TODAY IS THE D-DAY; ALL HAIL THE 44TH PRESIDENT!

Icheoku has begun our "President" Barack Obama watch and for the next one day, we shall keep this page on the front burner. Inauguration day is January 20th, 2009 when President-elect Barack Obama will make his full transition to President Barack Obama, the 44th.

Icheoku is doing a commentary which will come on-line at 00hours, January 20th, 2009 in commemoration of the historic event. Until then, please keep us company as co-reveler in anticipation of this life-changing event in America political history.

PRESIDENT GEORGE WALKER BUSH, BOWS OUT!

Whatever has a beginning will always have an end and so is the eight years of the Bush presidency! However it will officially come to an end on January 20th, 2009 when he formally hands over to his successor! Love him or hate him, one thing is sure, President George Walker Bush is a man of strong character and conviction. Icheoku says, Good-luck Mr. President and let historians write whatever they please.

President George Walker Bush was so many things to different persons but most agree he is stubborn and very unyielding. Icheoku says, he is a president who had too much thrown on his plate, all at the same time in a seeming conspiratorial fashion, that most men would have come out as scathed as he did. From 9/11 to Katrina to Iraq to the eventual collapse of the economy - all were major life changing events that afflicted his presidency; and so to expect him to come out of all these, unruffled, will be expecting the impossibility. Whether he never tired, never faltered and never failed in his presidency will require some forensic examination to conclusively determine that.

In the words of President George Walker Bush, "Like all who have held this office before me, I have experienced set-backs, and there are things I would do differently if given the chance. Yet I have always acted with the best interests of our country in mind. I have followed my conscience and done what I thought was right." Icheoku says, Mr. President was on point here in his assessment of his administration but that there was no need for the Monday night quarter-backing here, as what is done is done. Mr. President was a victim of his first term "election" to the White House when he inherited a deeply divided nation on January 20, 2001, following a cloud of illegitimacy over his election. His presidency never recovered from it and the fact that he overwhelmingly won a re-election in 2004 did not help matters either.

In his farewell address to Americans, today, January 15, 2009, President George Walker Bush, disclosed that since 9/11 many Americans has moved on with their lives except him, as he has to remain in war-mode, battle-ready, dealing with the aftermath of the attack as well as protecting against another of such occurrence. Concluding Mr. President said, "We have faced danger and trial, and there is more ahead. But with the courage of our people and confidence in our ideals, this great nation will never tire, never falter and never fail." To this, Icheoku says, we concur as we wish the soon to be former President George Walker Bush, a happy post-presidency life! God bless!

Bush tells cheering crowd in Texas 'it is good to be home'

US AIRWAYS, A WATERY LANDING!

Its' tarmac, a flowing river called Hudson River in the city of New York, New York! A US Airways Airbus 320 US airplane declared emergency and landed safely the into the icy waters of the Hudson River with 155 people on board comprising of 150 passengers, 3 crew members and 2 pilots. US airways Flight 1549 was a domestic flight from LaGuardia airport in New York to Charlotte, North Carolina.

The successful emergency landing was attributed to the heroic effort and dexterity of the pilot, a former airforce fighter-pilot, Captain Sullenberger, who meticulously maneuvered the out-of-power airplane safely to land on a body of flowing water.

According to the air controller, the US Airways pilot had reported a "double bird strike" less than a minute after take-off and asked to return to the tarmac. However he could not make it back to the tarmac but was forced to ditch the aircraft in the Hudson River for lack of engine power; the two engines were knocked out following collision with Canadian migratory flock of geese, like these ones, pictured here left in flight. According to a survivor, the pilot had alerted the passengers to be brace up for a hard impact. And except for minor, non life-threatening injuries, and some who are being treated for hypothermia, most of the passengers later returned home to their families to tell their tale of near escape.

Investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board are already at work trying to unravel the mystery behind the crash; they are inspecting the 9-year-old Airbus A320, which was towed to Battery Park City and moored to a bulkhead just north of the World Financial Center. Their term of reference will be to determine whether the plane hit a flock of geese as reported, which disabled the engines, forcing it into a controlled crash-landing. The New York State governor David T. Paterson left and the New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg right, are seen above addressing a news conference, following the plane-crash.

The "miracle-wrought`ing" pilot, Chesley B. "Sully" Sullenberger III, 57 is from California's Bay Area (Danville, San Francisco area). Sullenberger, a former fighter pilot and captain with the United States Air Force, has more than 40 years of flying experience, the last 29 of which, as a captain with US Airways. He also served as a local safety chairman and accident investigator for the Air Line Pilots Association.

The winter temperature in New York City was about 20 degrees when the plane touched water, shortly after which, some commuter ferries crossing the Hudson rushed to the scene and began plucking shivering passengers from the wings of the "swimming" airplane. They were later relieved by the fast arriving New York City's emergency response team which immediately went into overdrive, successfully rescuing all the passengers and crew of the ill-fated airplane.

