RENO OMOKRI: THE ACCIDENTAL MEDIA AIDE an article by CHARLES OGBU

I have always maintained that apart from conspiracy from both local and foreign scene against president  Goodluck Jonathan, another major reason the Otueke-born Zoologist lost his 2015 presidential re-election bid was not unconnected with the fact that he had one of the most criminally inept and fantastically clueless media aides who were more endowed in tongue than they were in that area meant to house the grey matter known as the brain. 

Reno Omokri's recent tirade against Ndigbo confirms this. An Igbo man and the leader of the Indigenous People Of Biafra (IPOB) Nnamdi Kanu, reportedly granted an interview in 2014 where he said that Jonathan was weak and incompetent as president and the best way Reno Omokri who was GEJ's social media advisor could think to counter the assertion in 2017 was to start hauling invectives at the entire Igbos and listing individual appointments Jonathan gave to them. 

In 21st century 2017, a supposed intellectual is listing individual appointments as achievements and even trying to use same to counter the argument that his ex boss was incompetent while in office. He couldn't mention one monument erected by his boss. He couldn't mention road network or any health or academic centre built for Ndigbo by his boss. All he could point to was individual appointments. This is a walking shame!

Quite frankly, I should simply pause here and die laughing.... Laughing at a mentally truncated media aide who doesn't know that the best way to counter allegation of incompetence against his boss is by listing infrastructural facilities and other solid achievements built by this boss of his, not by naming individuals who were appointed into govt positions by him. 

With this kind of mental miscarriage from Reno Omokri, do we still wonder why the APC propaganda machinery effortlessly swallowed Jonathan's media team and successfully painted him as a president who did nothing all through the 5 years he was in office? If Mr Omokri cannot marshal out facts and figures to counter a mere allegation of weakness and incompetence leveled against his boss by an individual, how could anyone expect him to have any reasonable response to the web of earthquake-like lies and brain-resetting propaganda mounted against Jonathan by the very powerful APC lying machine?

Poor Jonathan! He thought he had a media aide in Reno. How wrong he was! The tragedy of Reno's situation is that he does not even realize that his failure to list Jonathan's achievements leaves observers with the conclusion that indeed, Jonathan did nothing for Ndigbo. In this case, who really insulted Jonathan? Is it a private citizen who said his ex president was weak and incompetent, the same thing that has been said by Asari Dokubo, Edwin Clark etc or a former media aide to this president who resorted to hauling invectives at everyone rather than listing the achievements of this president to counter this assertion?

In an article titled, "THE LESSON NDIGBO TAUGHT JONATHAN AND FUTURE LEADERS", Omokri stated that Igbos lost the 1967-70 Biafra because they knew nothing about diplomacy which left them without much friends to help them during those trying time. According to him, the fact that no Igbo leader has come out to attack Kanu over the said interview suggests that Kanu's position represents the views of the entire Ndigbo about Jonathan. This, he says, means that the Igbos are ungrateful bunch. In that same article, Mr Omokri categorically stated that Jonathan was the first president to give Igbos the position of Chief of army staff and Secretary to the govt of the federation and as such, Ndigbo should be eternally grateful to him.

As a full blooded Igbo man, I find this criminally offensive. This is a double barreled insult to Ndigbo because 1, what was said is a grave misrepresentation of fact. And 2, because Mr Omokri is the least qualified person to say those things, having himself been implicated in a case of identity theft in Feb. 2014 when he allegedly stole the identity of the son to the wife of his brother-in-law, one U.S based Wendell Simlin, to write an article linking the spike in Boko Haram bombing to the suspension of the then CBN governor, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi. (A quick Google search will give you the detail) What moral right does a spineless faceless suspected identity thief have to talk to Ndigbo? If he was man enough, why did he resort to hiding behind a fake identity just to make a mere accusation?

Let's treat the no1: Igbos owe Jonathan nothing! Absolutely nothing. It is Jonathan who owe Ndigbo everything. We made him! When the bunch of political terrorists known as the Cabal, prevented the gentleman Jonathan from taking over from the good man, Yar'Adua of the blessed memory, it was an Igbo woman, the late Dora Akunyili, who publicly confronted the Cabal and told all Nigerians that Yar'Adua was incapacitated. Her revelation gave birth to the doctrine of necessity which brought Jonathan to power. Without Akunyili, Yaradua would probably still be running the country by now even from the grave while Jonathan would be sitting quietly the exact way Mr Buhari is currently running Nigeria from the land of the WhiteWalkers with Osinbajo sitting quietly like an Arsenal fan when his club is facing a 5-0 defeat in the hands of ManU.

We gave Jonathan everything we had in 2011. We even died for him in the North in large numbers. Our support for him was 100%. Even when Jonathan bashing became the order of the day sometime last year, Ndigbo rose to the occasion and defended him even against some of his own people. In 11th August 2016, I Charles Ogbu,  wrote a fact-studded piece titled "IN DEFENCE OF PRESIDENT JONATHAN" published in the Guardian Newspaper which attracted a rejoinder from the presidency titled "IN DEFENCE OF PRESIDENT BUHARI, IS THIS THE CHANGE WE VOTED FOR? YES, IT IS" written by president Buhari's senior media aide, Garba Shehu to which I again responded with "IN DEFENCE OF THE MASSES, THIS IS CERTAINLY NOT THE CHANGE WE VOTED FOR".

When I was doing this verbal gymnastics with the highest office in the land over a Jonathan whom I have never met, where was Reno Omokri then?  He was hiding somewhere in the U.S, too afraid to write anything in Jonathan's defence. Now that the monumental disaster, Buhari, has been declared incapacitated, Reno is running his mouth. How convenient!

