SURVIVING BUHARI'S PRESIDENCY, NDIGBO NEEDS A NEW STRATEGIC THINKING.

Icheoku says an aphorism has it that "it is either you are sitting on the table or you may be on the menu as part of the dinner." This reflects to a great extent the current state of affairs of complete exclusion and fate of Ndigbo in Nigeria under the present government of the man from Daura. The lanky one; the Cassius of Daura, President Muhammadu Buhari, who has successfully and audaciously excluded Ndigbo from all the very important positions of government so far filled. A matter made worse because neither the president nor the vice president nor the senate president nor the speaker nor the chief judge is an Igbo person. The result, there is no single Igbo person in occupation as head of any of the three arms of government - the executive, the legislature and the judiciary. 

Then add the Inspector General of Police; director general of Customs and Excise; Immigration chief; National Security Adviser; head of State Security Service; head of Army; head of Navy and head of Airforce - all positions filled without any Igbo person? Icheoku queries who will therefore get Ndigbo's back when matters affecting them as integral part of Nigeria is being deliberated on, at their back, without any of them being present? The signs are ominous and only a strategic thinking on their part will see Ndigbo through this very insensitive government of President Muhammadu Buhari. Ndigbo will need to adopt a "clever and smart" app in navigating the minefield that is President Muhammadu Buhari's presidency in order to survive the evil being hatched against them. Icheoku is not a seer but prophesies that he is evil that will so exclude an entire one third of a country's population and in this brazen manner of "to hell with you, Ndigbo." It is grave and it does not bode well for Ndigbo,  being so blatantly marginalized in this manner and you wonder whether President Muhammadu Buhari is by his actions so far, telegraphing a sinister message of "NOT PART OF OR WANTED IN NIGERIA" to the people of Southeast Igbo? 

Icheoku only prays that this latest anti-Ndigbo actions will help in galvanizing Ndigbo into a more cohesive and united people they used to be, who will once again start speaking with one voice of IGBO KWENU; and it does not and should not matter whether Joe Igbokwe decides not to "kwe" alongside. But whatever provocations of marginalization, Ndigbo must not bite the bait and give this proven demon an excuse to go ballistic on them with his dogs of war and instruments of mass destruction since he cannot wait to finish his unfinished business against Ndigbo. Ndigbo must think outside the box and play to survive the next four or eight  years, assuming brief illness does not intervene earlier and on their behalf. What a time to be a Nigerian when nobody wants you in Nigeria including a president who had sworn under oath to respect the tenets of the constitution, promised to be president of all and everyone; but who unfortunately is now showing his true colors, baring his fangs against a people many of whom gave him and his party their votes. Icheoku says the cattle-man President Muhammadu Buhari is simply wasting his time as no weapons fashioned by anyone including himself and/or Bola Tinubu shall prosper against Ndigbo, the God's anointed people of Nigeria IJN. Icheoku says "IGBO KWENU, KWESI ENU IKE.....IYOOO!!! IYAAAA!!!!!"

PRESIDENT MUHAMMADU BUHARI, SIMPLY IGBO-PHOBIA?

Icheoku says once again the little-hearted cattle-man president of Nigeria from Daura, a man who could not grow out of his old hateful and vile self, hating a people who did not do anything to him but merely refused to lie supine belly down in utter hopelessness and complete  surrender, has done it again. This time he appointed a seven-man team to streamline his war against corruption WITHOUT even a single Igbo person therein. Imagine a people who constitute more than one third of the country's populace being so continually marginalized and deliberately stayed out of the government by a supposedly Nigerian president of and for every Nigerian?  Icheoku says what other explanation do the APC apologists and Buharists, especially those of them from Igboland, Joe Igbokwe and Osita Okechukwu, have to proffer this time as reason for this continued slight and marginalization of Ndigbo? 

Fortunately, Icheoku does not care about this lean and mean Cassius of Daura; neither does Icheoku expect anything palliating from his one-man show styled government; and needless to hope that Ndigbo will get anything from him and/or his one-point agenda government either. Icheoku is emphatic that President Muhammadu Buhari, despite his very tall stature, appears to be a very little person inside. He is very small minded with a very small pint-sized unforgiving heart of bile beating inside of him. He seems to keep malice; does not know how to move on from his past - two vices which obviously constitute the greatest albatross hounding the man from Daura. 

Icheoku has come to the conclusion that President Muhammadu Buhari does not necessarily hate Ndigbo; rather he is most probably intimidated by them. As a result, he does not like the queasy feeling usually occasioned by having people you are deathly-afraid of being very close around you; hence his proactive decision to keep them out of his government and out of causing him needless panic-attacks or even the attack of the heart. Icheoku maintains that President Muhammadu Buhari's current trend of sidelining Ndigbo from his government is a calculated decision geared to permanently keeping Ndigbo out and at arms length? Recall that as a former coup plotting despotic head of state, only one Igbo person, the late Chike Offordile, made his cabinet as the then Attorney General and Minister of Justice of the Federation. Needless to rehash the many innocent Igbo politicians including Ikemba Nnewi whom he clamped into detention without cause or reason during the said first coming from hell. But lets move on.

