BIAFRA EXIT FROM NIGERIA: A CALL TO DUTY.

 

ICHEOKU says the time has come and the time is now for the Indigenous Peoples of Biafra to be allowed to choose their self governance and exit from Nigeria going forward.. A referendum on the future of Biafra is a legitimate demand of the people and it is their right to so do. The people of the Nation of Biafra want to go their own way because of the hostilities from other member nations of Nigeria. Let the United Nations order a referendum and let the people decide their own Biafraexit.

R. KELLY: BLOWS OFF TOP GASKET ON GAYLE KING INTERVIEW.

ICHEOKU says he succeeded in furthering the stereotyping of American black male as angry; the default remark of white people who often refer to the black American male as an angry black man. But then you ask yourself, who wouldn't be enraged if wrongly accused of committing crimes which could translate to your spending the rest of your life behind bars. So Robert Kelly reacted as anyone forced in his pickle would; and until you are a victim of demeaning falsehood, you never can really appreciate the impact nor understand what made R Kelly to lose his center.

It was quite a moment of awe, watching R Kelly stand up and pour his hearts out, amidst sobs, while protesting his wrongful accusation during his interview with Gayle King. It was akin to watching Baby Boy, Tyrese Gibson, who similarly once broke down on national television because his baby mama would not let him see his daughter. Now, it was R Kelly's turn to put on his own show, of a man being wrongly accused of, among other things, kidnapping and statutorily rape of underage girls. He did what he had to do to make his case of innocence and American people should understand that it is possible that he is a victim of a society which builds people up and takes gleeful pleasure in bringing them down as well. R Kelly is not the first nor will he be the last time, some high profile person, the rich and famous American, was targeted and marked for elimination, the hard thud pull down. 

Michael Jackson did not survive his own persecution and spiraled down from it until he finally killed himself with drug overdose. Mike Tyson also did not survive his own accusation of rape by Desiree Washington and it ruined him, admitted he is still hanging in there. Tiger Woods shares in the same fate of bringing him down syndrome,  admitted his was somewhat self inflicted and proved. But one thing is clear, American people will not hesitate to drop you like a hot potato once you give them reason to make a u-turn on you, meteorically going from their love to hate of anyone. ICHEOKU says but with R Kelly's case, nobody really understands the beef here since the two girls, now young ladies, who actually triggered his current tribulation, have repeatedly defended him, proclaiming his innocence and affirming that they are with him out of their freewill volition. 

These ladies, at 21 years old, are  fully grown women and of age of consent and capable of making their own decisions, including who to be with. So, why then is Mr Kelly being persecuted based on allegations by some disgruntled former flings, who kept mum for this long, only to now suddenly suffice to allege what, aware that so many people have been lynched based on false testimonies. Our Lord and Master Jesus Christ was not spared of this false testimony and he was eventually executed as a result. But it is a Me-Too crazy time in American sociology and any inkling of a man abusing women is treated as a truism and without giving any benefit of the doubt to the accused man. 

It also does not matter to the Lynch mob, that some of the women, who recently bore false witnesses against Justice Brett Kavanaugh, have since recanted their stories of falsehood. Why does the American society not err on the side of caution by seriously questioning the truthfulness of the current traducers of R Kelly and giving reasonable doubt benefit to Mr Kelly. It is a dangerous trend and a real mortal fear in present day American society that a woman merely saying it is so, makes it automatically so. It is deja vu 1600s and hello Salem Witch trials reincarnated in America. It is regrettable and it is condemnable and ICHEOKU hereby condemns the rush to judgment and lynching of people, whose only crime is that some vengeful and vengeance seeking, sexless and sex starved, angry feminists want to take them down. 

Consent should be ordinarily dispositive in this matter and operate to absolve R Kelly of any wrong doing, taking into consideration the statements issued by the two sisters that their parents are shakedown artists seeking to obtain a pot of gold from the R&B singer by a blackmail. But ICHEOKU is not necessarily holding brief for R Kelly, only that precedents abound that suggest that some women often times compose stories and some of these women probably fall into such group; all geared in search of the proverbial ticket to stardom and riches. But hey, ICHEOKU will defer to the authorities and hopefully R Kelly will be let go, found not guilty of these allegations. However, if he did the crime, he should be held accountable and made to do the time. But how what he did is any different from what Hugh Hefner did, is still debatable; admitted it would now seem that  black males in America are not allowed such Hefner's privilege of cavorting with so many young beauties. 

ALEX TREBEK: HOST OF JEOPARDY IN PANCREATIC CANCER JEOPARDY.

ICHEOKU says based on the killing rate of pancreatic cancer, suffice it to say that Alex Trebek just bid the world his final goodbye as he announced his affliction with pancreatic cancer. So baring a miracle, it is only a matter of time until the inevitable happens. The world will surely miss the man who has become the face of the television game show Jeopardy, that he safely and easily passes for Mr Jeopardy. 

He was brave and courageous in announcing that he has this killer disease and ICHEOKU appreciates the bold face which he put doing it. But the rest of the world, especially those in the medical profession and particularly oncologists, know that he is rather a dead man walking or rather speaking; as pancreatic cancer like leukemia, is among the deadliest killer cancers out there. It comes like a thief in the middle of the night and very stealthily, such that it is extremely very difficult to diagnose until it is almost too late for any intervention, usually in its final stages of Stage 4. It has killed so many notable figures including Apple founder Steve Jobs, actor Patrick Swayze, songstress Aretha Franklin, comedian Bill Hicks, just to name but a few. 