Our support for Jonathan was driven by a sense of justice, fairness and equity coupled with the fact that his opponent has always been a hopeless murderous ethnic jingoist with generational hatred for Ndigbo. Why should we now sit back and allow an integrity-challenged Reno Omokri a.k.a Wendell Simlin disparage us for no just cause? Why did Omokri not denigrate the entire Fulanis when El-rufai and numberless Fulanis made sport of demonizing Jonathan at every turn? Asari Dokubo, Edwin Clark, Seriake Dickson have all described Jonathan as weak, yet, Omokri neither attacked those people nor their ethnic groups. Why? Why does he now think that he can attack the whole Igbo race simply because one Igbo man purportedly chose to criticize his ex president?

Saying that a former president was weak and incompetent, is that even an insult? Frankly, I don't get this! Is Reno such a bad user of the Queen's language that he no longer understand that "weak" and "incompetence" are but mere adjectives naming an attribute of a noun? So far, Goodluck Jonathan remains the best president Nigeria ever had. His worst remains better than the best of Buhari. Is this even debatable? He was and still is, a perfect gentleman. Matter of fact, I belong to the school of thought which believes that Nigeria was and still is, too primitive for people like Jonathan to preside over.

But was he weak as president? Keep sentiment at home let's find out the answer. Several months before 2015 election, Jonathan was presented with credible evidence of the treacherous ways of Attahiru Jega, the man he appointed INEC boss but he did nothing! He chose to allow JEGA continue as INEC boss because he felt he (GEJ) couldn't withstand the pressure JEGA's sack would bring him. That was weakness! Jonathan's failure to sack Jega was the height of weakness on his part. #ChibokGirlsSaga remains unresolved till today mainly because Jonathan bowed to foreign pressure and admitted it happened even after his goverment had earlier dismissed it as a scam. If GEJ hadn't bowed to pressure, he would have simply arrested that woman Principal of Chibok school and within hours of questioning, she would have spilled the beans.

GEJ showed weakness by allowing many people including Buhari to undermine his govt. Are we really going to waste our time arguing this obvious fact? Now, let's visit the dictionary: The term "Weak" is an adjective and it means "liable to break or yield under pressure" among other meanings. So I ask again, was Jonathan weak as president? In the Nigerian context, the answer is YES! Refer to the above instances I just listed out. So what then is the problem here? Even if we lie to ourselves, how can we descend to the level of believing our own lies as the gospel truth?

My father, the late Emmanuel Nwodo Ogbu Nwachima, once allowed my uncle to take possession of our piece of land on the ground that he didn't want to make trouble with his brother. To me, that was him being a peaceful man but it also portrayed him as weak. I remember my father as a good man but each time I see my uncle's children on that land, I think my dad weak. Context is of utmost importance here.

May I remind Reno Omokri that before Jonathan, two (three) Igbo sons, (Zika of Africa), Alex Ekwueme and Ebitu Ukiwe have held the position of both civilian and military vice presidents respectively. Allison Madueke has equally held a very high position in the military as Chief of Naval Staff. So why should we be grateful for getting individual appointments of army chief and SGF even after paying with our blood in the North and are still being victimized by the present govt over our support for Jonathan? Reno Omokri and co need to realize that those who live in glass houses should be wise enough not to start throwing stones around. As far as Jonathan is concerned, what Ndigbo deserve from Reno and Co is gratitude, not attitude.

HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY AMERICA !!!

ICHEOKU says congratulations America on her birthday, independence from then Great Britain and as we celebrate a great country, may her sun never set. Happy Independence Day America.

YORUBA: THE SICK MAN OF NIGERIA an article by BAYO OLUWASANMI

I borrowed the title of my article from the expression “sick man of Europe commonly referred to the Turkish Empire.” In the 19th century, it was believed that Turkey had fallen under the financial control of other nations. In the 1920s, Turkey was a typical Muslim hellhole with a long record of atrocities, ethnic cleansing, genocide, massacres, overwhelming and pernicious influence of Mullahs, inefficient government, bribery everywhere, and oppression of women. 

The expression equally applies to Nigeria and of course Yoruba political space: corrupt and inefficient government, recklessness, lawlessness everywhere, failed system, corrupt judiciary and broken criminal justice system, brazen robbery and endless looting of the treasury, violence here and there, fear, panic, strife, grieve, by citizens from day and night marauders on our streets, our roads, and in our communities who kill at will. Unyielding overt and covert hostilities and tensions between the federating parts that will ultimately bring Nigeria into her knees. 

It's easy to hide from the fight for survival if the fight is mythic in scale. And at this particular time in our history, things feel apocalyptic. The Yoruba deal makers who made possible the merger and alliance of Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) and Congress for Political Change (CPC) which became All Progressives Congress (APC) that produced Muhammadu Buhari as the president, have become cartoonishly immobilized  by playing second fiddle in national affairs particularly the future of Yoruba race vis-a-vis on-going debate on the possible breakup of Nigeria. The Hausas have made their position known on the breakup of Nigeria when the northern youths gave three-month ultimatum to Igbo to vacate their region. Similarly, Igbo people continues to agitate for Biafra. Only Yorubas among the three could not agree with one voice on where they stand on the future of Nigeria and most importantly, on the future of Oduduwa people. 

The present makeup of Yoruba political leadership is populated by cowards. This is evident by its prevarication on the all important issue of whether or not Yoruba will stay or leave Nigeria. Their cowardice to stand up and articulate the fears and concerns of Yorubas as vocally expressed by the other two groups make Yoruba the sick man of Nigeria. Amazingly, Yoruba political leadership has not yet figured out how to respond to the issue. I believe they have two choices: they may either unify and rally Yorubas around a common cause, or express their support to one ungovernable, stunted, barbaric, primitive one Nigeria and see Yoruba dissolve into the political abyss. 

This is not the time for Yoruba political leaders to play a wait-and-see game. As cowards, they are content to play the better of two evils without resistance when faced with a political dilemma. They have refused to move in the best interest of majority of Yorubas, too afraid to take a stand because it is politically expedient for them to drag their feet. There's no person among them with the spine, the backbone, the moral constitution to convince other groups and their lackeys that Yorubas are more than forging political mergers, alliances, or alignment. They too can be resolute in determining their own fate and destiny. 

