THE EULOGY AT CHARLESTON, SIMPLY THE BEST.

Icheoku was personally moved to tears while listening to President Barack Obama deliver the eulogy for Reverend Clementa Pinckney's funeral at Charleston South Carolina. At one point Icheoku was seeing a Martin Luther King moment, his being assassinated right there on the pulpit; and prayed harder that the president moves rather more quickly and get away from that place before an assassins bullet whizzes through. Icheoku was perturbed and disturbed and in mortal fear that something bad might happen but thankfully the place was well secured and the president made it out there in one piece. The funeral oration was simply up there in the clouds, ranked among one of the president's best; and simply so captivating that only a dark souled monster would not be moved by it. He struck resonate tunes; he touched hard and bitter often no go area truths of America and he whipped some passion in many Americans, especially black Americans. Icheoku was overtly impressed and for once in a very long time, rekindled the waning love and faith Icheoku has in the president. It was stellar, it was beautiful and it was nicely delivered. Here now is the full transcript (text) of the 'Amazing Grace' hinged eulogy:-

"Giving all praise and honor to God. The Bible calls us to hope.  To persevere and have faith in things not seen. They were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance, admitting that they were foreigners and strangers on Earth.

We are here today to remember a man of God who lived by faith. A man who believed in things not seen. A man who believed there were better days ahead, off in the distance. A man of service who persevered, knowing full well he would not receive all those things he was promised, because he believed his efforts would deliver a better life for those who followed. To Jennifer, his beloved wife; to Eliana and Malana, his beautiful, wonderful daughters; to the Mother Emanuel family and the people of Charleston, the people of South Carolina.

I cannot claim to have the good fortune to know Reverend Pinckney well. But I did have the pleasure of knowing him and meeting him here in South Carolina, back when we were both a little bit younger. Back when I didn’t have visible grey hair. The first thing I noticed was his graciousness, his smile, his reassuring baritone, his deceptive sense of humor - all qualities that helped him wear so effortlessly a heavy burden of expectation.

Friends of his remarked this week that when Clementa Pinckney entered a room, it was like the future arrived; that even from a young age, folks knew he was special. Anointed. He was the progeny of a long line of the faithful - a family of preachers who spread God’s word, a family of protesters who sowed change to expand voting rights and desegregate the South. Clem heard their instruction, and he did not forsake their teaching. 

He was in the pulpit by 13, pastor by 18, public servant by 23.  He did not exhibit any of the cockiness of youth, nor youth’s insecurities; instead, he set an example worthy of his position, wise beyond his years, in his speech, in his conduct, in his love, faith, and purity.  

As a senator, he represented a sprawling swath of the Lowcountry, a place that has long been one of the most neglected in America. A place still wracked by poverty and inadequate schools; a place where children can still go hungry and the sick can go without treatment. A place that needed somebody like Clem. 

His position in the minority party meant the odds of winning more resources for his constituents were often long. His calls for greater equity were too often unheeded, the votes he cast were sometimes lonely. But he never gave up. He stayed true to his convictions. He would not grow discouraged. After a full day at the capitol, he’d climb into his car and head to the church to draw sustenance from his family, from his ministry, from the community that loved and needed him. There he would fortify his faith, and imagine what might be.

Reverend Pinckney embodied a politics that was neither mean, nor small. He conducted himself quietly, and kindly, and diligently. He encouraged progress not by pushing his ideas alone, but by seeking out your ideas, partnering with you to make things happen. He was full of empathy and fellow feeling, able to walk in somebody else’s shoes and see through their eyes. No wonder one of his senate colleagues remembered Senator Pinckney as “the most gentle of the 46 of us - the best of the 46 of us.”

Clem was often asked why he chose to be a pastor and a public servant. But the person who asked probably didn’t know the history of the AME church. As our brothers and sisters in the AME church know, we don't make those distinctions. “Our calling,” Clem once said, “is not just within the walls of the congregation, but … the life and community in which our congregation resides.”  

He embodied the idea that our Christian faith demands deeds and not just words; that the “sweet hour of prayer” actually lasts the whole week long - that to put our faith in action is more than individual salvation, it's about our collective salvation; that to feed the hungry and clothe the naked and house the homeless is not just a call for isolated charity but the imperative of a just society.

What a good man. Sometimes I think that's the best thing to hope for when you're eulogized - after all the words and recitations and resumes are read, to just say someone was a good man. 

You don’t have to be of high station to be a good man. Preacher by 13. Pastor by 18. Public servant by 23. What a life Clementa Pinckney lived. What an example he set. What a model for his faith. And then to lose him at 41 - slain in his sanctuary with eight wonderful members of his flock, each at different stages in life but bound together by a common commitment to God.  

Cynthia Hurd. Susie Jackson. Ethel Lance. DePayne Middleton-Doctor. Tywanza Sanders. Daniel L. Simmons. Sharonda Coleman-Singleton. Myra Thompson. Good people. Decent people. God-fearing people. People so full of life and so full of kindness. People who ran the race, who persevered. People of great faith.

To the families of the fallen, the nation shares in your grief. Our pain cuts that much deeper because it happened in a church. The church is and always has been the center of African-American life - a place to call our own in a too often hostile world, a sanctuary from so many hardships.  

Over the course of centuries, black churches served as “hush harbors” where slaves could worship in safety; praise houses where their free descendants could gather and shout hallelujah - rest stops for the weary along the Underground Railroad; bunkers for the foot soldiers of the Civil Rights Movement. They have been, and continue to be, community centers where we organize for jobs and justice; places of scholarship and network; places where children are loved and fed and kept out of harm’s way, and told that they are beautiful and smart - and taught that they matter. That’s what happens in church.  