ICHEOKU wishes Alex Trebek well and prays that he has made peace with his maker. As with any other human being similarly exposed, although he wishes that he could be around much longer to at least finish his three year contract, he seemingly has accepted his inevitable fate. May the Almighty One grant him peace as he lives out whatever number of days or months or even years that is left of his life, ravaged by this scourge called cancer and in his case pancreatic cancer. At 78 years, he has lived a fairly long life, admitted he looks so healthy that he could have so easily pulled off another 22 more years; but only God knows best. It is sad and it calls for all those researchers battling to find palliatives and of course, cure, for cancer to double and triple their effort, so that the magic silver bullet against cancer could become a reality in no distant future time. So long Alex. 

KIM JONG UN MISSTEPPED: WHAT A MISSED OPPORTUNITY IN VIETNAM.

ICHEOKU says the leader of North Korea missed his moment in the sun when he failed to reach a deal with President Donald John Trump of America. Such a golden opportunity might not come his way again, at least not in the distant future baring a quick move to plead his case again and very soon. It is not every time that an American president finds time to travel to such a great distance, only to come back dejected and without something tangible to show for his time and effort. 

Kim Jong Un made a mortal mistake by, in preference, holding unto a nuclear weaponry which he will never ever get to use or use at a grave detriment to both himself and his people of North Korea. A smart Kim would have said to Trump to please let him save face by agreeing to some United Nations nuclear inspections, as well as giving up some nuclear plants in return to some shifting of grounds by America. But unfortunately, he traveled on a train for 50 hours in vain, only to now return back to Pyongyang and possibly back in the cold of isolation and resumed war maneuvers in the Korean peninsular. 

But one thing is however certain, he can never get any better American president to deal with and negotiate better terms with, other than President Donald John Trump, who was ready and willing to both cajole, cuddle and work with him as he honorably surrenders his nuclear weaponry. No other American president, especially not a democrat, will sincerely seek a final resolution of the stalemate in the Korean peninsular. ICHEOKU had wished and prayed for a better outcome, but humans are who they are and possibly his ego got in the way and he was not as forthcoming as President Trump had expected, resulting in the walking away from the Hanoi Vietnam summit. 

It is painful and it is unfortunate that Kim Jong Un failed the president of the United States of America and he will be held accountable for his obstinacy. An American president is simply too powerful to be messed with and causing him such a great loss of face by traveling to Vietnam for a deal and not delivering is a costly and very expensive rudeness. Kim Jong Un only succeeded in cementing the stereotyping of North Korean leaders that they cannot be trusted to negotiate in good faith and are always up to no good. How dare this fella do what he did and did not even appreciate all the effusive outpouring of love by President Donald John Trump, who was thinking that he has finally cracked the code of respect needed to solve the Korean peninsular problem for good. 

What need does Kim Jong Un still have of nuclear weaponry, when the next step would have been formally ending the Korean War by signing off on the armistice, as steps are taken towards final reunification of the two Korea. Why exactly does he need a weapon, which he will never use, come in the way of transforming North Korea into a functioning modern economic power house, just like its sister South Korea, Japan, Vietnam and other surrounding Northeast and Southeast Asian countries. Why does he need to be isolated again and make himself hated again, after the recent thawing of the frosty relationship with the West? 

ICHEOKU says the lack of a deal in Vietnam was ill advised and not well taught through and at the end of the day, North Korea loses. It has no aces nor bargaining chips against America, having released American prisoners and some of America's Korean War dead. At worse, he will resume his firing of missiles over Japan and into the Korea sea; as well as testing his nuclear weapons. But ICHEOKU strongly believes that this time around that he will not just get away with it, not any more; and might receive a powerful beat down which he will regret, but which he would then deserve and have truly earned. At least, the whole world would have seen that America made every effort to avoid such a bloody nose smack-down, but that Kim Jong Un begged for it. 

Until then, one or two things will happen, either he reaches back to President Donald John Trump very soon or resumes his rocket firings, with its attendant grave consequences. Imagine the rock-star status which he would have attained had he made the deal and simultaneously use it to transform his youthful self into a beloved world leader, instead of the bloody despotic thug which he is. Anyway, posterity will not judge him kindly nor rightly, if his obstinacy forces North Korea back into the cold and into a more heightened pariah status or at worst, into real hostilities between American led allies and his army. ICHEOKU is staying tuned, to watch developments arising out of the botched opportunity to make a deal, the Vietnam impasse. 

TUMP/KIM SUMMIT IN VIETNAM: ANY HOPE?

ICHEOKU says the photo-op not withstanding, time to demand tangibles has come. ICHEOKU says supports incremental rewarding of the regime in North Korea as they take steps to denuclearize. Best of luck to President Donald John Trump and North Korean Leader Kim Jong Un as they deliberate in Hanoi. God's speed fellas.

VOTERS APATHY: HELPS BUHARI WIN A SECOND TERM.

ICHEOKU says Nigeria's President Muhammadu Buhari of All Progressive Congress (APC) was reelected to a four year second term in office in last Saturday, February 23rd, 2019 presidential election, defeating his closest rival, the presidential candidate of Peoples Democratic Party, Atiku Abubakar. The reelected president received 15.2 million votes as against Atiku Abubakar who ended up with 11.3 million votes. 

Voter apathy, triggered by the deferred election of February 16th, 2019 which saw many previously traveled people not embarking on such journeys again, was partly to blame for the election result as 35.6% of registered voters participated in the election; thus leaving 64% of would be voters out of the election. As is always the case with many election, voters disinterest in any election always favors the incumbent and it reflected in the Nigeria's election. About 73 million people were duly registered to vote in the election, but only a mere 27 million plus actually cast their votes, favoring the president against his closest challenger Atiku Abubakar. 

