NIGERIA: WE ARE KILLING OUR ARMY BY SENDING IT AFTER KANU - ABIODUN LADIPO

If we talk now, dem go brand us “Enemy of the State” and start chasing us upandan with police, DSS, Customs, Immigrations and even vigilantes. But how do you criticize the deployment of soldiers to the private residence of a man without incurring the wrath of the presidency? 

I have an idea: blame it on the Chief of Army Staff, Lt. Gen Tukur Buratai; blame it on Chief of Defense Staff, Gen. Gabriel Olonisakin – for those two must be in the know before troops are deployed within and outside Nigeria. We can take the blame for this aberration a little higher. How about laying it at the doorstep of President Buhari’s Chief of Staff, Abba Kyari? Wouldn’t he have been the last person to know before the president himself knew? Buratai would have communicated his plans to Olonisakin, who would, in turn, have asked Abba Kyari for a meeting with the President so he could brief him. Abba Kyari would likely have just given the go-ahead in the name of the president because Mr. President was indisposed, or just didn’t have the time to see everybody and every file all of the time. Right? 

Wrong. In this day and age, nations don’t send soldiers chasing after their own civilian citizens. Responsible nations spend too much money on the training and welfare of their soldiers for them to be deployed on such trifle mission as “show of force” on the street of a rabble-rouser. That is so Hitlerian; so tyrannical and so out-of-date. The blame lies squarely at the doorstep of President Buhari. And as the saying goes, the buck stops at his desk. 

I understand that section 217(2) of our Constitution authorizes the president to deploy troops to any part of the country to support the efforts of other law enforcement agencies in order to help suppress “insurrection.”  This is akin to what the U.S. National Guard, which is under the command of individual state governors, does in the U.S. But where is the insurrection in Abia State? 

One definition of insurrection is: “an act or an instance of rising in revolt, rebellion, or resistance against civil or an established government.”  Nnamdi Kanu, the leader of the Indigenous Peoples of Biafra (IPOB), who, obviously, was the target of the military deployment, had threatened all of the key elements that define insurrection; “threatened”… but not yet carried them out. He has promised to burn down Nigeria more than once. He has promised to prevent elections from taking place in Anambra more than once. He has promised to carve out Biafra from Nigeria more than once. But he has yet to actualize any of those threats. 

What he has done is flagrantly violate some of the conditions for his bail. In April of this year, when virtually all the elders from the east pleaded for his release from detention, ostensibly because his health was failing and he was at the point of death, Justice Binta Nyako offered Kanu 12 conditions for his release, and the continued enjoyment of the temporary freedom. Those conditions included, but were not limited to, the following: he must not be in a crowd of more than 10; he must not hold rallies; and he must not grant interviews. But what did he do as soon as he was released? He not only got in a crowd of more than 10, he held rallies. Apparently, his health got better as soon as he exited the court premises in Abuja. He not only granted interviews; he threatened to burn down Nigeria.  For those alone, all that government needed was a court order to re-arrest him. And because of his notoriety - the touts and the hoodlums with whom he has surrounded himself and the nature of his threats against Nigeria, the government probably needed a hefty dose of a combined police/DSS operation. No reasonable person would have argued against that because it would have been lawful. That would have been an appropriate show of force. 

So, why send a platoon, company or battalion of soldiers to intimidate him? The answer is simple. The Buhari government, like all the ones before it, and like most African governments, is afraid of empowering the police like it is done in the western world. The ideal thing would have been to allow the states to have their own police. Those who argue against that cite the potential for abuse by some of our vindictive and petulant governors, and the general “immaturity of our democracy.” If we are leaving the police as it is under the federal government, it needs to be numerically strengthened to accurately cover the whole country (stop assigning police officers to all manners of political office holders); improve their general welfare – salary, training, weapons – and truly empower them to carry out law enforcement duties across the whole country. 

