THE FIRST FAMILY READY FOR NIGERIA!

Icheoku says this is probably our most favorite picture of the Nigerian First Family. Look at how trendy and trim they are, in every inch youthful and any sane Nigerian would trade this for Muhammadu Buhari? Anyway, on MARCH 28, vote right and vote to retain this family in Aso Rock. VOTE GEJ !!!

A YAWNING BUHARI ARRIVING FROM LONDON?

Icheoku says it is probably too late for grandpa Buhari to still be awake, arriving from Heathrow so late into the night, by 9.00pm? Anyone who has had the privilege of being around very advanced in age old people knows that they, like children, need to be put to bed very early; to enable them rest enough for the day's hard work and to recover enough for the next day. But unfortunately, the  minders of Muhammad Buhari were oblivious of this fact and seem to have forgotten this imperativeness by delaying his arrival so late or better still in not advising the first class cabin crew to pamper grandpa into sleeping while enroute Abuja from London. But hey, the good news is that Muhammad Buhari made it back to Nigeria vertically and did not come back home horizontally; and will fully recover and rebound from whatever fatigue that  weighted him down upon arrival.

NO ASYLUM FOR EDWARD SNOWDEN, A TRAITOR DESERVES NO MERCY !!!

Icheoku says rumors are rife that the fugitive National Security leaker, Edward Snowden, is homesick and desperately seeking to be allowed to come back to the United States from his present hold-out in Russia. Icheoku says on no account whatsoever should that traitor be ever allowed back to the United States, not after his damaging betrayal of our national security, breaching the trust reposed on him with access to sensitive national security materials. Icheoku says his acts endangered both the United States, our allies and our very own people and the damage he caused is uncorrectable and very far reaching. 

Icheoku says except he wants to come back to the United States to die and be buried in an unmarked grave, his longing to come back must be denied and remains a wishful thinking only. The only exception however is for him to accept to come back on a one-way, death penalty indictment and trial for treason term; following which he would be summarily executed when and not if convicted. Icheoku maintains that not even a life without the possibility of parole would suffice, as then he would have to be sustained with United States taxpayers money, the same people he jeopardized their security by leaking essentials of their protection. To this is added that no European nation either should ever agree to grant the fugitive any asylum and any attempt by any on them to so do should be treated by the United States as an unfriendly act and necessary sanctions placed on such country accordingly. 

So Edward Snowden remains a fugitive from justice of the United States government and people; and stands banished from the United States and all its territories, their friends and other countries outside his present abode Russia. Away with traitor, execute the traitor upon sight and get it over with. What a spineless coward who stabbed America at the back and now wants to come back to the same country he wished untoward harm. What a shriveling son of a bastard this evil called Edward Snowden is, who doesn't belong in the land of the free and home of the brave. He neither deserves freedom nor belongs to the brave; as he did not appreciate what it takes to ensure and maintain the freedom we all enjoy in America as well as other free worlds. To hell with him and may he rot away in hellish Russia for crying out loud. Icheoku is pissed that he did what he did and more pissed that he is even contemplating being allowed back in the United States of America, which he knowingly betrayed with intent to disparage it and cause it harm. But for our resilience, he would have succeeded.

FOR PEACE AND FREEDOM, VOTE GEJ

BORIS NEMSTOV, RUSSIAN OPPOSITION FIGURE WHACKED?

'In Russia, everybody knows everything' including who the boss is and what happens to people who crosses him. So the  rule of the thumb, if you want to stay alive is to simply shut up and tag along.' That was now the late Boris Newstov speaking to CNN Anthony Bourdain last year and he was whacked for not abiding by his own admonition. Instead he talked and talked and talked about the same boss who must be feared but who he personally refused to fear, until it was too late. Bori Nemstov was shot to death on Friday night, February 27, 2015 while crossing Bolshoy Moskvoretshy Bridge near Kremlin Moscow by assailants.

ICHEOKU does not know what got the better part of him as he neither improved on his personal security nor zipped his mouth as any marked person would do; and today unfortunately he is entombed six feet under. Like other prior critics of the boss who met their respective violent ends including Sergey Yushenkov, Yuri Shchekochikhin, Paul Klebnikov, Anna Politkovskaya, Alexander Litvinenko and Boris Berezovsky, Boris Nemstov has now joined the list of those to be now known as former late critics of the boss. One good thing is that they refused to be intimidated, did not cower nor trembled by reason of the deathly threats that came their way until it became too late. It did not help his case either that he was dating a 23 year old Ukraine model named Anna Duritskaya, who might possibly be spying for Kiev? It is equally arguable that his opposition to the war in Eastern Ukraine was induced by a genuine concern emanating from matters of the heart. It would also appear that Boris Nemstov somehow foretold his death when he spoke to a Russian news website Sobesednik on February 10, 2015, quoting him, "I'm afraid Putin will kill me. I believe he was the one who unleashed the war in the Ukraine, I couldn't dislike him (Putin) more."

ICHEOKU queries does it mean that Russia is gradually sliding back to the days of the all powerful Tsars who neither tolerated descent nor criticism? Tsars, whose will must be obeyed, no questions asked? Icheoku asks is the history book ever going to someday in the no distant future record that in Russia once lived a tsar named Vladimir Putin? When that future finally comes, how would the then generation of Russians view the present happening in Russia in retrospect and with the knowledge that once on the political stage of Russia, lived a man named Vladimir Putin, who struggled and aspired to be a tsar and that he had zero tolerance for criticism? ICHEOKU says only the future hold the answer to this question as predicting or foretelling what the future holds does not factor into Icheoku's work load and/or description. 