By exercising their votes as they did, it would seem that Nigerians, despite their hardships, are on the verge of repairing their notoriety as a fantastically corrupt people by rejecting a fantastically corrupt polygamist and the world's acknowledged face of corruption in Nigeria, Atiku Abubakar. They choose the ascetic Muhammadu Buhari against the raunchy and over indulging Atiku Abubakar, thereby telegraphing a powerful message that they are tired of corruption and technically signed on to the president's ongoing effort to root out corruption in Nigeria. 

ICHEOKU says Nigerians now hope that the retained president has learnt enough lessons from his first term and will now consolidate on the gains as he retools the areas that is not producing as expected. Nigerians also hope to see him live up to his renewed promise to correct all the observed anomalies of his first term in office, including being fair to all regions in appointment as well as running a more inclusive broader government where every Nigeria will feel welcomed. 

Hopefully he will keep his promise to finally solve the Boko Haram and Fulani herdsmen problems; and continue to do what is necessary to improve the lives and living conditions of Nigerians. Also if the president can learn to trust other people from other parts of the country more and cease belonging only to his Fulani nation, possibly, his second term will be a much improvement from his first. That the president must intensify the war on corruption and be fair across the board about it, and sparing nobody, regardless of loyalty and party affiliation is one of the reasons Nigerians voted to retain him. 

ICHEOKU says congratulations to President Muhammadu Buhari, who in his remarks following his victory said, "I am deeply humbled that you found me worthy of continuing to serve you." Hopefully every Nigerian will this time feel that the president belongs to nobody but to all Nigerians. Best of luck President Muhammadu Buhari and may your second term be an improved version from your first.

HELLO VIETNAM: TRUMP MEETS KIM PHASE 2.

 

ICHEOKU says the whole world is watching and praying for both leaders to reach a deal that will once and for all solve the Korean Peninsular impasse. God's speed.

TRUMP AND KIM'S SECOND SUMMIT: VIETNAM HOSTS.

ICHEOKU says wishes the two leaders amazing grace and God's guidance as they continue in their effort to find a peaceful resolution of the Korean Peninsular stalemate. Hopefully what they started in Singapore will graduate into something more tangible in Vietnam. 

Query, will Vietnam once again be placed in history as the place where the America and North Korea hostility was finally resolved; after the America and Vietnam hostility ended many years ago. 

ICHEOKU says God's speed to America's President Donald John Trump and North Korea's Leader Kim Jong Un, as they hold their second summit in Hanoi on February 27th through February 28th, 2019 and help them reach a deal. ICHEOKU says may God also bless their host, Vietnam's President Nguyen Phu Trong. 

CARDINAL GEORGE PELL: CONVICTED OF SEXUAL MOLESTATION.

ICHEOKU says the Catholic Church again suffered yet another setback in its sexual abuse  scandal by its clergy, which is gradually degenerating into a plague, as its highest ranking clergy in Australia and former Treasurer of the church in the Vatican, Cardinal George Pell, was convicted for sexually molesting two minors. He now faces a long prison sentence and possible defrocking by the pope and excommunication by the Catholic Church. What a shame. 

When you think you have heard the last of it, the scandal which came to the shore over a decade ago has steadily continued to claim victims from the church; and has thus so degraded the church in its piety that it is going to take a miracle for the church to recover fully from its former self. 

But the greatest tragedy of it all is the pretentiousness of these men in cassock, whose claim to celibacy has now been totally debunked; a matter made worse because they were raping and sexually molesting little alter boys. ICHEOKU says the panacea is for the church to deregulate its anti marriage rule and allow those clergies who want to marry to marry; while those who want to keep lovers should also have the freedom to love accordingly. There is no contradictions in serving God and also being human with flesh and blood. 

ICHEOKU strongly believes that sexual activities, including molestation, is generally wide spread among the clergy in the church; only that some societies frown against going up against men and women of "God"; otherwise many more would have been outed. Anyway, ICHEOKU says is not here to pass judgment on the church or its clergy; and will neither on Cardinal George Pell, but maintains that since he did the crime, he should also do the time. What a pedophile.

R. KELLY INDICTED: WHO WANTS R. KELLY GONE?

ICHEOKU says although having sex with a minor is a crime generally frowned at; a statutory rape, which is not statute barred from prosecution due to passage of time; but why this sudden focus of searchlight on the rhythm and blues singer or as he would call himself, King of R&B by the media? Could it be an attempt to pivot attention away from their beloved black homosexual, sissy, girlie man Jussie Smollett and give the sleazy news American audience something to keep them salivating for more. 

They tried with New England Patriot owner, Robert Kraft's paying for sex news out of Florida, but it didn't move the needle away from the Jussie Smollett hoax. Now, R Kelly must be hung up to dry for some sexual dalliances of so many years past, since 1998. Then throw to the mix the fact the Michael Avanati is part of the "investigative" team that discovered an alleged R Kelly's sex tape involving a minor and it gives one reason to wonder what are these people really up to. What credibility is still left in Michael Avanati, whose last summer's mischief against Supreme Court Justice nominee Brett Kavanaugh is still very much fresh in our memories, to give his "discovered" tape credence. 