It is an onerous, almost revolutionary task that requires laser-focus attention from the president. But it is wishful thinking on my behalf. Knowing the bushman, brute force mentality of our military, I can’t imagine a police officer enforcing the law on a military officer. A good example of the subordination of the military to civil rule is the U.S. military, which boasts of some of the most lethal men and women in its forces. Yet, those highly trained members of the military are some of the most humble, most deferential and most respectful individuals when you see them about town. Other than members of the National Guard whom you’d see in town with arms during natural disasters, I have never, in 30 years, seen armed American regular soldiers in town. Even when going from their bases to training grounds, they move about in such a way as to not draw attention to themselves, using civilian license plates on their plain-colored vehicles. Even wearing the camouflage uniforms in town is often discouraged. The idea is to protect the crown jewel of the American power –  the soldier. Would you be surprised to see an American police officer arrest an American soldier? It happens all the time. Such a thing can happen in a society where the military is completely subordinated to the civilian leadership. Can that happen in Nigeria? No. Our military is still tethered to its inglorious past of dehumanizing jungle-justice treatment of the so-called bloody civilians. 

In its characteristic lethargic attitude to important matters, this government dilly-dallied on this Kanu matter until the fellow became a martyr for the Biafra cause. Kanu was charged to court for some of the most egregious offenses you could commit against your country; one of which was treason. The man was seen and heard all over the world on video and radio openly soliciting contributions for the acquisition of arms to wage war against Nigeria. With two passports at his disposal – Nigerian and British – the man entered Nigeria illegally without a British visa on his British passport and without an entry stamp on his Nigerian passport. Now, why did someone like that get put in detention for over a year without his trial moving an inch? Where is Attorney General Abubakar Malami on this issue? Isn’t the APC government the government of “Change” the one that promised an overhaul of the judiciary? 

So, why send the army to harass Nnamdi Kanu? Could it be that our soldiers don’t have much to do anymore? Is Boko Haram now completely crushed? Have we traversed the entire Sambisa forest and mapped out every inch of it? If not, shouldn’t those soldiers riding around in Umuahia be deployed to Maiduguri? 

Who does not know that the Nigerian Army is by far the superior bet in a showdown with IPOB and Biafra? It has to be the suicidal goons following Kanu around. And I think there is something in the water or food they are consuming over there that makes them think they can stand toe-to-toe with the Nigerian Army. I saw some of them on video armed with cutlasses, machetes and bottles, throwing stones at the military convoy. I heard warning shots being fired by the soldiers and saw the idiots still moving in the direction of fire. If you look in the dictionary for the definition of stupidity, it would be illustrated with the picture of a mob armed with sticks, cutlasses and bottles attacking a military element protected with body armor and armed with semi-automatic weapons, fully-automatic weapons and grenade launchers. Don’t come crying to me when you are blown to smithereens. 

I have never been a fan of armed soldiers dressed in combat uniforms dealing with civilians in town. I have so much respect for the military that any misuse of them, any scorn and derision thrown their way makes my blood boil. Even the “ineffectual buffoon” and “bloody civilian” had enough sense to declare a state of emergency in the northeast before sending soldiers there. I expect our sage and former general to know better…unless his sentience is in question.

WHAT HAPPENED: A BOOK OF ALTERNATIVE FACTS

 

ICHEOKU says she has no credibility left and this book will not reinvent her nor be any different from her notorious making up of facts. DO NOT BUY IT.

SERENA WILLIAMS' OUT OF WEDLOCK BABY: BEATS SISTER VENUS TO MOTHERHOOD

ICHEOKU says tennis super star Serena Williams has popped out a baby girl, fathered by her fiancee Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian. Baby Alexis Olympia Ohanian Jr. was born September 1, 2017 and weighed 6 lbs 14 oz (3.1 kg). 

Hopefully baby Alexis got her mother's racket swinging gene and will someday takeover the lawn as Serena Williams Version 2.0 and with a big auntie Venus, she will not lack in the mentoring department should she decide to play tennis. ICHEOKU wonders how Venus must be feeling now that her baby sister raced pass her into motherhood; admitted she must be elated to have a little niece to dot on. 

Congratulations Serena and Alexis for bringing a new life into this world. Glad mama and baby are doing well after the initial health scare that kept them a little longer in the hospital. Like most babies, little Alexis is cute. ICHEOKU prays too that motherhood will be all the experience Serena wants it to be.

