ALMAJIRIS, WHOSE CHILDREN ARE THEY ANYWAY?

Icheoku says one of the things that cost President Jonathan  his 2015 reelection bid was his decision to empower Northern Nigeria's vassals, the  almajiris, by trying to educate them. Suddenly trying to change an age-long, intentionally institutionalized statues-quo, which has the propensity of radically altering a class system of 'haves and have-nots' and which will adversely impact on the feudalistic overlords hold on power, is an existential threat to these overlords and they reacted to abate the source of their worries. A well calculating president would have known that he was walking a path to perdition when he moved to educate these urchins in order to enlighten and embolden them to challenge entrenched feudalistic institutions lording it over them.  

But with power, it never runs in fright; instead it fought back and the president paid for it dearly. Northern feudalistic lords, fearful that their vice-hold on power in their region is being threatened by President Jonathan's use of education to empower these almajiris, ganged up and ensured that the president was shoved out of Aso Rock?  Now mission accomplished, the future of the Goodluck Jonathan Almajiri schools is now as uncertain as it is most likely to go down the pipe-drain. Power does not yield, not so easily. These Northern power stakeholders, who cannot afford to see their 'hewers of wood and fetchers of water' rise up to question their authority and continuous hold on power, struck to ensure that their future is well secured. Today the president who wanted a brighter future for the street dwellers of Northern Nigeria has been shoved aside, a matter made worse because the same bums he was trying to help were used against him as they voted in droves for the opposition candidate and against their interest.

However, the 2015 presidential election campaign brought  this very important issue to the fore-consciousness of Nigerians. What created this social problem of millions of children roaming about the streets of Northern Nigeria without much of any parental care,  guidance and direction? Outgoing First Lady Dame Patience bravely, publicly outed this societal anomaly while campaigning in Cross River State when she said "Our people no dey born children wey dem no dey count. Our men no dey born children throway for street. We no dey like the people from that side." Translation, while Southern Nigerians are responsible parents and take care of family business of raising their children, Northern Nigerians could care less about the welfare of their children, the reason for the prevalence of these street urchins in their region. Icheoku says admittedly, truth is always bitter to the outed; who instead of addressing the observed shortcomings, always fights to cover it up.  Otherwise, query if the observation of the First Lady was not a truism because there would not have been this pandemic cases of parent-less children roaming about the North had their parents taken care of their parenting duties in the first place. 

So amplifying the First Lady's observation, Icheoku asks who are parents of these street urchins in the North, for whose emancipation through education, President Jonathan unknowing engineered his own downfall? A Northern Hausa/Fulani culture that have men busily impregnating under-age young girls and abandoning them to their fate with children they cannot themselves take care of, is rather a very repugnant and reprehensible culture that needs a total make-over and overhaul. Icheoku emphasis that it is very mean spirited and quite unflattering too for any man to impregnate a girl and abandon her with his baby, especially a hapless girl with no means of supporting herself and the baby. Why bring children into this world when you do not love them or care enough for their welfare, only to pretend that your culture allows such callousness to thrive? What type of retrogressive culture fosters this anomaly, assuming these Northern Nigeria debit-daddies are right? Icheoku says it is the same crappy cultural argument that this same people make for their sexual abuse of minor girls, many of whom are younger than twelve years old and barely old enough to be their grand daughters, when they forcibly take them into concubinage to procreate unseasonably.  

So ask yourselves Nigerians, must such inhuman treatment of these Nigerian young girls that beget these almajiris continue unchecked? If it must continue, why then must the more civilized and more responsible Southerners continue to have a shared commonalities with their Northern counterpart unrepentantly vested in their old vestiges? A people who selectively chooses what law to abide by, depending on their peculiar idiosyncrasy? Why is it that these repugnant acts are okay by them and is tolerated by other Nigerians and in this modern day Nigeria of twenty first century? Icheoku maintains that the culture that foists this almajiri problem for the entire Nigeria to bear is not a good culture. It should therefore be immediately outlawed with stiff penalties prescribed for offending fathers including possible imprisonment if they renege on their obligation to provide support for their children. Enough of this political correctness and needless sensitivities that usually look the other way while this societal menace metastasizes in the North, leading to all manners of sociological problems in the country. Icheoku is not a fan of Dame Patience, but for calling out these Northern Nigerian debit-dads, she displayed uncanny courage and a motherly true love for children and she should be commended rather than chastised. Almajiris, Icheoku asks, who are your daddies?

IGP SULEIMAN ABBA'S SACK, TOO LITTLE TOO LATE?

Icheoku says the sacking of the IGP Suleiman Abba is  too little too late since he has already mission accomplished his assignment in helping enthrone a Miyetti Allah's anointed candidate, president; a group's membership which the now former IGP similarly enjoys. Icheoku asks what took the president so long or was it the same indecisiveness that hounded his presidency throughout office and which eventually helped shove him out of office that caused the delay? Why did the president not sack the IGP when it would have mattered most, pre-election, than this post-election fire brigade approach that cannot do much to salvage an already unsalvageable presidency. The deed was already done and the genie of a lost election cannot be put back in the bottle or made whole again, not even by thousands of such firings. 

The IGP played his assigned role and today President Jonathan is on the threshold of vacating Aso Rock with President-elect Muhammadu Buhari ready to move in, so what use then is this useless sacking of the IGP now that it is indeed absolutely needless and useless and of no consequentially value? Icheoku says so what if the IGP is fired - he was an IGP now retired with full pension and benefit.  An appreciative President Muhammadu Buhari will certainly compensate him with a juicy appointment for his role in helping bring about his presidency, regardless. So query why  act now, belatedly and so late in both time and usefulness? Why create a cloud of suspicion of retribution against the IGP for not "playing ball" during the elections? Icheoku is certain that many Nigerians would be wondering what is it that cannot wait in the police force for the incoming president to address that a new IGP has to be foist now with just few weeks to an incoming administration? Except there is some damaging and threatening security report against the former IGP which the administration is not disclosing just yet, the sudden termination of IGP Suleiman Abba is rather fishy and smells of a pay back, which no decent Nigerian should support nor appreciate. 

But in absence of such smoking gun report, the decision is simply mediocre and not an executive-like; which latches on to the other point which many Nigerians had against this presidency - the indecisiveness and quisling-like decision making process of the administration whenever they make one. Therefore it will be a nice move for the president, out of office, to proceed to a business school to take a course on how to be and act like a CEO, because many of his decisions while in office lacked that executive finesse and goal-targeted objective that informs decisions.  Icheoku says no chief executive officer makes or should ever make any decision on sentiments alone, without any anticipated and intended benefit derivable therefrom. If a president is appointing a new IGP at this hour of his soon to lapse presidency, what tasks does he want the new man to help him accomplish int he police force within such a very short window? If the president wants to fire a sitting IGP at this time, what would his firing now suddenly confer on his outgoing presidency? But only Jonathan can answer to these questions, but it smacks of a very poorly articulated decision making, to say the least. 