However Icheoku laments that the fact of grave consequence that the cold hands of death keep on snatching anyone and everyone who disagrees or happens not to fall in line in today's Putin's Russia, leaves much to be desired? While most developed and many developing countries alike are encouraging limitless freedom of speech and expression for their people, in Russia, people are now living in fear and imbibing the habit of looking over their shoulders just to stay off the radar of marked for elimination and this is happening in this new millennium 2015? It is indeed a very sad commentary that in today's modern day Russia that it is a grave risk to be in the opposition, who are gradually being intimidated into silence of the graveyard? Now they know better not to sing or open their mouth against or about the big boss. This certainly  does not bode well for a transforming Russia, neither does it do the image of Russia any good. Vladimir Putin, ICHEOKU says please let freedom ring!

NETANYAHU'S DIVISIVE VISIT, AN AFFRONT PETULANCE AND VERY PUERILE?

Icheoku says Benjamin Netanyahu's un-protocol-ed visit to Washington DC is both unnecessary and uncalled for; and  has only succeeded in further polarizing Israel and driving further wedge between his wing of the Jewish nation and the rest of the wider world. Why would someone in his position not give peace a chance and first wait to see if the current effort at  a negotiated settlement with Iran over its nuclear capabilities will work before making any further move to pressure a different outcome. 

Icheoku says his current crying of wolf is unneeded at this time; and regardless, America under no circumstances would never stand by and watch Israel suffer any attack talkless of a humiliating defeat from any country including Iran? Therefore why must the governor of that 51st America state chose now that a possibility exist that a peace deal could be reached, to disturb the peace of everybody with unfounded allegations, especially one not new or different from his previous allegations? That Netanyahu is successfully driving a wedge between Jewish support in America and the world at large is equally a fact lost in his busy mind. Icheoku says his antics would only succeed in galvanizing world's opinion against the Jewish state including those previously sympathetic to it. 

The only thing that possibly came out of the Washington DC roadshow of Bibi is that he successfully pitied an American congress against an American president; and in the battle for who to show their loyalty, the Congress of the United States of America choose a foreign leader over their own leader? Icheoku says whether this is a continuum of the disrespect publicly shown to the president because of the underling racism in America, Icheoku cannot say for sure. But it is a cause for serious concern, when the Congress takes side with a visiting foreign head of government over and against the objection of an American president, who was not duly intimated of the visit as required by protocol. So now that it has been established that Netanyahu can successfully ransom the Congress to throw the president under the bus, just because of campaign contributions of the Jewish lobby group APAC, who knows what else the Israeli government is capable of influencing in Washington DC? 

But Icheoku maintains that it does not present a good image when an American Congress takes side with a foreign leader against an American leader. If Bibi Netnayahu has something to say to Americans, he could have channeled it through diplomatic contacts or emailed it to the Congress or even stayed in his Tel Aviv headquarters and lip it. But instead, he choose to defy and snub the president and came to Washington DC in flagrant violation of established protocols. A matter made worse because the same people he wants America to attack, the Iranian people, also have millions of their citizens living in America and paying their taxes as well. Taxes with which the Congress is maintained and which also buys the weapons as well as equip the military that would be deployed to go whack those Iranians, were Netanyahu to have his way? Icheoku says it is absolutely wrong for Netanyahu to try and pitch Americans against each other - Iranian Americans against Jewish Americans, and such must not be condoned by any right thinking person in America. 

A negotiated peace agreement is a preferred way moving forward and America must not be blindly led by the nose again into waging another unnecessary war that will cost us arms and legs again; not when the other two similarly unnecessary wars are yet to be decisively ended. So what if the Iranians acquire the bomb since they will not be mad enough to use it, knowing the existential threat such action would impose on their own civilization. But America must stop yielding to the blackmail of Netanyahu, who like  a spoilt child, has continuously been throwing tantrums because he did not have his way and coarse America into starting another needless war in the Middle East. Just because his wish to have America go fighting another Israeli war against the Iranian is not coming through, due to a courageous rebuff by a president, who has stood firm and resolute against another needless war when a possible peaceful solution is in the offing, he is trying to stir disunity among the Congress and the president. 

Israel knows and so does Bibi Netanyahu that an attack on America's 51st state would not be un-responded to; and just like the 9/11 attack in New York elicited a massive "shock and awe" response, any attack on Israel, be it conventional or nuclear, will be massively reiterated against too. So with this knowledge in the background, why then the needless show that Bibi brought to Washington DC? Your guess is as good as Icheoku's, totally uncalled for and needlessly petulant. What did Netanyahu say in Washington this time that is new or even simply an update of what he has said and been saying before? What aspect of his speech could he not have emailed or even text to Washington as an update of what he has rehashed in the past? But to Washington he must come to dramatize himself and whatever his phobia is concerning  an agreement that is still currently being negotiated at Brussels and not one that has been reached just yet. 

Hopefully, President Barack Obama will have a place in his heart to forgive such affront both by the Congress and Netanyahu, otherwise he should place Bibi on a permanent do not see list for the duration of his remaining two years in office; admitted he will still be catering to the reasonable needs of the Israeli people's protection. What a rabble rouser, who merely came to Washington to beat the drums of war and this is the same man who went to the United Nations some years ago to present a chart of ticking time bomb ready to go off and several years later, Iran has not exploded any atom bomb anywhere, and you ask yourself, what happened to his credibility. Benjamin Netanyahu, please check in your excessive compulsiveness as it does not endear you to anyone with rational mind as the people of Israel deserves better than a divisive figure leading and championing their cause. What a show of disrespectful shame that Bibi Netanyahu brought to Washington DC and upon himself. 

GEJ ALL THE WAY !!!

GEJ ALL THE WAY !!!!!

ON MARCH 28, VOTE WISELY, VOTE GEJ.

BUHARI, THE CHATHAM HOUSE THEATRICS?

Icheoku watched the Muhammadu Buhari  drama at The British Royal Institute of International Affairs, Chatham House, London. Judging from his body language - gait, vocal tensity and clarity of eyes, it would appear that Muhammadu Buhari, if indeed sick, has either recovered enough or held himself well enough through the duration of his  performance. He did not overtly appear to be  laboring under the weight of sickness nor one heavily infused and sedated with morphine or other form of barbiturates to enable him withstand the rigors of the show he put up. Overall, his performance was tolerable and well above mediocre to earn him at least a B-minus. Well done Muhammadu Buhari for at least showing up and putting up, despite rumors of near-death or being gravely ill and medically indisposed. 