WHAT HAPPENED: A BOOK OF DISTORTIONS AND MADE UP TALES.

ICHEOKU says true to type she blamed everyone else but herself as she continued to refuse to take personal responsibility for losing an election campaign which was hers to win and she lost to a political neophyte. Hillary Clinton, incapable of looking in the mirror to see the person who cost her presidential ambition starring right back at her, is gradually reaching a point of no return in her infatuation with an election loss. What a woman; a crazy wild eyed feminist woman extraordinaire. As for the book, ICHEOKU will not add to the Clinton's cash trove but will read it just to see how far she went to tell a sighted man on a sunny day that the sky is dark. 

NEW IPHONE: APPLE SKIPS 7s, LAUNCHES MODEL 8 - VALENTINA PALLADINO

At the first event held in the new Steve Jobs Theater on its new campus, Apple announced the new iPhone 8 handset today. This year marks the 10th anniversary of the original iPhone, and Apple celebrated by doing something very uncharacteristic: skipping the “S” iteration of the iPhone 7 and pushing full-steam ahead with the new iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus models.

The iPhone 8’s design is based on the iPhone 7 in that it doesn’t look incredibly different from Apple’s previous handsets. The iPhone 8 and 8 Plus are similar in size to the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus, but they have new glass fronts and backs that nod to the glass construction of the iPhone 4. Both models are made with aerospace-grade aluminum, and the glass is reinforced by steel. Each model has a Retina display as well for improved color accuracy, wide color gamut, and True Tone technology.

Glass adds a slick, if fragile, look to the new smartphone, but it also allows for wireless charging. This has been a long-rumored feature for the new iPhones, and Apple confirmed today that the iPhone 8 models will support Qi wireless charging with an optional charging pad. The iPhone 8 models use induction-based wireless charging, which is the same technology used to charge the Apple Watch.

The iPhone 8 models run Apple's new A11 Bionic chip that has six cores and a 64-bit design. It's divided into two low-performance cores and four high-performance cores, with the regular cores being 25 percent faster than the previous A10 chip and the high-performance cores being up to 75 percent faster than the A10 SoC

The cameras have also been improved on the iPhone 8 models. There's a new 12MP camera and sensor pair on the iPhone 8 that supports optical image stabilization. The Plus has the dual-camera setup like the 7 Plus did, but it features new sensors and new f/1.8 and f/2.8 apertures. Apple also designed its own image signal processor that produces faster low-light autofocus, improved pixel sensor, and noise reduction. Altogether, these new cameras and sensors should produce better low-light photos and images with finer details than before.

As was rumored before the event, there's a new Portrait Lighting mode that makes use of the dual-camera setup and the A11 chip. This feature senses the scene in which your photo was taken and automatically adjusts the lighting and contours of the face in the photo to produce a better shot. Rather than using filters to change your image, Portrait Lighting actually analyzes your image and then changes it as such. This feature will ship in beta when the iPhone 8 Plus comes out.

Apple took the same approach to the new handset's video encoder that it did with the ISP. Apple designed its own video encoder to produce faster video frame rates and image and motion analysis in real time (for augmented reality purposes). When shooting video, the iPhone 8 models divide each frame into 2 million separate tiles, which the internals then analyze and optimize based on what you're filming. These cameras can also shoot 4K video at 60fps or 1080p video at 240fps, which is much better than the previous iPhone 7 handsets.

With the improved camera and A11 Bionic, Apple touted the iPhone 8's new AR capabilities as top-notch; competitive multiplayer games in AR and real-time stats overlaid on an in-person baseball game were just some of the demos.

The iPhone 8 models will start at $699 with 64GB, and the iPhone 8 Plus will start at $799. Preorders begin this Friday, September 15 with phones arriving September 22. iOS 11 comes on September 19 (and you can expect the traditional Ars Technica OS review soon after).

MISS AMERICA 2018 CROWNED!

ICHEOKU says what did it for her is not so obvious but hey, the judges decided and so it is that Miss North Dakota's Cara Mund is the new Miss America 2018. ICHEOKU wishes her a meritorious reign. Congratulations.