That’s what the black church means. Our beating heart. The place where our dignity as a people is inviolate. Well there’s no better example of this tradition than Mother Emanuel - a church built by blacks seeking liberty, burned to the ground because its founder sought to end slavery, only to rise up again, a Phoenix from these ashes. 

When there were laws banning all-black church gatherings, services happened here anyway, in defiance of unjust laws. When there was a righteous movement to dismantle Jim Crow, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. preached from its pulpit, and marches began from its steps. A sacred place, this church. Not just for blacks, not just for Christians, but for every American who cares about the steady expansion - of human rights and human dignity in this country; a foundation stone for liberty and justice for all. That’s what the church meant. 

We do not know whether the killer of Reverend Pinckney and eight others knew all of this history. But he surely sensed the meaning of his violent act. It was an act that drew on a long history of bombs and arson and shots fired at churches, not random, but as a means of control, a way to terrorize and oppress. An act that he imagined would incite fear and recrimination; violence and suspicion. An act that he presumed would deepen divisions that trace back to our nation’s original sin. 

Oh, but God works in mysterious ways. God has different ideas. He didn’t know he was being used by God. Blinded by hatred, the alleged killer could not see the grace surrounding Reverend Pinckney and that Bible study group - the light of love that shone as they opened the church doors and invited a stranger to join in their prayer circle. The alleged killer could have never anticipated the way the families of the fallen would respond when they saw him in court - in the midst of unspeakable grief, with words of forgiveness. He couldn’t imagine that.  

The alleged killer could not imagine how the city of Charleston, under the good and wise leadership of Mayor Riley - how the state of South Carolina, how the United States of America would respond - not merely with revulsion at his evil act, but with big-hearted generosity and, more importantly, with a thoughtful introspection and self-examination that we so rarely see in public life.

Blinded by hatred, he failed to comprehend what Reverend Pinckney so well understood - the power of God’s grace. This whole week, I’ve been reflecting on this idea of grace. The grace of the families who lost loved ones. The grace that Reverend Pinckney would preach about in his sermons. The grace described in one of my favorite hymnals - the one we all know: Amazing grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me. I once was lost, but now I’m found; was blind but now I see. 

According to the Christian tradition, grace is not earned. Grace is not merited. It’s not something we deserve. Rather, grace is the free and benevolent favor of God - as manifested in the salvation of sinners and the bestowal of blessings. Grace.  

As a nation, out of this terrible tragedy, God has visited grace upon us, for he has allowed us to see where we’ve been blind. He has given us the chance, where we’ve been lost, to find our best selves. We may not have earned it, this grace, with our rancor and complacency, and short-sightedness and fear of each other - but we got it all the same. He gave it to us anyway.  He’s once more given us grace. But it is up to us now to make the most of it, to receive it with gratitude, and to prove ourselves worthy of this gift.

For too long, we were blind to the pain that the Confederate flag stirred in too many of our citizens. It’s true, a flag did not cause these murders. But as people from all walks of life, Republicans and Democrats, now acknowledge - including Governor Haley, whose recent eloquence on the subject is worthy of praise - as we all have to acknowledge, the flag has always represented more than just ancestral pride. For many, black and white, that flag was a reminder of systemic oppression and racial subjugation. We see that now.  

Removing the flag from this state’s capitol would not be an act of political correctness; it would not be an insult to the valor of Confederate soldiers. It would simply be an acknowledgment that the cause for which they fought - the cause of slavery - was wrong - the imposition of Jim Crow after the Civil War, the resistance to civil rights for all people was wrong. It would be one step in an honest accounting of America’s history; a modest but meaningful balm for so many unhealed wounds. It would be an expression of the amazing changes that have transformed this state and this country for the better, because of the work of so many people of goodwill, people of all races striving to form a more perfect union.  By taking down that flag, we express God’s grace. 

But I don't think God wants us to stop there. For too long, we’ve been blind to the way past injustices continue to shape the present. Perhaps we see that now. Perhaps this tragedy causes us to ask some tough questions about how we can permit so many of our children to languish in poverty, or attend dilapidated schools, or grow up without prospects for a job or for a career.      

Perhaps it causes us to examine what we’re doing to cause some of our children to hate. Perhaps it softens hearts towards those lost young men, tens and tens of thousands caught up in the criminal justice system - and leads us to make sure that that system is not infected with bias; that we embrace changes in how we train and equip our police so that the bonds of trust between law enforcement and the communities they serve make us all safer and more secure.   

Maybe we now realize the way racial bias can infect us even when we don't realize it, so that we're guarding against not just racial slurs, but we're also guarding against the subtle impulse to call Johnny back for a job interview but not Jamal. So that we search our hearts when we consider laws to make it harder for some of our fellow citizens to vote. By recognizing our common humanity by treating every child as important, regardless of the color of their skin or the station into which they were born, and to do what’s necessary to make opportunity real for every American - by doing that, we express God’s grace. 

For too long, we’ve been blind to the unique mayhem that gun violence inflicts upon this nation. Sporadically, our eyes are open: When eight of our brothers and sisters are cut down in a church basement, 12 in a movie theater, 26 in an elementary school. But I hope we also see the 30 precious lives cut short by gun violence in this country every single day; the countless more whose lives are forever changed - the survivors crippled, the children traumatized and fearful every day as they walk to school, the husband who will never feel his wife’s warm touch, the entire communities whose grief overflows every time they have to watch what happened to them happen to some other place.  