The worst part of the calculus of the present appointment is that now both the Inspector General of Police and the Chief of Army Staff are from the same president's South-south region? Icheoku wonders what type of message of crass cronyism and nepotism is the president sending to Nigerians and at this dying hour of his outbound administration. If a new Inspector General of Police must be appointed at this hour, with just few weeks to the end of his presidency, must the new IGP also come from the same geographical zone as the president as well as the COAS? Why not appoint an IGO from the Southeast which fervently supported his aborted second term bid to at least thank them and reward them for all their sacrifice. However, Icheoku refuses to read any further ulterior motive into this sudden spring-surprise, regarding possible plans of reneging on his acceptance of defeat in the just concluded election; with now his man-friday IGP in charge, who will help quell any breakdown of law and order such his action might festoon on the land. 

Icheoku says many observers of the just concluded election agree that at least the now gone IGP Abba maintained a reasonable security throughout the country, such that there was no major noticeable or serious breakdown of law and order, either before, during and after the elections; and therefore he should rather be commended for a job well done than condemned with a sack. Icheoku also refuses to buy into MURIC's allegation that the president is "strengthening his position" with the sudden appointment of a new IGP and might dig in and refuse to vacate office? Icheoku restates that the president cannot afford to carry the full weight of an anticipating world that will descend on him, a world which have already congratulated him for his sportsmanship in conceding the election and waiting for his exit. It is rather too risky a risk and a risk not worth the presidency of Nigeria and President Jonathan is too smart to tempt his fate in this bizarre manner. 

But if he chooses otherwise and attempts such fate with such a stupid bravado, he will suffer the fate of Panama's President Noriega as US Marines will be parachuting into Aso Rock to capture him for trial and imprisonment in a US prison or waste him if that becomes inevitably necessary. Icheoku is confident that a still much young President Jonathan will find this option very unpalatable a dish to taste and will stick by his words in honor of his newly earned status as world's statesman and hand over as expected. So, what drove this sudden decision to fire IGP Suleiman Abbas and in his place appoint Edo State born IGP Solomon Arase; especially in view of the fact that the now gone IGP's retirement due date is not until March 2019? Until the presidency fully discloses its reason for the sudden decision, Icheoku alongside millions of other Nigerians will continue to express surprise while urging the government to come clean and let Nigerians into the window of their rational for the sudden decision to fire IGP Abba. In the meantime, Icheoku congratulates the new IGP Arase and prays he can build on whatever successes his predecessor recorded during his short stint as head of the Nigerian police force. 

DR ADENIRAN A. ARIYO, A HOLOCAUST DENIER WANTS NDIGBO MASSACRED?

Icheoku says not even  western education and western civilization could remove the bile in this beast; little wonder people like him makes Boko Haram's Abubakar Shekau condemn western education as dangerous? Imagine a medical doctor who has lived in the United States of America for over twenty seven years calling for the ethnic cleaning of a people merely because of their industry and patriotic vigor that see them calling every part of their country home. Yet this MD lives in another man's country but will not tolerate citizens of a country living in any part of their own country? Icheoku queries should this holocaust denier, another Adolf Hitler of our time, who has called for the massacre of Ndigbo of Nigeria, be allowed to continue practicing medicine possessed of this hateful genocidal mindset?  

Dr Adeniran Abraham Ariyo, a Dallas, Texas State, United States of America based and licensed cardiologist NPI-157851092, who works with Heart Masters Inc of 3535 West Wheatland Road, Dallas Texas, Phone numbers 972.223.0550, 903.887.9990, has called for the ethnic cleansing of Ndigbo in Nigeria. The said doctor HATE lives at 519 North Gun Barrel Ln, Str B, Gun Barrel City Texas 751556 and can also be reached with telephone number 806.780.8003. Please help Ndigbo call this holocaust denier today and tell him that Ndigbo are aware of his hateful statement to levy genocide on a people merely because of envy and that he will be hearing very soon from Ndigbo as they take their case against him to the ICC in The Hague.

XENOPHOBIAN SOUTH AFRICANS, BARBARIANS IN OUR MIDST?

Icheoku says it is a sad commentary today in South Africa that people who were saved from the petulant apartheid regime are today killing the same people who sacrificed a lot to set them free and for no reason at all? Icheoku queries what manner of a people are these South Africans that would rather pay their debt to fellow Africans in this way - lynching and killing fellow black Africans for no offense, other than simply living in their midst? Icheoku queries should other countries now single out every South African living amongst them and similarly set them ablaze in reiteration? Except that an eye for an eye makes the whole world go blind, as Icheoku prays that these beastly South Africans would wake up to smell the coffee that what they are doing in their country today is simply barbaric and should not have any place of accommodation in this day and age. What a sore sight, a man being roasted alive in Nelson Mandela's South Africa just because he chose to live among them? What a very big shame indeed and it is condemnable.

MY CHILDREN ARE NOT MINE, MAKING THE CASE FOR PATERNITY TESTING - FEMI KUTI?

Icheoku says admitted certain areas of our humanity are somewhat deemed off limits for public discussion, but should this society's selective preclusion always present a bar to a forensic examination of a taboo, which everyone knows is happening in our society? Icheoku decided to finally comment on this because of the prevalent, spiraling incidences of wives and mothers continuously fooling around and getting pregnant outside their matrimonial relationships. Icheoku had always thought it was a tale by moonlight or rather exaggerated until one woman personally sort my opinion on what she should do regarding her seventeen year old son who was not biologically sired by her husband of twenty something years? According to her story, she is in a bitter divorce proceedings with her husband and she wants to strike him very hard and where it would hurt him most. To do this, she wants to go public that "their" son, whom her husband truly believed was his biological child and whom he has been doting on so much as a good caring father for seventeen years of his life, was indeed actually fathered by their neighbor? To further double-down on her soon to be ex-husband, she said she was going to elope with the neighbor, the co-husband,  who is also in the process of divorcing his own wife because of their advanced plan. Icheoku was aghast but somehow managed to reason with her to please calm down, advising her not to facilitate the husband's quick exit from this world through a sudden heart attack which such a disclosure might herald. 