IGBO V. YORUBA COLD WAR: A CASE FOR SOUTHERN UNITY - Charles Ogbu

"Power is like a shadow. It resides exactly where men who are under its control think it resides"

The above is true with regards to the situation of Southerners in the Nigerian experiment.

We think the Fulanis are the ones that have been holding power and because we think and believe so, it actually look so. Because of this assumed knowledge, we hand over our destinies, our future and those of our children to a people who are not above 11 million, have little or no education and contribute little or nothing to the national pulse.

What if I told you that the real power rests in the South and with southerners but that the mutual distrust and foolish superiority contest between Igbos and Yorubas is the biggest obstacle to wielding this power? This senseless feud between these two Southern giants is also the biggest enabler and promoter of the fulani Oligarchy.

The southern part of Nigeria owns the oil which feeds the entire country. Without the oil today, there is no economy and there is no Nigeria. The same south controls the commercial sector of the economy. The media is still owned and controlled by the South.

When a people owns the only thing that is feeding a whole country and still control commerce plus the media through which people's thoughts and opinions about anything can be shaped and can equally boast of the best human resources, what else does it take for such a people to wield power in such a country? 

Unity!

The few fulanis who have been running this country directly and indirectly since independence, what do they have? 

Unity! 

When the fulani Oligarchs want to achieve an aim, they effortlessly find a way to get every northern minorities such as Christians and middle Belts on their side even when they almost always end up discarding these same minorities and even killing them once the aim is achieved. 

Now, ask yourself: how have the fulani Oligarchs managed to turn the entire Nigeria into an 'Animal Farm' with them as the only "Napoleon' despite their low education and the fact that all the prerequisites/bargaining chips for acquiring and wielding power are domiciled in the South??

Igbo-Yoruba 'cold war'! This, right here, is the answer. 

The day the two biggest southern ethnic groups --The Igbos and The Yorubas --decide to put a stop to their needless bickering and channel all their energy towards confronting their common enemy --the children of Danfodio--, that is the day the Fulani Oligarchs will understand that even though the king is the one with the crown, he is nothing without the kingmakers and the people. 

The Fulanis are not runing Nigeria because they are smarter than others. Far from it. They are messing with the destinies of over 180million people because the two Southern big brothers with the wherewithal to end their murderous reign of impunity are busy chasing rats while their houses are afire.

I am no historian neither do I pride myself as a man of letters but I know for a fact that the biggest weapon of the fulanis is neither guns nor bombs. Their biggest weapon is their ability to identify their opponents' weak points or even create one where none exists, magnify it and use same to create division amongst them just so they would effortlessly implement their Divide And Rule tactics.

Sadly, they have succeded in using this weapon against Southern Nigeria's two biggest ethnic groups.

Throughout history, all the wars and woes visited on both the Igbos and the Yorubas all came from the fulanis. There is no record of ethnic clash between these two humane southern Nations. 

No time has these two people ever disagreed violently. 

Strangely, the mutual suspicion that exist between these two great peoples seem far greater than the one they harbour against their common oppressor, the Scions of Danfodio.

It was not the Igbos who imprisoned Awolowo and killed thousands of Yoruba youths who protested the unjust imprisonment for days in different Yoruba cities in 1963. It was the fulanis and the killing was done by another fulani man, Muhammadu Buhari, who was the then platoon commander, 2nd infantry brigade, Abeokuta. That same year, Buhari was gifted with double promotion on the same day by the govt of Tafawa Balewa.

It was not the Igbos who imprisoned many Yoruba leaders, forced others into exile and killed others like Abiola after annuling his presidential victory. 

It was not the Igbos who attacked Yoruba citizens in Lagos neither was it the Igbos who desecrated Yoruba cradle of civilisation, Ile-Ife by cutting off the head of a Yoruba citizen and parading it along the street, thereby sparking off a bloody ethnic clash that ended in the arrest of only the Yorubas including an Oba by the fulani president and his fulani security agents.