It seems to me they need a deeper understanding of what the word  progressive means. Let me be clear: any leader or leaders who fail to take a stand on behalf of their people are not only sell-outs, but blindly  ignorant at best and flatly dangerous at worst. They are content to hope that time will present an advantageous opportunity to resist the coming breakup of Nigeria. They are content to hope that they can continue to operate as though business as usual will be enough. Yoruba people demands this is the time for the political leaders to abandon politics as usual, and act boldly and swiftly. The most basic resistance from them is to say no to one Nigeria where our people are impoverished, bed ridden by disease, joblessness, hopelessness, and paralyzed by fear and insecurity, and pinned to a cul-de-sac where the pursuit of happiness is impossible. They should refuse to play nicely, but protest with radical fervor any advances that do not favor our cause and course. 

To me, the present Yoruba political leaders are not leaders built for leading, not built to protect the rights of our people, but only to protect their political spoils. By the time they wake up from their stupor, however, there may not even be a Nigeria left to save. They'll only be able to thank their strategy of waiting for an opportune time to start resisting of being part a country that's fast vanishing before their eyes. They will regret that they have not started their own movement and preparation for the inevitability a long time ago. May be now they can join the rest of us who want to live without wondering if we'll ever survive this new hellhole they help put us in. The Yoruba leadership need to wake the hell up! 

The cowardice of such leaders to declare their stand in unambiguous language will be an indelible and damning part of their legacy. But one thing I'm sure of : history doesn't forget the noisy voices once the dust settles, the winners and losers. When our history is written, we'll celebrate those who exhibited bravery, and we'll decide the aggressively malignant. We'll cheer the heroic. History tells us that leaders who let their people down at times like these are the ones who run and hide in the woods until the dust settles. Political self-preservation in dire circumstances is just about the same as cowardice. 

We have a word for people who are dominated by fear. We call them cowards. J.R.R. Tolkien once wrote: “A man that flies from his fear may find that he has only taken a shortcut to meet it.”

HENRY BELLO: NIGERIAN MEDICAL DOCTOR SHOOTS UP NEW YORK HOSPITAL

ICHEOKU says they finally broke him. He couldn't take it anymore. He lost his center,  snapped and went berserk; shooting up a hospital which did it to him. His name was Henry Bello, a medical doctor from Fulani/Hausa Northern Nigeria, who lived in New York and worked at the Bronx-Lebanon Hospital Center Grand Concourse from where he was fired in 2015. He returned as allegedly promised, with a M-16 assault rifle, to 'kill all of them who took his all and ended his career abruptly. He shot six people, killing one of them before turning the gun on himself and exited a world he considered cruel and unfair and which discriminated against him. 

His grievances were many and somewhat understandable; admitted nothing warrants the taking of other peoples lives. Yes, ICHEOKU is emphatic that discrimination is real and prevalent in American work places and often times, is meticulously targeted at a specifically earmarked particular individual. The target is eventually forced off the cliff and into unemployment market and sometimes, as with the case of Doctor Henry Bello, into taking lives. It is often brutal and it is real; and try as you may, it is often times impossible to avoid it. It is life in America and work places are often times not a very conducive atmosphere. The pressure comes from every where - from meeting output to fellow workers who might not necessarily like you and would always find something to complain about you, including sometimes making up allegations which are not true but being in concert adjudges you guilty. Yes, it is life in American workplaces and some workers are not hard enough to soldier along with it and break down, resulting in such workplace violence. 

Dr Henry Bello is now a static of such victim worker who could not take it any more and made victims out of his fellow workers, A cry for help which went unanswered, resulting in the tragedy that took place at Bronx-Lebanon Medical Center Concourse New York. Just hear the late doctor bemoan the fate which befell him at his previous place of work: 

"This hospital terminated my road to a licensure to practice medicine. First, I was told it was because I always kept to myself. Then it was because of an altercation with a nurse.”   

ICHEOKU says yes, they sometimes make up stories to justify their action and end up branding such employee as disgruntled, aggressive, loud and threatening; and invariably a problem which they have to solve by getting rid of. ICHEOKU says Dr Henry Bello would have tried his luck elsewhere or developed some thick skin to tough it out; but above all, should not have resorted to killing anybody including himself in protest. However, what happened has happened and all ICHEOKU is doing now is pontificating about it. It is regrettable and it is unfortunate. May his restless disappointed soul now rest and so also the soul of the killed fellow doctor. Just another workplace violence that is both chilling and unfortunate, especially being in a hospital, a place for healing. 

HOW TO ACTUALIZE BIAFRA WITHOUT A WAR - CHUKWUMA EGEMBA

In 1999, the flame of fire for Biafra restoration was re-started with the formation of Movement for the Actualization of Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB) by Chief Ralph Uwazuruike, Uche Okwukwu, Prince Orjiako and others with the aim of securing the resurgence of Biafra independence and sovereignty.  Since then, the flame had spread into a wild and unstoppable fire, thanks to the efforts of thousands of Biafrans with unquenchable appetite for freedom and justice. The setting up of Radio Biafra London (RBL) in 2009 – the brain child of Sam Ume (Tagbo Umeasiegbu) and actively supported by Nnamdi Kanu, Dr. Chukwuma Egemba, Nwada Amarachi Okpara, Uche Mefor and Kingsley Kanu added more fuel to the burning wild fire, making it unquenchable and unstoppable. 

Today, the forces of freedom and justice, which Biafra represents, have set it on collision course with the government of Nigeria, which sees the resurgence of Biafra as a threat to its national unity and territorial integrity.  In fact, Nigerian government sees Biafra more threatening than Boko Haram that had physically taken over sizeable chunk of its territory and killed hundreds of security operatives and innocent civilians, hence the efforts of successive governments to out-do each other in repressing and suppressing Biafra restoration efforts. 