Query, which man would not swoon and immediately give up the ghost, prior brief illness or no prior brief illness, upon such traumatic shock of hearing that your son, in whom you are well pleased to continue your gene propagation, is indeed not carrying your genetic mapping code? Please just show Icheoku such a man and Icheoku would readily show you several women who will be happy to learn of their husbands' love-children, especially those who happen to be sons and senior to these wives' own first sons? Further, a woman once confided to Icheoku that it is only a woman who indeed knows who the actual father of her children is; adding in support that so many children do not often belong to their so called father and husband of their mother. Even some study put the figure of such children born to the other guy while still married to this guy to close to 37%? The case of the "doubtful sire" it is called, which William Shakespeare equally acknowledged in "The Taming of the Shrew", wherein Pendant was asked by Vincentio if he was the father of Lucentio? He replied "Ay (yes) sir, so his mother says, if I may believe her?" 

This is a universally acknowledged regularly occurring happenstance, which has always been around ever since the concept of marriage began, with wives, unlucky in love at home, engaging in outside dalliances resulting in pregnancies? And playing a devil's advocate, it is arguable that the biblical story of Mary, mother of Jesus, was such a similarly impregnated outside her marital home wife    of Joseph, admitted by the Holy Spirit with blessings from On High?  A phenomenon hitherto thought to be restricted to very loose societies, is increasingly becoming a common happening in more closely nit societies, including Igboland, where such is greatly frowned at and particularly considered a taboo. There was this case of this Igbo chief who flew her pregnant wife abroad for delivery and died of heart attack when the wife popped out a slanted-eyes Chinese looking child. According to the story, the Igbo business man had some Chinese expatriates working for him in his factory and  then you may fill up the rest of the story. Icheoku also once came across this wife who successfully convinced her husband that their sun-tanned skin, curly haired Lebanese-Arab looking baby boy, looks like her maternal uncle's great grandfather - a fable she fabricated just to cover her sin of infidelity.  

The other day Icheoku tuned in to a television paternity-test show, The Maury Show, where a woman, confused as to which one of her two current boyfriends is the father of her seven months old child, brought two of them for a paternity test. To the chagrin of many in the audience and those who tuned in including Icheoku, the DNA test determined that none of the two men she brought  to the show fathered her child; and you begin to wonder what is indeed going on with some women. So the question becomes should men insist on biologically testing their supposed children for their paternity before acknowledging them as their children or should the sleeping dog be allowed to lay, since what one does not know does not usually hurt? But with due respect to whatever position people might be comfortable with taking, Icheoku would like to know if what is deemed mine is indeed actually mine; otherwise why bother? Luckily enough, there are companies now providing paternity testing in Nigeria, so it makes it easier now for any doubtful father to take that step and free his soul of such a burden of suspicion and avoid being the only one who does not know what the whole town is gossiping about? 

Kanye West, in 'Gold Digger,' rapped about this recurring decimal in societies, where women mislead men into believing that the child they are taking care of is their own biological child when the contrary is the truth. Not too long ago Femi Kuti discovered that some of his "children", from his wife of many years, are indeed not his biological children. So what should a man faced with this tragic experience or who is simply suspicious that his child might not afterall be his, do, many would ask? The answer seems to be to be like Femi Kuti, when in doubt, insist that the child gets tested for paternity. But whether a child is a child as some people would rather have it, should not apply especially when such was deceitfully procured. It should not be a case of letting a sleeping dog to lay down because of unforeseeable consequences in form of possible reiteration by such an outed and shamed wife; otherwise how does any man ensure that his gene is being truly passed on? 

Icheoku asks how else would genealogy be maintained if this practice is allowed to fester and go on unchallenged and unchecked? How else can this poisoned practice be checked or even completely eradicated if not through a frontal attack with the weapon of science. It  is not only a deadly betrayal which in some cultures, results in the man's instant death once he eats such wife's prepared meal, but is also a sin against both God and humanity. A married woman prancing around while in her matrimonial home is tragic promiscuity, moreso when a pregnancy results from the illicit behavior. It would be a different case where a man cannot produce or shoots only blanks and a smart woman, not wanting to deflate the man's ego, goes into an overdrive seeking a child for him; and in some cases with the man's blessing? But where this is not the case, and the man is virile enough to get his wife pregnant and have previously in the past gotten her pregnant and had babies with her, such perfidy should be an unforgiven abomination. Icheoku asks how could any woman from a good home ever put herself in such a dizzying love triangle, resulting in a child with another man  and deceitfully passing off such illegitimate child to her live-in husband as his own? Adopting or even fostering a child is one thing and it is good help to both the child and the society at large; but stealthily and subtly smuggling another man's child home is another thing all together. Any child could be a child in that circumstance, but not when the man has no problem manufacturing his own direct biological offspring. 

Icheoku asks are you a Femi Kuti or a Femi Kuti's wife in this case and are those children you think that are yours, indeed really yours; or are they children of your neighbor or your wife's boss? Are you just a "muuguu" being used and merely playing a role of a father to some bastards, who unbeknownst to you, were the fruits of your wife's secret liaisons? Have you considered your options faced with such circumstance? And for all those women guilty of this immoral mortal deception, have you considered coming out clean to confess to your husband or do you plan to defend your actions before God on judgment day and what would you plead in defense? Would you rather die with such guilt feeling and living through the hell of a guilty heart and wondering if ever your sins will catch up with you? In any event, is there really anything to negotiate or discuss following your being discovered? And for those men who are victims of their wives' induced fathering of another man's child, what are your options and have you thought about it lately? Anyway, whatever works for any individual out there but some of this insanity ought to and should  stop. 

But for all those men who are brave enough to brace the issue, just follow the rule of the thumb approach. If you suspect that "your" child is not behaving like someone you sired or have no physical resemblance whatsoever with your family and you also have the heart to take whatever the result might yield, then for the life of Icheoku, please get him or her tested for paternity. Instead of unknowingly playing a role of a father while not being the actual father or suspects that your wife may not have yielded your own engineered offspring, why not follow the example of Femi Kuti and clear the fog of doubt or suspicion? If they prove to be genuinely yours, then love your wife the more and spoil her with good gifts to honor her decency and respect for your marital rights to father your children through her. If not, then do the needful or suffer the humiliation of knowing that you were shortchanged badly by the woman you call wife and mother of your children. But the call is yours to make but please do not ever blame Icheoku for any unbearable fall out therefrom resulting. Like Femi Kuti, refuse to be beguiled into fathering children that are not yours, not sired, adopted or fostered by you; and courageously tell her they are not yours and politely give them back to her for a return to sender.

OMAR AL-BASHIR TELLS THE WEST TO SHOVE IT, WINS A SIXTH TERM?