It is not Igbo herdsmen that kidnapped a yoruba son, Chief Olu Falae and have been going about terrorizing and killing Yorubas in Osun, Ogun, Kwara etc with govt-sponsored impunity. 

On the other hand, 

It wasn't the Yorubas that killed thousands of Igbos in the 1945 Jos pogrom and 1953 kano pogrom.

It was not the Yorubas who slaughtered millions of Igbos in the North after the first 1966 coup.

It was not the Yorubas who jailed an Igbo son, Alex Ekwueme who was only the vice president while the president, Shehu Shagari, a fulani, was left in a cosy apartment in the govt house. It was a Fulani man, Muhammadu Buhari who did this in 1984 after overthrowing the then govt in a coup.

Was it the Yorubas that is holding Nnamdi Kanu? Or was it the Yorubas who rained bullets and acid on hundreds of Igbo sons and daughters praying inside a school field in Abia state on Feb.9th, 2016 and those remembering their Biafran heros inside a church in Onitsha on May 29-30, that same year?

Is it Yoruba herdsmen that have been killing, maiming and raping villagers in Nimbo, Nsukka, Awgu Bende Council etc, all in Igbo land? 

Today, even Jack, my two day old puppy knows that Nigeria CANNOT work as presently constituted. It was the rejection of the Aburi Accord by the Fulani Oligarchs which would have restructured Nigeria as a Confederation that led to the Biafran war. Today, the Yorubas want a restructured country. The Niger Delta want the same thing. The Igbos want Biafra BECAUSE Nigeria has refused to restructure. 

Who are the only people resisting the call for restructuring, thereby holding everyone to ransom? Your guess is as good as mine.

Dear Yorubas and Igbos, what exactly are you dragging?

Why have you refused to realise that you have a common enemy, a very ruthless common enemy who have kept you busy fighting among yourselves while he's busy ruining your future and that of your unborn generation?

Can you not see that your siblings; Ijaws, Urhobo, Edo, etc are all looking up to you for that 'big brother' leadership and direction?

Can't you see that the fulanis are not really the problem? You are! Your disunity is!

You have no reason to be fighting. 

Was it not a Yoruba man, Lt. Col Fajuyi, who chose to die with his visitor and commander-in-Chief, Thomas Umunnakwe Aguyi-Ironsi, an Igbo man, rather than give him up to the Hausa/fulani soldiers on 28th July, 1966?

Was it not an Igbo man, Odumegwu Ojukwu, who released Obafemi Awolowo from calabar prison and sent a squad of Eastern Nigerian policemen who escorted him to Ikenne, Ijebu, his home town?

You pride yourselves as the two most educated people in the country, yet your best brains have been reduced to playing 2nd fiddle to the Scions of Danfodio who are mostly without even a secondary school certificate. 

In 1979, it was one of the best Igbo brains, Alex Ekwueme, playing 2nd fiddle to Shehu Shagari.

In 1983/84, it was Idiagbo playing 2nd fiddle to a Buhari who had no certificate.

In 2015, it is a Yoruba professor of law still in political purgatory under the same fulani-born Muhammadu Buhari who has now acquired a certificate........NEPA bill certificate.

Wisdom is profitable

Ojukwu is dead. So is Awolowo. And since I was born, Igbos and Yorubas have never killed each other. How about we put the gory stories of the war behind us and save ourselves and unborn children from this danger that is staring us in the face?

It is always the descendants of Danfodio doing all the killing, all the subjugation and''' slavery and we, the entire south have always been the victim.

In a nutshell, Novus is simply saying that the Igbos and the Yorubas should channel their energy towards confronting their common enemy. You can join forces to fight a formidable enemy and still remain ethnically patriotic to your respective ethnic groups! 

BUU 2019: YES, HE IS RUNNING!

ICHEOKU says the word is out, President Muhammadu Buhari is running for a second term and will soon make it public. ICHEOKU says his first term did not make any difference for many people including ICHEOKU; so ICHEOKU could care less whether or not he runs or decides to make himself the president for life of Nigeria and remains in office until death do him apart from there. ICHEOKU only blames Nigerians for listening to Bola Tinubu who sold them that snake oil for president and now 1 KIng 12:11 has become their portion. Salute

NIMTZ: THE BIGGEST AND BADEST AIRCRAFT CARRIER

WHAT HAPPENED: YES INDEED TRUMP HAPPENED!