Anyway, ICHEOKU is not here to hold brief for R Kelly or doubt the veracity or credibility of all the stories of sex with minors; but in view of so many made up stories, especially some for financial gains and sometimes fame, ICHEOKU says until all the facts computes, nobody should be in a rush to crucify R Kelly or in any other way call for the boycott of his works or to force books and records sellers to pull his works. Such rush to judgment must be avoided in this case as well as in every other case in America, until such alleged crimes are proved beyond reasonable doubt. So, until R Kelly is put through the crucible of Lady Justice and tried by a jury of his peers and convicted, ICHEOKU will err on the side of caution and not be a party to all those lynch mobs calling for his head on a platter. 

It comes with the territory of fame and fortune, as so many who did not sow always seek to cash in on the misfortunes of the fortunate. It is not good; it is not best practises and it ought to and must be condemned by all. Like OJ Simpson, they tried him once but he beat them; yet not being satisfied, they want another go at it and this time, they hope to succeed, so that they can put him away and forever destroy his career. Just another black man American whose sin is probably standing tall and not being apologetic about it. 

Nobody questioned Hugh Hefner when he was cavorting with hundreds of girls, many of who were young enough to be his granddaughters and probably underage too. Nobody questioned the other Playboy gambling millionaire who also cavorts with so many girls and who said on national television that he wants to be a heir to Hugh Hefner's lifestyle. But R. Kelly wants to be a black Hugh Hefner and it is a no, no; as no black person must be allowed to be a Hugh Hefner in America. His status is so sacred, sanctified and sacrosanct that it must not be duplicated and of course, definitely not by a black man. It was akin to Billy O'Reilly's once righteous indignation when Pepsi Cola wanted Kanye West to feature in their commercial but went mum when the same commercial featured Black Sabbath  Osborne. 

ICHEOKU says racism in America is a fact of life and repeatedly rears its ugly head every now and then. Michael Jackson suffered persecution because of his skin color and never recovered from it until he took his own life; ditto Prince, Mike Tyson and so many other successful black people of America, particularly males, who are always put through the ringer for daring to be famous and rich. The rule of the thumb seems to be, if you are black, don't get successful as you will be taken you down. Hopefully, R Kelly is not such a victim of society that will build you up and will not hesitate to also take you down. ICHEOKU says hopefully, the allegations will not be just another exercise at pillorying another successful black man in America, just for the heck of continuing the trend. ICHEOKU will however, wait for the justice system to take its course and either finds R Kelly guilty or leave the guy alone to enjoy his fame and fortune, just like others. 

However, with the information that R Kelly's semen was found on one of the accuser's clothes, ICHEOKU wonders if anything was learnt by this guy from the Monica Lewinsky's blue dress debacle. Who still gets so careless and reckless to get some with any clothes still on. Why the rush and why can't they patiently wait for the person to fully undress and make sure that they shower after the whole shebang. But unfortunately, humans don't easily let history be their guide nor learn from it. ICHEOKU however disagrees with R Kelly's lawyer that Kelly did not force anyone to have sex with him or that as a rockstar he doesn't have to have a non consensual sex; because consent is not necessarily a dispositive an issue in sex with minors, which is Statutorily rape and does not require consent; the act alone is enough to consummate the crime. But we shall see if R Kelly will be able to beat his traducers this time around like he did in 2008.

JUSSIE SMOLLETT: CHARGED WITH FELONY.

ICHEOKU says the lying, attention seeking, homosexual gay, sissy, girlie-man of Empire fame, Jussie Smollett, has been indicted for making a false police report, a felony carrying up to three years imprisonment if convicted. As ICHEOKU previously wrote that his story doesn't add up, his watery tale has now been found to be a self manufactured hoax. Hopefully the court will throw the books at him to serve as a deterrence to other would be future copycats. 

What a disgraceful show of shame as his action has now endangered all future would be victim of hate crimes, as they will be believed with only a grain of salt, when and if at all. A shameful fall from grace to grass, and you wonder how anyone can ever recover from such a reputational damage; a matter made worse because it was self inflicted and for no apparent reason other than attention seeking, self pity. The guy possibly has a personality disorder of bipolar. He is black and gay; and as if those two are not enough strikes already, now he has added yet another checkmark of being an inveterate liar to the mix. What a pitiful humanoid. 

SHOOT AT SIGHT OF ELECTION RIGGERS ORDER: ICHEOKU APPROVES.

ICHEOKU says corruption is the only reason "do or die" politics thrives in Nigeria. People run for offices, kill and maim innocent Nigerians in the process, in order to get elected just because of what they can steal from Nigerians, using the instrumentality of their "elected"  offices.  As a result, criminals and bandits, as well other heartless people who have no business being in governance, who have no compunction whatsoever, dominate the Nigerian political scene. Some of them cannot even read or write, talkless of having the capacity to follow legislative process of law making; and if they are governors, are just interested in revenue allocation and pocketing same, alongside bribes, which sometimes ends up in their dashiki dress pockets. 

These munchkins have no scruples about fermenting trouble and visiting bodily harm and injury on anyone who dares stand in their way or challenges them for the office. By so doing, they scare away from politics, decent civilized men and women, who actually know what needs to be done to right the path of Nigeria and make it competitive amongst comity of nations. This fraudsters, thugs, thieves, bandits and prostitutes' domination of the political terrain is the reason Nigeria is stunted and stagnated, because a Steve Wonder cannot effectively fly an airplane; and Nigerians are bleeding as a result 

Therefore, it goes without saying that any effort to drain the Nigerian swamp of these swampy nincompoops, who would have all been behind bars were Nigeria a civilized functional society, is a step in the right direction. The fact of even trying to stop their brigandage, by stopping their thugs and urchins from snatching ballot boxes during elections, should be commended, applauded and supported by all men and women of good faith, who has no bad intentions for motherland. It is to this effect therefore, that ICHEOKU supports the order by President Muhammadu Buhari, to treat anyone seen or caught tampering with the will of the Nigerian people, by rigging the forthcoming election, as a criminal and summarily dealt with. 