Unfortunately, the more highhanded and aggressive they become in trying to diminish the fighting spirit of Biafran activists, the more determined and aggressive we become in fighting to bitter end for our survival, freedom and justice. The recent and ongoing tsunami of protests around the world against the arrest, continued detention and mocked trial of Nnamdi Kanu, the Director of RBL; imprisonments, extra judicial killings and police brutality against Biafra activists are testament to the fact that the match for Biafra restoration is unstoppable until victory is achieved.  It is very unfortunate, criminally indicting and unacceptable that many innocent people had been killed needlessly by Nigerian security operatives and often buried in mass graves.  These callous and cowardly actions had not diminished and cannot diminish the quest of Biafrans from freedom.  

However, a tactical and strategic retreat is necessary and should be encouraged now. It is not a surrender or sign of weakness.  Even in battles, generals make tactical and strategic retreat and withdrawal in order to re-strategize and regroup for further attack.  It is clear that Biafraland has been fully militarized with more mechanized formations being deplored in different parts of our land, especially in Aba and its environs.  Former Boko Haram prisoners and terrorist had been let loose, armed and fully incorporated into the army and police and sent to Biafra territories with clear instruction to shoot at site Biafran activists and protesters, no matter how peaceful they may appear.  Besides, we have chief murderous ‘security’ officers at federal and state levels, who had openly declared their hatred for Biafra and the Biafran cause. Therefore, it will be unwise to give these blood thirsty murderers further excuses to murder more of our young and innocent people.  Tactical retreat is not surrender. 

Again, I have argued and will continue to argue that armed struggle had run out of fashion and no long constitutes first options in self-determination in the 21st century.  I have dedicated a considerable part of my adult life for the struggle to restore Biafra.  During this time, I have never advocated for the use of violence as the first or preferred option. I make no apology for this stand and will hold it strongly until I am proved wrong. All evidence from all sources within all areas of Biafra points to the fact that they want the restoration of Biafra, but do not want violence and war as means of restoring their freedom and sovereignty.  It will not be wise to work against the wish of the people. 

It is on this premise that I am openly and unequivocally calling for the suspension of all street protests and any gathering that can be construed as such. My most worry and concern is that the protests are organized and led remotely – with the organizers – not only invincible, but also not taking responsibility for their action. This is wrong and must not be encouraged or supported. Obviously, the President of Nigeria, Muhammadu Buhari, and the state governors in the states where Biafrans are killed will be held responsible for their murderous actions because they gave the orders and are the Chief Security Officers in their respective jurisdictions (at national and state levels).  In the same manner, any person or persons, who overtly and covertly instigate innocent people to be murdered are equally culpable.   Obviously, those concerned in misguiding innocent people and indirectly encouraging their murder know themselves and I know them. 

I have purposely chosen not to name names here for obvious reasons, it is not out of fear of intimidation or death. Some of those involved know me too well, know how to get to me and where I live, so fear is out of it.  They also know that I have contacted them personally and directly on this matter. Let me make it clearer, instigation of murder is a criminal offense. 

Inasmuch as I want Biafra, prepared to commit my last breath to make the restoration of our freedom and sovereignty a reality, I do not hate Nigeria and do not wish Nigeria dead.  At the end of the day, whatever that will remain of Nigeria after Biafra will be our closest neighbour, our biggest political and economic partner.   Czech and Slovakia co-exist after the demise of Czechoslovakia; South Sudan did not wish Sudan dead during the pursuit of their independence; East Timor did not seek to destroy Indonesia, neither did war break out in the former Soviet Union that metamorphosed into 15 independent and sovereign states. 

Oh, by the way, did black South Africans drive the white minority into the Atlantic after apartheid? Why then should any sane person or group wish Nigeria dead in order to restore Biafra? It does not make sense, both in time and space. Where then is the mantra of the Biafran people: ‘Live and let live’ that had sustained us for thousands of year?  If we want to live in freedom, we must not only allow others to live, but live in peace with them. Is that not common sense?  The processes, procedures, terms and conditions of self-determination of indigenous people do not and cannot include the annihilation of another people or nation.  You do not have to preach hatred to prove your point and support for Biafra! 

Consequently, the question of Biafra is not about war, it is not about destroying other states/nations, it is not about hating other peoples, neither is it about threat and counter threat.  It is all about careful and coordinated efforts; it is about synthesizing individual, group, media campaigns into a structured and systematic action plan with tightened loose ends; it is about carefully cultivating and courting friends inside and outside, in low and high places; it is about strategically and tactically using your limited resources to maximum benefit of the struggle; it is about laying a solid grassroots economic base within the confinement of space and scope available to us; it is about building a solid political base and alliances within the confinement of current political realities; it is about changing and reshuffling plans and strategies to suit local, national and international conditions and realities and above all, it is about creating operational base. Without these, in any order, we will be punching and blowing hot air, wasting time and resources and alienating our support base. This is what we have done for more than 15 years and it is not sustainable going forward. 

War or violent path to Biafra restoration is and cannot be a viable first option for several reasons: 

· Local: There are no favourable local operational base for such action. We don’t have full and exclusive control of any territory from where a meaningful and successful operation could be launched.  Our local population had suffered and still suffering from imposed socio-economic hardship, which will make such operation very unpopular and will add to their hardship.  Violence will be hard and difficult to sell to our local support base. 

• National:  Nigerian government is still in full control of our territory. They have made no secret of their intentions to crush and frustrate any Biafran-led uprising, hence our land had been fully militarized and effectively under siege. It is also using series of overt and covert policies to strangulate the people – thus making any violent undertaking dangerous and unattractive. 