From available data it would seem that birds' collision with jet-engines is a regular occurrence with about 486 planes so far damaged as a result. Icheoku says, why wouldn't airplane designers and manufacturers come up with a mechanism to keep off the birds from being sucked into the engines? A device like a titanium wire mesh/gauze, laid over the engine casing will work this miracle of keeping off the birds from the engine blades. Icheoku says, bravo to the pilot and gratitude to the Almighty for making it possible - the safe crash landing; at least those aboard has been given another chance at life.

MAURICE IWU, WRIGGLING OUT OF HIS GROSS DEFICIENCY?

Icheoku says, so what if the former senate president "lobbied" you to, in your own words, "annul the election so that a fellow Igbo man can become the interim president"? What is wrong, if his "being president of an interim government of Nigeria will benefit “our people”? Icheoku is merely quoting you! What happened to your candor, revealing a supposedly confided statement from one Igbo man to another? Are you guys no longer two Igbo brothers or are you smarter than the Yoruba or Hausa fraternal brothers who facilitate their own in Nigeria? Whatever happened to the famed "Igbo-kwenu" refrain or do the Igbos no longer "kwenu?" This your present dog eat dog attitude will not take the Igbos anywhere in Nigeria; because there are so many of your kind, the Maurice Iwus of Igboland, who are sabotaging the Igbo agenda and interest in exchange for the mere crumbles from their Hausa/Yoruba masters' table.

However, Icheoku like many other Nigerians do not believe your folk-lore as you are a proven carpet-beggar, who the entire mankind will never forgive for the charade you supervised in Nigeria 2007. Since Ghana electoral commission chairman exposed your under-belly, through the laudable election he recently conducted, you have been trying every manner of trickery to shirk responsibility for the nightmare which imposed Umaru Yar'Adua on Nigerians. Try as you may, the wool you are trying desperately to pull over the eyes of Nigerians will be in vain. Seriously speaking, Maurice Iwu, are you at peace with yourself at the election nay selection which you organised in Nigeria? Can you freely walk straight-faced, on the streets of any Nigerian city without fear of being lynched for what you visited on Nigerians in 2007? Sincerely speaking, Maurice Iwu, you are a disgrace to Nigeria, the Igbo race that produced you and to the academic world where you supposedly belong?

Assuming we believe your account of the incident, does your alleged encounter with Senator Ken Nnamani, also explain why the election you conducted was widely denounced by the entire world as a shameless dislocation of democracy? Aristotle and his Greek compatriots will chase you out of heaven, were you to ever make it, for truncating their democracy? You are simply a disgrace. Icheoku says, this will be our last commentary on you and your supposed election 2007 as we have more important things to fix our minds on, than a disgraceful munchkin who has caused Nigerian so much pain with a supposed election. Professor or no professor Maurice Iwu, were Nigeria to be a reasonable country where honor matters to people, you would since have jumped off the bridge for the disgrace which you brought to democracy in Nigeria.

You have now resorted to manufacturing evidence against anybody who criticises you and very soon you will start to accuse Icheoku of being a guerrilla media. You have already thrown your dart on Wole Soyinka and now it is at Ken Nnamani, as according to you, anybody who criticise the madness which you supervised in Nigeria 2007, must have an ulterior motive for doing so. How could any reasonable person expect the PDP to win another election in Nigeria after the nightmare called Olusegun Obasanjo? Ordinarily it is a logical impossibility but for the magical wizardly of Maurice Iwu, who surprised everybody with the outcome of his 2007 madness.

Icheoku says, President Umaru Yar'Adua should save Nigerians the continued nightmare of this epitome of gross incompetence, Maurice Iwu and remove him from INEC forthwith, for a fresh beginning. The longer Maurice Iwu stays at INEC, the more Nigerians will continue to lose hope in ever seeing democracy take strong footing in Nigeria; now the laughing stock of the world, after the class-act which was Ghana's election.

SUSAN WENGER, THE WHITE PRIESTESS OF AN AFRICAN GODDESS, PASSES ON!

The 'Adunni Olorisa' has passed! The white priestess of Osun River Grove deity in Nigeria, is dead. Susan Wenger was 94 years old!

Born during the First World War in 1915 in Graz, Austria, Susan studied art in Graz and Vienna where she was a member of the Vienna Art-Club. After the Second World War, she travelled to Italy and also spent some time in Switzerland where she had some exhibitions at the Des Eaux Vives in Zurich. In 1949, Susanne went to Paris, where she met and married Ulli Beier, a German linguist who subsequently accepted a posting to West Africa. The couple arrived in Ibadan, Nigeria in 1959 and later moved to a small town of Ede near Oshogo, where Susan quickly assimilated the local culture. She later divorced Ulli Beire and married Chief Alarape aka Ayansola Oniru.