These bastards and their sponsors are messing with our general well-being by tampering with our collective decisions. They are depriving Nigerian citizens their legitimate choices, as made with their votes; which unfortunately, previously, usually did not count due to the nefarious activities of supplanting real votes with manufactured votes by these bottom dwellers. Enough is enough and if summarily wasting these deviants' lives is what it will take to restore sanity to the political process in Nigeria, so be it. Voting is a civic duty, so if you don't want to be shot, cast your vote and return to your house or your legitimate business and let the electoral officers do their job, under the close watch of accredited party's precinct workers and poll watchers. Anyone seen loitering around any polling Station should be affixed with bad intention and either shot or arrested for prosecution, period.

Ever seen anyone volunteering to help a truck pusher push his load up the hill? If not, why then do these bandits always pretend that they are trying to help Nigerians solve their problems by seeking their votes and will go all out to secure victory at all cost, including killing and maiming opponents, fellow citizens, as well as rigging elections and you call this just to have an opportunity to "help" Nigerians? ICHEOKU says the only reason they do what they brazenly do, is to amass stupendous wealth and steal themselves dumb from the public treasury, period. 

This proclivity to turn a simple electioneering process into a real war has succeeded in keeping honest and decent people out of politics and it is about time it stopped. Just take a look at the National Assembly, the Senate, governorship houses, as well as all tiers of political offices in Nigeria, and you will count several of the occupants who were once 419 kingpins, kidnappers, armed bandits, fraudsters and people of very questionable characters. A situation which succeeded in turning the political class in Nigeria into a gathering of vultures who are feasting on the carcass of Nigeria. Olusegun Obasanjo once called them out on their questionable characters, as well. 

They all went into offices through political thuggery and banditry, with some of them engaging in ritualistic human sacrifices, just to get into their power holding positions. This is the reason they do not feel obligated to the citizens, hence they do not care about doing things for the people in order to earn a reelection nod from the people. So if President Muhammadu Buhari sincerely means his order to the army and the police, and fairly exercises it throughout the country, without selectively targeting it at some opponents, then it is a welcome relief and let the tree fall where it may. Let the right people be elected by the people and that way, the people can hold them accountable if they fail to perform. 

ICHEOKU says it is about time decent people entered politics in Nigeria and put an end to all these useless and ruthless blood suckers, many of who has blood of Nigerians on their hands, just because they want power. A people who could care less about how many people they trampled upon, killed and sacrificed just to grab power are a people who shouldn't be anywhere near power. Their unconscionable activities of rigging elections have robbed Nigerians, their legitimate votes; and deprived them the free exercise of their enshrined right to freely choose who shall be their leaders. By skewing the electioneering process, they successfully hijacked our collective destiny; and by putting decrepitudes who were not elected by the people in power, they kidnapped our common will. 

ICHEOKU says desperate times calls for desperate measures, so whatever it takes to achieve this objective of sanitizing the political process in Nigeria is a fair game, as extirpating this menace of election rigging is a thing whose time has since come. Therefore President Muhammadu Buhari should be commended for checkmating this idiotic nuisance or at least for trying, so that elections in Nigeria will no  longer be a competition amongst only those who can terrorize the citizens the most. Politics should not be left for only those who can pay more to motor park touts and street urchins and feed them with drugs and alcohol, as well as supply them with weapons with which to ferment trouble and cause mayhem in the land. Why must electioneering campaign in Nigeria be a bloody battle fought with real weapons, with real resulting casualties; instead of the battle of ideas which politics is and ought to be. 

But be that as it may, ICHEOKU is emphatic that the PDP missed a glorious opportunity to excel when they accepted the cancellation of last Saturday's election; as nothing is assured going forward. The APC controlled Aso Rock has tested their waters and sized them up and have reached their conclusions. So let no body fret around or needlessly hyperventilate, when the APC goes all out to achieve a predetermined outcome next Saturday, and the heavens will not fall. It is politics and polls do often get it wrong, otherwise Queen Crooked Hillary Clinton will be in the White House today. And yes, tens of thousands may have showed up in some campaign rallies, but over 70 million prospective voters were registered by INEC and these people are yet to vote. 

Therefore, the votes on Saturday could, against all odds and permutations, somehow tarry differently and in favor of a dry bone which magically rose again. It is the magic of voters turnout and which party was able to motivate their base the more. Recall what the Lord said in Ezekiel 37:5 that dry bones shall rise again; so surprises wear different shades and forms; and might stun Nigerians on Saturday. Power is powerful; and a lot of bad things as well as good things can be done with power, the reason so many have died fighting to secure and acquire it. But hey, let us prayerfully hope that the election will hold as rescheduled on Saturday February 23rd, 2019 and that votes will actually count. May the better strategist win. 

DUCHESS OF SUSEX MEGHAN MARKLE: READY TO POP.

ICHEOKU says wishes the soon to be new mother all the best as she carries her pregnant to full term, a safe delivery and a bouncing healthy baby. Salute.

MCCABE 60 MINUTES CBS INTERVIEW: NOT PROBING ENOUGH.