The vast majority of Americans - the majority of gun owners - want to do something about this. We see that now. And I'm convinced that by acknowledging the pain and loss of others, even as we respect the traditions and ways of life that make up this beloved country - by making the moral choice to change, we express God’s grace.

We don’t earn grace. We're all sinners. We don't deserve it. But God gives it to us anyway. And we choose how to receive it. It's our decision how to honor it.  

None of us can or should expect a transformation in race relations overnight. Every time something like this happens, somebody says we have to have a conversation about race. We talk a lot about race. There’s no shortcut. And we don’t need more talk. None of us should believe that a handful of gun safety measures will prevent every tragedy. It will not. People of goodwill will continue to debate the merits of various policies, as our democracy requires - this is a big, raucous place, America is. And there are good people on both sides of these debates. Whatever solutions we find will necessarily be incomplete.

But it would be a betrayal of everything Reverend Pinckney stood for, I believe, if we allowed ourselves to slip into a comfortable silence again. Once the eulogies have been delivered, once the TV cameras move on, to go back to business as usual - that’s what we so often do to avoid uncomfortable truths about the prejudice that still infects our society. To settle for symbolic gestures without following up with the hard work of more lasting change - that’s how we lose our way again.  

It would be a refutation of the forgiveness expressed by those families if we merely slipped into old habits, whereby those who disagree with us are not merely wrong but bad; where we shout instead of listen; where we barricade ourselves behind preconceived notions or well-practiced cynicism.

Reverend Pinckney once said, “Across the South, we have a deep appreciation of history - we haven’t always had a deep appreciation of each other’s history.” What is true in the South is true for America. Clem understood that justice grows out of recognition of ourselves in each other. That my liberty depends on you being free, too. That history can’t be a sword to justify injustice, or a shield against progress, but must be a manual for how to avoid repeating the mistakes of the past - how to break the cycle. A roadway toward a better world. He knew that the path of grace involves an open mind - but, more importantly, an open heart.  

That’s what I’ve felt this week - an open heart. That, more than any particular policy or analysis, is what’s called upon right now, I think - what a friend of mine, the writer Marilyn Robinson, calls “that reservoir of goodness, beyond, and of another kind, that we are able to do each other in the ordinary cause of things.”  

That reservoir of goodness. If we can find that grace, anything is possible. If we can tap that grace, everything can change. 

Amazing grace how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me; I once was lost, but now I’m found; was blind but now I see. 

Clementa Pinckney found that grace.  

Cynthia Hurd found that grace.  

Susie Jackson found that grace.  

Ethel Lance found that grace.  

DePayne Middleton-Doctor found that grace.

Tywanza Sanders found that grace.  

Daniel L. Simmons, Sr. found that grace.  

Sharonda Coleman-Singleton found that grace.  

Myra Thompson found that grace.

Through the example of their lives, they’ve now passed it on to us. May we find ourselves worthy of that precious and extraordinary gift, as long as our lives endure. May grace now lead them home. May God continue to shed His grace on the United States of America.'

GAY MARRIAGE, SUPREME COURT SAYS YES YOU CAN.

 Icheoku says the United States Supreme court has come through for Gays in America, agreeing that gay people are free to marry each other throughout the United States of America. With this ruling, the second from the Supreme Court just within the last forty eight hours, President Barack Obama has got double victories in things that he cares for and which matters to him dearly. First was his signature health-care legislation initiative The Affordable Care Act aka ObamaCare; and now the rights of gay people in America to marry themselves. Icheoku says it is a safe argument therefore to make that this particular Supreme court is a gift that keeps on giving to President Barack Obama. In a 5 to 4 decision the Supreme Court agrees that gay people like any other people reserve the right to love and marry whoever they choose and are in love with. Icheoku adds that the basic right to marry and now marry anyone anyone chooses, should as a necessarily concomitant, also include the right of A-sexual persons not to marry at all and remain as they choose to be, single but not available. These people are not gay, they are straight,  but cannot put up with all the dramas and headaches of marriage and/or they are selfishly into themselves that they cannot honestly and sincerely share their space or life with another person. There is nothing wrong with these people, thats just who they are and the way they were made. 

Icheoku says congratulations to all the gays, lesbians, transgenders and bisexuals of this world, especially those of them in America, who wants to get hitched; as the red carpet has now been fully unruffled for them to walk on and into bliss by the United States of America Supreme Court. A gay marriage experiment started by then San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom, which later took a life of its own and now this; getting the final seal of approval from the last arbiter of disputes in America, the United States of America Supreme Court. Icheoku says what a revolutionary decision and very commendable indeed. As for Icheoku, marriage is a choice and so also is who anyone chooses to marry; and taking a step further, Icheoku does not mind if any person decides to even marry dogs, cats, dolphin, trees or even the ocean. That is their personal decision and they should be allowed to exercise that option freely and without any encumbrance whatsoever. Icheoku says it is also about time the greater society butts out of any person's personal business and allow people to jump off as they see and deem fit. All this baby-sitting of people by society should cease and let every adult paddle his or her boat as they see fit. 