However, it is very unfortunate and quite ironical that the same Muhammadu Buhari who will not debate and obstinately refused to debate his plans for Nigerians  either in Lagos or Abuja, found the cozy comforts of British Chatham House in London, a more appealing a place, to tell Nigerians and the world what his plans for Nigerians, if elected, are and from a faraway foreign soil?  It is not as if Nigeria Institute of International Affairs is not comparable  to its British counterpart, The Royal Institute of International Affairs Chatham House.  Probably, he is still very much tied to his nostalgia of the colonial past, to make him prefer a colonial British institute to that of an independent Nigeria, as a preferred venue for his outreach. Icheoku says only Muhammadu Buhari can answer for the decisions and actions of Muhammadu Buhari, as that is above Icheoku's pay grade to proffer any exact explanation. 

Icheoku maintains that Buhari's preference of a foreign institute to Nigeria's own institute for his outreach is not only unpatriotic but a perversion of the first order, especially for someone desiring to lead Nigeria.  Therefore, it should be condemned by every freedom loving Nigerian who is happy that Nigeria is still an independent and free country. Icheoku says if Muhammadu Buhari has something to say to Nigerians or even the world for that matter, he should have proudly said it in the country he wants to lead and not at some other foreign country. In this Internet age, what he said at Nigeria Institute of International Affairs would have still traveled to any part of the world within seconds and so he does not necessarily need to go to London to say it for the world to hear him. Icheoku admonishes that Muhammadu Buhari could start making amends for this slight on Nigerians, the people he is seeking their mandate, by finally accepting to debate issues facing them right here at home in Nigeria but not on any foreign soil. 

Nigeria's democracy and the forthcoming election are both internal affairs of Nigeria and cannot be tele-guided from any colonial masters' 10 Downing Street or their Chatham House or by any other foreign interest whatsoever. Icheoku is emphatic that the British people are not going to choose Nigeria's president for Nigerians, Nigerians will. Muhammadu Buhari is fully aware of this imperative yet he stonewalled debates in Nigeria but gladly went to London to enumerate his plans for Nigerians instead of in Nigeria their homeland? Icheoku queries, why did Muhammadu Buhari not debate those Nigerian issues within Nigeria, but would rather do so in British Chatham House? It also did not bother  Muhammadu Buhari that close to 75% of voting Nigerians are rural dwellers who never heard about a Chatham House nor would otherwise care about whatever the hell he said there. 

So what then is the utility of his theatrics at Chatham House in respect of a purely Nigeria local election, one may ask? Even deferring to some of his admirers who would like Nigerians to believe that his Chatham House appearance is somewhat a foreign policy swat; but why did he not first debate those issues at home before taking them and his adventurous campaign overseas or does charity no longer begin from home? Icheoku says if Muhammadu Buhari seriously wants Nigerians to truly know why he is running for president, he should come back to Nigeria and address the Nigerian voting public directly. He can do so either at Nigeria's own Nigeria Institute of International Affairs in Victoria Island using the same format of a scripted address if he prefers that or do it at the NTA via a nationally televised debate. But unfortunately, he seems not to be  comfortable with the idea of addressing Nigeria's needs directly to Nigerians at home, but would rather scurry away to faraway London to address Nigerians while performing his part in the  scripted theatrics witnessed. 

Icheoku was expecting Scotland Yard to invite Muhammadu Buhari for a chat over the botched kidnap of Umaru Dikko. A crime committed on British soil by persons engaged by then Muhammadu Buhari led military junta; but instead they looked the other way while Muhammadu Buhari strolled in their Chatham House to deliver his scripted address. Icheoku wonders whether crimes are now selectively enforced in Her Majesty's United Kingdom or is kidnapping no longer a crime in the United Kingdom? Otherwise why did the British authorities not at least invite Muhammadu Buhari to explain why his junta attempted to kidnap a man who sought and obtained a protective political asylum in Britain? Even the fact of other reprehensible things carried out by Muhammadu Buhari infamous regime of horror in Nigeria, including unprintable violations and vagrant abuse of human rights, causing mayhem and committing murders of three innocent Nigerians, did also not move the British authorities and its security agencies to pull Buhari in for questioning?  Icheoku asks, does Nigeria and Nigerians still have a friend in such a Britain which would not take any action to question this known despot but choose instead to wish for Nigerians what they would not accept nor take themselves - a scofflaw for president?  But luckily, Nigerians are a lot wiser today than when they were colonized by Britain and will not fall for this attempt to impose a spent and tired despot on the country, not now, not again, never. 

Now analyzing the meat of the address at Chatham House:- Icheoku commends Muhammadu Buhari for affirming that "it is in Nigerians collective interests that the outcome of the election should be respected by all parties." Icheoku says this is highly important and quite reassuring because it is the same Muhammadu Buhari's party, the APC, that threatened to reject any election outcome which does not have the APC as the victorious party? It is the same Muhammadu Buhari's APC that further threatened to form a parallel government, in any event the party lost the election, as expected? So Icheoku asks, is the assurance given at London Chatham House by Muhammadu Buhari conditional upon the APC winning the election or is it all covering with respect to the other party PDP winning the election, as expected? Icheoku says provided Muhammadu Buhari will not later change his mind but will stick to his expressed desire to see the election result respected; and respect same when the current APC propaganda fizzles out and Nigerians settle down to the reality of a President Jonathan reelected, then it is a statement well made and appreciated by all peace-loving Nigerians including Icheoku. 