ICHEOKU says it is possible that the CBS 60 Minutes Sunday evening News program has outlived its usefulness and it is about time it is rested. The program has surely seen its glorious days which unfortunately is now behind it. What it now presents is a shadow of its past storied self. A program which used to be very insightful and incisive that it earned itself a must watch television program on Sundays evenings, but it no longer lives up to its billing. It is steadily on the decline and the management of CBS should seriously consider resting it or re-branding it, in order not to entirely lose its viewership. 

Everyone tuned in to see some questions answered by the former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe, concerning Election 2016, Hillary Clinton's Email-gate scandal and of course the Russian Collusion scandal. But at the end of the interview many people were disappointed that they were left more confused than they were when they tuned in to the CBS 60 Minutes program interview of the former deputy director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation Andrew McCabe. None of the needed questions were asked nor answered and the man who is the chief architect of it was right there to be confronted with the questions but it never happened.

Many people were expecting the moderator to ask the former deputy why the FBI did the shoddy job on Hillary Clinton's interview and email scandal investigation; and why no Special Counsel was appointed to investigate her; but such was considered necessary with the Russian Collusion. Whether it is true that the Russian Collusion investigation was triggered from a dossier paid for by the Hillary Clinton campaign and finally, knowing what he knows today regarding lack of any evidence so far about a Russian Collusion, whether he would have instigated it and if he has any apology to tender to both President Donald John Trump and the American people for the wild goose chase which the investigation so far turned out to be. 

ICHEOKU says these and so many other questions were begging for answers, but CBS moderator Scott Pelley either went blank or purposely went soft on the former deputy director and intentionally guided his questionings only to the usual Trump bashing, instead of getting to the nitty gritty of what actually went down under the then James Comey and Andrew McCabe led Federal Bureau of investigation. Like many people that watched the program, ICHEOKU says was disappointed, as it was a wasted one hour, seating on the edge of the sofa waiting for the bombshell to drop, particularly as to the Hillary Clinton email investigation and the foundational basis for the Russian Collusion. 

The only thing that anybody probably took away from the interview is his allegation that Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein wanted to wear a wire to secretly record President Donald John Trump, for use in a possible Article 25 removal of the president from office. However when prodded further on what led to the alleged conversation with Rod Rosenstein, Andrew McCabe stuttered that he didn't remember and you wonder if he had remembered every other thing that took place in the FBI, why only pull blank as to that material fact. 

Anyway, glad that he is now gone from the FBI and hopefully, the cleaning of house of the bureau will continue until completely restored to its previous non partisan, equal opportunity investigative agency. Hopefully too, the Hillary Clinton's emailgate scandal can be reopened and a thorough investigation done, in order to ensure fairness and prevent such lopsided work from ever being done in the future. But overall, the 60 Minutes CBS interview of Andrew McCabe was lackluster to say the least. Not worth the time spent watching it. 

JUSSIE SMOLLETT: SIMPLY A GAY GUY SEEKING ATTENTION.

ICHEOKU says it turned out that the whole alleged "roughing up" was staged managed by him, the same guy, Jussie Smollett, who had claimed that he was a victim of homophobic attack as well as racial lynching. It is so sad and pitiful that a human being would go to this length to falsely state an attack which did not take place; trying to start a race war as well as gay bashing in America. 

ICHEOKU says this guy is sick and needs to have the book thrown at him in order to discourage any such future made up story, either by him or by anyone else. Imagine the tension he needlessly created in the land, especially among blacks and homosexual communities, who were suddenly made to become afraid for their lives, thinking that the hateful days are back again. What will happen tomorrow when a real issue erupts. ICHEOKU says to Jussie Smollett, SHAME ON YOU.

AMAZON PULLS THE PLUG: DEMOCRATS A PARTY OF JOB KILLERS.

ICHEOKU says Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has once again demonstrated that she has a very shallow understanding of Economics and does not in fact know how taxation works. She naively thought that the City of New York would write Jeff Bezos a check for $3 billion, not knowing that the said tax incentive will only protect Amazon from paying taxes to New York to the tune of $3 billion over the coming years while the incentive lasts, before eventually lapsing and then taxation will kick back in. 

Meanwhile as the incentive lasts just for the company, its employees and other attracted companies, including mom and dad pop-up stores, cafes, restaurants, hotels, taxis and Uber Lyft transportation services, general contractors and suppliers alike, will all still be paying taxes to the city, which aggregated in the long run, will far exceed the $3 billion tax incentive granted to the company. So overall, it would have been a win win for the City and State of New York, except that there is a new leader for the Democratic Party and her name is Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and she thinks otherwise. 

The funniest thing about the whole thing is that this crazed out, wild-eyed feminist Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez thought that the $3 billion would be paid to Amazon by the City of New York, not understanding how incentive really works. She said that the $3 billion should rather be spent on teachers, the subway and other local needs; only that she forgot that the $3 billion is not sitting anywhere in any bank vault or account belonging to the City and/or State of New York; but was the long term prospective but deferred taxes which Amazon would otherwise have paid to New York. Now, the people of New York have been left holding the plate with no Amazon and no $3 billion, thanks to an ill-informed but overtly easily excitable freshie Congresswoman named Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.

Her low information and youthful exuberance have cost New York an opportunity at 25000 jobs, including ancillary benefits of having 25,000 residents or commuters working at the now evaporated Amazon sub headquarters. Many of these employees would have come from the neighborhood and surrounding cities or boroughs of New York, but have now   missed a great chance at having a great jobs, paying rents and mortgages as well as property taxes, providing for their families, having a company provided health insurance and enjoying other benefits associated with working for the world's richest man and his company, spending on restaurants and cafes, as well as on laundry and dry cleaning services; and other businesses in the neighborhood. Locating the headquarters would have also help gentrify the neighborhood and turned into a huge commercial hub with a lot of thriving small businesses, supporting the headquarters.  