Icheoku says this conclusion is the only derivable meaningful and articulable reason why the continued shut-out of Ndigbo in the present President Muhammadu Buhari led government of Nigeria. It shows that the lean and mean man of Daura has some unfinished business to finish with Ndigbo, which even the Asaba massacre in addition to other atrocities were incapable of atoning for; hence he must step up his war of attrition against Ndigbo by denying them their rightful places and positions in a Nigerian government led by him. Otherwise how else does anyone fathom an explanation to the continued exclusion of Ndigbo by the lanky fledgling from the far North or is the Biafran war still raging and not yet over in his closed-out mind? 

If in the eyes of President Muhammadu Buhari, the Nigerian war of attrition against Biafra was indeed over and that there was no victor and no vanquished as claimed, and that Ndigbo are still integral part of the greater Nigeria society,  why then the continued exclusion of them by him in the affairs of governance of Nigeria under his watch? A  people, so eminently and most competitively qualified, completely excluded in almost twenty five key appointments and still counting, so far made by President Muhammadu Buhari and he claimed that only "qualified" people were appointed into those positions; thus leading Icheoku to ponder what possibly amounts to qualification in the eyes of this President Muhammadu Buhari? The president's just announced latest seven "wise-men" appointment, mostly constituted of scholars and academia, yet no Igbo person is professor-enough or a PhD-enough in the estimation of President Muhammadu Buhari to "qualify" for inclusion therein?

The summary of his allergy for Ndigbo is that his comfort-zone does not permit nor tolerate having an Igbo person within a close proximity. This and only this is what is driving his anti-Ndigbo actions as so far displayed with all the appointments made to date by him.  Icheoku opines that it is not President Muhammadu Buhari's hatred for Ndigbo that drives him nuts or makes him see red at the sighting of an Igbo person; nope, it is his fear of Ndigbo and phobia could drive anyone over the edge. Otherwise he would have heeded the long well known and established rule of survival to always keep your friends close but your enemies closer so that you can keep an eye on them. Therefore were President Muhammadu Buhari to hate Ndigbo, he would have kept them very close in order to keep an eye on them and monitor them closely. But he does not hate Ndigbo, only that he does not feel comfortable with their very much intimidating presence, hence his decision to keep them very very far away removed and out of contamination. Icheoku says President Muhammadu Buhari is simply intimidated by Ndigbo's brazen audacity, a can do entrepreneurial spirit and their will to survive against all odds; so he would rather keep them at bay in order to enable him breathe much easier. 

A man who once on a visit to Onitsha back in the 80s, marveled out loudly that the civil war could not have been fought on this land due to the level of development and recovery he witnessed; following their conspiratorial civil war to cut Ndigbo to size. He was literally out of his breath to see the devastated Igboland of Onitsha so rebounded and recovered, following the ravaging civil war of attrition waged by himself and his marauding beasts from the North assisted by their Southwestern collaborators. He was quoted then as saying "is this place part of the Biafra land which we completely destroyed?" So this lean and mean man who was  so overwhelmed with the feat achieved by Ndigbo with a mere twenty pounds handed to them at the end of the war, still marvels at the heads and hands that could engineer this feat of recovery and within such a short period of time. 

This shock infected him with chronic voices which now habitually live inside his head. He is constantly hearing voices in his head telling him that Ndigbo must be contained; Ndigbo must be stopped; Ndigbo must be held with suspicion and therefore Ndigbo must be kept at bay. This is what is manifesting in his decision to completely exclude Ndigbo from his government and unfortunately, it is beyond his ability to counter his psychotic instructions even if he wanted. Icheoku says President Muhammadu Buhari deserves the pity of Ndigbo rather than complaints of marginalization because the man is possessed by his demons and is very delusional as to the phony existential threat to Nigeria which Ndigbo poses. If only he is a Christian, he sure needs and could use some deliverance.

Icheoku therefore calls on Ndigbo to maintain their cool in the face of all the provocations and irritations of their marginalization and completely being kept out of government by the present government of President Muhammadu Buhari. Ndigbo must not and should never do anything untoward or which would further rattle the already edgy president into taking rash reactionary action against them; as an intimidated man on hair-trigger alert could be as dangerous as a rattle snake. Ndigbo must therefore learn to ignore this four years and treat same as a cold war and lost. They must walk tall with their heads held straight up high and with princely gait, go about their hustling. They should know that the president of Nigeria does not sleep with his two eyes shut because he is too scared and very afraid of them and this should somewhat be their consolation prize. 

Ndigbo should temper their expectations from the President Muhammadu Buhari's government, knowing fully well that nothing lasts forever especially a four or eight year termed office. Like every other past traducer of Ndigbo, the current storm will eventually blow away someday and as always, a staying power with equanimity will always triumph. Ndigbo should learn how to just simply smile while they go about their business and give President Muhammadu Buhari the silent treatment which his actions so far entitles him. Let President Muhammadu Buhari appoint every other Nigerian but Ndigbo into offices if he likes, Ndigbo will not die but as always will survive and survive well. Ndigbo are survivors, Ndigbo have survived before and Ndigbo will survive the current traducer, President Muhammad Buhari of Daura. Icheoku says it is President Muhammadu Buhari's inferiority complex that is worrying him and forcing him to keep Ndigbo out of their well deserved positions and places in his government and not that they are not "qualified" or decent enough to fill the positions being denied them. So to President Muhammadu Buhari, Icheoku on behalf of Ndigbo, says SAI BUHARI.

KACHIKWU'S STORIED APPOINTMENT, THE NEEDLE HAS NOT MOVED?