Once again, kudos to the voices of courage that rose up to identify with those who find comfort in people of their own gender and Icheoku does not see anything wrong with that. The headache that is marriage is not predicated on who or what anyone chooses to marry, no; it is the per se burden of being yoked with another person and forcibly sharing everything in your life with them which automatically comes with such marital unions. Just like heterosexual unions have their problems and sometimes even kill each other, homosexuals are not any different, as they could be as bitchy as the worst bitchy-wife out there and some  lesbians could be as mean spirited and abusive as the worst husband from hell out there. It all depends on relativity because hell contains all shades and manners of miscreants. Good luck LGBT and may the spending now begin; afterall America is a country that is plugged into money and everything and anything that is commercially viable is always kosher. What a new boom time for the marriage industry? It is also good to know that this weekend, June 27 - 28 is Gay Pride weekend in San Francisco California and what a beautiful pride's gift from the United States of America Supreme Court, this ruling is, to all the gay people of this world particularly those of them who call San Francisco home. From Icheoku to you, happy pride's day America; happy pride day San Francisco and hooray Castro District!!!

Pres. Obama delivers the eulogy for slain Charleston pastor

DYLANN ROOF IS ALSO A VICTIM, DESERVES OUR SYMPATHY TOO?

Icheoku says the church murderer of Charleston, Dylann Roof, is himself equally a victim of a society of hate that has fostered racism and for so long. This young man was not born hating anyone; neither was he born at the time slavery was the vogue nor the height of racial struggle in America, but he learnt from someone, someone taught him to hate including the greater American society that has found it increasingly difficult to totally shade itself of its racism vestiges in order for a more wholesome society to emerge and thrive. 

But when a twenty one year old, born when Bill Clinton was president, grows up knowing about we and them; and that we are the supremacists and they are the subservients of the society; or Senator John McCain calling then candidate Obama "THAT ONE", then something inherently was wrong. Icheoku says that in as much as everyone including the worst racists of America themselves are now, because of what is popular and for political correctness, hounding Dylann Roof and calling for his head on a platter, a more solution-driven approach should be employed in dealing with him. Dylann Roof too is also a victim of racism because if he was not born in a society of hate that hates and divides its citizens and tiers everyone according to the color of their skin, Dylann Roof, would not have learnt to hate anybody neither would he have taken such heinous step geared at provoking war of superiority among Americans. Something drove this young man over the edge and into committing the most heinous crime of murder, the murders of nine bible studying Americans who happened to be blacks, right inside their black church. Why should there be black and white churches in America, one may ask if this is not racism per se? 

Icheoku asks who taught Dylann Roof how to hate and from where did he learn to treat black people as beneath white people? At merely twenty one years old, he is barely old enough to know the early years of America and all the thorny road traveled through racial discrimination, which unfortunately still continues till today. He definitely learnt it from somewhere and this "somewhere" is the thing that America needs to start addressing. The general racist tendencies of the society is what needs an extreme makeover and do-over in order to change the mindset that thinks that some humans are superior to some other humans simply because of their skin colors. This thinking and disparate treatment of people whose skin pigmentation is not white is what needs to change? This is what will solve racial discrimination and its enveloping tension in America and in actuality put a stop to this type of race-tinged mass murders in the future. 

Like Jesus asked the mob, Icheoku says any American who is without any iota of racism in him or her, should sit in judgment over Dylann Roof; but unfortunately, not many will qualify. So being that the American society maintains this prejudiced views against people, particularly against people of different skin color and has somewhat contributed to the making of Dylann Roof, is America culpable and should America be held responsible for its product's actions. Therefore, Dylann Roof should be treated for what he is, a victim of racism too; and given the help he needs.  Admitted, his crime deserves the worst punishment that could be meted to any such criminal, but would a death sentence and his eventual execution cure the malaise that is racism in America. Americans, Icheoku says, you decide.

BOBBI KRISTINA IN HOSPICE, ENROUTE TO MEET MOM?

Icheoku says sometimes love kills and love has now somewhat killed Bobbi Kristina Brown, daughter of late Whitney Houston and Bobby Brown, who has been taken off all medications and moved to a dying facility to die peacefully and with whatever dignity that is still left around her? Their supposed love for her or rather spoiling her, which made it impossible for them to teach her correctly - the carrot and stick approach, turned out to be her worst nightmare, which incidentally, has now claimed her life. A young bubbly girl who grew up before our own very eyes, but who unfortunately found herself sandwiched between two very bad influences of a crackhead mother, Whitney Houston, and a rather too carefree pot-smoking dad, Bobby Brown who did not do a great job raising her and she ended up herself becoming a crackhead. Now her life is over, cut short by the same thing that killed her mother - drug overdose; and in what some people claim is an apparent suicide as she wanted to make her exit from this world the same way her mother did - overdose and then drown in a bathtub?  

It is indeed very pitiful that such a young life is now cut short by reason of people she surrounded herself with, people who did not genuinely have her interest at heart but who were merely around for the honey-pot that she is and would say and do whatever please her ears and as long as they were allowed to lick from it. Icheoku strongly believes that the fate which befell Bobbi Kristina could have been averted were she blessed with strong parents, who manned up and did what was needed to put a stop to the slide which has now taken her irrecoverably to the down under. Britney Spear is an example of one such person that was recovered from the deep six by a firm caring parent, her dad; who took matters into his hand and approached the court to help him intervene in her life. Today Britney Spear has made a huge rebound and is now fully in charge of her life and taking care of business. But unfortunately, Bobbi Kristina was not similarly parents-lucky and is now headed to a crossover as a result. The same thing that took Whitney Houston away and in the same manner is now on the verge of also taking Bobbi Kristina away and Icheoku wonders whether a different outcome would have been possible? But hey, it is life and life happens; and Icheoku prays she makes her transition quickly enough and without much further suffering. Hopefully she will reconnect with her mother, Whitney Houston, in the land beyond where they can touch bases on the demerits of doing drugs. What a life, gone too young. Adieu in advance Bobbi.