ICHEOKU says if only Congresswoman Ocasio-Cortez had done her homework researching the issue very well, rather than making it a let-me-shine event. It is thoughtless and it is brainless to chase away Amazon as New York will lose more than Amazon which will readily find another City to build its other headquarters, outside the City of New York. ICHEOKU is emphatic that so many American Cities will give an arm to have Amazon look their way and can even grant the company more mouth-watering incentive than a paltry $3 billion, the long term derivative benefits considered and weighed against the incentive. There are so many other Cities that will throw the red carpet for Amazon to move in and feel much welcomed than the thoughtless New York democrats who now have completely lost their minds as to what is more important to the people. 

What a missed great opportunity and hopefully there will be some lessons learnt here, especially by the leaders of the Democratic Party who have allowed their party to be hijacked by the crazed out, wild eyed, farthest of the far leftist wing of their party, led by this easily excitable young woman, Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. The leaders of the Democratic Party must not just lay down supine and surrender to this phenom without at least a fight. They must fight to regain control of their party because not do so will spell doom for the party, which was once the delight of American workers. A party which is previously known for being workers friendly, which attracted membership of Unions and which had always made looking out for the common and downtrodden ordinary Americans their cornerstone, must not give up to these crazies trying to upturn everything. 

Unfortunately, they seem to be deathly afraid of the hurricane Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, as everyone of them is avoiding going up against her, afraid that she might sweep them away. But why this cutting off of the nose to spite the face by preventing 25,000 good paying jobs from anchoring in New York. ICHEOKU says it is one hell of a mistake which should never have been made. So what if money is spent to make more money; it is called trade and investments and New York would have still recouped every cent of it. Also, so many other ancillary jobs would have been created in addition, which overall would have easily seen 50,000 jobs come to New York as a result of Amazon. Services would also been attracted including cleaning and janitorial services to help keep the multi complex tidy. It would have been the same Hispanic people, Ocasio-Cortez primary constituents, who control the cleaning business, that would have also greatly benefited by commandeering the cleaning business. But all these have now gone out the window due to irrational obtuseness. What a shame.

NNAMDI KANU IS WRONG: ATIKU IS A NIGERIAN JUST LIKE ANY OTHER NIGERIAN.

ICHEOKU says playing a devil's advocate, who is even a Nigerian in the real sense of it, strictly construed? What is paramount is that there is enough evidence to read the citizenship of a person within the geographical entity which he or she calls home. Afterall, a country is merely a geopolitical construct, within an accepted and agreed, and also recognized delineating borders and boundaries. Such borders and boundaries can under some circumstances be expanded to take in new acreages as well as everything on it. Sometimes too, it can also be shrunk by ceding territories to neighboring countries, as was done with the former Nigerian Bakassi peninsular. The law of the land is unequivocal that what is on the land belongs to owner of the land, except where expressly excluded. Therefore, any new territory being acquired or ceded, comes with all the baggage thereon, including its citizens. 

There is no country in the world that did not go through the process of formation, including the United States of America. At independence in 1776, America started off with only thirteen States, with Delaware being the first State. The other States subsequently started joining the Union, with Hawaii being the last State and became what is today known as the United States of America. So, it will be a self defeating argument for anyone to make that because the rest of the 37 States, especially Hawaii, which was admitted into the Union as a State much later in 1959 and long after America was forged, came subsequent 1774 independence, that their citizens are not Americans enough. 

Ditto the five Southwestern States of Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada and California which were previously Mexican territories before America took them over. Louisiana and Alaska were also purchased after 1776 from France and USSR respectively. So are American citizens from these mentioned States not "real" Americans simply because they were not part of America when America got her independence in 1776? How about Sicily and Napoli as well as the Southern Island of Italy, which were later annexed to the mainland to become what is today known as Italy. Are Sicilians not Italians enough just because they joined the party after it had already started? Okinawa Japan is still protesting their annexation by Japan; but are Okinawans not Japanese for the purposes of continuing this argument? 

Even without going too far on a frolic of exploration, how about those Biafrans who were born during the Biafran war, when Southeastern Nigeria seceded from Nigeria and was a full fledged independent country, with its own currency and a functioning government which lasted for three long years. So, are these people not Nigerians for the purposes of furthering this debate; moreso, since there is no existing gazette anyway formally readmitting the then surrendering Southeastern Nigeria Biafra back to Nigeria. So, is it a safe argument to make that Biafra is still not part of Nigeria because they seceded, which automatically would disqualify everyone from the region from participating in the affairs of Nigeria, especially those who were born between 1967 and 1970, for not being born in Nigeria and therefore does not enjoy full Nigerian citizenship rights. 

ICHEOKU says had once personally canvassed the argument, albeit sarcastically, that both leading candidates in the February 16th, 2019 presidential elections, Muhammadu Buhari and Abubakar Atiku, are not Nigerians. That Buhari's duck-seller father met his mother during one of his market trips to Daura and therefore inherited the nationality of his father, thus made him technically a citizen of Niger Republic, just like his father. A matter made worse because the elder Buhari never applied nor received Nigerian citizenship by naturalization, which would have otherwise conferred citizenship on his son Muhammadu Buhari. At the time of Buhari's birth, the elder Buhari was an itinerant trader shuttling between Niger and Daura, but later settled down in Daura just to be with his wife, the mother of Muhammadu Buhari. 