It was here at Ede that Susanne met Ajagemo, a powerful Obatala (native) priest and her guru, who initiated her into the world of the Orisha - the traditional Yoruba religion. She got very much involved in Osun River Grove; her passion and devotion saw her grow through the ranks to become the chief custodian and priestess of the shrine. Susan remained in this position till her death; although rigours of old age removed her from active involvement and participation during the last years of her life.

Susan was a great cultural devotee of the sacred deity, which she single-handedly gave a new lease of life and through her best effort, was enlisted into UNESCO as a World Heritage Center in 2005. It was to her credit that the Osun River Grove has been preserved for posterity and has also become world renown. Susan was a strong influence on the cultural rebirth that transformed the Osun River Grove into a forest of exciting artistic enclave. She personified “the spirit of the sacred grove", the river goddess to which she dedicated nearly her entire adult life, worshipping and adoring.

In accordance with her instruction, Susan Wenger was buried immediately following her death, at a private burial in a discreet, unmarked grave inside the Osun River grove; without any fanfare or ceremony.

Icheoku says, this informal internment completes Susan Wenger's transformation into a spirit as devotees will henceforth make supplications to her, too. Susan Wenger by the life she lived and the realms transcended coupled to her discreet burial has become a full legend. Historians will discuss this very unique human being, who was born in Austria to a christian family, lived in Nigeria as a traditional goddess priestess, where she died and was buried in an unmarked grave. What a circle of very meaningful life, Susan Wenger had! Icheoku says, sleep on Susan Wenger as you now join the spirits of the Osun River Grove! ADIEU, Adunni Olorisa!

IGBOS OF NIGERIA, A ROYAL ADVISE FOR YOU!

The Obi of Onitsha-Nigeria, Igwe Alfred Achebe, Agbogidi of Onitsha-Ado, has advised Ndigbo of Nigeria, to reflect deeply and honestly on their direction as a people as it appears that the Igbo nation is steadily fragmenting and disintegrating.

According to the royal father, the Igbo people are chasing very narrow individual and sectional interests, while their counterparts in Nigeria are integrating and building alliances towards advancing their own common interest. This ugly phenomenon he noted, is manifested in every aspect of the Igbo man's life - in business, politics, church and the creation of autonomous communities and traditional rulers. Continuing His Royal Highness said that Ohanaeze Ndigbo appears to be losing its voice and convening power as an Igbo umbrella organization; noting that even the golden opportunity for the creation of a sixth state in the South-East is now tearing the Igbos apart as they, the Igbos have become so atomized that they are now almost irrelevant in the affairs of Nigeria.

Concluding, the Agbogidi emphasised that Igbos must urgently and seriously ponder wither they are going as a people in Nigeria, otherwise they might become completely isolated almost into a total irrelevancy. Icheoku says, speak on Obi of Onitsha nay Obi of Igboland, as you correctly articulated the unenviable doldrums into which the Igbo-man has put himself in today's Nigeria. It is so painful that they do not even realise the depth of the shit-hole they have dug for themselves by their complete lack of cohesiveness, lack of a common purpose and lack of one central voice that speaks for them as a people. It is regrettable that the Igbos of the era of Nnamdi Azikwe, M.I. Okpara, Akanu Ibiam, K.O. Mbadiwe, Dee Onunaka Mbakwe, Dennis Osadebey, Mbazulike Amechi, Osita Agwuna, are no more and the few other remaining leaders like CC Onoh, Charles Abangwu, Nwafor Orizu etc are of too weary bones now to continue to push the Igbo agenda forward and (Igbotically) patriotically.

Icheoku affirms that what is left today, is a disorganized, dysfunctional and confused people whose only stock-value now is how much money do I have or can I make? The Igbo man's mad chase of money has compromised the Igbo integrity so much that a few shekels of silver is all that the average Igbo Joe needs to sell his brother short. A nation where known criminals including 419 operators are made traditional rulers of communities with chieftaincy titles bought and sold from and by known traditionalists cannot survive muster. This unholy celebration of money in Igboland without any question as to the source is the knife that has cut deep in Igbo man's integrity. The Igbos, like the biblical Esau has sold their oneness for a pot of porridge and hence has been given a basement-position in Nigeria today, below even the Ijaw-man! It has been conclusively permuted by the other more astute component parts of Nigeria that the Igboman lacks unity of purpose and hence can do no harm; trust Icheoku, they are cashing in on that to further emasculate the Igbos.