·International: The international community will not welcome or support any additional violent uprising from any part of the world now.  There are more than enough to contend with at the moment: Western engineered crisis in Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria and Libya, resulting in the rise and spread of Islamic terrorism and unprecedented refugee and migrant crisis in Europe and internally displaced persons elsewhere; problem associated with Russian territorial ambitions in the former in Ukraine and other former Soviet republics; internal aid and support organizations are overwhelmed and stretched due to some of the above crisis and to a lesser extent, the elections and inevitable change of administration in the US.  Therefore, additional violent uprising will receive little or no support.  In fact, the international community is not prepared for another conflict situation.

These and other unfavourable conditions, including the intentional and near total media boycott of our struggle makes any form of violent approach as first option inappropriate and unnecessary at the present moment. However, I have not, will not and will never advocate for total negation of violence in our or any other self-determination struggle as a last option, when all other options have failed, seen to have failed, as a self-defence mechanism and seen to have been forced on us. 

We are in the business of creating and building a nation state, a future sovereign member of the international political system, not an umbrella organization or a town union, neither are we in a popularity or personality contest.  There is too much dust in the air now.  It must settle and clear for us to make sense of the realities of our situation right now.

Things cannot be the same going forward. Whatever happens, Biafra is supreme!  Interacting with our sympathizers, activists and supporters at base, one thing is frequent, reoccurring and constant: War is not and cannot be first option/choice in our restoration efforts; we, the Biafran people alone, will determine the direction, success and failure of our struggle.  The successes and difficulties we had experienced thus far are not commensurate to our efforts. We could have achieved more successes with less difficulty if some of the challenges outlined above were addressed or factored into our actions. Combination of individuals placing themselves far and above Biafra (selfishness and egoism), group mentality, hero worshiping, internal division, absence of central institution and lack of coordination of activities resulted in wasting years of efforts and valuable resources. These must change for us to make progress. 

Nevertheless and regardless, the success or failure of whatever option, tactics and strategy we adopt will largely depend on us – the Biafran people, the activists, supporters and our leadership.  Buhari and his government’s highhandedness, oppression and repression will not and can never stop Biafra restoration efforts. They can only delay and prolong it, but in the end, our structured plans and coordinated action will overcome them and guarantee victory for a free and sovereign Biafra state.

BIAFRA CANNOT BE WISHED AWAY BY THE FULANI/HAUSAS

GEORGIA 6TH CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT: KAREN HANDEL WINS.

ICHEOKU says congratulations to Georgia's Secretary of State Karen Handel and now elected House of Representative republican member designate, for winning the heavily contested Georgia's 6th Congressional district. President Donald John Trump is also acknowledged for forcefully endorsing her candidacy and not backing down with follow up tweets in support and encouragement. Together, she will help the president implement his Make America Great Again agenda as well as drain the swamp in Washington DC. 

OTTO WARMBIER: MURDERED BY NORTH KOREAN ROGUE REGIME

ICHEOKU says regardless of how long it takes, the authorities in Pyongyang must be held accountable for the murder of American tourist Otto Warmbier, who succumbed to the maltreatment and possibly drugs which were secretly injected into him while in detention in North Korea. What exactly was his offense other than allegedly trying to take a poster from his hotel room and you ask yourself why such a trifle act should arise to a death penalty offense. 

ICHEOKU says it is about time the Michelin Tire man midget in Pyongyang is held to account for all the murders he has carried out in that reclusive enclave, including this his latest victim Ota Warmbier; his half brother, uncle, aunt and thousand of other citizens of North Korea who have perished in his insatiable taste for the crimson liquid. What manner of a man other than a sadist killer, would arrest a tourist for merely "stealing" a poster, and put processes in motion that eventually claimed his young youthful life at 22 years. His treating doctors diagnosed his condition as "extensive loss of brain tissue which put him in a state of “unresponsive wakefulness.”

ICHEOKU agrees with the victim's parents Mr and Mrs Warmbier that the mistreatment Otto received in the hands of those North Koreans was indeed awful and torturous and actually culminated to his death. Yes, the victim's father was right that "There is no meaning here. This is a rogue, pariah regime. They’re terrorists. They’re brutal. There’s no sense to anything here.” What a brutal regime the Kim Jong Un of North Korea is operating in Pyongyang and hopefully he will be made to pay for his crimes against humanity soon just like in the manner of all tyrants before him. May the youthful soul of Otto Warmbier rest. Adieu.

IGBO HATERS, THE AREWA ULTIMATUM AND OUR COUNTRY - REUBEN ABATI

Fifty years after the civil war ended, Igbos do not yet feel a sense of belonging, acceptance or safety in the Federation called Nigeria.

The sad part is that this belief is shared not just by the generation that witnessed the war and its deadly consequences, but Igbos across all generations, including the millennials who have been socialized into believing that there is a gap between their people and other Nigerians.

Let us not deceive ourselves about certain plain truths. The civil war is perhaps the most remarkable incident in Igbo history in the last century.

The pain, the loss, all about it, is deeply imprinted in the Igbo consciousness.

Whereas the Igbo nation has shown great resourcefulness since the war, and its people have proven to be enterprising and determined to hold their own in every sphere of life, including outstanding contributions to the making of the Nigerian state, there are Nigerians who still regard and treat the Igbo suspiciously.

Anti-Igbo sentiment may not be so openly expressed, but it is usually something beneath the surface.

There are landlords in many parts of Nigeria, for example, who will never rent out their property to an Igbo man.

The Igbo tenant is easily stigmatized. I have heard people complain that Igbo tenants are too stubborn or that when you rent a room to an Igbo man, he will end up sub-letting that one room to all kinds of persons from his village, putting pressure on the property’s limited facilities.

Some landlords insist that an Igbo tenant could even start eyeing the property, to buy it off the landlord, or if it is a shop, the Igbo trader would end up renting the entire street, and could turn the street into an Igbo neigbourhood.

This stigma has been a source of agony for many Igbos seeking accommodation, particularly in Lagos, but it is of course completely baseless stereotyping. There are good and bad persons from virtually every Nigerian ethnic group.

The stereotyping of the Igbo person can also be found in the political arena.