Gladly enough too, Muhammadu Buhari in his address at Chatham House, mentioned the "the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, the dissolution of the USSR in 1991, the collapse of communism and the end of the Cold War." However he purposely and coyly chose not to elaborate further that all these history-changing events of many decades ago, took place long after he, Muhammadu Buhari, first came to power in Nigeria?  Yet this is the same Muhammadu Buhari who wants to return back to power again in Nigeria in this new millennium 2015? Before you vote Nigerians, ask yourselves, is it that no leadership material was ever trained or raised since then or that Nigeria cannot survive without a recycled, tired and retired, old despot named Muhammadu Buhari, a man notorious for his merciless draconian rule? Nigerians should therefore ignore whatever antics the APC campaign consultants from the United States and United Kingdom are desperately deploying to get him back into Nigeria's seat of power. A leopard does not change its spots and those who perished because of Muhammadu Buhari's ruthlessness cannot be resurrected back to life. So why give Muhammadu Buhari a second chance at power when many of his victims never had any but are gone forever due to his making? At least, fairness demands that he should be similarly denied and must not be allowed to have a second chance at power or a do over. 

Muhammadu Buhari should instead be apologizing to Nigerians for the damage he caused to both their psyche and democracy; but not to so  desperately be coveting their seat of power again. Icheoku states that a military "were unhappy with the state of affairs in a country" is never an impetus for overthrowing a legitimate government. It is not the forte of the military to dabble into policy making or judging and guiding the direction of governance; theirs is to protect and defend the country, period. It is therefore an arrant nonsense of an excuse for Muhammadu Buhari to give for disrupting a then budding democracy in Nigeria which would have fully matured by now. It is an gross meddling by Buhari and his co-travelers in truncating Nigeria's democracy, which fallout, the country is still suffering from till date. Needless to add that Muhammadu Buhari's fellow coupists and conspirators in crime, who went on to succeed him in power, Ibrahim Babangida and Sani Abacha, exhibited the most ruinous regimes Nigeria ever witnessed - wrecked the country, caused additional and unquantifiable havoc thereon. 

Muhammadu Buhari's Chatham House address was David Axelrod's midwifed and every line Obamanistic, in both style and content. From "shared prosperity" to "safety nets" to "(shovel-ready) public works" to "unleash the pent-up ingenuity and productivity of the (American people) Nigerian people" to 'a society that works for all, rich and poor alike' to "leading from the front" which was culled from Romney accusation that  President Obama was leading from behind?  What a pity-party of an excursion into America politics while forgetting that Nigeria is entirely a different clime and what sells in America will not necessarily be bought by Nigerians. It was vintage David Axelrod but without candidate Obama, who has now been supplanted with a septuagenarian named Muhammadu Buhari. The content was so Obama-ish as one could easily  see the brain-trust of David Axelrod in nearly everything that oozed out of Buhari's mouth. But for the fact that the same David Axelrod is also consulting for APC Team Buhari campaign, the plagiarized Chatham House speech would have been roundly condemned by all men and women of letters as being unashamedly too patronizing. Recall also that America's Sara Palin and Rush Limbaugh's REDISTRIBUTION theory criticism of Obama-nomics, reared its head in the Chatham House Buhari's line:- "two economies in one country, a sorry tale of two nations: one economy for "a few who have so much in their tiny island of prosperity; and the other economy for the many who have so little in their vast ocean of misery." 

Icheoku says let the truth be told, not in the life of Muhammadu Buhari, could he have analytically fathomed out any of the lines that went into the address he gave at Chatham House; especially not of course from his first school leaving certificate partially developed brain. Icheoku will bet on this life that Muhammadu Buhari possibly did not even see or review, talkless of adding any value-content to the speech, before giving lip to same as packaged. The speech is simply too much for his level of educational attainment and exposure to imagine or thinker out. Put in another way, it was President Barack Obama's campaign speeches that were rephrased specifically and repackaged for Muhammadu Buhari to read and which he read at Chatham House. An institute which now stands accused of complicity in the fraud that is a Muhammadu Buhari seeking to rule Nigeria again; for allowing this aberration to take place in their institute despite the fact that Muhammadu Buhari was not originally scheduled for the day's event but was smuggled in and yet accommodated by them. 

It is however somewhat gratifying to note Muhammadu Buhari admitting to the truth that "the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is facing its stiffest opposition so far from our (their) party the All Progressives Congress (APC)." Icheoku admits that this is not debatable; but adds that a mere "stiffest opposition" by the APC does not mean the APC has already won or are going to win or are most likely to win the election. Regrettably though, Muhammadu Buhari failed to give credit or admit to or even acknowledge the fact that it is President Goodluck Jonathan's magnanimity, adherence to the rule of law as well as his unflinching believe in freedom and democracy for the Nigerian people, that made such "stiffest opposition" growth possible. Icheoku says the opposition thrived because someone allowed it and that someone is President Jonathan; who unlike Muhammadu Buhari that uprooted the tree of democracy in Nigeria, tendered and nurtured it to bearing so many fruits including the fruit of a "stiffest opposition." Muhammadu Buhari and other Nigerians watched how the former government of Olusegun Obasanjo used his jackboot do or die approach to trample every oppositions in the land and stifled and nearly extirpated their growth and development completely. So Muhammadu Buhari would have at least commended President Jonathan for enabling this environment, where oppositions now thrive in Nigeria, to the extent of becoming "stiffest" at the risk of even the president's own party hold unto power being threatened? 

Continuing his prepared speech, Muhammadu Buhari read "The government has also failed in any effort towards a multi-dimensional response to this problem (Boko Haram) leading to a situation in which we have now become dependent on our neighbours to come to our rescue. Icheoku says what a bare-faced lie spoken by a man clinging to candor and fortitude as his air in this election; because for several times did the government of President Jonathan explore negotiations including offer of general amnesty to members of Boko Haram but was snubbed. The president also once set an all Islamic panel to reach out and negotiate with the Boko Haram but was equally ignored. Even when the same Boko Haram nominated Muhammadu Buhari to lead their negotiating team with the federal government,  towards resolving the conflict, Muhammadu Buhari turned it down. May be because he did not want the crisis resolved but rather preferred to use it as a campaign tool, which he is hilariously using now. 