Icheoku says yes, Igbo Deltans as well as every other Igbo people, anywhere and everywhere, are bona fides Igbo people just like their kits and kins majority of whom are concentrated in Southeastern Nigeria Igbo heartland. Icheoku had once written an article on the imperatives of this fact of consequence, encouraging Ndigbo to start an honest claim to Rivers State and Delta State as full Igbo states. Arguing further that the River Niger supposed demarcation notwithstanding, families are often and could be spread across rivers. As obtains everywhere including the Northern part of Nigeria, Ndigbo Southeast should not because these their brothers and sisters live across the River Niger now disclaim them as fellow Ndigbo. The said published article was prelude to the election of the late Ralph Uwechie as then president of Ohaneze Ndigbo. 

So with the premise laid out, Icheoku emphatically  says that Dr Ibe Emmanuel Kachikwu, the new Group Managing Direct of NNPC, is now officially the first Igbo appointee of the President Muhammadu Buhari's presidency. Icheoku says congratulations to both the appointee and the appointer as by this, President Muhammadu Buhari has reluctantly finally acknowledged that there is at least a "qualified" Igbo person to admit into his government? Recall that the president said he appointed only "qualified" individuals as service chiefs to head the various wings of the Nigeria armed forces as well as security agencies, implying the lack of any qualified Igbo person for any of the positions? It is very obvious that this president's lack of truthfulness or rather version of truth is akin to someone starring at a blazing hot summer sun and still deceptively mouthing that it is very dark outside. But lets move on.

Icheoku says the excitement of the appointment ends in the fact of the complete and total Igbo-ness of Dr Ibe Emmanuel Kachikwu having been established beyond doubt; being true 'nwaafor-Igbo' and is now officially the first Igbo person to be appointed by President Muhammadu Buhari into his government after over twenty five other top-notch appointments so far made by him. At last, an onye-Igbo has made it through the proverbial eye of the needle that is President Muhammadu Buhari implied bar against Ndigbo making it into his government. Icheoku wonders if the biblical camel walking through the eye of the needle is this tough and if it qualifies as an apposite allegory here.  President Muhammadu Buhari shamelessly claimed that no Igbo person is qualified enough to make any of his appointment thus far? With all known facts about Ndigbo competency and qualifications considered, Icheoku wonders if it is rather being well-versed in reading the Koran and/or reciting other Islamic verses and incantations or being proficiency in other Islamic practices and cause is what having "necessary qualifications" means in the eyes of President Muhammadu Buhari? 

Anyway, but what indeed is the worth of the office of the Group Managing Director of NNPC to Ndigbo and of what use is it particularly for Ndigbo that they should be salivating that one of them is now assigned the task of revamping the moribund corruption-cesspool that is Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation?  Icheoku asks is this appointment just a ploy to tap into Kachikwu's great knowledge about the oil industry and use him to clean the Aegean stable that has become the NNPC; and later have him dumped or shoved aside to make way for a chosen Hausa/Fulani prince? How does such a herculean assignment benefit Ndigbo, especially when the new GMD will later be subsumed under a Minister of Petroleum who as the political head and bureaucrat in chief will have power over him and his actions? The former Petroleum Minister Diezani Allison Madueke went through such four GMDs within a spate of five years, using and dumping them as she willed. So any incoming Petroleum Minister might similarly "use and dump" Dr Ibe Kachikwu or consign him to irrelevance if he or she chooses and even have him summarily dismissed if so pissed off by him or his actions? 

So what indeed actually is the benefit of this appointment to Ndigbo that elicits all the euphoric excitement in Igbo speaking Nigerians one may ask; other than that it creates a sense of belonging for Ndigbo within the greater Nigeria society. Icheoku says appointing an Igbo technocrat as head of the NNPC to be eventually placed under a Hausa/Fulani or Yoruba or even a minority bureaucrat Minister of Petroleum does not necessarily in any way confer any added advantage or benefit to Ndigbo or ordinarily empower them. But regardless, Icheoku says President Muhammadu Buhari by this appointment has finally found a "qualified" onye Igbo to admit into his government and hopefully he will continue to look hard enough to find other "qualified" Ndigbos as he continues to fill available vacant positions in his government. Kudos to him - the man from Daura in finally finding a needle in a haystack?  Icheoku prays that Dr Ibe Emmanuel Kachikwu will bring the can-do spirit and attitude of Ndigbo to his new assignment at the NNPC and get the expected job done, done well and done quickly too. Icheoku says in his onerous task of repositioning the NNPC to be better and do better with managing Nigeria's oil resources, he shall succeed and also triumph IJN. 

AMERICAN PRESIDENCY, NOT FOR THE 'TOO OLD' OR THE 'TOO TIMID'?

Icheoku says the vetting for the 2016 presidency of the United States of America has just begun, with the Republican Party marshaling ten of its wanna-be presidential candidates to audition for the right to fly the party's flag in the November 2016 presidential election against the Democratic Party. The debate was overall interesting but lacked the hyped fireworks generated by the anticipation of a bare-knuckle fight amongst these candidates, especially against the pre-debate leading candidate Donald Trump. Icheoku would rather the organizers of he debate at least had a woman-candidate among them, just like they had a black candidate for sensitivity reason. 