It is assumed by some persons, and such statements have been made to my hearing, that the only reason an Igbo man cannot be President of Nigeria is because every Igbo man sees himself as a potential President, and should the Presidency be zoned to the South East, the struggle for the ticket could result in inter-community strife in Igboland.

The name of the group is Igbo, but when other Nigerians want to be mischievous, or perhaps out of ignorance, they refer to Igbos as Ibo, and when you try to correct them, they may insist you don’t seem to understand. It is I-Before-Others (IBO).

Igbos have also been held responsible for all sorts of things, kidnapping, drug trafficking, child trafficking, armed robbery – even when there are criminals from virtually every community in Nigeria.

Meanwhile, they are one of the most vertically educated ethnic groups in Nigeria, and the most enterprising in all fields.

A friend once said that if you enter any community in Nigeria and you don’t have an Igbo man running a small shop there, or engaged in some other kind of business, then you have no business staying in that community.

Igbos are also obviously the most integrated ethnic group in Nigeria, which is why it is ironic that they are also the most vilified.

I wrote what I considered a harmless piece recently in which I referred to the declaration of Biafra in 1967 and quoted excerpts from the Ahiara Declaration.

I got a phone call from a friend who declared that I should stop encouraging these “Biafrans”. Nothing I said made sense to him.

“You don’t know those people”, he declared.

“I know people from all parts of Nigeria,” I said.

“You don’t know Igbos. Has there been any problem in this country that you know in which Igbos have not been involved? They have started again, heating up the polity with threats of secession.”

“It is a sign that all is not well with Nigeria,” I retorted.

“Don’t mind them. I don’t think anybody wants to secede. If Igbos really want to secede, you think it is Nnamdi Kanu that will be speaking for them?”

“It takes just one illuminated soul to start a revolution.”

“Don’t bring that line. Everything is not textbook, this man. Just tell those Igbos not to include my people in whatever they are looking for. We are their neighbours.

“ They dragged us into the civil war. This time around, they’ve gone to draw a map, including my people. Biafra does not extend to the South-South. We are just looking at them.”

“Biafra is an idea.”

“I don’t want to hear all these textbook things, I have told you. Which idea? See, most Nigerians do not support Biafra. They think Igbos are just playing games. I’ll send you some other articles written by other Nigerians and you’d see what I am talking about.

“ People are angry that anybody will be talking about secession in 2017! Nigerians are fed up with Igbos and their games. President Jonathan gave them everything but on election day, many of them stayed at home and refused to vote. Now, they are talking secession.”

“But Yorubas are also talking about Oduduwa Republic.”

“The Yoruba are not going anywhere. What they want is restructuring, fiscal federalism. Which Oduduwa Republic?”

“The people of the Middle Belt are also aggrieved.”

“Anybody can be aggrieved. You can’t please Nigerians. And some of these things are political. Obasanjo became President, Niger Delta carried arms; Jonathan got there, Boko Haram kidnapped children, Buhari is there now, and all the ghosts of Biafra are frightening everybody. But these Igbos, tell them they are not going anywhere.”

“I am surprised you are talking like this.”

“What is the matter with those people? They are all over Nigeria. They are even selling land in Lagos. But no outsider is allowed to buy half a plot of land in Igboland.

“ You carry Igbo girl sef, na problem. Go and check your email. I will send you other perspectives on this matter.”

Before long, I received a mail indeed. The fellow had put together a collection of anti-Biafra, anti-Igbo articles which he urged me to read, with the rider that I should pay particular attention to the fact that some of those articles were written by Igbos.

I ignored the rider. Some of those articles could have been ghost written. What is clear, however, is that all is not well with Nigeria.

We are a country that needs to be rescued from the centripetal forces tearing us apart, and the leading forces today would include, as was the case before now, ethnicity, religion, the politics of hate, and citizen alienation.

If my review of the stereotyping of Igbos in Nigeria and the reported conversation with an Igbo-hater does not fully convey the seriousness of this situation, then the June 6 ultimatum issued to all Igbos living in Northern Nigeria by a coalition of Northern Arewa youth groups should.

A group called the Northern Emancipation Network, comprising 16 Arewa youth groups, has asked all Igbos living anywhere in Northern Nigeria to pack their bags and baggage and be out of the Northern region by October 1, 2017.

When the 19 Northern Governors met and dismissed the threat as misguided, the young Arewa Igbo-haters issued a riposte and more or less asked the Governors to shut up.

Their message is that since Igbos no longer want to be part of Nigeria, they should get out, because they, Arewa youths, do not want belong to the same political union with Igbos. They are angry that on May 30, the Movement for the Actualization of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB) and the Indigenous Peoples Organization of Biafra (IPOB) succeeded in shutting down a part of Nigeria to mark the 50th anniversary of the declaration of Biafra.

The arrogance of the Northern youths is insufferable. It speaks to virtually everything that other Nigerians are uncomfortable with about the Fulani North: a born-to-rule, hegemonic tendency.

It is an assault on the Nigerian Constitution, to the extent that the Constitution does not grant any individual or group, the right or the power to determine where any Nigerian may live or work or die or acquire property.

All Nigerians are equal before the law. The Northern youths, who do not think so, held a meeting, a press conference, and issued statements. The Governor of Kaduna state, Nasir el-Rufai asked the Nigeria Police to arrest them for promoting ethnic hatred.

The only response we have had from the Police Headquarters so far, is from one Jimoh Moshood, described as Police Spokesman telling Nigerians that the Arewa youths “are not sitting in the market waiting to be picked up.”

Moshood, if you actually said that, then you should be relieved of your position forthwith.

If you are a spokesperson and you have nothing intelligent to say, the best option is to remain silent, otherwise whatever you say will be used against you in the court of public opinion.

So, the Nigeria police only arrest people when they go to the market and wait to be arrested? Is that the new police that we now have?