Icheoku says when the world was expecting African leaders to now begin to look to Abuja-Nigeria, to enroll into the newly opened President Goodluck Jonathan's school of how to yield power in the interest of peace, Sudan's Omar al-Bashir preferred instead to look to Harare-Zimbabwe, at the school of President Robert Mugabe on how to sit tight, no shaking? This is despite Western pressure and sanctions as well as a long lasting travel restriction and ban from traveling to and within Western countries and their controlled territories at the pain of arrest and trial for war crimes? But the strong man in Khartoum simply ignored them, as according to him, like late Moummar Gaddafi, his own Sudanese people loves him and that is what matters most and should count and controls his decisions and not what some pin-heads Western leaders would like to dictate to him. 

The 71 year old President Omar al-Bashir, just two years younger than Nigeria's president-elect Muhammadu Buhari at 73 years old, and who first came to power in 1989, six years after Muhammadu Buhari's first stab at power in 1983, again stood for election and is now "reelected" president of Sudan and for a sixth term? Unlike Nigeria's President Jonathan, Sudanese Omar al-Bashir knows how to get it done and also thrives amidst opposition - they just don't exist and/or are not allowed to rear their ugly head. They are simply crushed and banished from all lands and territories controlled by the government in Khartoum.  Such was his drastic antagonism against the opposition, many of whom are behind bars if not already decapitated; and not allowed access to any government licensed media operating in his country, talkless of allowing them the unlimited access through which to tell lies and offload fabricated propaganda like President Jonathan did with the "victorious" APC, that many Sudanese voters did not even know of the existence of any opposition whatsoever? As one would be voter, who wanted to vote for somebody other than President Omar al-Bashir, but could not find any,  quipped, "I only see Bashir on TV and elsewhere. It doesn't feel like Bashir has any other contesting against him. The state TV and private channels are all pro-Bashir. I don't know who the other candidates are and what their election programmes are." 

Icheoku says this is how to win elections in Africa and other third world countries - muzzle the opposition, drive them out of town and do not let them drive the narrative. But in Nigeria, lucky were the APC, who not only got a level playing field but an incumbent who loves Nigerians so much that he effortlessly yielded power and without having to shed any Nigerian's blood, engaged in a power struggle. Icheoku asks, could the APC have survived in Omar al-Bashir's Sudan? Your guess is as good as anyone's else who can figure the answer to two plus two. Icheoku says if Omar al-Bashir is good for the Sudanese people, who is Icheoku to query their voting for him? On this note, Icheoku hereby extends congratulatory message to the newly reelected President Omar al-Bashir of Sudan. Hopefully the reelected president, alongside Robert Mugabe and Muhammadu Buhari can now establish a truly  African Council of Elders, with admission strictly restricted to very, very old African leaders. Way to go all despots of Africa and before Icheoku forgets, Cameroon's Paul Biya, who himself has been in power in Younde since 1985, also eminently qualifies as a bona fide candidate for membership of this anticipated council. But hey......

HILLARY CLINTON IS SO YESTERDAY - MARCO RUBIO

"This election is a generational choice about what kind of country we will be. Just yesterday, a leader from yesterday began a campaign for president by promising to take us back to yesterday. Yesterday is over -- and we're never going back." - Senator Marco Rubio, Republican Party's presidential candidate aspirant. 

Icheoku asks where was this guy when his American government backed Nigeria's own version of a very yesterday person, Muhammadu Buhari, to become the newly elected president of Nigeria? Does it mean that what is good for America, cannot be good for Nigeria or that Nigeria is only good for a yesterday's man while America cannot afford to take chances with a yesterday's woman, coming back from the past to pretend to take them to the future? Icheoku queries what type of champion for the working masses does this Hillary want to be anyway which waited till this time to effervescence. But hey, the silly season of campaign politics is nearly here with politicians rearing and ready to go; and pretty very soon America will be inundated by people promising paradise on earth and only to forget they made such promises as soon as they are sworn in. But this Marco Rubio, is a very, very, long shot at clinching the Republican ticket, admitted he stands a chance at a veepee slot. But Icheoku likes his lines though. Salute!

TY DANJUMA MOUTHING-OFF OJUKWU, A SACRILEGE OF THE WORST KIND.

Icheoku says this murderer waited until Ojukwu moved  on to open his mustachioed bloody mouth to spit vile, comparing a circumstantially forced situation, where it mattered to stand up to be counted at an hour of great need, to a mere presidential election fallout? An election outcome which he helped engineer  while pretending to love President Jonathan, the same way he professed his love for Aguiyi Ironsi, before he and his band of jackals, hog-tied him behind an army truck and dragged him to a gruesome death, smashing his body to pieces and scattering the dismembered body on a dirt-road. He pretended to love Jonathan in the day while at night participating in every conspiracy that yanked Jonathan out of Aso Rock and you wonder with a friend like Danjuma does Jonathan or Ndigbo need an enemy? What a mongrel. 

A ravenous jackal provoking a better-forgotten bitter memory and reminding the world the heinous role he played in the two murderous attacks on Ndigbo that caused so much sorrow and sadness? The killing of Head of State Aguiyi Ironsi alongside hundreds of Igbo military officers and first-rate bureaucrats as well as the Biafra war of survival on one side and war of attrition on the other. Look at this mad man bragging that President Jonathan capitulated to his Northern conspirators forces and that he had expected Ikemba Ndigbo to have showed the same cowardice faced with the tyranny of genocide? Anyway it was Jonathan who played into these munchkin's hands, the same way Ironsi played into their hands, thinking that he had trusted people in these hate-filled Northerners, only for them to eat him for lunch. Yet this man has the temerity to open his mouth to spit hate, when he could not even stand up to throw his support for President Jonathan and he is supposedly a christian? So Icheoku asks Danjuma what has Odimegwu Ojukwu got to do with an election that took place several years since he departed if not his deliberate attempt to sneer at Ndigbo for their unflinching support for President Jonathan which did not translate to a second term?

A betrayer of the worst kind, an animal who breached the supreme most trust and alongside his Northern brothers, who have only one interest in a united Nigeria estate,  milking it dry and making out like bandits from its oil wealth, betrayed and murdered their head of state. Look at Danjuma nostalgically waxing that if only Ojukwu had surrendered like President Jonathan and you ask yourself why did the mongrel not start with himself? Why not ask if only TY Danjuma and his band of bandits did not stage the counter-coup of revenge of July 1966, may be a more united Nigeria country would have been forged by now? Why not TY Danjuma ask if only him and his band of ravenous kill-joys did not wage a war of attrition on the defenseless of Biafra, pregnant women and suckling children, and also did not carry out the Asaba massacre, may be the people of former Biafra would be more trusting of his ilk and peradventure be more invested in the drama of a Nigeria country, truly united and collectively looking into a future? 