Icheoku says any man who loves his country would have since done anything and everything required of him to help end the insurgency,  including accepting to negotiate an end to it when Boko Haram opened that window by nominating him as their point man. But Muhammadu Buhari does not love his country and dying country men and women that much and so rejected the nomination to mediate the crisis. Icheoku adds too that there is nothing wrong with neighbors helping out a neighbor in distress, especially when such neighbors might eventually be similarly impacted by the same problem if unchecked, being in close proximity to the locus in situ as they share borders with the Boko Haram afflicted areas of  Nigeria. Even the United States of America, which the APC often uses as a reference paradigm, never goes to any war without first seeking and obtaining their "coalition of the willing." So Icheoku asks Muhammadu Buhari to explain to the world what is wrong with Nigeria doing the same? Why must Nigeria's own  "coalition of the willing" now become a problem and unacceptable to Muhammadu Buhari? 

Still speaking, Muhammadu Buhari said, "On the economy, the fall in prices of oil has brought our economic and social stress into full relief (distress). After the rebasing exercise in April 2014, Nigeria overtook South Africa as Africa’s largest economy. Our GDP is now valued at $510 billion and our economy rated 26th in the world. Also on the bright side, inflation has been kept at single digit for a while and our economy has grown at an average of 7% for about a decade." Icheoku says this is the same man who was once in denial and who had previously lambasted the same government for having achieved nothing on the economic front? Good enough there is now another version of the same Muhammadu Buhari, now acknowledging the progress of the last few years, admitted most reluctantly. But hey, why fight the truth when it is there, glaringly starring everyone, including Muhammadu Buhari, on the face. Except that as a naysayer, it is not surprising to hear him continue to deny that there is a shinning orb called sun over the skies of Nigeria's economy. 

Surprisingly no sooner did Muhammadu Buhari make this admission than he somersaulted yet again. In his marked flip-flopping mannerism, he immediately alleged that the recorded economic growth were mere mirage?  Icheoku asks those who authored Muhammadu Buhari's speech of Chatham House to please tell Nigerians which part of his previously admitted facts are now mere "paper growth?" Is it that the Nigerian economy has not overtaken South Africa's economy as now the biggest economy in Africa? Is it that the Nigerian GDP has not grown this past few years of President Jonathan administration and is now valued at  over $510 billion US? Is it that there is no fall in global oil prices? Is it that Nigeria's economy is not rated the 26th in the world? Is it that inflation was not under control or that the economy has not grown at an average of 7% during the presidency of President Goodluck Jonathan? What is it David Axelrod's American speech writers of Chatham speech that you guys couldn't reconcile in this strange mixed messages? 

Anyway, it is for Muhammadu Buhari and his APC gallivanting marabouts and their foreign consultants/handlers to try and figure out what version of their story they want the world and Nigerians to believe as truth. But their attempt to pull a wool over the eyes of Nigerians, with their staged act at London's Chatham House of deceit and lies, will not and did not fly with Nigerians. In their mad rush to score cheap publicity and make a non existent political statement, they told a truth and then retold the same in the negative. Like American John Kerry once said on flip-flopping, 'I voted for it before I changed my mind and then voted against it?' So in over-adopting America, Muhammadu Buhari's packagers first acknowledged Nigeria's economic growth before they changed their mind and dismissed it as none existent mirage?   Icheoku is overtly optimistic that their attempt to pull a wool over the eyes of voting Nigerian public will not and did not succeed. They forgot that Nigerians have since shined their eyes and now see 'korokoro'; and would not be bullshitted into voting for a bloody, merciless, despot who showed Nigerians pepper. Like an American saying, there is no need putting perfume on a pig or needlessly white washing a sepulcher. Icheoku asserts that Muhammadu Buhari is inherently political damaged and damaged beyond resurrection. But if only his American packaging agents would wake up soon enough to realize that mere propaganda is not the same as the reality on the Nigerian grounds. 

Lastly, Icheoku says it does not matter whether Muhammadu Buhari belatedly accepted responsibility for "whatever happened under my (his) watch"; is now "running for President to lead Nigeria to prosperity and not adversity"; "cannot change the past but can change the present and the future", is a former military despot who is now allegedly a born-again 'converted democrat' and whether or not he "is ready to operate under democratic norms and is "subjecting himself to the rigors of democratic elections for the fourth time"; it is not going to affect his fortunes and credibility before the Nigerian people. The Nigerian people were so damaged in the past by this very Muhammadu Buhari and have not brought themselves to forgiving him yet, primarily because he is too condescending and have not even asked for their forgiveness. Icheoku says it also does not make any difference if as a dreamer, Muhammadu Buhari is dreaming about "making Nigeria great because the work is not yet done or because he still believes that change is possible." Icheoku strongly believes that Muhammadu Buhari's seeming mea culpa is not genuine nor real; and were he to  still be in uniform, Nigerians would have since woken up to another martial music over their radios and televisions with the usual refrain:- "I, General Muhammadu Buhari of the Nigeria Armed Forces, hereby overthrow your elected government abracadabra jargon." 

Icheoku maintains that even vegetables dream and therefore would not begrudge Muhammadu Buhari of his dreamy utopia to rule Nigeria again. But Icheoku is emphatic that his very advanced old age precludes any 'capacity and mental stability' he could have otherwise have had to 'work for a Nigeria that will be respected again in the comity of nations and that all Nigerians will be proud of." Except that no one told Muhammadu Buhari that Nigeria is not respected internationally nor are Nigerians not proud of their country. Overall, the stunt at Chatham House failed as no one bought into it nor invested more in the prospect of a washed-up dictator from a sordid Nigeria's past, that is best forgotten because it was simply too hellish a nightmare to be wished for again or long for a re-live, ever reemerging as a leader of Nigeria. So unlike America's Bill Clinton, there is no come-back kid in a 72 year old great grandfather Nigerian for Nigeria; so ON MARCH 28, do the needful Nigerians, VOTE GEJ.

APC IS EVERYTHING HYPOCRITICAL - FEMI FANI-KAYODE.