The Northern Emancipation Network called Igbos all kinds of names – “unruly, reckless, insatiable, uncultured, confrontational, ungrateful” – and since they issued their ultimatum, the polity has been heated up, ethnic hate has been promoted, the Igbos of Nigeria have been further alienated.

This was how the civil war of 1967-70 started. Nigeria cannot afford another civil war.

No country survives two civil wars. Already, Igbos in the North are reportedly relocating back to the South East or elsewhere in Nigeria.

Young Nigerians from the North, the East and the South started the civil war.

The politics of ethnicity and the rhetoric of hate ignited the fire that consumed the nation for three years.

The scars have not healed because 50 years later, the youths of the North and the East are again lighting up the fire of hate. On June 6, the Northern Emancipation Network also asked Northerners in the East, I hope this includes the peripatetic herdsmen, to return to the North!

The Nigerian Government must take this on-going febrile conversation between the North and the East more seriously than it appears to be doing. The security agencies do not have to go to the markets to look for what is not there.

When there is a threat to the state, it is their duty to identify the threat and act on it.

All persons who are working hard and making provocative statements to cause a national crisis should be monitored and checkmated. With all the difficult challenges facing this country, at this moment, our security alert system should be pushed a notch higher.

If the security agencies fail to act, particularly on the matter of the coalition of Northern youths promoting Igbo hatred, the Federal Government would have committed a grievous sin, likely to be interpreted as aiding and abetting.

And there would be persons who will legitimately ask: are we confronted with a hand of Jacob and voice of Esau situation? Who is sponsoring the Arewa youths?

Who granted them the permission to use the platform of Arewa House to spew anti-Igbo hate speech? Who is blocking their arrest by the security agencies? What those boys have done is even worse than the threat of secession by Nnamdi Kanu and his supporters.

But the message is clear: Nigeria is not yet a nation. A country where any group or association can threaten to expel another group is not yet a nation.

The common enemy is not the secessionists. The common enemies are the political leaders, the tribal demagogues, the political opportunists, the religious bigots, the paid shamanists, who continue to manipulate Nigeria’s destiny to suit their own purposes. There can be no country except the people love the nation and the state

TOO LATE TO SAVE DIVIDED, HOSTILE, UNEQUAL NIGERIA - BAYO OLUWASANMI

We have witnessed the independence of Slovenia from the former Yugoslavia, the collapse of the Soviet Union, the division of the former Czechoslovakia, and the separation of both Eritrea from Ethiopia and South Sudan from Sudan.

Numerous of successful secessions have allowed people greater freedom and self-determination: Greek independence from the Ottoman Empire, the Hungarian split with the Soviet Union in 1989, Singapore's secession from Malaysia in 1965, Ireland's independence from the UK, and countless others.

Nigeria's impotence as ungovernable, divided, separate, hostile, and unequal nation is apparent for all to see. Nigeria, as we know it, is dead! The country is irrevocably broken along ethnic, linguistic, geographical, religious, and cultural lines. The sooner the Nigerian people accept this, the sooner the break-up and the sooner we can move on.

From time to time, the break-up of Nigeria becomes inevitable to many of us who believe that “In the course of human events, it is necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them.” We're in one of those periods now, and while the reasons are unique, the historical moment is not new. In 1953, the northerners considered secession from the Nigerian colony that would soon be an independent nation. 

The words of our founding fathers that Nigeria is not one country remain prophetically instructive. 

Listen to them: 

“Nigeria is not a nation. It is mere geographical expression. There are no ‘Nigerians’ in the same sense as there are ‘English,’ ‘Welsh,’ or ‘French.’  The word ‘Nigerian’ is merely a distinctive appellation to distinguish those who live within the boundaries of Nigeria and those who do not.” - Chief Obafemi Awolowo said in 1947. 

“Since 1914 the British government has been trying to make Nigeria into one country, but the Nigerian people themselves are historically different in their backgrounds, in their religious beliefs and customs, and do not show themselves any signs of willingness to unite... Nigerian unity is only a British invention.” - Alhaji Abubakar Tafawa Balewa.

Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe argued in 1964 that “It is better for us and many admirers abroad that we [Nigeria] should disintegrate in peace and not in pieces. Should the politicians fail to heed this warning, then I will venture the prediction that the experience of the Democratic Republic of the Congo will be child's play if ever it comes to our turn to play such a tragic role.” 

The recent proclamation of northern youths and the ultimatum given to Igbo people to vacate the north within three months shed much needed light on why Nigeria is not, and will never be, one united nation. There is no mystery as to how we got to this point. There is also no mystery as to who to blame. There is no need for conspiracy theories. The polarization of public life exacerbated by government corruption and incompetence has become so tense it led to widespread civil disorder, culminating in chaos and crises.

Nigeria is fast approaching a complete collapse. For long, many of us have raised alarm that our government and the way the system is being run are not working, and cannot guarantee delivery of basic essential services. The ominous declaration of the northern youths has left Nigerians in fear of what tomorrow may bring. While all this plays out, Nigerians watch in horror and amazement from the sidelines and wonder when the inevitable will occur.

Inequality between the looting ruling class and the poor has become increasingly intolerable. The native tyrants in the National Assembly, better still, National Asylum, are in stupor of random pleasures and whims, feasting on plenty of food and sex, and reveling in the non-judgment that democracy is civil religion. From all indications, our democracy is in retreat, close to being destroyed by vast corruption, ineptitude, incompetence, and fraud. Those in Abuja couldn't care less about our people. They couldn't care less that for 58 years we couldn't get along.  They couldn't care less that Nigeria is as good as dead. Nigerians are angry – Igbos, Hausas, and Yorubas. They are all angry for being sick and poor and tired of being cannon fodders. They are tired of being jobless and hopeless. Brother is turning against brother. Killing of families and children are the norm rather than the exception. Nigerians are nickel-and-dimed to death in their everyday life. Workers, if paid at all, are paid peonage wages. The nation's peonage wage is at subsistence level. This is simply incompatible with self-determination.