BUHARI'S DISAPEARING PRESIDENCY - OKEY NDIBE

'President Muhammadu Buhari is dangerously close to leaving Nigerians disillusioned. Forget about his failure (as at this writing) to announce his cabinet, bad as it is. For me, the deeper disappointment lies in the near-absence of the president’s voice from the national conversation.

Let’s begin, however, with the least important element of Mr. Buhari’s so far lack-luster Presidency. It’s approximately three months since Nigerians voted for Mr. Buhari, on his fourth try, to be their president. By any objective measure, three months is more than enough time for a man who sought power with a certain persistence to figure out his cabinet.

The president’s explanation for his tardiness in unveiling a cabinet is two-fold. One is that his predecessor, President Goodluck Jonathan, had been less than fully cooperative with his transition team. The second: that he wants a thorough background check done on potential ministers to save himself the chore of firing ministers shortly after nominating them.

There are, I suggest, two other—perhaps even more important—factors that Mr. Buhari chose not to name. One has to do with Nigerians’ (unreasonably) high expectations from the Buhari administration. Aware that his cabinet will be the most closely scrutinized of any recent president, perhaps Mr. Buhari has succumbed to a sort of partial paralysis or suspended animation.

Of equal significance is the impression that President Buhari has yet to find an effective formula for resolving the conflicting demands and expectations of various factions within the fractious family of his political party, the All Progressives Congress (APC). In Nigeria and elsewhere, the disposition of ministerial posts is an instrument for rewarding various “stakeholders” who contributed, in one way or another, to a political victory. President Buhari’s unusual and bizarre string of IOUs includes real or perceived debts to former President Olusegun Obasanjo, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, and former Governors Bola Tinubu and Rotimi Amaechi.

Leadership involves a measure of deliberation, prudent and pragmatism. Yet, even when we allow for Mr. Buhari’s official explanation, the grand scale of public expectation, and the intractability of intra-party squabbles, one insists that the president’s snail pace is troubling. It has left some of his most fervent fans scratching their heads, scrambling for answers.

In the end, it should not matter whether Mr. Jonathan cooperated with his successor’s transition team or not. Candidate Buhari presented himself as the answer, the epitome of change, as a man capable of addressing Nigeria’s perennial problems. Nigerians subsequently hired him, in a veritably historic election, to be the chief minder of their business of state. It behooves the president to find ingenious ways of doing his job without making excuses. He may well take off in the near future, and soar as a leader. For now, however, one finds no justification for his inordinate delay in achieving a goal as basic as composing a cabinet. The delinquency suggests a failure to prepare for the task ahead.

And I say this as somebody who was on record as expecting little from a Buhari Presidency. I always stipulated that the singular gift that the man would bring to office was a modest lifestyle and a legacy of self-restraint in the department of material accumulation. I was certain that a country like Nigeria, deeply deformed by its elite’s greed, could use a man of Mr. Buhari’s ascetic temperament. But I was just as certain that the challenge of leading a complex country demanded more, far more, than a man who would not lose his head in the presence of lucre.

That Mr. Buhari, a serial seeker of the Nigerian presidency, has squandered three months since his election, a month since his inauguration, without naming his cabinet, points, quite simply, to a level of unpreparedness. And if our brand new president is unprepared in personnel matters, how is he to tackle the weightier issues of unemployment, infrastructural dilapidation, terrorism, a shambolic healthcare system, educational crisis, and electric power woes?

Which brings me to a more disquieting aspect of the fledging Presidency. Mr. Buhari’s handlers would wish to frame his disappearance from public discourse as evidence of a deliberative cast of mind. But one must ask: Is there no aspect of Nigeria’s malaise that the president has figured out a set of proposals? Is there no area where he feels the need for urgency?

It’s remarkable that, in one month as president, Mr. Buhari has not laid out a single policy proposal on any of the major national issues that concern the millions who voted for him. He has not specified even the outline of what he intends to do about Nigeria’s educational system, which has been on life support for some time. He has not defined a pathway to a healthcare system worthy of the name. With the price of crude oil still relatively low, the theft of Nigerian crude at an all-time high, and crude oil exports at wishy-washy levels, Nigerians must gird themselves for a long spell of hard times. Yet, our president has not made any pronouncement about the shape of things to come. He has not cared to remind Nigerians that the days of dependable oil revenues are, possibly permanently, behind us.

In the Nigerian imagination, President Buhari’s antipathy to corruption was supposed to strike fear in the hearts of past plunderers and stay the hands of current custodians of the public trust. Yet, Mr. Buhari has not revealed any strategy for combating corruption, or recovering hundreds of billions of dollars stolen by public officials, including many of his APC cohorts. I daresay that his silence on corruption is the biggest letdown, so far, of the Buhari Presidency. If care is not taken, the idea will soon gain ground that it’s business as usual, as far as corrupt practices go.

In a rare soul-baring moment, President Buhari confessed that his age, 72, is an impediment to his effectiveness. It was a devastating confession, one that Nigerians had better reckon with as we re-calibrate our fantasies about the new president’s superhuman powers. Those who saw in Buhari the answer to all questions having to do with Nigeria must adjust their expectations quotient.

The question is, when did Mr. Buhari realize that age would be a debilitation? If he felt that age or infirmity would hamper him, why did he present himself for office? Was he not always aware that, even for those who view the Presidency as a four-year ticket to endless jollification, the office poses arduous challenges?