Icheoku says one of the finest things about America is its presidential democracy, particularly the manner and process that paves the road traveled to get to the White House. Like American Idol's auditioning, American presidential debates is always very fascinating, especially at this early intra-party stage watching all these men who want to fly their party's flag in the coming election and eventually become the CEO of the United States of America. A matter made more interesting because only one of these men would become the candidate, admitted it does not automatically guarantee the coveted seat. 

The election is not until November 2016 but the process has since begun and has now begun with every seriousness.  Icheoku will stay tuned as usual and hopefully until the conclusion of the process on the second Tuesday of November 2016. Watching the debate however, Icheoku will like the eventual Republican Party's ticket to include Ohio Governor John Richard Kasich, either as the candidate or the vice presidential candidate. He is from Ohio, a battle ground state that is always very determinative in who becomes the president of the United States of America. He is also a seasoned politician and seems to have a grasp of virtually all the issues that makes an American president, great and very presidential - apparently in charge and in control. So with such gravitas, such ticket will give any Democratic Party's ticket a fight for their money. So with that said, let the campaign now begin.

GWEN STEFANI PULLS OUT OF HER MARRIAGE, DIVORCING?

"While the two of us have come to the mutual decision that we will no longer be partners in marriage, we remain partners in parenthood and are committed to jointly raising our three sons in a happy and healthy environment. To this end, we respectfully request privacy from the media during this time." - Gwen Stefani and Gavin Rossdale. 

"Icheoku says this thing called marriage, does it indeed really works or do some people just actually make it work? The other day it was Ben Afleck and Jennifer Garner calling it quits and before them were Nick Carter and Mariah Carey respectively saying "I do no more" and now Gwen Stefani and hubby Gavin Rossdale. Icheoku asks did all these people do an Usain Bolt for lack of trying or they did not try hard enough or simply just another evidence that the societal imposed and instituted yoke is imply too burdensome for anyone to bear without complaining and for so long? Icheoku does not know nor have an answer to any of these question, but if your own marital partnership is working out fine, kudos to you; admitted that a divorce is always a preferred option to a perpetual residence in a living hell or worse still, dispatching your spouse to the other side of life. To Gwen Stefani and Gavin Rossdale, Icheoku says may you find happiness in your decision, all the best.

LIFE IN SAUDI ARABIA, BORING - THREE SAUDI ARABIAN WOMEN?

Icheoku says three Saudi Arabian women, on inquiry about life in Saudi Arabia, in one terse word, chorused BORING. There is nothing to do - you just cook, clean, eat, bear children, get fat and then die; and worse still your husband can also marry three additional wives, regardless of what you feel or think about it. As a young unmarried woman, you are not allowed to have boyfriends and must maintain your virginity as a marital gift to your eventual husband irrespective of the age you find a husband; who is permitted to kill you if he discovered he had married a non virgin. This is if your own parents did not kill you first for bringing shame of unchastity to the family. 

They are not allowed to socialize, go to night clubs, drink any alcoholic beverages or get involved in any "worldly vices" as according to their religious mullahs, their prophet frowns against such things. Icheoku wonders what they then do with all the abundant money in their kingdom - may be shop and shop and shop and little travel? But what type of life is that when no one can admire you or actually appreciate you, especially for the good work God made out of you by creating you? Needless to add that they are not allowed to drive, swim, wear skin-exposing outfits, vote or even read certain magazines or journals considered ungodly or not conforming to the Islamic code of morality. One of the women even quipped "garbage bags and Ninja turtles" when referring to the cover-it-all black outfit they are usually forced to wear. 

Icheoku does not know about these women but if Icheoku were to be similarly situated, it would have been an immediate Usain Bolt out of the kingdom or a total exit from this planet earth if earth's boundaries are as circumscribed by the drawn map of Saudi Arabia. Why begin the hell experience so early while still here on earth, since it is an assured destination for more than 99.9% of human beings anyway, one may ask? Icheoku surmises that it is a factor of these women being brain-washed and brain-dead  not to know that the ultimate goal of these religious mullahs is to keep them controllable and under control. An objective these mullahs readily achieve by meting the ultimate brutality on these women, including separating their heads from their shoulders as well as stoning or chopping off of body parts, just to make their statement and make it loud and clear. So with maximum fear instilled in these Saudi Arabia women, it becomes very easy for those domineering chauvinistic Saudi Arabian males to have their way. 

Icheoku says the worst of this this situation is that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia with such high human rights violations and punishing brutality on their citizens, still enjoys a very cozy relationship with America and the rest of the West, leaving many critics pondering what manner of double standards this indeed really is. But hey, those women should wake up and smell the coffee that  lean freedom is better than fat slavery; and all those things they are festooned with are merely used to purchase their docility and do something to free themselves from this slavish bondage. How can any human being live like caged animals with no freedoms in this 21st century app-world?

FIRM UP THE NAIRA, TAX DOMICILIARY ACCOUNTS AT 50%.

Icheoku says the problem of Nigeria is not necessarily corruption because the c-word is a universally general application word and a phenomenon not peculiar to Nigeria. The problem of Nigeria is lack of love for country and country men and women; and as rightly articulated by President Muhammadu Buhari just recently, the country is everyone for him or herself and God for all. A kind of wild wild West of yore one would argue. Icheoku says that some level of corruption and even criminality are unavoidably tolerable in so many countries and would have similarly been okay in Nigeria. But the problem is that these Nigerian culprits, particularly those who are looting the country dry,  instead of investing their loot back in the country's economy towards creating jobs for the teeming jobless youths of Nigeria, take their loot and stash them overseas. 