ICHEOKU says now America knows the truth of exactly what happened that President Donald John Trump knocked out Crooked Hillary Clinton out of contention from which she has never recovered, if ever she will. Yes, that is what happened as any other thing is but made up stories of fantastical nature.

DACA WAS UNCONSTITUTIONAL AND HAS TO END.

ICHEOKU says the fact of the matter is that the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program is unconstitutional; so the latest action taken by President Donald John Trump's administration to end it, is an effort to right one of the wrongs of the previous President Barack Obama's overreaching actions. It is a move to reinstate a Congressional power to legislate and make laws which was previously hijacked by President Barack Obama by the executive order which authorized DACA. The elected representatives of the people make laws while the executive enforce and implement the laws and therefore an encroached executive must be reined back in and this is what happened with the DACA rescission. President Donald John Trump merely acted to protect separation of powers.

It is the Constitution stupid. So if the people of America wants to allow any changes to be made to their immigration laws, they should say so through their elected representatives  who has the sole power to make laws including to change or amend already existing laws in the books. Sympathy or empathy does not and should not be allowed to override duly enacted laws and this is fundamentally what the latest action seems to reiterate as it redresses an existing malady. ICHEOKU says the President Donald John Trump government also acted in good faith and showed a magnanimous goodwill by not outrightly canceling the program, but allowed a six months window of grace during which the Congress can right the wrong with a legislation backing up the program or have themselves responsible for whatever becomes the fate of such Dreamers going forward thereafter; and thus  basically leaving the fates of Dreamers in the hands of Congress.

ICHEOKU agrees with Attorney General Jeff Sessions that in order to have a lawful system of immigration that serves the national interest, that America cannot admit everyone who would wants to come and live in the United States of America. According to the AG, the decision to terminate DACA was not lightly reached but in the interest of constitutional laws governing the country, it is a painful pill that must be swallowed for the sake of upholding the laws of the land, regardless. DACA conflicts with existing Immigration Laws and only the Congress can make, amend or change already existing laws in the books and they can as well do so with what DACA intended to accomplish, but not otherwise. 

Ending DACA or sending the program back to Congress is a good policy and ICHEOKU hereby commends the government for being bold and courageous in keeping to the letters of the Constitutional separation of powers. Laws of the land are laws of the land and any changes thereto must be by the body duly authorized to vary or change or even repeal and replace them. The over eight hundred thousand beneficiaries thus far granted protection under DACA are actually victims of Barack Obama political machinations and has nothing on President Trump, who is merely acting to save laws guiding the United States of America. President Obama went outside the ambits of his powers as president by usurping legislative authority of the Congress through the backdoor of executive order and should therefore not be heard to now complain about cruelty or morality. 

There is nothing cruel in insisting that laws of the land including bar against executive overreach be maintained. Anyone looking for cruelty should ask President Obama why Libyan Moummar Gaddafi has to die or why Nigerian government was not allowed to purchase weapons with which to fight terrorists Boko Haram at the height of that insurgency, during the presidency of Goodluck Jonathan. This two examples is what being cruel indeed really looks like, as people died; and not just enforcing laws of the land which has not killed anyone. Therefore, former President Barack Obama looking for who is cruel should look into the mirror and he will see the face of cruelty starring back at him. Calling President Donald Trump cruel simply because he is trying to redress what President Obama screwed up is to say the least a bifurcated double speak, which is both baseless and fallacious. Let Congress do their job and if not, let the separation of power rule prevail. 

HELP TEXAS RECOVER: DONATE TODAY

 

ICHEOKU says everybody should try and be a good neighbor and help the great State of Texas pull through the devastation that was Hurricane Harvey and the storm left in its trail. Please help Texas get through this, make a donation to any of the relief funds including to the Red Cross. Salute.