“It is interesting that the APC has, for the very first time, admitted that some of its leaders own private jets. It will be interesting to know from the APC how these leaders who either occupied public offices or still occupy public offices acquired these jets. In fact, where did the money with which they procured the jets come from? And this is the APC whose leaders pretend to occupy a moral high ground and accuse everyone else except themselves of malfeasance. Once again, it is clear that the APC leaders have become prisoners of their own delusions and they are being held captive by their own hallucinations. This is a clear case of extreme paranoia. They are running under the bed when nobody is chasing them. There are no plans to clamp down on anybody in the opposition. Our only plan is to humiliate them before the Nigerian people on March 28 by giving them a crushing defeat.” - Femi Fani Kayode. 

Icheoku says brilliant, brilliant, brilliant; indeed truly very  brilliant. This is the stuff a focused campaign is made of -  you take it to them; you drill them; you grill them; you jab them; you give it to them and in short, you just stick and stab it back at them. Your opponents, that is. Just use their own ropes to hang them up to dry and with their swords disembowel them so that the public could see the corrupt content of their bowels. A bunch of holier than thou fanatical hypocrites and lunatics, who are deluded that the reins of power is now a low hanging fruit in Nigeria and so near that they can easily make a go at it and easily grab it? 

Icheoku asks these bunch of APC scalawags, who have nothing to their name in helping build up Nigeria thus far, but for their stint in politics; and who now want everybody to believe that they have the magic silver-bullet cure-it-all medicine for Nigeria, to FIRST please tell Nigerians how they acquired their stinking wealth? From where did all the money come from that is now facilitating their newly found jet-flying lifestyles? First things first so that Nigerians can be better adequately informed about the people coveting to lead them.

It is also perplexing that the APC presidential candidate, Muhammadu Buhari, who has been tooting his anti-corruption credentials, is now partaking and enjoying in this loot; flying around in private chauffeured planes, yet he wants to fight corruption? That would mean biting the finger that fed him; except that he has to first get power and to get power, he must first cross the insurmountable road block that is the Nigerian electorates, who decided a long time ago, not to thrust their future into the shaky feebly hand of a seventy two year old, retired and tired, grandpa. 

What a shameful bunch of Pharisees that do not even know that they are publicly dancing naked in the village square whenever they shout corruption while disregarding the fact that everything about and around them reeks of corruption. Icheoku agrees with Femi Kayode that the defeat which awaits the APC is going to be so humiliating for them to wake up the next day and show their deflated faces before Nigerians. Way to go, Femi. Icheoku says this run-up period to the mother of all elections in Nigeria is a take off the gloves time and no captive prisoners are needed, just their heads. ON MARCH 28, VOTE GEJ !!!!!

PRESIDENT JONATHAN, SITTING FIRM AGAINST BOKO HARAM.

Icheoku says finally the weapons America and her cronies conspired to deny Nigeria are finally being sourced elsewhere and who now has the upper hands in the conflict with Boko Haram? Definitely not the Islamist terrorist urchins and hopefully very soon, the Americans might be begging Nigeria to please help them with brave troops to fight the ISIS? Icheoku while commending the Commander in Chief of the Nigeria armed forces President Goodluck Jonathan, also felicitates with the brave and courageous fighting men and women of the Nigeria armed forces for turning the corner in the fight against terrorism, Now they can proudly ask Boko Haram, who is your daddy? 

Icheoku says well done Nigerian armed forces for liberating Baga and the surrounding territories; and in your push to equally retake all other territories overrun by Boko Haram, which the late arrival of weapons helped foster, may the good Lord lead you safely in all your battles.  Please know that all reasonable Nigerians are praying and rooting for you; as well as being indeed eternally grateful for your shielding them from these murderous marauders from the pit of hell. May you never tire or flounder until Nigeria becomes whole again IJN. Way to go Nigerian armed forces and kudos to their supped up and ready to go commander in chief President Goodluck Jonathan. 

Icheoku says FOUR MORE YEARS is guaranteed and secured with these latest exploits of these brave souls under President Jonathan's overall command; a caring and listening president and his men and women in uniform in whom Nigerians are proudly well pleased. ON MARCH 28, VOTE GEJ!!!

MUHAMMADU BUHARI AT CHATHAM HOUSE !

Icheoku says overall, it was a good speech. He was looking good, healthy and does not seem to be laboring through the speech. If he was sick or still sick, it is either he has recovered fully enough or he is holding his sickness well and under check. His voice and eyes were both clear and spiritedly too. Icheoku likes the gesticulation he made with his two fingers when he mentioned nations in Africa that are still deemed, quote/unquote, not being free. Some theatrics is always good in good speech making, it rivets the audience attention and Muhammadu Buhari did just that. 

His enunciation, diction, elucidation, pronunciation as well as command and control of the environment is quite encouraging too. Listening through the speech, one could agree with Olusegun Obasanjo, no matter how reluctantly, that Muhammadu Buhari is "educated enough" to be president? Overall he looked presidential too. 

The high points for Icheoku in the speech include his promise to publicly disclose revenue earned by the government and to audit the nation's accounts regularly. Also admitting being now a 'converted democrat' is a plus for him too. Pointing out choking off the routes for Boko Haram funding as well as weapons supplies is a commendable tactic, which Icheoku has been advocating for years. Be that as it may and not withstanding that he finally took responsibility for all that transpired under his watch as a merciless military dictator, Icheoku cannot get around to forgiving his murders of those three innocent Nigerians based on a retroactive decree. So on March 28, still VOTE GEJ !!!!!

WOLE SOYINKA, NOW A DISCIPLE?

 

Icheoku says little wonder his tune has become somewhat discordant of late. But hey, at eighty years old, it is not surprising that his facilities are downhill bound. Mr Kongi Harvest has begun his decent from his once epicurean heights to now becoming a supporter of a murderous military dictator who turned Nigeria into a slave camp. Wonders shall never end. But why, Wole?

NIGERIANS, JOY OR HAPPINESS?