They put their loot in foreign bank accounts where such provide cheap money for those host countries' economies; while their country of origin wallows in abject need and want. Icheoku recalls that back in historical times, Britain used to confer knighthood on their countrymen pirates who hijacked and brought home ships laden with goods and merchandise from the high seas. Ditto was America's wild wild West forged with sheer banditry and common valor. But with Nigerians, they think less about what they can do for their country or its men and women; hence all that they steal from the country, they embark on capital flight to nest for themselves and their families and generations yet unborn. Then their next move becomes to oppress their country men and women who fail to yield to their excesses or bow and tremble before them. Imagine a scenario where the over $150billion traceable deposits of Nigerians in foreign banks are reinvested in Nigeria, there could easily have been hundreds of Dangotes employing hundreds of thousands of Nigerians and who will still be calculating unemployment rate in Nigeria at over 57 percentile?

Now the trend of domiciliary accounts has caught fire in the country and with it a drain on scarce foreign currencies, leaving people who actually need these foreign currencies stranded with nothing or very little and definitely less than would satisfy their immediate needs. Foreign currencies stashed up in private domiciliary accounts with merchants needing them to pay for their imports and other foreign business transactions left holding the plate in their quest to meet their obligations to pay for their merchandise. Icheoku says how could a people hoard currencies they don't need to use immediately when the United States mint as well as other foreign countries' mints have not gone out of business of printing their currencies nor are they planning to shut down their operations? Why would a people just keep things for keeping sake and not realize that such primitive thinking is hurting the overall economy of their country; except that they do not of course see Nigeria as their country but merely the cash-cow that provides perpetual milk for them to milk till death, without any remorse or contrition whatsoever. 

The bad news is that regardless of the amount one has in his or her domiciliary account, a country like the United States of America lets you into their country with just up to $10,000 and nothing more. So why then will these hoarders not allow those who really need these foreign currencies to share in their pile by lifting their hold on them? Imagine a situation where over $1billion is currently held in private domiciliary accounts in Nigeria while the exchange rate of the dollar for example is going up through the roof with many merchants unable to fund or finance their overseas businesses. Pilgrimage-makers, students, holiday-makers as well as tourists are finding it difficult to source reasonably priced funds to pay their passage, while this amount of dollars (one billion) are stashed up in bank vaults and held over as domiciliary deposits. 

Icheoku says there is really no need for any individual hoarding foreign currencies in domiciliary accounts when they are needed to pay for imports and other foreign currency based transactions. There is no country in the world where such is tolerated except in Nigeria where people with primitive mentality like to hoard everything, including what they do not immediately need. Nigeria's currency is the Naira and all monetary deposits in Nigeria should therefore be in Naira. Anyone needing to travel or transact any foreign business requiring foreign currency should be able to just walk into a bank and purchase what he or she needs but never be allowed to hoard any excesses whatsoever. Icheoku says that hoarding foreign currencies in domiciliary accounts is not the way to go and should therefore be discouraged forthwith and seriously frowned at with drastic deterrents put in place.  

Icheoku says the solution is for the government to dis-incentivize this hoarding by making it unprofitable to hold dollars or any other foreign currency when one doesn't really need them. The government should henceforth tax such deposits at 50% to discourage people who just like to hold unto stuff just because they can and wants to; and not necessarily because they have a need for their immediate use. That way, anyone needing foreign currency can simply walk into the bank and purchase what he needs while the excess is left for those other Nigerians who need some too. Alternatively, the government should establish a maximum deposit ceiling of $20,000 for each individual, regardless of means and anything else above that should be taxed at 75% or declared illegal. 

Icheoku says it is only in Nigeria that such dual currency accounts deposits are largely tolerated even to the detriment of the overall economy of the country. Icheoku therefore calls on President Muhammadu Buhari to tear down those domiciliary accounts and flush out funds held therein into the open market to help boost foreign exchange supply needs of the country and peradventure, also help firm up the Naira. Such a move will generally be in the overall interest of the economic well-being of the country. It will also greatly help in bringing down the ever skyrocketing value of the dollar to a more tolerable rate against the Naira and thus make the Naira more valuable once again. Icheoku says to Nigerians to say no to foreign currency hoarding, say no to domiciliary accounts.

'BRING BACK THEIR GIRLS', WHERE ARE THEY NOW?

Icheoku says it appears that the ugly Oby Ezekwesili had made a calculated decision to rein in her motley crew and stop them from marching again as a trade off for her expected slot in the September unveiling of President Muhammadu Buhari cabinet ministers? If this is the case, does it then mean that she never had conviction with her protestation since the Chibok girls are still missing and that she merely carried out her activities just to sabotage the erstwhile President Jonathan's chances at a reelection? Hence, once they succeeded in achieving their objective, mission accomplished President Jonathan's ouster, suddenly the Chibok girls are no longer missing nor kidnapped and/or their cause is no longer of any paramount importance to continue to keep them in the fore-burners? So, where is the ugly duckling Oby Ezekwesili now and what has become of her rabble rousing, menopausal, wild-eyed feminists, who were previously pounding the pavements in Nigeria, protesting the failure to rescue some kidnapped school girls from Chibok? 