May be Danjuma should have asked if only he and his band of genocidal bandits had not seized all the monetary assets of Biafrans, refused to implement the Three Rs and have not been waging war of capitulation against Ndigbo ever since, may be the country Nigeria would have Ndigbo  sincerely invested in the successful outcome of that  humpty-dumpty experiment? Icheoku says may be if Danjuma had asked, if him and his Northern oligarchs did not stage the coup that forced Gowon out of power, may be subsequent coup plotters would not have had a bad example to emulate, copy and follow? May be if Danjuma had asked Buhari why he staged the coup that drove away President Shagari out of office, the Nigeria's still crawling democracy would have since matured? Icheoku asks why did Danjuma not ask Babangida why he staged the coup against Buhari, thus engraving coup plotting in the psyche of Nigeria armed forces and thereby drastically weakened the fighting spirit of these brave men and women? 

Icheoku ask where was this Danjuma when Sani Abacha overthrew Ernest Shonekan's interim government? Was Danjuma around when Babangida annulled MKO Abiola's election and what did he ruefully say in condemnation? That he was in the government of Olusegun Obasanjo that operated like a barack-regime is equally instructional about the hater, called Theophilus Yakubu Danjuma? Suddenly the mayhem of Zaki Ibiam and Odi, which both took place under his watch as defense minister, are now no longer abhorable incidents? Suddenly, the timid Jonathan was intimidated out of office and power wrestled from his baby-hand and this Danjuma finds the mouth to compare what happened to President Jonathan to the Biafran forced struggle in defense of their existence as a people? Icheoku prays that this man will suffer death and if there is hell, will be guest of the hottest spot therein where he will gnash his teeth in agony and in perpetuity until hell freezes over. 

Look at his mouth, "if Ojukwu did the same after the fall of Enugu when his government fled into exile, if he had conceded victory to the federal troops, it would have saved the nation one full year of bloodshed. Icheoku asks why not "if genocidal Yakubu Gowon had conceded to Aburi Accord or even at worst, waged the war if need be with a human face and not the draconic dracula, thirsty for the crimson fluid? Thankfully someone had to stand up to this jackal to push some logic and clear thought into his cranial matter and it is a big consolation. According to Femi Fani Kayode, "Those that say that Colonel Emeka Odumegwu Ojukwu should have quickly accepted defeat in the war, like President Goodluck Jonathan did immediately after the election, have got it all wrong. I say this because the former was involved in a full scale military conflict whilst the latter was involved in a mere election. It is easy to concede defeat in an election but you cannot sit back and gladly do the same in a war in which your people are facing mass murder and genocide. In those terrible circumstances you do not give up and concede but instead you stand and you fight to the last man. Whether anyone likes it or not Ojukwu did the right thing. He fought for his people and, if I had been in his place, I would have done the same thing. I would rather be a dead man than a slave. I would rather die fighting than bow to the enemies of my soul." 

Icheoku salutes the courage of Femi Fani Kayode and hereby urges Ndigbo to start reasserting themselves more forcefully once again in Nigeria. Nobody is inferior to any of these uncircumcised mallams that hold sway in Nigeria and therefore Ndigbo should stand up to defend their honor whenever challenged or disparaged. Imagine this vermin deliberately dragging Ojukwu's name into President Jonathan's capitulation to these blood hounds eager to waste Nigerian lives just for power? Icheoku says something is definitely wrong with this man called Danjuma and prays that it shall not ever be well with him, oil wells or no oil wells. What a maga-rabid-dog or rather hyena or even 'kwura' this Theophilus Yakubu Danjuma is.  What an irritant and evil incarnate masquerading an a human being. Away with his nauseating presence!

TINUBU'S GREED, APC'S GREATEST ALBATROSS?

Icheoku says as with every band of bandits for example, the problem often lies with the sharing of the booty as greed and excessive arrogation of more important role played, often pitches parties against themselves.  The recent victory of the All Progressive Congress in the just concluded Nigeria election, although a good development for democracy in Nigeria, may not bring the expected joy to the party and/or Nigerians.  Developing internal wrangling will eventually lead to an internal combustion, ripping to pieces the party and government,  and before Nigerians could know what happened, the newly conceived baby of hope will be prematurely aborted? As with everything involving humanity,  winning the election will soon prove to be the easiest part of the struggle, as the heavy lifting will start trying to fill positions and offices in the government. Now, time to share the windfall of their election victory, all the major gladiators are now readying themselves for a major duel; which will likely see every other one of them pitching battle with Bola Tinubu standing alone as Bola Tinubu? The result might either see Bola Tinubu having his way as usual or implosion of the party following an internecine civil war. 

It is without doubt that the role played by the owner and the man who runs affairs of the APC Ashiwaju Bola Tinubu in securing victory for the party is immeasurable; but he couldn't have done it all alone and by himself without others chipping in. So it goes without saying that when the same man now wants to be the sole decider of all who gets what in the incoming government of Muhammadu Buhari, it goes outside every known decency of making accommodation for others in a democracy and tethers on crass avarice and unparalleled selfish greed. Icheoku bemoans if this trajectory of all or nothing tendency of Bola Tinubu, to have it all to himself is not immediately checked by the president-elect, it might be the first salvo towards bringing down the high-flying APC back to the grounds and back into the political doldrums from its current soaring Olympian heights. It might be a very tragic tale of how the man who transformed the APC into a formidable opposition party and led it into the main party, literally single-handily, also torpedoed it. 

Feelers reaching Icheoku has it on strong authority that Ahmed Bola Tinubu is already at war with every other supposed stake-holder of the APC as to filling very key positions of the incoming government. For instance while Olusegun Obasanjo wants Chukwuma Soludo to be the next Finance Minister, Bola TInubu is standing in the way as he has his own anointed candidate to fill the position? Icheoku queries how would Baba Iyabo react to this apparent challenge to his authority by Bola Tinubu and this attempt to whittle his influence over the incoming President Muhammadu Buhari? But the Obasanjo Nigerians know, don't usually shy away from fights and will see to it that he has his way or Bola Tinubu's influence is drastically cut. Conversely, Bola Tinubu equally is not afraid of fights and might have the various municipalities that amalgamated into the APC go their separate ways rather than for any other person including the marginal Obasanjo reap where they did not sow. 

Also there is brewing war between Bola TInubu and the other man from Rivers State Rotimi Amaechi over who will occupy the senate president seat? While Rotimi Amaechi wants Olusola Saraki to become the next senate president, Bola Tinubu's candidate for the position is Benue State's Akume George. Icheoku does not know how this battle for the senate presidency will fare but the Bola Tinubu Nigerians have come to know and now respect as the man who made Buhari president, might dig in. The implication is that the former PDP governors wing of the APC might gang up and start a war to push Bola Tinubu out of power and control of the APC, leading to factionalization of the the party which will go a long way in helping the now traumatized PDP with quicker recovery. Then you have the Ministry of Petroleum resources which many had thought will be used to compensate Rotimi Amaechi for his contribution to Muhammadu Buhari displacing his Southsouth brother Jonathan from Aso Rock; but for which Bola Tinubu has also penciled down his preferred candidate, the Deputy Group Chief Executive of OANDO Plc Omamofe Boyo for the position. 