One has the sneaking suspicion that age may not be the sole issue here. As I proposed before the elections—and now reiterate—both the APC and the dismissed Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) are ideologically indistinguishable. The drama in the National Assembly, where the PDP essentially stole the APC’s thunder in determining who and who will shape Nigeria’s legislative agenda, has demonstrated this essential fact. Nigerians must hope that Mr. Buhari not been hemmed in by forces he has little power to shake.

Time will tell. But this much one can claim with confidence: the first month of the Buhari Presidency has been far, far from inspiring.

P. DIDDY NEVER LEARNS, ARRESTED AGAIN FOR A BRAWL?

Icheoku says you know the justice system is seriously gunning for you when a mere altercation becomes "a terrorist threat  and an assault with deadly weapon"; and you ask yourself, is what qualifies as a 'deadly weapon' now this so open-ended to also include a kettle bell? Sean P. Diddy Combs was arrested for assault with a "deadly weapon" which was later amended and upgraded to three counts:- one count of assault with a deadly weapon, one count of making terrorist threats and one count of battery. Icheoku says it is evident from these charges that Sean P. Diddy might be looking at doing some serious time and it appears they have finally cornered him. 

But it is Sean Puffy Diddy and he seems not to learn from prior events in his life? This is a guy who narrowly missed spending time in the slammer by dint of luck and a very good defense attorney, charged in 1999 with weapons possession and firing same inside a crowded New York City night club as well as bribing his chauffeur to take the fall for that but was acquitted. Again he was arrested for beating up Steve Stoute of Inter-scope Records but was ordered to attend anger management class following an apology for his misbehavior. Later in early 2015, the same P. Diddy was again accused by an Arizona guy of hitting him on the face but the matter settled with P. Diddy paying off the guy before charges could be brought. Now the same Puff Diddy or P Diddy or Sean Combs or whatever alias he currently identifies with or goes by, has again lost his mind, blew the gasket and assaulted a football fitness trainer and with a "deadly weapon?" Icheoku asks when will P. Diddy grow up and realize that as a black man in America, that he is permanently in the cross-hair of the American justice system which cannot wait to put him away where he "belongs" or at least tag him as an ex-convict marker. 

Icheoku says that many a prosecutor or District Attorney in America will be salivating to be the vehicle that will finally put P. Diddy away, where he supposedly belongs; and will not hesitate to spring at any opportunity to so do, is a well known fact. Unfortunately too, Johnnie Cochran who used to fiercely and zealously get these guys' backs and who served as the ever ready dutiful Rottweiler, always standing between them and the big house, have since been killed and there is no other person out there with such dexterity of purpose and who really cares and have these peoples interest at heart, now to defend them.  But regardless, this fact of consequence seems to be lost on people like P. Diddy or it may not be sufficient to make them calm down and walk the very fine thin-line with their antennas honed-in and rather very carefully. 

Icheoku asks what is P. Diddy's business even attending his son's football coaching or training or practice session and if he must, why did he not see the football as a game; and the coach or trainer as a person doing his utmost best to make his son the best player he can be? What happened to his candor and respectability or how else does he plan to explain his bad behavior to his son; or that his behavior was the best way to be a daddy or that simply giving blacks in America another tattoo as very unruly and ill-mannered people is desirable? Icheoku does not get it as there is nothing there to get that a fully grown man and a father for that matter, should, while attending his son's practice game, so take matters into his hand, roughing up his son's trainer and with a "deadly weapon?" 

May be it is about time indeed, P. Diddy is sent to prison so that he can learn some hard lessons of life that he cannot always walk free from all these street-thug's misbehavior which is not befitting a person of his status, especially being black in an American society that is always stereotyping black men as ANGRY. Funny enough, he never looks at people like Jay-Z or Dr Dre to emulate their exemplary behavior or try to  behave like them. This two people are equally very successful black Americans but they do not allow their success or fame to get into their head with thinking that they have become untouchables and can do as they please or get away with everything and anything. 

Icheoku hereby calls on P. Diddy to search his conscience and advise himself that regardless of the outcome of the present legal tango, that this should be the last of such misbehavior coming from him. P. Diddy has nothing else to prove to anyone or to himself and should just chill while enjoying his good life as such boisterousness is not a sign of someone who is together with his faculties. Just like OJ Simpson, when this people put a bulls-eye on anyone's black person's back they will hit their marker, although it might take some time and some plotting.  As William Shakespeare said through Julius Caesar in a book similarly so titled 'Julius Caesar', the Ides of March has come but not gone, so P. Diddy should learn to always be wary and vigilant and strive to always protect himself from all the wolves of America trying to get him because they will not and will never stop trying. The fact that other raps against him were beaten, does not mean they have or will leave him alone or that he has now become a Teflon Don who nothing can stick on. , so watch it and mend your ways before it is too late. To Sean Puffy Diddy Combs, Icheoku says, please watch your actions and mend your ways before it is too late. ENOUGH is ENOUGH.

TAKING DOWN THE FLAG WILL NOT CUT IT, RACISM IN AMERICA BROADER THAN FLAG?

Icheoku says although the current move in South Carolina to take down the racist, slave-owners' Confederate flag is a good step in the right direction; but like President Obama rightly pointed out 'merely  not using the derogatory word 'NIGGER' to address a black American does not necessarily mean there is no racism in the country.' The country needs to do more and should indeed do more if it sincerely wants to move the issue of race relations in America forward and to a more better acceptable and tolerable place. Icheoku says America needs to be more proactive, instead of all these fire service approach as the current reaction to the Charleston church race-killings, in broaching, tackling and decisively dealing with the issue of racism in America. 