Icheoku is afraid, the sink-hole where the Igbos now find themselves in Nigeria is so bottomless that, it may be very difficult for them to dig themselves out of it. It will take a Divine intervention or something so drastic to shake them to their existential-foundations, with the potential to obliterate them totally, for them to ever stand a fighting-chance again in Nigeria as a collective people in pursuit of one common objective. Like Jesus said, "it is finished" and Icheoku is afraid the Igbos of Nigeria brought this unto themselves by their "I" and not "We" line of pursuit and action in Nigeria! Igbos should start once again to "Kwenu`ing" and seriously mean it as a tree does not make a forest no matter the size. An army of people is always stronger than a person and the Igbo man should drive this truism into their skull for any prospective future in Nigeria.

DIVORCED AND PROUD NIGERIANS!

As the beehive of Nigerian women who are divorced from their husbands continuously increase, they have found a clever way of ridiculously putting a smiley face on their status. Through the ingenuity of Hajia Atine Abdullahi, pictured here right, a National Association of Divorcees was born to cater for the divorcees, widows and orphans of Nigeria. Icheoku notes however that the association appears to have an axe to grind with men as they exclude divorced men, widowers and apparently male orphans from their beneficiaries? It seems that the NAD is unapologetically, purely a feminists right-wing group; and Icheoku adds, little wonder no man could tolerate them as wives?

Now they are ganging up against men and possibly will entice other remaining happily married women to also kick their husbands to the gutter and join them - "the fully and truly liberated women of Nigeria"? They are organising a rally in Kano-Nigeria this month, to protest what they termed the growing number of divorce in Nigeria's Kano city and particularly against what they claimed is the “insufficient husbands in Kano State.” Icheoku asks, if there is a dearth of husbands, why then divorce the one you have even if he is a talakawa or an almajiri? What should be important for the likes of this fire-breed, fiery eyed Atine Abudullahi is that any human-being with a man-hood is good enough, period! But to forever be hopping around in search of a Brad Pitt with all the money in the world and who is also heavenly well endowed is no brainier as it is the root-cause of their predicament! Any three-legged individual should ordinarily suffice, as they say in the land of the blind, one eyed person is usually the king, so stay and love the one you have.

According to available information, the association is expecting one million divorced women at the event in Kano and Icheoku says, you then begin to wonder how many women are still married? As if to add impetus to Icheoku's assessment, a recently released data from Kano State government shows that over 80% of marriages in the state were unstable.

Hajiya Attine Abdullahi, who is the executive director of the association, said the rally is to highlight the incidences of divorce as a growing social problem bedeviling their Kano State. Icheoku says, may be this Hajiya can start by converting to a more marriage-respecting religion since her Sharia practising Kano state encourages Muslim men to treat their women as chattels that can be easily disposed and at will.

A $170,000 DOLLAR WRIST-WATCH FOR A NIGERIAN ARMY MAJOR'S WIFE?

Our beef, writing this commentary is that the "culprit" here, is an ordinary army major's wife. Icheoku asks, how much is her husband's salary or is he a trust-fund child to afford such superlative luxury? How did he come about such a huge amount of money to splash on just a wrist-watch? A whopping $170,000.00 USD for a wrist-watch? That is incredulous as it is scandalous, and it is by a Nigeria army major? However the wrist-watch is not the most expensive wrist-watch ever made, sold and bought; no, as the black diamond-clustered CHOPARD, top left, retails for $1,130,620.00 USD! But for a petty army major's wife to be able to afford such a watch, that is the lead-story here!

Were she Bill Gates wife, Aliko Dangote's wife, Carlos Slim's wife or any of the harems of a Middle Eastern Sheik, Icheoku will not give a damn as we do not begrudge riches. We are a capitalist bunch who strongly believe that such off-the-chart ornamental-valuables, should be made and bought by some people of means. But for an ordinary major in the Nigeria army to afford this piece of luxury, that calls for somebody's head on a platter! It is ridiculously pathetic that such is happening in a Nigeria, where so many people go to sleep every night without food in their stomachs. This is a glaring example of an oasis of extreme extravagance surrounded by abject poverty and want where bread is a luxury for most families. The near state of hopelessness in Nigeria was caused by the likes of this Major Mustapha and yet he finds the temerity to display his ill-gotten wealth in this blingy form? Icheoku says it is shameful and encourages that business man whoever he is, to pawn away the wristwatch and use the proceeds for some charitable work of mercy. He should utilize the proceeds for something more important than an army major's wife egotistic wrist; after-all, it came out of the purse of Nigeria, a product of corruption.

Icheoku says, the EFCC should not involve itself in this private and personal family-friends matter. Why should the government agency be used by the Mustaphas' for privately investigating what happened to their little piece of bling-bling? Who cares if a family-friend breached the trust of a very corrupt woman-owner of a wrist-watch who is married to another corrupt despotic-enforcer? The EFCC should not have arrested the Lagos based business magnate and philanthropist over his alleged involvement in the controversial wristwatch? According to the story, the wristwatch valued at US $170,000.00 (N23.4m) allegedly got missing since 2005 after the major’s wife, Hadjia Hafsat Al- Mustapha reportedly gave it to the business man said to be a family friend for repairs. The business man was to help her replace the dead battery and fatigued strap (band) during his then upcoming overseas trip. But unfortunately, according to the businessman, the wristwatch alongside other of his valuables were stolen at the Police Force Headquarters in Abuja during a visit, which burglary was immediately incidented with the police.