Needless to add that these are but the iceberg of the many positions that will be filled in the incoming Buhari administration. So query will President-elect Muhammadu Buhari as usual, watch from the sidelines as Bola Tinubu single-handily fills all these positions; and if yes, how will his Miyetti Allah wing of the APC react, seeing their much sought-after government now being run by a Yoruba Southerner once again? As at now, no one can categorically say with certainty what will become of the party when the long knives are forced out, but it sure will not bode well for the new boys in town as their marriage might be over ever before the honey moon even concludes. All because of the avarice and unbridled greed of just one man - Ahmed Bola Tinubu. But hey, Nigerians dey watch to see how this newly minted victory is used beneficially, both to the party and the Nigerian public; but to do this, Bola Tinubu must first have to check his excessive greed.

OBA AKIOLU WAS WRONG - FEMI FALANA

"Oba Akiolu ought to have realized that the Electoral Act has not conferred powers on any traditional ruler or any other authority to sanction anyone for voting for a candidate of his or her choice in any election conducted in Nigeria. After all, before the just concluded presidential election the Oba adduced reasons why he could not endorse the presidential candidate of the APC, General Mohammadu Buhari (rtd.). He was not harassed or intimidated for exercising his freedom of choice. Since the Electoral Act, 2010 as amended has banned any form of hate campaign the Oba is advised to withdraw the threat credited to him and apologize publicly to the Igbo people without any delay.” - Femi Falana, SAN.

HILLARY CLINTON MAKES IT OFFICAIL, WHITEHOUSE IN MY VIEW.

Icheoku says that Bill Clinton will be very much around her government makes the proposition rather very more interesting. Moreso if United Kingdom, Israel, Brazil, Argentina, Liberia, Chile and other countries of the world who have welcomed the female specie into their governance could do it, why not the United States of America. Icheoku looks forward to the campaign to make it a happen, a reality; and with this, we say welcome HC and may the campaign now begin. Icheoku is emphatic that a President Hillary Clinton is much closer a possibility today than it was yesterday and it will be another first for America, one would add. So lets make it happen America! 

OBAMA AND CASTRO SHAKES HAND, FOCUS NOW ON THE FUTURE.

Icheoku says what a day this will become in history as time healed all wounds and yesterday's enemies shook hands of friendship in anticipation of a future filled with hopes and aspirations. Icheoku says well done  America and Viva Cuba for finally broaching a path of warmth, peace and reconciliation after such long and many decades of being in the cold. Icheoku says it was very wonderful to see the two former foes mend their path towards foisting a lasting friendship and before an  excited world audience, who watched the historic event. Way to go Presidents Obama and Castro and may history judge you rightly. Bravo!

PAT 'UTOBO' UTOMI, WHO IS YOUR DADDY?

Icheoku berates Patrick 'Okedinachi' Utomi for trivializing and making a mockery of, the threat of genocide by drowning made by the Oba of Lagos against Ndigbo Lagos, as a mere "talks so in jest." How dare this man demean such a horrendous and deliberate threat against a people, whose collective existence in Lagos Nigeria is now seriously threatened in this manner? A people who now live each day in fear of another pogrom, this time by drowning inside the Lagos lagoon, on the orders of the Oba of Lagos who has both the capacity and ability to cause the threatened? An Oba of Lagos, whose goons and 'alaayee' area boys are waiting for their marching orders to visit terroristic mayhem of water-boarding and drowning on Ndigbo of Lagos. 

What manner of 'NWAA-AFOR IGBO' would be so Nero-istic and playing fiddle of "talk so in jest" with such an ominous threat hanging on the necks of his people? Instead of raising hell in protest, this man attempted to belittle the gravity of the threatened terroristic act by suggesting that the man who made the threat was merely JOKING - "talk so in jest?' Icheoku queries if this is what a joke looks like in the jaundiced eyes and unhinged mind of this man, what then would a real joke and real threat look like? Does Patrick "Okedinachi' Utomi need to be reminded that the wife of Michael Henchard once told her husband in 'Mayor of Casterbridge' that a joke is a joke but once too often? At least he should have first called the Oba, since he claims that they both are friends, and find out if indeed the Oba did not mean every scintilla of word that oozed from his terroristic mouth before going in defense of the Oba? What manner of a joke is it that threatens a collective peoples existence and meaningful backed it up with swearing an oath to cause it to happen? 

Which sane Nigerian, especially of an Igbo stork, would after watching the video of Oba Rilwanu Akiolu of Lagos swearing before his forefathers and the Allah which he worships, still come to the conclusion that the Oba was merely jesting and joking? Icheoku says except that this man's Igbo pedigree is somewhat of doubtful origin, otherwise what true son of his Igbo father does not know that it is only the tree that stands still when faced with threat to its life? That any well sired and well raised up 'NWADIALA' uses his brain correctly to know how to deploy his tongue to first count his teeth before publicly opening his mouth on any sensitive matter; and in the tier of sensitivity, threatening to drown an entire nationality inside the Lagos lagoon is as serious as it gets and should not be joked with or so dismissively waved off as 'talks so in jest?'. 

However on further research as to the authenticity of this guy's claimed Igbo pedigree, Icheoku found out that he was born in Kaduna State, primarily schooled in Kano and Zamfara States. So his early formative age was outside Igboland and possibly he lacks the attribute of being adequately inculcated in the culture and mannerisms of a true Igbo person. So being not so properly raised and well brought up as a true Igbo son, with the usual common sense imperative, he spoke like the 'ONYE-AWUSA' which he most likely is, if only DNA test would be ordered? Further, outside his Igbo-sounding middle name 'Okedinachi' and his last name 'Utomi' (whatever that means), and his claim of family to Ibuzo, Oshimili North, Delta State, there is no other information to affirmatively state that he actually knows his biological father and if he is dead, might not even know where his grave is. Whether he even speaks Igbo language fluently, if at all, is also doubtful, talkless of being steeped in Igbo culture and tradition. 