Although they paid a courtesy visit to Aso Rock early in July, following so much lull and public outcry, but it seems they have once again simply melted away. Icheoku asks what has become of these anarchists and why have they stopped marching since the Chibok girls have not yet been rescued or was there no Chibok girls to be rescued in the first place? Icheoku has always maintained that the Chibok girls drama was a mere calculated ruse used as part of the script in flushing out the man from Otuoke from Aso Rock. Now with a new president Muhammadu Buhari in Aso Rock and three months down the road, no one is seriously talking any longer about some kidnapped Chibok girls; including Oby Ezekwesili and her band of rabid females who have equally since stopped marching in this regard? Icheoku asks what is going on and happening with the Chibok girls saga and who is fooling who in Nigeria; a matter not help because the level of gullibility usually exhibited by Nigerians in issues of this nature is indeed very high. 

With the visit to Aso Rock, the 'Bring Back Their Girls' motley crew seems to have adopted a different approach to "Bringing Back their girls?" Instead of their usual rowdy protestations, these hired guns have now chosen to dialogue with the government instead, a courtesy they never extended to the former President Jonathan of Otuoke and if they did, was never in this respectful manner with which they approached the new sheriff in town, the man from Daura. A sort of change of modus operandi in their operational tactic, one would say. It was no longer business as usual with their usual streets-creed themed rowdy protestations. Instead they made a more dignified b-line to Aso Rock where they were warmly received in audience by one of their mentors and the beneficiary-in-chief of their crass activism, President Muhammadu Buhari. Although Icheoku has nothing against their latest change in strategic thinking, to dialogue with the president instead of raising hell on the streets of Nigeria, but says if only they extended the same courtesy to the former President Goodluck Jonathan, whom they helped hound out of office. Anyway, what is done is done as the man from Otuoke has since scurried back to his native Bayelsa State, but let us hope that Ms Oby Ezekwesili will keep faith and continue her marching until those Chibok Girls regain their freedom; assuming there were any Chibok Girls that were kidnapped in the first place to begin with. 

It is also noteworthy that over sixty days have passed since the "Bring Back their Girls" supported party, APC, won the presidency and were sworn into office; yet those Chibok girls which they are "bringing back" have not been brought back? Those Chibokans are still in their kidnappers' mercy and custody, neither located nor rescued, thus leaving Icheoku and millions of other thinking Nigerians wondering, what's going on really? Why has Oby Ezekwesili and her band of agitators lowered the heat of their agitation with those Chibok girls still out there and yet to be rescued? Why have they tempered their protestations and bomb-throwing fiery speeches or is the rescue of those girls from Chibok no longer as important today as they were during the dying days of President Jonathan's presidency? Is this another vindication of former maximum ruler Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida, who once asserted that every Nigeria but the late Gani Fawehimni has a price and once you make them an offer they cannot refuse, they will bite?  So could the information that Oby Ezekwesili has been wooed with a promise of a ministerial appointment in President Muhammadu Buhari's coming September cabinet and thus compromised her agitation for the rescue of those Chibok girls, indeed be true? 

Anyway, in the affairs of man, it is always what profits them most that usually counts and comes first; so Icheoku fully understands if and why the wind has suddenly been taken out of the sail of the 'Bring Back Their Girls' activism. This is a clear indication that Oby Ezekwesili desperately wants to secure a slot in President Muhammadu Buhari's cabinet and would bury her conscience in order to achieve that. Oby Ezekwesili also knows that the man from Daura, unlike the one from Otuoke,  does not care a hoot about what Oby Ezekwesili thinks; neither would he be moved by an Oby Ezekwesili organized and led bunch of meno-pausal feminists walking the streets of Nigeria, protesting the none rescue of some kidnapped Chibok school girls. On a hindsight, Icheoku says if only Jonathan of Otuoke had deployed the Okadigbo tear-gas on this 'Bring Back Their Girls' activists when it would have mattered most, possibly he would be enjoying his second term now. But hey, what is done is done and in some cases cannot be undone as was the Jonathan's planned second term which suffered a miscarriage and was aborted. So from Icheoku to Oby Ezekwesili and crew, until the Chibok girls are rescued, Nigerians will not accept anything less from you. So start marching again and start shouting more loudly until those girls from Chibok regain their freedom. Just make sure to pressure President Muhammadu Buhari to 'Bring Back those Your Girls' the same way you pressured Jonathan of Otuoke, as anything short of their release will be unacceptable to Nigerians.  

CHRISTOPHER DUNTSCH'S SURGICAL HANDS, A DEALY WEAPON - PROSECUTOR?

"His hands amounted to a "deadly weapon" because he used them to improperly insert medical devices and screws into patients meant to alleviate nerve and other pain. He operated on the wrong part of a patient's spine, damaged nerves and left one woman with chronic pain and dependent on a wheelchair. He also left a sponge in another patient following surgery." He is therefore guilty of using 'deadly weapons' in the commission of the offense of murder of his two patients - Prosecutor. 

Icheoku says a very creative charge indeed that the hands  of neurosurgeon Christopher Duntsch now amount to  deadly weapons? Lets hope too that they will be equally introduced in evidence as exhibits during trial. Indeed a very interesting development in criminal prosecution.

APC, EQUALLY AS CORRUPT.

