of self and of a bravely which he did not earn, nor merited and therefore should not be rewarded by leaving him to continue on that his seat. He should be punished or rather disciplined with a termination of appointment or deployed out of public sight on NBC network television. 

Icheoku says Brian Williams knowingly and intentionally did what he did - he lied and misled the American people  as well as the rest of the watching world into believing his concocted story of heroism and repeatedly too. He did not tell the lie once,  but on several other occasions including on David Letterman show. Brian Williams had enough time to pull back and recant the lies he told, but no; instead he was revering in his newly found fame of bravery. He choose to rather continuously mislead the American people as he surfed the wave of his sudden unearned fame and bravery as a reporter who went into the eye of the storm and made it back safe. 

Icheoku says Brian William is a liar, he is a cheat and he should therefore be dismissed pronto and without any further ado or delay. For repeatedly telling a story that he was shot down in a helicopter in Iraq when he was not, tend to minimize the seriousness of what those real combatants who suffer such fate, go through. It is despicable, it is condescending of him and it should not be condoned. Icheoku maintains that this is not a case of a "fog of memory" as he was not alone in the supposed helicopter and had several occasions to recant his tale but chose not to and did not, until veterans complained about his unfounded claims. Icheoku is emphatic that his was not a mistake but a purposeful misstatement of fact which he witnessed and thus a blatant lie. Brian Williams having lost all credibility and trust of the news watching public, SHOULD BE LET GO and never allowed to show his lying face on NBC or any other new network again.

SANUSI LAMIDO SANUSI, CORONATED EMIR AND NOW SARIKI SANUSI II OF KANO.

Icheoku says it is now official that Sanusi Lamido Sanusi is the new Emir of Kano. He was formally coronated and handed the staff of office and is now officially known as Sariki Sanusi II. The Emir and Sariki Kano, Sanusi II, was presented with gifts of a sword, knife, bow and arrow by the emirate council, thus empowering him as the defender of their cause including the spread of Islam which the new Sariki vowed would constitute part of his agenda. In his words, Sariki II said, 'his ascension to the throne has strengthened his resolve to fulfill his obligations to Allah, to Islam and to the people of Kano.' Icheoku says interpretation  -  war, war and more war against all infidels and people who are not of Kano ancestry? 

Query:- why were all the gifts presented to the new Emir and Sariki of Kano all instruments of destruction and killing; without any instrument or insignia of peace being therein contained too? So what does it portend to a cohesive Nigeria and the one united Nigeria which this people readily bandy around and which they would like everyone to believe, but which in real sense actuality, is a complete hogwash ruse, merely used when convenient and discarded at the next instant. Icheoku asks why not present the new Sariki II with the Koran, music instrument or some paintings and carvings, instead of sword, bows and arrows, spear, knife etc? 

Anyway, one day Nigerians will rise up to truly resolve all the impasse in the country, in order to truly have a more coagulate society where every one is equal and treated fairly, whether or not he or she comes from any of the emirates or their ruling houses. Meanwhile, congratulations to the new Sariki II of Kano and may your reign help bring some reasonableness to your people's attitude of born to rule which is causing all the unneeded tension in the land. But please know that the people from this neck of the wood have resolved that if they cannot rule you people, you people shall not and must not be allowed to rule them, never again and not in the life of Nigeria as it is presently limping. Icheoku says best of luck and may your ancestors guide and protect your reign.

ELECTION 2015:- FEBRUARY 14TH JETTISONED, IT IS NOW MARCH 28TH.

Icheoku does not know nor see the wisdom in deferring the Election 2015 till March 28, a whole six weeks from its originally scheduled date of February 14th. Aside of INEC probably completing the distribution of PVCs, there is no guarantee that the Boko Haram madness would be fully contained within the set six weeks time frame. 

But Jega and Nigerian security officials know best and all Icheoku can do is defer to their judgment and tow the line. However, Icheoku would pivot our principal focus away from the election as rescheduled until probably two weeks to it, to enable us gravitate to other topical world issues. Icheoku is also afraid that if the election is extended once, it might be extended yet again based on one excuse or the other, but the speculation should also yield for now.  So until then, our blogging will now revert to its original tenet - broad coverage of world developing stories; and it is now temporary bye for Nigeria Election 2015. Ciao!