Icheoku says how could this assumed Igbo man so murder sleep by taking side with a now self-proclaimed enemy of Ndigbo and against his own Ndigbo people, assuming he is indeed a true Igbo son as claimed. Icheoku says in our neck of the wood, this man would have been summarily banished and made to atone for his abomination (IKPU-ALUU) before ever being reintegrated back into the community. Failing which, 'UMU-BOYS' would have since demolished whatever home he has within the community as a taboo which the earth must be cleansed of? How dare him and for what price or is he still seriously seeking an appointment from the soon to be inaugurated Bola Tinubu controlled Buhari government to warrant pulling this Judas Iscariot on Ndigbo? Hopefully he will wake up soon enough from his stupor and tender unreserved apology to Ndigbo and ask for their forgiveness, otherwise he should be isolated and excommunicated and no longer accorded or treated as a 'NWA-AMADI IGBO' henceforth. What an EFULUEFU, who possibly was not sired by an Igbo man's sperm. So Pat Utomi, who is your father?

PAT UTOMI'S OFFENSIVE TWEET COMMENT:-

“The arena of politics is a slippery slope. The remarks by the Oba of Lagos are inappropriate but all who know him know he talks so in jest.

“Have known Oba Akiolu for 20yrs. He says worse to me every time we see but I have no doubt he is fond of me. How do you tell outsiders so'

“Typical of Oba as he sees me: Pat go return our land where you built that Lagos Business School. I respond; hold Asiwaju who signed C of O,” he tweeted.

FEMI FALANA, ICHEOKU SALUTES YOUR COURAGE.

Icheoku says it is not where a man stands in times of convenience and comfort that makes a man; nope, it is where he stands in times of great adversity and tribulation. It is where he stands when faced with the choice of biting the bullet for his convictions and beliefs. It is where he stands when pilloried, irrespective of the popularity or otherwise of his conviction and regardless whether he is a minority opinion or the lone voice in the wilderness of cacophony of compromised and intimidated voices of deceit and untruthfulness. That is what makes a man, the id of a man. Simply put, it is the fire in the belly of man that truly makes him a man; which also makes it possible to fearlessly look a king in the face and tell him that there are exceptions where a king can do wrong. It is speaking truth to power and damning any consequences arising thereto, including communal ostracising by the tribe of the king to whom he spoke the truth. Icheoku says in this area of exemplary courage, this particular Senior Advocate of Nigeria extraordinaire, Chief Femi Falana, is overflowing with it; and this is what distinguishes him from the rest of the pack - the proverbial man among men scenario. 

Ndigbo of and in Lagos are facing imminent threat of extinction by drowning, following a threat by the Oba of Lagos to drown them in the Lagos lagoon. While many other notable voices in Nigeria, including the now seemingly deranged Wole Soyinka, were murmuring in hush-hush tones about what the Oba said being reprehensible, this indefatigable legal mind rose up to the occasion to be counted, as the person who refused that the man in him will die faced with tyranny. He spoke out to condemn what Oba Akiolu threaten to do to Ndigbo, calling for an apology to Ndigbo from the Oba. Icheoku says this is what true courage looks like and it is not the first time, Femi Falana had risen in defense of a cause involving the Igbo person. Recall that when Enugu State Governor Sullivan Chime allegedly imprisoned his wife Clara Chime inside Enugu Government House, it was only Femi Falana that rushed to her rescue, thundering illegality by a sitting governor and summarily secured her freedom from her forced imprisonment. Needless to add that some Igbo lawyers who were consulted prior, chickened out as they were too timid to go up against a sitting governor. 

Icheoku says fear is the greatest weapon of mass destruction in the arsenal of oppressors and until a society overcomes their fear of their oppressors, they can never indeed be truly free. Icheoku prays that Nigerians will learn something from this erudite lawyer, who has once again displayed that truth is like light which vanishes darkness and usually shames power into doing right by the people and for the people. For courageously and boldly condemning the threatened annihilation of the entire Ndigbo population in Lagos, infringing on their right to life abridging their freedom to choose of who governs them in Lagos; and also calling for an apology to Ndigbo from the Oba of Lagos, Icheoku hereby crowns Femi Falana the new peoples advocate-in-chief of Nigeria. Icheoku prays that other Nigerian lawyers could summon enough courage to thread on this lawyer's path towards securing the freedom of every Nigerian against the power shareholders of Nigeria PLC. Icheoku says thank God that there is another Gani Fawehimni-like personality still existing in Nigeria. Icheoku says thank you Falana for speaking up and may you continue to provide the much needed guide for Nigerian lawyers, who tremble in fear when faced by these oppressors and you wonder who will then protect and defend their clients, if they are this too cowardly to face down these threats.  

Here are excerpts of Femi Falana's statement condemning  Oba Akiolu's hate speech and call for genocide against Ndigbo of Lagos:-

"The Oba’s diversionary threat is totally unacceptable as it is a mockery of the political objective of national integration, a violation of the fundamental right of thousands of citizens to life.

In the case of Director-General of State Security Service v Olisa Agbakoba (1999) 3 N.W.L.R (PT 595) 314 it was held by the Supreme Court that ‘It is not in dispute that the Constitution gives every Nigerian citizen the right to move throughout Nigeria and to reside in any part thereof. It also guarantees to the citizen the right not to be expelled from Nigeria nor be refused entry or exit therefrom.

Since the residency right of every citizen is constitutionally guaranteed the Igbo people in Lagos should discountenance the threat of Oba Akiolu. Indeed, the human-rights community has always kicked against discriminatory policies and ensured that all victims of human rights abuse are defended and protected regardless of their ethnic identity.

Oba Akiolu ought to have realized that the Electoral Act has not conferred powers on any traditional ruler or any other authority to sanction anyone for voting for a candidate of his or her choice in any election conducted in Nigeria. After all, before the just concluded presidential election the Oba adduced reasons why he could not endorse the presidential candidate of the APC, General Mohammadu Buhari (rtd.). He was not harassed or intimidated for exercising his freedom of choice. Since the Electoral Act, 2010 as amended has banned any form of hate campaign the Oba is advised to withdraw the threat credited to him and apologize publicly to the Igbo people without any delay.”

OBA AND ALAAYEE-IN-CHIEF AKIOLU OF LAGOS, SIMPLY PSYCHOTIC?

Icheoku laments that this is not a case of a king or queen who can do no wrong; no, this is a case of a ruler of Isale Eko who did a very heinous wrong to a whole nationality of bona fide Nigerians who merely chose to domicile in Lagos, an integral part of their country. Those Igbos living in Lagos have equal right of residence in Lagos as the Oba, who himself is not even a native of Lagos in the strict sense of that word. His ancestry is traceable to Bini Kingdom and technically he is as a "stranger" in Lagos as those Igbo people he is trying to exclude therefrom and deprive of their rights to life by drawing them in the lagoon. So by necessary implication, the Oba is rather in a forcible occupation of the stool of Kabeyesie of Lagos and traditionally not a rightful person to be the Oba of Lagos.  Equally, his candidate Ambode is not from Lagos but Ondo State and so has as much right to domicile in Lagos as those Igbo people living there too. Ditto is the APC owner and general commanding officer and former governor of Lagos Bola Tinubu, who himself was born in Osun State. So the Igbo person similarly has the right to also aspire to the governorship of Lagos State like this two "strangers" too; hence the Oba has no prerogative to claim exclusive ownership of Lagos in adverse of any other Nigerian who chooses to call Lagos home. 