Icheoku says the inability of President Muhammadu Buhari to find 36 upright and honest men and women in Nigeria to lead his ministries is a straight-laced indictment of his party, the APC. It shows that corruption and dishonesty is not the exclusive preserve of the ousted Peoples Democratic Party members but a scourge afflicting the entire body fabric of Nigeria to which members of the All Progressive Congress constitute a significant part thereof. A possible pharisaic disposition of the APC ignoring the log in their own eyes while sanctimoniously pointing at the spec in the PDP's eye, one would argue?

Icheoku says so the PDP membership should stop hiding their faces in shame and instead forcefully stand up to the APC and challenge them to show Nigerians their incorruptible and non corrupt members. Otherwise how else can the APC explain that with their membership in excess of more than thirty six individuals, yet the president cannot find thirty six honest individuals to make ministers? It is a stunning verdict on the APC that they cannot hand the president mere thirty six decent members of their party to make ministers. It shows that they are not practicing what they preach; but are as horrible if not more horrendous than the PDP they are haranguing for being inept and corrupt. The logic is pure and simple; except that no one seems to be in charge of messaging in the now moribund PDP. But hey, it is their cross so let them bear it as the now cornered and being pummeled under-dogs of Nigerian politics. What a fate; what a shame; and how is the mighty fallen, face-down to the dust. Icheoku says to APC, please show the president your thirty six honest members so that he can name them ministers, Nigerians are waiting.

ORO FESTIVAL ILE IFE, A SALUTE TO TRADITION.

"Oro is a deity worshipped across Yoruba land which forbids the women folk from going outdoors in the night during the week long festival celebrating the god." 

Icheoku says it is a good thing that some parts of Nigeria, the Yoruba Southwest, are still smart enough to know that not all the white man brought or told black Africans is true. At least before their advent in the continent, the African ancestors survived and thrived; forcing the question why must Africans always swallow everything Oyibo, line, hook and sinker. It is always theirs is good and African's is evil which led to the destruction of so  many very important African ways of life and worship. But hey, how long will this  their skewed distortion of facts continue as more and more smart people are beginning to raise serious question about the colonialists' bullcrap baloney that everything Africa was heathen. Icheoku is however afraid that very soon all those wild-eyed feminist liberation theologists of Nigeria will start agitating that the festival is discriminatory by barring women from coming out at night. Icheoku wonders whether leading the protest is something the 'Bring Back Their Girls' ugly duckling Oby Ezekwesili will also like to add to her resume`and thereafter grant her first anti-Oro festival activist's interview to CNN Christine Amampour. 

Icheoku says happy Oro festival celebration to all the sons and daughters of Oduduwa. May you continue to be the prideful custodians of black African's traditions and may you never tire upholding same. Icheoku laments that the white man told Africans so many lies and Africans lost so much to these lies including very rich traditions. Thankfully Oro Festival survived and is still being celebrated and this period is its time. Way to go Yorubas and more grease to your elbow.

MULLAH OMAR, THE ONE-EYED LEADER OF TALIBAN IS DEAD.

Icheoku says hopefully Osama Bin Laden who predeceased him will have him welcomed in whatever "paradise with seventy virgins" they might have wherever they are now; and also accord him the hospitality which the now dead leader extended to Osama while he held sway as then henchman in Afghanistan. It is the way of everything alive, there is always time to live and then time to die and now the one-eyed former leader of the Taliban has made his exit from this world.  

The consolation for his followers however seems to be that their leader died of his own accord and was not bombed to smithereens or captured alive or hunted down and executed like Osama Bin Laden followed with a sea burial. But whatever happens, it is one good riddance of a very nauseating pain in the neck for the Western countries being hounded by terrorism as well as the Afghanistan government; except that his successor Mullah Akhtar Mansoor has now vowed to continue their jihad until their brash brand of Islam is imposed on everyone. The implication being that the rest of the world is still mired in a very long haul in the battle against Islamic terrorism and only a staying power will see us all through. Anyway, may the restless soul of the late Taliban leader now rest or continue with his jihad wherever he finds himself in the land of the dead and buried. 

CECIL THE LION WHACKED BY ANIMAL-HATING DENTIST, WALTER PALMER.

Icheoku says what a bloody dentist this man is that would spend $55,000 just to take the life of a beloved African lion named Cecil. Meanwhile people are dying of starvation everywhere including in America, but he is simply too selfish and mean to care!!!

WALTER PALMER DDS, THE AMERICAN REPROBATE WHO KILLED CECIL THE LION.

Icheoku says the Minnesota dentist, Walter Palmer, who would rather pay to take life than to save life, paid a whopping $55,000.00 just to snuff the life out of a world famous and adorable lion with the black mane named Cecil in the African country of Zimbabwe. Icheoku queries how sadistic is this man who would do this bloodletting and paid for the right to carry out the gory orgy. Only a wacko drives joy in seeing any life taken, regardless whether a protected human life or in this case, the life of a majestic king of the jungle, whose pride has now been left without a head. Worse still, he and his gang of despicable trio, laid in wait, lured the lion out from its sanctuary and killed it just to satisfy their penchant for gaming wild animals. 