The wristwatch's value has been described as ridiculous by one official who, like Icheoku, could not understand the mindset of this army major splashing a whopping $170,000 on his wife's wristwatch? Moreover, how did he or she come about such a large sum of money for such a foolery? In the words of the official, “You mean somebody is wearing a wristwatch that cost as much as that?, that is madness."

Because of the ridiculousness of this Nigerian army major's expenditure on a wrist-watch, Icheoku went to town to research costs of wrist-watches. Our findings however shows that there are very expensive wrist-watches out there; but the question remains, how was this army major able to afford this piece of jewelry? From our investigation, there are some ladies' wrist-watches dripping with jewels which cost a fortune. From premier Swiss watchmakers come such fine masterpieces such as Patek Philippe, Vacheron Constantin, Girard-Perregaux etc. Chopard pictured above, at $1,130,620.00 is about the most expensive wrist-watch presently available. There is also the Ulysse Nardin at $408,000.00; Vacheron Constant at $340,000.00; Girard Perreguax at $280,000.00; Patek Philippe at $240,000.00 and so many other timepieces for the well healed of the society!

According to one critic, such wrist-watch under advisement here is "a mere luxury that has no soul." They are otherwise called "complications found at the priciest levels! Like many of such world's most expensive watches they are produced in severely limited quantities--including infinitesimal editions of one sometimes--and frequently have buyers lined up long before they're finished, often at rates of just a few per year. However in 1999 the most expensive watch ever sold, a 1933 gold Patek Phillipe with 24 complications, was auctioned off at Sotheby's for $11 million dollars USD!

Icheoku says, this exposes once again the rot the northern men of power has driven Nigeria into. If an ordinary army major's wife from the north could afford a $170,000.00 USD wrist-watch, can you imagine what the northern generals' wives themselves own? Or better still, try to fathom what wealth their men of power have personally siphoned from the southern oil wells? It is a pity that the south has left them have their way and for so long; but the EFCC must butt out and leave the Lagos business man alone to enjoy his share of the national cake of Nigeria, courtesy of a major's wife?

LIBERIAN TERRORIST GOES AWAY FOR GOOD!

Like father like son and so goes all despots! From Iraq's Saddam Hussein and his sons Uday and Quasi to Liberia's Charles Taylor and his son Chuck; it is the same despotic blood flowing in their veins. Luckily the American justice system has once again risen to the occasion and stopped this despicable low-lifer, mad son of Liberia's madman, cold in his tracks and die he will in the big house. Charles "Chuckie" MacArthur Emmanuel "Terror" Taylor, 31, bastard son of the former executioner-in-chief of Liberia, Charles Ghanskay Taylor was put away for good and for a very very long time, where he can no longer cause grief to the good people of Liberia! Chuck has been de-plumed and will forever not be able to do any harm again to the good people of Liberia.

In short, Chuckie will only know freedom again stretched out cold. Only in the land beyond, as he can only leave prison on a gurney - dead as a door knob! When, after staying 97 years behind bars! He is 29 now and by the end of his 97 years term should be 126 years if lucky enough to wear the toga of the world's oldest living person then. Kudos to the American fearless judiciary whose justice system is no respecter of criminals and criminal master minds! Chuck Taylor's offense includes torture, maiming, rape, mutilation, murder, summary executions without trial of innocent Liberian citizens. Chuck was simply speaking, a clone of the other once lived, mad son of Saddam Hussein, Uday!

According to presiding Judge Cecilia Altonaga, it is hard to conceive of any more serious offences against the dignity and life of human beings than what Chuckie visited on the Liberian people. While handing him the sentence, Judge Altonaga said, "1,164 months in prison" is the appropriate sentence for crimes of a universally condemned torture that was witnessed in Liberia under the watch, supervision and sometimes execution of Charles "Chuckie" Emmanuel Taylor".

As head of Liberia's "elite" paramilitary unit that doubles as anti-terrorist services unit during his father's 1997-2003 despotic rule, Chuckie was solely responsible for keeping his father in power by viciously cutting down every opposition, both imaginary and real. Before sentencing, Chuckie fearfully pleaded for forgiveness, saying "Sorry to my brothers for what happened during the 14 years of war in Liberia. My sympathies go out to all the people who suffered in the conflicts in Liberia and Sierra Leone. I will meet my obligation no matter what it would be". Icheoku says, Chuckie failed to take responsibility for the mayhem he wrought on Liberians but merely mouthed a shallow apology without any contrite heart; which apology was borne out of fear and a ploy to mitigate his sentence. Here was a man who gleefully hacked off children's limbs with their parents forced to watch the gory macabre with their own very own eyes and for 14 long years, now pretending to be sorry for his crimes? Icheoku says this beast has no heart at all and if any, is made of cold steel!