Icheoku says in Joshua 24:15, Joshua asked the people of Israel to chose you who you shall serve but as for him and his family they have chosen the Lord. So in similar manner Icheoku asks the people of Nigerian to chose between this two people who they will proudly parade as their president:- the ever bubbly and smiling Jonathan or the melancholic and sadistic despot Muhammadu Buhari and his body-double Bola Tinubu? As for Icheoku we are happy campers and we choose celebratory to funereal, anytime. But do not say you were not warned, so choose wisely. On March 28, VOTE GEJ !!!

OBASANJO, WHERE IS YOUR OWN UNIFORM?

Icheoku asks now that the Ota Deity, Baba Iyabo Olusegun Obasanjo has publicly declared his interest in the candidacy of Muhammadu Buhari and for all intent and purpose his allegiance to the APC, when is he going to obtain his full membership of the party and get his own APC uniform as well? As far as Icheoku is concerned, Obasanjo has all but become a full member of the APC, so the APC might as well garb him in their regalia and permit him to mount the rostrum and drum up support for their candidate Muhammadu Buhari. Like everyone with common sense knows, where the heart is the body is also and there is no further pretending that the Baba is still nursing any soft feelings for the PDP and their Jonathan. So, Baba, Icheoku says get your uniform; BUT regardless, Nigerians will VOTE GEJ come March 28, 2015.

VOTE BUHARI IF YOU ARE A RETARD.

Now watch the video below and see the ridicule which these white people are waiting to make of Nigerians in the event the disaster that is a senile murderer being elected as president. Nigerians, please a lot is at stake in this election and even if you don't like Jonathan, please hold your nose and still vote for him as the alternative is not an alternative Nigerians can proudly opt for. Remember that it is not the mad man that is usually ashamed, but his kindred. As for Buhari, what does he care since he does not know any better, otherwise he will not be running and for the fourth time. https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=10206172608224392&fref=nf

NIGERIA MUST TURN BACK TO SANITY - PHILIP ASIODU

Icheoku just read an interesting interview recently granted by the once super permanent secretary, Philip Asiodu, to a Nigerian Newspaper. Icheoku found some of the issues he raised and canvassed therein quite interesting and here are some excerpts:- 

1. "Whether somebody who has been an Army General, a head of state, a presiden­tial candidate three times has been educated up to school certificate level is in the front burner. Again, running towards an election, for a major party that wants to win, to say before hand, by two leaders of that party – the chairman and the head of their campaign organization, suggesting that if they lose, it is because they were rigged out of it, and there­fore they will reject the elections and set up a paral­lel government. What does that mean? A parallel government? They will set up a government and say Mr B is now the President? He has a parallel army and all that. If I win, it is okay, If I lose, I reject it. 

2. "So, these things, I see are ominous. And then you have some other people threatening that this our son, if he is not given a second term, then there will be hell in Nigeria. These are ominous signs, and for the people of Nigeria who saw the destruction of the promise of independence, because in the de­cade before independence Nigeria made unparal­leled progress, it is sad. After independence, for the first three or four years we were doing well. Then we had the disaster of the 1964 elections which was boycotted by The United Progressive Grand Alli­ance (UPGA) and you know what happened."

3. "The Nigerian senator earns four times the salary of the president of the United States, and when you take the salaries, allowances, constituency provisions and all that, it is out of this world. And our Gross Domestic Product is only 50% that of the US. These are scandalous things, and the pursuit or attainment of political office should not be the route to be in the first list of rich men."

4. "If the British had left it so, we wouldn’t probably have had this situation in which at independence, the Northern region was more than 2/3 the land mass of Nige­ria, and of course they didn’t have the resources in terms of budgets, because part of the justification for amalgamation was to have the surpluses of the south helped to run the country so that the British treasury didn’t have to pay. Don’t mind the rubbish by some pseudo intellectuals who are suggesting that Northern money was used to develop oils in the South. Rubbish. Even as late as after indepen­dence, in the Bins Commission, which led to allo­cation of resources, the whole idea was that enough money should be given to the Northern region to be able to assure minimum levels of public service which we already assumed is in the South. So, there was no time in the budget where the North was in surplus and was contributing. And two, since the beginning of the oil industry, there has been 100% concessions. Oil companies invested. They didn’t take money from the Nigerian treasury. The 12 states created by Gowon were to address this Northern imbalance. Even those 12 states, the North East is almost 1/3 the area of Nigeria, but at least it was different from where the North alone could have the majority. 

5. The British role in the pop­ulation census is yet to be analyzed, but a lot was done which probably was not fair. But we ended up with a situation in which the North voted solidly for one political party, it could dominate. Or, if it just takes one, or two allies in the south, it is done. Politically this was not okay. So, that was one of the underlying reasons for the political difficulties. You know the middle belt was in open rebellion. The Army was deployed there. Then, the west, be­cause of the elections was in open rebellion (wetie) The East? People were not too happy in Calabar/ Ogoja/ Rivers. So, first, Gowon had to address that. And when the Northern region agreed that they will have states, then six states were created in the North, and six in the South. Of course, there was also an element of strategic thinking. If the East led by Ojukwu was insistent on secession, the promise or the creation of independent states of Cross River and Rivers was absolutely necessary."

6. "In these days of 115million mobiles, with in­stant camera, we can’t go back to the days of “fel­low country men and women.” When you seize the army signals and you announce that you’re in charge, who will risk his life?. You wait. But now, I will take my phone and call the Brigadier next door and say ‘don’t mind him. There are only eight peo­ple in NTA with him, and he denounces him.’ The possibilities of any coup now is remote. If anyone tries it, the state of preparedness and the transport factor will degenerate into an anarchy with more than 20 warlords controlling different parts of the country." 

Icheoku adds however that the super perm sec forgot that cell phones make use of towers to function and that they could be yanked off from cellular network as well in the event of a military coupists deciding to fallow communication; but we sure understand the emphasis he was driving home with the choice words deployed.