Icheoku asks why would this dentist prefer animals dead than alive if not that he is a bloody jackal and you wonder how many unnecessary root canals he had recommended and performed just to continue to be able to afford his weird habit of gunning down wild animals just for the fun of it. Icheoku says regardless, if this man is my dentist, Icheoku will walk in protest and could not imagine what drives this kind of ruthless fascination to just kill such majestic animals for fun instead of paying for their conservation. This man could have done a whole lot of good with the $55,000.00 helping the needy and helpless of society, but he did not. His selfishness confined him into just satiating his bloody past-time and for a hefty amount that would have bettered the lives of so many needy Americans, many of whom will be sleeping under the overpass tonight and some on empty stomachs too. Icheoku hereby calls for the boycott of and a continued protest at his dental practice until he makes a full mea culpa with an amount in excess of what he paid to kill Cecil also paid by him into some conservation efforts or to some Wild Life protection Fund. Walter Palmer DDS, Icheoku says stop killing wild animals so that posterity would have something for the children and the unborn to someday look at.

POLLARD THE AMERICAN TRAITOR AND ISRAELI SPY, WALKS A FREE MAN.

Icheoku says Mumia Abu-Jamal and Leonard Peltier are still languishing in prison while a traitor who took up arms against his own country, compromising its national security, is let go; released to pacify and appease an irate Israel still smacking their mouth over the reached Iranian nuclear deal. A capitulation or appeasement or sucking up to make up for the Iranian deal of some sort, one might argue? Icheoku says in the same vein, the Obama administration should similarly release Mumia as well as Peltier as what is good for the goose is equally good for the gander. 

Icheoku has nothing against the release of Jonathan Pollard as a lot of wheeling and dealing goes into international diplomacy and politics; but takes umbrage in the continued detention of Mumia Abu-Jamal who has been behind bars since his 1982 conviction for the murder of a Philadelphia policeman Faulkner as well as Leonard Peltier who is serving two consecutive life sentences for the 1977 Pine Ridge Indian Reservation murders of two FBI agents. Icheoku maintains that both of these men have served enough time for their alleged crimes and should therefore be similarly granted clemency too. So as the family of Jonathan Pollard celebrates this year's Thanksgiving for a real Thanksgiving gift of his release, Icheoku hopes that someday the families of Mumia and Leonard will similarly celebrate following their own release. Icheoku is hopeful too that just like the government did not oppose Jonathan Pollard's parole this time, they will similarly not be on the way when similar parole hearing is due and granted the duo here mentioned. Let freedom ring and it now rings for Jonathan Pollard.

BILL COSBY SHOULD BE SMART ABOUT IT, KEN LAY HIMSELF NOW.

Icheoku says there is no need waiting for the inevitable, the impending wiping out of his fortune, which hefty jury awards to the hordes of women bringing law suits against him, will bring about. A smart and calculating Bill Cosby will save himself and family that added misfortune by seizing the bull by its horn and making an audacious exit now. He has lived and enjoyed life well and long enough that exiting now will not be too much of an asking. He should seriously consider this option in order to leave a benevolent purse behind for his ever supportive wife and family; and in order not to let those who have succeeded in destroying him also get an upper hand over his fortune. 

Like late Enron's Ken Lay, Bill Cosby can put an end to all his current lingering women-troubles by quickly inducing himself to sleep from which he never wakes up again. Icheoku therefore urges Bill Cosby to man up, be of great courage or cowardice as some will term it, save whatever face is left of him and take the exit ramp off this world and do it now. Icheoku says lingering around any further can only spell doom to him, his family and fortune; as many more women, embolden by the current development in his past perverted sexual dalliances drama, will show up with law suits to try and collect their own share of whatever remains of his fortune as damages. Icheoku further opines that it is most likely that a sympathetic jury will graciously indulge these women and bountifully too. These potential jurors are part of the greater society which is appalled at what have so far dripped out from the Bill Cosby sexual perversion saga and which society have concluded that Bill Cosby has to pay a price for his unlawful indiscretions. Icheoku says, Bill Cosby, end this your problem now, just do it. 

50 CENTS NOW 10 CENTS, NEEDS PROTECTION FROM PREDATORS?

Icheoku says the world has not heard the last of the lifestyle of the "rich and famous" as Curtis Jackson aka 50 Cents, told an astonished bankruptcy court that his bling bling lifestyle is a mere optical illusion, a complete fantasy. During his bankruptcy proceeding, Fif-tie testified that he makes only ten cents on each record sold and that all the jewels and flashy cars he flashes go back to their dealers once the promotional event is over. That in actuality, he is not worth anything near the projections being made about his riches. According to Fif-tie, 'one gets a bullseye painted on one's back once one becomes rich and successful, as so many people wants a slice off the cake. But unfortunately, he is not that rich and therefore needs protection of the court in order to survive. 

50 Cents is worth a mere 4.4 million dollars, including 380 million cents he made from record sales; a total far cry from the estimated 155 million dollars net-worth ascribed to him by Forbes Magazine. Icheoku says this is mostly true in life, as many people who people envy and wish they are or could be like, often have it tougher than could be imagined. Ditto with people supposedly having a marital bliss but who behind closed doors, are in a living hell. Most times is all about putting up appearance of the Jones and nothing more. So today, learn to curb your enthusiasm and also how to make do with what you have. Learn to be happily fulfilled within you ways and means as contentment is the key. To 50 Cents, Icheoku says then please tone it down and live within your means; learn to live a life of moderation and stop all these flashy, flashy, bam, bam, unsupported lifestyle if you cannot afford to pay claims and damages against you. Keep it real and say no to fakery.