Born in Boston, Massachusetts, Chuck Taylor was taken into custody in Miami Florida on March 30, 2006, while trying to enter the United States illegally from Trinidad. He was initially charged with passport fraud and pleaded guilty. On the day before his sentencing in December 2006, he was indicted on torture charges based on the agitation of some Liberian victims representatives, living in the United States. That indictment included graphic detail of brutal killings and tortures Taylor allegedly ordered, supervised and in some cases personally carried out himself between April 1999 and July 2003.

One of his victim was placed naked in a pit as stinging fire-ants were shoveled over his body and later buried alive. He also tormented his victims with molten plastic, electric shocks, spear, lit cigarettes, hot clothes-irons, bayonets, fire-ants, scalding water, sharp metal-rods and water-filled holes topped by iron bars and barbed wire. He personally shot several men and ordered one man to be castrated before being beheaded. Prosecutors initially sought a 147-year prison term but the Judge was lenient enough to give this marauding beast of Monrovia, just 97 years prison sentence.

And who is his daddy but the petty dictator pictured left, now cowering before the court of justice at the Hague for crimes against humanity. His name, Charles Taylor! The notorious former Liberian dictator Charles Taylor, is on trial at The Hague, Netherlands before a UN-backed Special Court for Sierra Leone, where he is facing 11 count charges for war crimes and crimes against humanity. A verdict is expected in the case, this year 2009.

Icheoku says if only Nigerians will learn to cash in on available provisions of law in America, hounds like Olusegun Obasanjo could be arrested and tried in America, for his crimes against the Odi and Zaki Ibiam people of Nigeria! The people of Liberia made this 97 years behind bars outcome possible. A Liberian Human Rights and Refugee Welfare Organization (LIHRRWO) based in the United States petitioned for Chuck Taylor's indictment and launched a campaign that planted his feet deeper into the quicksand of law; after his initial arrest for passport violation. LIHRRWO, based in Minnesota, earlier notified the then US Attorney General Alberto Gonzales through a letter asking the Justice Department to hold Chuckie for more investigation unrelated to the passport fraud for which he was arrested and detained.

In a subsequent press release the group revealed that it has dispatched letters to the Director of the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), Emilo Gonzales, and Department of Homeland Security Bureau of Justice Assistance through Secretary Michael Chertoff requesting the prolonged detention of Chuckie Taylor. According to the group, Charles Taylor, Jr. needed to be kept in detention so that he would be questioned about his role in the abuse of human rights when he served as commander of the Anti-Terrorist Unit (ATU) in Liberia between 1998 and 2003. LIHRRWO said it would use the United States Tort Act to bring a lawsuit against Chuckie Taylor in the US for his involvement in the death of Liberians when he served as “head of his father killing squad, the so-called Anti-Terrorist Unit (ATU).” Icheoku says, if Liberians can do this why not the Odi and Zaki Ibiam people against Olusegun Obasanjo or don't they have representatives in the United States?

Icheoku says, this beast of Monrovia is a deplorable and abhorable animal who deserves to serve every second of the 1164 months behind bars prison sentence. This animal was born in America and having grown up in the United States of America, one would have expected him to know better; respect the rules of law but never, instead he was bit by the same bug which generally bite every African man of power; he became afflicted and immediately morphed into a ravenous killing mad-dog which he became. If I were the judge in the case, a big needle in his vein while strapped down, would have been my preferred instrument of punishment but 97 years is no picnic either.

Thank you American judiciary, for holding this animal accountable for all the atrocities he committed in Liberia. Icheoku wants to let you know that there are still hundreds of Chuck Emmanuel Taylor in Africa and such fate as was handed out today should be their awaiting portion! God bless America!

NIGERIA, A REQUIEM OR NUNC DIMITTIS?

Are these signs of the times or the things yet to come? Icheoku is talking about the status of Nigeria? The unity of Nigeria? To remain an entity or not? To be or not to be? Whatever finally becomes the resolution, one thing is clear - the present high agitation is very ominous! Yakubu Gowon, a former head of state of Nigeria was the first person, chorusing the Sarduana of Sokoto Ahmadu Bello refrain, to question the continued existence of Nigeria as one entity. In his famous diatribe, the Plateau State born army man, posited that there is no basis for the continued existence of Nigeria as one entity.

Odumegwu Ojukwu took up arms against the rest of Nigeria because it was his understanding that Nigerians, through their inordinate actions, no longer want the Igbos within "their" country, Nigeria. The father of the recently slain NYSC member, Pa Josiah Akande empathised that the recent mayhem in Jos poses a major threat to the touted unity of the country. According to him, the leadership of the country should re-examine the workability of the said Nigeria unity. Simon Kolawole of Thisday Newspapers commenting on the recent Jos riots, wrote, "Nigerians once again, are questioning the very essence of our union."