North Korea IS BEGGING FOR WAR - NIKKI HALEY

HATE SPEECH LAW: A RESURRECTION OF DECREE 4 an article by BAYO OLUWASANMI

The Buhari government equates disagreement with its official position on issues as being synonymous with hate, and has failed to draw a line between divergence of opinions and hate speech. I have two predictions to make: before you're through with this piece, the federal and state governments of Nigeria may issue a decree against hate speech. The authorities, its agents, and some Nigerians would call for my head for circulating hate speech. 

At the last meeting of the National Economic Council in Abuja, the Buhari led federal government and the various state governments proposed a new law which would categorize hate speech as “terrorism.” It was agreed at the meeting that a special court be established for the arrest and prosecution of purveyors of hate speeches. To be sure, the hate speech law is fueled by withering criticisms of Nigerians against propaganda, lies, unrest, crisis, chaos, unfulfilled promises and socioeconomic problems that continue to plague Buhari administration. It's no surprise that the government would dress criticisms as “hate speech” in order to silence its harshest critics. 

As former military head of state, President Muhammadu Buhari was widely unpopular for his Decree 4, a draconian piece of legislation that allowed the government to imprison any journalist who embarrassed the country's military leaders – a nebulous charge that was frequently invoked to muzzle the press and civil society during the 18-month rule of Buhari, now a professed “converted democrat.” Buhari, as a former military man, showed little tolerance for dissenting voices the last time he was in power as a dictator. 

He has “a career of gross abuses of power and blatant rights of the Nigerian citizenry.” He clamped down on the press with the infamous Decree 4, he closed down newspapers, arrested and jailed many journalists, such as Ndukar Irabor and Tunde Thompson of the Guardian newspaper, over stories that were factual. He told Nigerian journalists then that it did not matter whether the story reported was true or not; if his regime didn't like it, the writer would go to jail. 

Tai Solarin, Nigeria's moral power house, social critic, crusader, and humanist extraordinaire, was the only one bold enough to dare Buhari and the only one left to speak for the voiceless. As he stood at Dugbe market junction in Ibadan, distributing leaflets detailing the various atrocities of Buhari, he was arrested and jailed. In prison, he was denied his traditional agbo that has proved effective in the treatment of his asthma. Three youths were executed on the orders of Buhari under the retroactive Decree 20. The names of the three youths should jolt your memory: Lawal Ojuolape (30), Bernard Ogedengbe (29), and Bartholomew Owoh (26). 

When he dislodged President Shehu Shagari from power, he kept him in an executive mansion while his Igbo vice-president Alex Ekwueme was locked up in Kirikiri prison. Buhari ordered the arrest of septuagenarian Chief Adekunle Ajasin. Chief Ajasin was arraigned and tried before the Buhari Kangaroo Tribunal. Chief Ajasin was acquitted. He re-arrested and retried Ajasin. Again the tribunal acquitted him of all charges of  corruption. He refused to release Ajasin, instead he was detained indefinitely. Ambrose Ali was tried for an underdeveloped plot of land and was jailed 75 years with heavy torture that led to his blindness and death. Jim Nwobodo and Lateef Kayode Jakande were jailed 100 years for stealing nothing. 

There is no need for new laws against hate speech. We have enough laws to deal with hate speech crimes: sections 59-60, 373-381 of the Criminal Code (applicable to the southern states) and sections 391-40, 417-418 of the Penal Code (applicable in the northern states). The Cyber Crime (Prohibition, Prevention, etc.) Act, 2015 enacted by the National Assembly deals with the use of social media to promote bigotry and hatred in society. Sections 24 and 26 of the Act provide for the following: 

“24. (1): Any person who knowingly or intentionally sends a message or other matter by means of computer systems or network that – (a) is grossly offensive, pornographic or of an indecent, obscene or menacing character or causes any message or matter to be so sent; or (b) he knows to be false, for the purpose of causing annoyance, inconvenience danger, obstruction, insult, injury, criminal intimidation, enmity, hatred, ill will or needless anxiety to another or causes such a message to be sent: commits an offense under this Act and shall be liable on conviction to a fine of not more than N7,000,000.00 or imprisonment for a term of not more than 3 years or to both such fine and imprisonment. (2) Any person who knowingly or intentionally transmits or causes the transmission of any communication through a computer system or network – (a) totally threaten or harass another person, where such communication places another person in fear of death, violence or bodily harm or to another person. Violation of this Act will attract imprisonment for a term of 10 years and/or a minimum fine of N25,000,000.00.” 