ODIMEGWU'S SUPPORT OF BUHARI, FLAWED AND WRONG.

Icheoku says Nigerians should ignore Mr Festus Odimegwu, the latest sadistic-entrant into the ill-fated project Muhammadu Buhari's mansion of doom for Nigeria.  He is a bitter man on a mission to avenge his ouster from the NPC. He spoke out of bile and not brain; as no rational man would ever trade Goodluck Jonathan for even one thousand Muhammadu Buharis. Icheoku says Festus Odimegwu threw his support for Buhari in protest, out of anger and annoyance and not out of any intellectual conviction that Muhammadu Buhari is a far better man to manage the affairs of the country better than President Jonathan? 

So what if he was fired as chairman of the Nigerian Population Commission by the president? He is not the first man to be ever relieved of an appointment, neither will he be the last? So when Odimegwu impetuously lashed out in tempestuous anger, throwing his support for Buhari, his decision could not have been a product of a germane deliberation; but one which sprang out from a heat of passion and which is bound to be fatally flawed. By pitching his tent with the "witches and night soil-men" of the APC, due deference to Rotimi Amaechi as he then was and so eloquently once spoke, Festus Odimegwu is being a mere reactionary and not one genuinely interested in what is in Nigeria's best interest. Query, what manner of man would sincerely and honestly prefer for a Nigerian president, a murderer named Muhammadu Buhari to the humane President Goodluck Jonathan, both candidates' precedents considered? 

Icheoku says admitted President Jonathan made a mistake in yielding to the blackmail of Kano State Governor Kwankwaso in firing  Mr Odimegwu from the NPC, but it is contemptible for any Nigerian to proffer a Buhari alternative. Propounding such a Russian roulette of an option for Nigeria is indeed very pitiful of the propounder and it smacks of some mental disequilibrium. Icheoku fully understands the seething anger in Mr Odimegwu over the hand dealt him by President Jonathan, which Icheoku had commented on previously; but that notwithstanding, the APC did not give Nigerians the room to maneuver out of Jonathan if they indeed wanted, in the no-alternative alternative the APC is propagandizing in Muhammadu Buhari. Icheoku is emphatic that under no circumstance, aggregate or cumulative, are Jonathan's so called many sins enough and sufficient to make Buhari a more palatable alternative or choice Nigerians can and should opt for. 

Icheoku says a disgruntled Festus Odimegwu would have stoically sucked it up and not allow his anger to get the better part of him into suggesting that a murderer would be an acceptable alternative to Nigerians in the coming election 2015. Under no circumstance whatsoever, would a murderer ever be a lesser evil than someone who has never shed any human blood; except that a bitter Festus Odimegwu would want Nigerians to believe differently? And it is not as if President Jonathan dismissively fired him from the NPC job as he gave him his full props while relieving him of the appointment. The president added, without bitterness, of Festus Odimegwu, "he is a fine gentleman, very cerebral;" yet Festus Odimegwu did not reciprocate this warm conviviality but went full throttle in bashing the president. 

Icheoku says for Odimegwu to say "that majority will vote for the APC" is evidence that he has similarly drank of the APC propagandized kool-aid and his brain is now not firing off correctly on all cylinders. Odimegwu did not also know that the country has a "bad leadership and an under-performing government" when he accepted and served the same government as chairman of the NPC until fired? However Festus Odimegwu later admitted to his beef with President Jonathan - the president sacrificed him for reelection purpose, adding that "the president sacrificed and was ready to sacrifice anything and everything, anyone and every one for re-election!" 

To this, Icheoku does not begrudge a political president who understands that his reelection chances depends on his political appeal throughout the country; and then goes about courting the respective constituents to actualizing it. Icheoku asks Odimegwu, so what if the president's political calculation "led to the Kano Governor taking over the Presidential villa to abort Nigeria having a credible and accurate census"; because before there was a Festus Odimegwu manning the NPC, the president had to first win the presidency and subsequently so appointed him. So there is nothing politically or even morally wrong in the president maneuvering another win for a second term and even if it means conversely firing Mr Odimegwu from the NPC in order to make it happen. It is politics and in politics a lot of wheeling and dealing takes place, it is the name of the game.

Icheoku wonders what inheritance Mr Festus Odimegwu has now finally found in the house of Bola Tinubu; the same man he once heavily criticized of fraudulently inflating the population of Lagos State just for his selfish political gains. Icheoku says in the affairs of men, it is sometimes often very difficult and very daunting. trying to reason out any rationale. So it is with this Festus Odimegwu, who because the president fired him and not that he was convinced on the superiority of his current choice, has thrown his political feather-weight behind Bola Tinubu's Muhammadu Buhari; and you wonder to what effect, if any? It is equally uncharitable of Mr Festus Odimegwu to grant Muhammadu Buhari a space in the pantheon of great leaders as there are no great things 'mission-accomplished' by Buhari? Except  the murdering of three innocent Nigerians has now become a great act in the eyes of Festus Odimegwu and from which his "great leader" Muhammadu Buhari inured? What an asinine, laughable and ridiculous opinion ever expressed by any sane and educated Nigerian, that Muhammadu Buhari is a great leader; for having led what into greatness, one may ask? 

Finally, to all those Festus Odimegwus of Nigeria who are currently queuing behind Muhammadu Buhari merely out of spite and vindictiveness of President Jonathan, verily, verily, verily, Icheoku says unto you, know ye all that on March 28, 2015, Nigerians will decide their president. Icheoku is optimally optimistic that thinking Nigerians will not settle for a murderer rather than a man who is currently doing his best under a very challenged and sabotaged circumstance. So to burning, scorching hell, all  of you who are out to cut off the nose in order to spite the face. Get over your hatred of the Jonathan of Otuoke for he neither ate your yam nor stole your wife; rather he is busy, laboring tirelessly to steer the ship of the Nigeria state safely to the right path and there is no stopping him now! Please Nigerians, on March 28, tell Festus Odimegwu that he did not succeed with his hate-filled persuasion, VOTE GEJ.