Racism is a problem which is very pervasive throughout the American society, regardless of its present day mostly subterranean nature. Therefore taking the flag down from the grounds of South Carolina state capital is more of a mere symbolic gesture, concocted to pacify the current rage over the church murders in Charleston, than a real solution to race problems in America. So after the flag is taken down and the current media hoopla, camera and lights are panned elsewhere, then what? Has the black American been able to get a job? Has the back American been able to be accepted in the society as a person, especially in certain neighborhoods where he or she is not a welcome sight? Has the black American been able to get loans and credits from banks and at the same rate and terms as his/her average white counterpart? Has he or she  been able to get mortgage rates comparable to his.her white counterparts? Has the black American been able to walk the street freely without unduly being conscious of the police who would apprehend him or her rough him or her up or even shoot him or her for somewhat trivial reason? Has the black American male been able to be seen and treated like a human being and not just that angry black man? 

Icheoku is emphatic that there are simply so many forms of racism in America and only those who wear the shoes, the victims of racism, actually understands the pain because they feel the pain. These are the targets of racism, the victims of racism in America, the people that actually have and should have the sole prerogative to attest to the ugly effects of being discriminated against because of the color of their skin. Icheoku says the current renunciations of racism will be more effective the moment it begins to address the mindset that fosters it; the moment it begets full integration amongst all races that call America home; the moment a black kid and white kid can freely play in the park without the white kid's parents coming to yank their child away from the playground because he is not supposed to mingle with the black kid; the moment white people and black people will not practically live in a separate but equal society; a society where blacks have their own neighborhood while the white people have their own neighborhood and a white person can kill a black person for merely straying therein; where black people have their own black churches while white people have their own white churches or where late Jerry Falwell could proudly proclaim that white people have a different God from black people; where white kids have and enjoy all the privileges including best schools and better job opportunities while black kids are left holding the bags. 

Icheoku says until the longing of Martin Luther King of an America where Americans will be judged by the content of their character and not by the color of their skin are put into effective practical use, all these current rhetoric  on race or taking the flag down will continue to sound hollow; and at best are only as good as the sound bites which they are.  These existing racial differences in America are the things that need to be taken down alongside the confederate flag; but not just only the symbolic flag flying on the grounds of South Carolina and throughout Southern United States of America. 

Icheoku says action speaks louder than words, so let white Americans show black Americans and indeed the entire world that they are now ready to do good to and by their fellow Americans and then put their words into practical effects. But for Senator Lindsey Graham and Governor Nikki Haley of South Carolina to suddenly feel jolted because of the Charleston church murders into now calling for the take down of the confederate flag that has flown in South Carolina for several decades now, is merely pandering to the moment and the current hysteria in the country. Why haven't these elected officials done something about the flag all these years or did they think it was funny reminding fellow Americans of their slavish past or that some people proudly resisted the attempt to grant fellow human-beings full human-being status of civil rights, flowing from the abolition of slavery? Such was their crazed-out desired intent to continue to keep fellow human-beings as their slaves that they took up arms against the country to retain their slave owning capacities and abilities; which they now celebrate through confederacy and its nauseating confederate flag. 

One thing with politicians is that they are like willow grass that always bend with the wind of opinion. Just give these panderers a few weeks when the current media attention will fade away and they will be singing alleluia to the merits of keeping the flag flying in honor of their war heroes past?   Their mantra is whatever gets them elected and keeps them in office is germane enough, regardless of the abhorable nature of it or the hurt it visits on some. But hey, at least taking down the flag is a right thing to do and a good start. If the death of the nine church-killed is what gets it done or becomes the kick-starter of solving race problems in America,  then may be, their death was not in vain afterall. But more than that, it is about time white Americans sincerely started listening to the cries of racism in America towards doing something about it. Every American is an American and therefore this discrimination based on the color of skin is not only not right, it is reprehensible and should not continue to have a place in America. The golden rule says "do unto others as you would like done unto you"; but why white Americans turn deaf ears to this rule bemuses Icheoku. So, it will be a thing of joy if white Americans would find some good in their heart to use the instance of the church-murders in Charleston to recommit themselves towards solving the race problem which is bedeviling the America society.

RACISM IN AMERICA CUTS ACROSS PARTY LINES.

Icheoku agrees with Colin Powell but adds that both Democrats and Republicans are equally as guilty in the continuation of racism in America. Late Senator Larry Byrd was a democrat and a grand capo of KKK. Former President Bill Clinton who told Late Senator Ted Kennedy that then candidate Barack Obama is supposed to be serving them tea is a democrat and his disposition then to Barack Obama was racist. So it cuts across party lines and still persists among virtually every white person in America who will not live in black neighborhood; whose children will not go to black schools; who attends only white churches; who has no black friend; who will not employ black person; who will not allow a black person to become an inlaw; who does not give a damn about black people and who saturates the prison with black people. Icheoku says they are all racists, admitted many of them would rather have you believe they are not racists but will by the same token tell you that they are more comfortable being around their kind but not black people. So now go figure what other definition of racism exists?

WHAT THE WARDEN SAID TO THE PRISONER, IF I WERE YOU?

A Warden was once addressing an unruly inmate, on the need to learn how to be a better prisoner and also to develop a staying power since they are going to be seeing each other for a very long time. The inmate was sentenced to multiple life terms totaling one thousand years with no possibility of parole or early release for good behavior. So bound and shackled, the inmate was frogmarched into the Warden's office, preparatory to doing a three weeks stay-cation inside the hole for breaking prison rules of good behavior. 