"There is no hope for Nigeria" was how a one time senator, Francis Spanner Okpozo who represented Delta South Senatorial District in the Senate during the General Ibrahim Babangida’s transition to civil rule programme, put it. According to the senator, there are a lot of irreconcilable fundamental differences among the various ethnic groups that make up the present Nigeria. Continuing, the senator said, the people of Nigeria are merely pretending on the unity question and unnecessarily delaying and avoiding the evil day.

The former Nigerian Petroleum Minister Tam David-West has it that a very dark cloud is gathering over Nigeria. According to the ex-minister, Nigeria has an illegitimate presidency - Yar'Adua is a legal president because the court has made him so, but the court cannot confer legitimacy on anybody. Continuing Mr. West said, "We have reached the worst; I have never seen Nigeria as corrupt as it is now, and if we don't take time, this country may not survive the next sixty years."

Now that the agitation for Nigerians to go their separate ways has gone a full circle, from the north to the west to the south to the east, Icheoku asks, what is then holding it up? Let the truth be told, none of the component constituents which make up the present Nigeria is impressed with one another - no, they resent each other and very much. They hold one another with a contemptible suspicion and will not hesitate to stick it to one another whenever the circumstance present itself. The supposed harmony and peace of the grave-yard in Nigeria is based on the existing leech-like relationship between the arid north and the richly-endowed south. The lazy parasitic north depends on the resources in the south south to survive, hence will not accede to balkanization of Nigeria because they will starve to death. But should the rest of the country be continuously held hostage by the selfish northern oligarchy? Only time will tell!

Icheoku commends the present bravery of some southerners who are now beginning to openly discourse south's discontentment with the present status-quo of things in Nigeria; and prays that it will not take up to the Tam David-West's projected sixty years before it could bear fruit. The north is singularly fuelling this flamed agitation for "separation" due to their crass arrogant usurpation of what belongs to all Nigerians. All the key parastatals and ministries of the federal government of Nigeria including the customs and excise, the supreme court, the appeal court, the EFCC, Abuja FCT, works and housing, agriculture, justice, finance, defence, national planning, petroleum, are all appropriated by the north; leading one to ask, what then is left for the rest of the country? Nothing but scraps! And who says this condition will remain tolerable and for how long in Nigeria anyway?

The northerners bleed the same blood as the southerners, so why should the south be so afraid to bleed some blood that they concede to the north all that their arrogance desires? The north are brigands who populated the military and uses it as an instrument of cohesion to keep the south in perpetual subjugation and servitude in Nigeria. Enough should be enough of this imbalance as Icheoku would rather, these mallams are stopped either through a peaceful dialogue or using whatever means necessary.

The south shouldn't be the one making all the concessions and all the time, no, things have to change and should change! How can a Fulani man from far away Katsina State be tele-guiding the resources in Bayelsa State when no Bayelsa man has ever had a voice on how the cattle in Katsina is reared? It is a complete absurdity and smacks of stupidity on the part of the south to continue to tolerate this lopsidedness in Nigeria.

Why would the south or some of their leaders be content with just receiving simple handouts from these mallams who blatantly arrogate to themselves the rights to every resources in Nigeria including the oil which is in the south? If this is not a conquered and vanquished state of siege of the south by the north, then nothing else so qualifies. It recently came to Icheoku knowledge that Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida once paid a 250,000 pounds Sterling medical bills of a sick southerner in London and you ask yourself, how much is left from where that one came from? If a panhandler asks you for a quarter and you oblige him, that leaves you with 75 cents plus whatever other money you are with. To the panhandler, he got his 25cents but he was oblivious of the depth of the pocket of his benefactor. This is gradually becoming the fate of the southerners in Nigeria and the matter gets even more maddening when it is the panhandling-south that rightfully owns the source of wealth of the benefactor-north; but is deprived of it by shere brigandage. Icheoku says, Southern Nigeria, it is time you stood up to the north and reclaim your God given natural resources and its concomitant wealth! Any other approach is simply slavish!

A DALMATIAN AND FERTILITY TREATMENT?

Eighteen puppies from one litter, this Dalmatian from England has set a new world record as a puppy-factory. Icheoku says, it sure will make an average Jane rabbit jealous!

However, Icheoku is not in a position to confirm or deny the type of fertility-treatment this extremely procreative dog went through, but we are confident to report that it paid off handsomely. From report reaching us from England, mother Dalmatian and her eighteen puppies, delivered through C-section, are doing just fine; although the toll on her breast is forcing the owners of the Dalmatian to supplement with some improvised dog-milk! Congratulation Madam Dalmatian!