What was said is very menacing and the manner it was said, very condescending and demeaning too. A master and overlord dismissively giving express warning to his underlings and subjects to do his bidding or they would be drowned in the lagoon? Even Orwellian Animal Farm was not this brazen and impetuous. What manner of a father, be it royal or biological, would so threaten his supposed children - that they would be water boarded until they drown and then their bloated bodies dumped into the lagoon? And then to add insult to injury told them further that it is a willy-nilly affair as he is not begging them but telling them? Really, and Nigeria is still a free country and practicing democracy; and this high chief had the temerity to want to abridge other peoples' freedom to choose who they want as their governor? This man made his choice by selling for his candidate but now wants to deprive and deny other fellow citizens of their own right to make their respective choices and someone calls this a free country? 

Why did Nigeria become a republic in 1963 if not to shave off the British monarchy overbearing influence on Nigerians? Or was it a case of substituting one white colonizing overlord for another internally colonizing black one?  If by the Yoruba tradition, the Oba has authority over the Yoruba people within his Isale Eko domain, does that mean he can now extend and dictate to every other people who live in every part of Lagos, a part of their country, too? is it okay therefore for the Imam of Lagos to equally decree or pass a fatwa that every person in Lagos must become a Muslim or be drowned in the lagoon? Ditto the Christian leaders thereto? Did this Oba not know that Igbo people are very republican and are not given to one central authority called king and why did he think he can now impose his kingship over this special breed of Nigerians? 

The other thing many commentators are missing out or mixing up is the mindset that uttered such horrendous hateful statement? A mindset that once rose to become an AIG in the Nigeria Police Force and you wonder how he scornfully treated and did not promote or recommend for promotion people from Igboland who passed under or through him? Icheoku recalls it was this same Oba Akiolu who forced President Jonathan's hands to fire then IGP Ogbonna Onovo, due to an existing feud both men had while they served in the police force? The Oba disrespectfully rejected the Commissioner of Police the then IGP Onovo posted to Lagos, forcing a showdown that eventually saw the COP reposted elsewhere and which was followed soon with the firing of IGP Onovo himself. So what we are seeing here is a pattern of hatred and avid anti-Igbo very antagonistic sentiments, being continually expressed by this  paramount ruler. The same Oba once quipped that when the Igbo people came to Lagos, they did not carry any houses from their homeland in the East to Lagos but are now buying up the entire Lagos? Icheoku asks, what else is needed to find this man the hateful anti-Igbo man he is; as the only thing that changed this time is that it was captured on smart-phone, hence this brouhaha. 

Icheoku says this Oba has by his hateful utterance lost every reverence which he holds by reason of the office which he occupies; and is now susceptible to all manners of attacks, including those which otherwise would have been considered not edifying or dignified. By his utterance  he has made himself a mouse and every cat is now free to strike their luck, jabbing him. How can a sane public fatherly figure so isolate a people and condemn them to death by drowning, especially when they committed no crime to deserve the punishment. Just listen to this raving man pouring his heart out on his disdain of a people who are merely struggling to keep themselves afloat in a country which has continuously marginalized them and for too long. According to Oba Akiolu, 

"On Saturday, if anyone of you goes against the Ambode I picked, that is your end. If it doesn’t happen within seven days, just know that I’m a bastard and it is not my father who born me. The one you have done before, he’s my son. Jonathan is my son and I speak to him every day. But, this Saturday, by the grace of God almighty Allah, I am the owner of Lagos and the owner of this…for the time being. Listen. Because this is an undivided chair. The palace belongs to the dead, the living and those coming in future. On Saturday, if anyone of you, I swear in the name of God almighty Allah, goes against my wish that Ambode, insha Allahu, will be the next governor of Lagos State, the person is going to die inside this water. I’m not ready to beg, appeal to anybody o. And that’s why Asiwaju and the governor said, I said that is your own. Even the two of them they cannot disobey me. Nobody knew how I picked Ambode. Jimi (Agbaje) is my blood relation and I told him in a plain language he can never be governor in Lagos for now. The future belongs to God. I am not begging anybody to go, but you must not, I repeat… what you people cannot do in Onitsha, what you cannot do in Aba or anywhere, you do here in Lagos. If you do what I want, Lagos will continue to be prosper for you. If you go against it, you will perish in the water. Finish.” 

Icheoku is raving mad at the excuse proffered by the leader of those traders who went to the Idungaran palace of Oba Akiolu as to why they did not react as expected following the threat; and berates him and his delegation for not immediately walking out on the Oba in protest. How can any true blooded Igbo man be present where such a threat to his people were being made without being highly offended, regardless of whether or not they were being courteous inside the Oba's palace? It is very offensive and offends every sensibilities of every Igbo man and woman that such an insult and affront and threat on Ndigbo was not immediately reacted to by those traders who were in attendance. This is why they are not the authentic Igbo leaders but mere traders interested in protecting their shops from being looted and vandalized by the Oba's controlled and directed notorious area boys street urchins.  What a pitiful pity party these traders are that indeed courted this decrepitude. 

Unfortunately, according to Yoruba tradition, an Oba cannot apologize or withdraw whatever he has said, but at least his underlings can do so and also refuse to drown those Ndigbo who live in Lagos inside the lagoon? This is imperative because directive to enforce an illegal order can be refused and Icheoku expects those area boys to refuse to obey their king on levying genocide on bona fide members of the Nigerian society who call that part of Nigeria home. This is the natural thing to do under the circumstances - distance themselves from the illegality as any other contrary disposition will force the hands of Ndigbo to defend themselves and there will be no other better definition of anarchy than an incensed Ndigbo turned loose in Lagos.  But regardless, Icheoku insists that only an unreserved apology and retraction from the palace would suffice in this circumstance. What was said was horrendous and can only be a by-product of a deranged and demented mind or one heavily burdened by the influence of drugs and other hallucinatory substances and cannot be otherwise excused.  No sane royal father of ALL who reside and domicile within their domain should so discriminate against a section of his supposed subject in the manner the Oba has done. Icheoku says to the Idungaran Palace, Ndigbo deserves and demands an apology for the vituperation of your ruler and NOW.