As for Atiku, ICHEOKU had argued then that because he was born in Cameroonian Adamawa Highlands before it became part of Nigeria through the referendum of 1963, that Atiku is also, technically, a foreigner. Continuing, ICHEOKU alerted that Nigerians will be forced to chose between two foreigners as their president, one, a Nigerien and the other, a Cameroonian. But these were mere political jiving and nothing more, period. So, it is somewhat surprising that anyone would take this to heart and make it a basis for a serious discussion, regarding who is qualified for this election. 

But assuming that the Nigerian citizenship of both candidates were even seriously triggered, ICHEOKU makes bold to say that Abubakar Atiku is even more Nigerian than Muhammadu Buhari, because in his case, there was a formal step that made him and his Adamawa Highlands kinsmen Nigerians. A plebiscite was conducted and they decided to to join Nigeria; unlike in Buhari's case where there was no recorded process which made Buhari's father a Nigerian, which would have conferred citizenship on his son Muhammadu Buhari. So, if both men's circumstantial backgrounds were strictly considered, both would have suffered the same fate of not being born Nigerians for the purposes of running for president. But the imperative here is that both men are duly recognized, rightfully entitled and so privileged Nigerians. Buhari was born in Nigeria by a Nigerien father and Atiku was born in a land which later became part of Nigeria. So, except for needless mischief, the question of both men's nationality or their Nigerian citizenship status is moot and a case closed. 

In fairness to Abubakar Atiku, ICHEOKU reiterates that he is a Nigerian as of right, just like Mazi Nnamdi Kanu and any other person holding a Nigerian passport or other identifying Nigerian documents. And truth be told, if all the veneers are completely pulled back or the bone stripped of all the flesh, nobody in the real sense of it is indeed even a Nigerian. Every Nigerian took the ancestry of their pre-1904 amalgamation indigenous forebears, before they were clobbered together and baptized Nigerians when  the colonial masters named the resulting geographical space Nigeria. Hopefully this matter will now rest and everyone and anyone still pursuing the argument of where either candidate was born or their not Nigerian enough for the purposes of the presidency, should please back off. It is defeatist and also questions the intellectual capacity of such protagonists. 

Unfortunately, this is yet another needless distraction from the Biafran quest, the first being the Jubril el Sudani maniacal nonsense. Mazi Nnamdi Kanu must endeavor to pull himself together and reorganize his thoughts as he is steadily loosing his logical cohesiveness. Whatever happens, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu must guard against entirely losing his credibility or inadvertently force the people to start questioning his overall mental equilibrium and soundness of the mind. As a leader of IPOB, he should understand that a lot of hope are vested on his shoulders, admitted he has given so many other former admirers reason to question both his motive and methodology. Possessing such a questionable disposition is not a good attribute for any leader to have. 

The Atiku being a Cameroonian and Buhari being a Sudanese idiocy must end forthwith and in order to avoid further erosion of the respect and credibility left with him. He should focus his attention solely on propagating the Biafran cause which helped foist him on the world as an acknowledged leader of IPOB and also understand that leaders do not make unguarded and easily debunk-able statements. If only he can find the humility to stop thinking and seeing himself as the "god" of Biafra and allow people with real knowledge to help him with the quest going forward, he will be much better at what he is doing. 

But such thoughtless and unguarded spitfire outbursts, simply manifest a fatigue syndrome, which is understandable; considering the traumatic experience of this past two years in the hands of the Nigerian authorities, which resulted in a long detention. It is also clear that frustrations because of the seemingly stalled effort is beginning to weigh him down and this needless acting out is symptomatic of it. 

A leader normally does not obviously covet the crown so much as to suggest the effort is for a personal deification and aggrandizement. They pretend reluctance. Mazi Nnamdi Kanu must curb his enthusiasm, showiness and stop parading himself as a Demigod, whose feet must be kissed and the ground on which he walks on, worshipped. Like every bona fides Biafran, ICHEOKU admires his courage and fortitude; but laments that his rudderless approach, his god-complex, egotistical propensity and the two distractions of Sudanese and Cameroonian cockamamie, are now big dents on his otherwise attractive image of a man on a mission to salvage a people. 

ICHEOKU has strong doubt if he will ever fully recover from the self inflicted wound, particularly as to his integrity and credibility. The worst thing any person can do to them self is to cause the people who once held them in very high esteem to begin to question their own judgment and wondering how they fell so easily for such a fluke or at worse questioning the mental acuity of their once revered hero. 

Anyway, it is not late for Mazi Nnamdi Kanu to do some serious introspection and refocus himself back on the big picture Biafran project, which made him who is. It is the real Ebeano which attracted millions of otherwise non impressionable people and he must not take their affection for granted nor allow his newly found fame to otherwise live rent free inside his head. 

The leaders of Biafran land who he was able to meet, including the late Alex Ekwueme and Joseph Achuzie, Ben Nwabueze, governors and political, spiritual and commercial leaders, as well as many intellectuals believed in him as a leader and not an Emperor Moon before who they must bow. Alongside millions of other Biafrans, these select Biafrans will like to get their former Nnamdi Kanu back. But this all over the map, conspiracy theorist, rabble rousing Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, must return back to wherever hellish pod he sprouted from. The entire Southsouth and Southeast Biafrans, as well as friends and admirers, want their original Nnamdi Kanu back, period. Enough of the needless distractions.