With subsistence living, Nigerians are constrained into a desperate state. Their horizon is limited to the present day, to getting enough of what they need to make it to the next. The minimum wage in Nigeria is N18,000 per month. This is criminally below the poverty line. That's a scrambling, anxious existence, narrowly bounded. It's impossible to decently feed, clothe, and shelter yourself on a wage like that, much less a family, much less have money to see the doctor,  or pay for your kids college, or participate in any of those good things of life. Down to the peon level, the pursuit of happiness sounds like a bad joke.

The critical mass of our people is kept in peonage. All its vitality spent in the trenches of day-to-day survival with scant or no opportunity to develop the full range of its faculties. That's why I'm miffed by the numbed-out, dumbed-down, make belief Nigerians who still believe that Nigeria could be saved from falling apart. This is deceptive and uncharitable given our past political history and the present political realities of our nation. Those who see future or unity in one Nigeria are deluded, ignorant, unrealistic. They don't know what's real, what's possible, and can't differentiate fact from fiction.

How can the proponents of one Nigeria explain the humiliation and insult heaped on Vice President Osinbajo when the Chief of Thief Abba Kyari referred to him as “Coordinator of National Affairs” instead of Vice President? The freest and fairest presidential election in our history was won by MKO Abiola. The election was annulled by a northerner. He was robbed of the presidency and he was killed.  If Osinbajo and Abiola were Hausas, nothing of such would have happened to them. Examples of such second class treatment abound. We need not bury our heads in the sand like the proverbial ostrich as if all is well with a troubled and traumatized nation suffering from history of division and disunity.

Nigeria is a country divided against itself and cannot stand. Nigeria is virtually bankrupt. The clamor for separation is the manifestation of a nation grounded as it were, without hope of moving forward after 58 years. I believe it's too late to save Nigeria from disintegration. Our union for the past 58 years has produced no peace, no progress, and no prosperity for the poor majority. The only beneficiaries and the loudest advocates of one Nigeria are those profiteers from the miseries of the pulverized poor – the ruling class.

JAMES HODGKINSON: SHOOTS UP GOP CONGRESSIONAL GOLF PRACTICE

ICHEOKU says he looks respectable but he is a vagrant and attempted killer of Congressman Steve Scailes and four others at a golf practice field in Alexandria Virginia. James Hodgkinson was 66 years old and died in the ensuing gunfire exchange. 

WARRIORS BEATS CAVALIERS 129 - 120: WINS NBA CHAMPIONSHIP 2017

ICHEOKU says it was spectacular and it met the hype; and in Game 5 of National Basketball Association championship 2017, Golden States Warriors gets it done. They beat Cleveland Cavaliers 129 to 120 to clinch the NBA championship 2017. It is now two championships wins in three years. ICHEOKU wishes the finest guys to play the basketball this season all the best and congratulations for a job well done.

ADNAN KHASHOGGI, DEAD AT 81

ICHEOKU says those who grew up in the 80s know his name as everyone aspired to be like him and used him as the benchmark of riches and flamboyance. Yes, Adnan Khashoggi was a global household name such that so many youths took his name as their alias. ICHEOKU had one such friend named Ken T. who became known as Khasoggi. 

AK for short, Adnan Khasoggi had it all, from private jets to a yacht to homes in almost every nations capital including ranches and manors and he lived it up, really up there in the stratosphere. He was a personification of dazzling wealth and known as the man who pulls a lot of strings in international arena and the most famous arms dealers known at that time. He lived a lavish style that would make a prince envious and a King wonder where has his kingdom's wealth gone to and reputedly spent $250,000 a day to support his larger than life lifestyle. 

Atypical of Saudi billionaire, he spent and spent like cash was going out of fashion and spent himself into a problem he once termed "cashflow" problem and eventually filing bankruptcy. He described his type of business as "merchantry"; for whatever that means, because there was nothing concrete nor visible that he was actually doing other than wheeling and dealing, brokerage and arms deals.  

On his out of this world legendary lavish parties which he throws regularly, he said 'It’s all part of the mechanism for impressing people' as he believed that flaunting wealth and powerful connections come handy in achieving the objective. His legend was such that one writer put it that 'he can persuade you to change your mind after you have made it up'; aka flip flop on your conviction. One writer summarized him and his lavish lifestyle as follows: 

"A high-living Middle East power broker with once-limitless wealth, Mr. Khashoggi was among the last of his breed. He thrived in an era of gaudy excess and came to epitomize it. His appetites were gargantuan, beyond the limits of vulgarity. At the peak of his wealth, he presided over 12 estates, including some in Europe and the Middle East; a 180,000-acre ranch in Kenya; and a two-floor Manhattan residence at Olympic Towers, next to St. Patrick’s Cathedral on Fifth Avenue, that was made from 16 existing apartments. He owned a 282-foot yacht, Nabila — used in a James Bond film and later sold to Donald J. Trump — and three lavishly refitted commercial-size jets. His parties were known for rivers of champagne, bevies of women, international celebrities and endless personal attention from the host, known to his many friends as A. K." 

Towards the end of his life, Adnana Khasoggi's was quoted to have said: “What did I do wrong? Nothing. I behaved unethically, for ethical reasons.” ICHEOKU says yes, if any person truly lived, he did; if any person ever had it all, he did; but now, like with all mortals, Adnan Khasoggi has now gone, but his memory lives on in the people who has come to see him as a symbol of the good life and in their minds he lives on. May his soul now rest. Adieu to the world's once richest man who purchased a Queen's yacht and later sold it to the man who later became United States President Donald John Trump. 

DONATE TODAY TO HELP REBUILD LIVES!

ICHEOKU says the Red Cross does one heck of a good job going to the assistance of the needy; so in these times of great need, occasioned by so many hurricanes, flooding and earthquake, show that you really care, donate to help the victims rebuild their wrecked lives. Remember that the Almighty rewards a cheerful giver.

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