The hate speech law will restrict or abridge free speech of Nigerians. It's a law based on viewpoint, an egregious form of content discrimination which is presumptively unconstitutional. The Constitution does not entrust freedom of speech to the government's benevolence. Instead, our reliance must be on the substantial safeguards of free and open discussion in a democratic society. It cannot be stressed enough that speeches that governments or their agents view as offensive are protected not just against outright prohibition, but also against lesser restrictions. 

The Buhari government equates disagreement with its official position on issues as being synonymous with hate, and has failed to draw a line between divergence of opinions and hate speech. The call for restructure, call for devolution of power, call for a new constitution, agitation for creation of Oduduwa and Biafra Republics, debate on the unfinished business on Nigeria's unity, discussions where the country is headed and similar hot button issues that have lately engaged Nigerians like never before, no doubt, question the legitimacy and relevance of the “government of change.” 

I see the campaign mounted by the government for hate speech law as a deflection or diversion from serious national issues that cry for urgent solutions, viz: restructure, job creation, creation of state and local government police, a leaner and effective federal government, healthcare, education, housing, judicial reforms, creation of corruption courts, internal security, and many more. The idea that the Buhari administration wants to restrict or abbreviate speech expressing ideas that are critical of his regime as offensive and criminal, strikes at the heart of freedom of speech. I believe the proudest boast of our free speech jurisprudence is that we protect the freedom to express the thought that we hate. Hate speech law is resurrection of Decree 4. It won't fly!

HOUSTON FLOOD: WATER, WATER, EVERYWHERE!

ICHEOKU says may the good Lord provide them the strength to power through this crisis IJN.

NORTH KOREA: TOTAL ANNIHILATION AWAITS YOU - MATTIS

ICHEOKU says once again the diminutive midget of Pyongyang has been advised to heed the resolution of the United Nations firm stand against his continuing provocations; and that the total wiping out of his North Korea is now an option should he force the hands of the United States of American military. 

In a statement by the Defense Secretary Jim Maddog Mattis over its latest nuclear test, the secretary said “Our commitment among the allies are ironclad. Any threat to the United States or its territories, including Guam, or our allies will be met with a massive military response, a response both effective and overwhelming. We are not looking to the total annihilation of a country, namely North Korea, but as I said, we have many options to do so.” ICHEOKU says does not really know the joker that guy has, but whatever it is will likely very soon be forced out. The world including ICHEOKU is waiting and watching.

GREGORY WAYNE ABBOTT: ABLY LEADING THE LONE STAR STATE OF TEXAS

ICHEOKU says one of the things that washed up to national and international attention with the Hurricane Harvey induced great flood of Texas, is the governor of Texas, who many did not know before now is wheelchair bound. ICHEOKU is particularly impressed that a man with such a physical constraint could rise to become the governor of such a masochistic state, where everything is about toughness, a are you tough enough state and he is doing a great job leading the state. To even win the governorship election of such a big State as Texas is a big deal without more. This speaks volume about the governor's tenacity; and that as opposed to physical strength, that mental strength is the key and Governor Gregory Wayne Abbott has that in abundance.

ICHEOKU has nothing more to say except to wish the governor well and pray that he will find the strength to help his big state power through their recovery from the destruction that was wrought by the cataclysmic flood which swept through the state. His strength and accomplishments is a good encouraging testament to all physically challenged persons that anything and everything is possible once you put your mind in it. ICHEOKU hopes that the governor will continue to showcase his special ability governing Texas from his wheelchair, as such a can-do attitude is what everyone needs in order to survive and thrive. What an inspiration by an able man who the State of Texas has in Governor Gregory Wayne Abbott. May the good Lord continue to guide and protect him as he governs.