The Warden said to the prisoner, "I did not bring you to this place neither did I send you here, the judge did; and he wants you to spend a very long time in here. My job is to keep you here and make sure you comply with the order by preventing you from ever escaping from this place until the completion of your time or death, which ever one comes first. I also intend to keep my paycheck coming. This your acting out or being a tough guy or rather being a very needy sissy inside here is entirely misplaced. You would have done that right inside the courtroom before the judge struck his  gavel on the block. But since you missed that golden  opportunity, it is now lost forever. There is no much choice left with you in this matter - it is either you put up and do your time cooperatively or I will make you do it the hard way. So the only choice you really have if that is a choice, is to do your time and it is my job to make sure that you do it. The other unfortunate thing for you too is that only one person calls all the shots here. That is the Warden and that is the reason you are here now before me. To reiterate, I am the Warden and this prison is my empire. I am a maximum ruler and within this walls, I rule  with absolute authority. Therefore how you choose to spend your life in here or rather how comfortable you want me to make your stay here is entirely up to you. If you want me to advise you again on how to curry some favor and not make your experience here too harsh, be my guest; but in any other circumstance, just ask yourself how much of bull-crap are you prepared to really eat and swallow. If I were you, I will choose wisely. Once again, be reminded that I am the Warden here and we don't come a dime a dozen and there is a reason for that. 

Icheoku says a true story, but the morals of this story should not be lost on anyone as the wise can sometimes also learn from an imbecile. It is about choosing your fights smartly and the need never to embark on fights you don't have the ways and means of winning. Former President Goodluck Jonathan failed to imbibe this lesson of life when he half-heartily engaged his political godfather, Baba Iyabo, in a fight; and the later had him for lunch and spitted whatever he couldn't digest of him back to his humble cradle of Otuoke. Icheoku says if you must take on any person, first make sure that your odds of defeating them are high or at least be prepared to die fighting. But to stay alive and watch their venomous vengeance consume you is not part of smartness defined. Always avoid misplaced aggressions or transferred aggressions, because aggressing the wrong party is never a good state to be in, in any given fight. So when choosing your fights, like the proverbial chicken in the pot of soup story, always remember that the pot is merely doing its job and was not the knife that severed your throat. So if you must bend your neck, do it with the knife that caused the original hurt or harm, but please leave the pot alone as it was merely a receptacle of your lifeless body. Finally remember that any lesson learnt is always worth any story told. Salute.

KILLER NOODLES BANNED IN INDIA, WILL NIGERIA PROTECT HER OWN CITIZENS?

Icheoku says in view of the recent ban of the killer noodles, Nestlé Maggi 2 Minute Noodles, in India because of its high content of lead and Mono Sodium Glutamate (MSG), what is Nigeria and other impoverished countries of Africa doing to, in that respect, protect their citizens from harm and unnecessary death from cancer, liver and kidney diseases attributed to such noodles consumption? Icheoku says it is without doubt that kidney and liver diseases cases have skyrocketed in Nigeria since the introduction of some of these quick-fix meals and people have been dying as a result without the government rising up to the occasion to do something about it. So now that the Indian government have braved it and banned this high toxic instant meals, will Nigeria, following their lead, similarly act to protect her own over-exposed citizens by closing its market to these killer noodles? Will Nigeria man up and say to these corporate mercenaries to stop poising and killing her citizens with their toxic products? Icheoku says they should, because that is the best proactive measure towards safeguarding her citizens from harm and death occasioned by these hazardous products.

There is no gainsaying or second guessing the fact that over exposure or consumption of lead leads to health problems including cancer; and these noodles have been proved to contain excessive amount of lead in them. It is also a scientific fact that MSG adversely affects kidney and liver function as their residue and byproducts are not easily processed by these organs, hence  their accumulation causes liver cirrhosis and kidney failures. Icheoku asks what is the government of Nigeria, through its NAFDAC, doing to ensure that the same Nestle` killer noodles being sold in Nigeria and consumed by  Nigerians does not have such high concentration of poisonous lead and MSG as the ones perish sold in India; but which has now been banned from the Indian market in order to save the Indian people from needless deaths. Icheoku says Mono Sodium Glutamate is known for its bleaching properties which makes it easily usable as washing agent (magi-white) in bleaching white clothes. So, in the same vein, when excessively consumed, it corrodes the walls of the stomach as well as intestines, leading to ulcer, colon and stomach cancers? 

Therefore, should such product that is known to have this killer propensity still be allowed to freely sell in Nigeria markets, its attendant downsides considered? Icheoku says it should not; and as India has done, so should Nigeria and other countries similarly close their markets to this killer-noodles until their corporate manufacturers and marketers make them safe for human consumption. Excessive lead and MSG are purposely used in making these noodles to boost their quantity and easy addiction and therefore, being purely profit driven, their producers should  be forced to improve their Q&C and reduce the lead and MSG content of these noodles. Icheoku commends India’s  ban of this killer Nestle` Maggi instant noodles over safety concerns and with it now being withdrawn from Indian markets to protect Indian consumers, urges Nigeria to similarly so do in order to protect her own citizens from untimely death from liver, kidney and cancer attributable to excessive lead and Mono Sodium Glutamate. All these for profit corporations, whose greed almost always takes precedent over consumers health, especially in developing countries, must be told enough. Icheoku therefore calls on Nigeria government to ban Nestle`s instant noodles from the Nigeria market and NOW.