BATISTA, WHAT'S LOVE GOT TO DO WITH IT?

Now, as he ruefully regrets the gift of life which he gave to his object of affection, his former wife; did this love-reject do what any other person in the circumstance would do for a loved one? Also is his current demand for restitution of his kidney reasonable?

Dr. Richard Batista, 49, (right) of Ronkonkoma, a prominent vascular surgeon at Nassau University Medical Center, Long Island, New York is demanding the return of a kidney he donated to his estranged wife, Dawnell Batista, 44 (below) or in the alternative, the payment of $1.5 million dollars in lieu of the kidney, as a reasonable price or value for the said body-part. The couple is currently embroiled in a messy divorce.

Whether a kidney is a returnable gift or marital property or an asset which can be returned or for which there is a price tag for purposes of distribution following a divorce decree, will constitute part of the litigation in this messy divorce. If the court agrees with Dr. Batista that his interest in the donated kidney is still subsisting, it will then take necessary steps to determine what would be a fair price for the kidney for purposes of determining the reasonableness of the $1.5million dollars being asked as an option of keeping the kidney?

Admitted that it is unethical and illegal to sell or use an organ as a bargain for instrument or exchange it for anything of value; under Dr. Batista's circumstance, is it possible to infer that his donation was not freely made? The question should be, why did he do it? Because she was his wife, a good inference is that the donation was conditioned on her remaining the object of his affection, period! Dr. Batista was one (1) out of 700,000 whose kidney was a match to his ex-wife's; so it was a very expensive and invaluable piece of body-part to just give away. Were Dawnell not his wife, would the doctor have made the donation? The answer is obviously NO! So if the condition subsequent to the kidney donation fails, then there is no longer a subsisting valid donation; hence the subject matter donated must be returned to the rightful owner, which in this case is Dr. Give Me Back My Kidney? It is also admitted that donating an organ is considered a gift but it should equally be noted that some gifts are conditional-gifts; which in this case, by necessary implication, was subsequent to her continued love and affection. Dr. Batista gave to his better-half his body part first because she was his wife (condition-precedent) and secondly because she will continue to remain his wife (condition-subsequent). So when a condition attached to a gift fails for lack of performance or occurrence, the whole gift fails as in this case.

Icheoku says, it appears this claim is not necessarily about a kidney but about a grieving husband who is emotionally having a great deal of difficultly coping with the loss of a wife's love and affection. He wants the world to partake in his heart's agony and hear him out before it is too late. From some statements credited to Dr. Batista, the doctor appears to be a man who is really agonising about losing the love of his life. Icheoku advises the good doctor who is out of luck with love and also appears to be irretrievably out of his kidney, to just calm down and move on with his life, rather than be tempted to join the retinue of the Scott Petersons of this world. Love is impetuous, hurts, and most times does not think properly. According to this whining doctor, "there is no deeper pain you can ever express than betrayal from someone who you loved and devoted your whole life to. I saved her life and then, to be betrayed like this, is unfathomable; It's incomprehensible, but the pain is unbearable! I feel humbled and betrayed and disregarded; this divorce is killing me.” It would appear that Dr. Batista is trying but woefully failing, to cope with his life of a broken heart. At the same time, it is quite obvious from his quest for a pound of flesh, that he is determined not to let his cheating ex-wife go with his healthy kidney!

The once-happy couple met two decades ago when Dr. Batista was a resident and Dawnell was a training nurse at North Shore Hospital. They were married in August 1990, and have three daughters celebrating with a lavish Long Island reception, and were soon living in a $1 million Massapequa home.

Dr. Batista's kidney was the third kidney Dawnell would receive; as a child, she received a kidney from her father which failed and later another one from her brother which also failed as her body rejected both kidneys. Then it was Dr. Batista's turn to donate his kidney which proved to be the kidney the doctor ordered. With a match of 1-in-700,000 Dr Batista gladly donated one of his kidney, allowing Dawnell to skip a waiting list of 6,748 people awaiting kidneys transplant in the State of New York according to data from the New York Organ Network. The transplant of the contentious kidney was successfully performed at University of Minnesota Medical Center on June 28, 2001. Dawnell Batista survived the transplant, but their marriage lasted only four more years thereafter, as Dawnell filed for divorce in July 2005.

According to the narrative, Dawnell Batista viewed the kidney as a new lease on her life. She returned to school to earn a master's degree in nursing and took up karate as a hobby. Icheoku asks, but why karate? Was she an abused wife trying to equip herself against further abuse by learning the act of self-defense, martial arts? Continuing, after an injury suffered while trying to earn her black belt, she began physical therapy - which evolved into an affair with her therapist. Icheoku adds, and she is a nurse? According to Dr. Batista, "this affair put a hole in my heart that still exists. To this day, I'm a man of pride. To be betrayed that way, humiliated - I can't even began to say."
One other interested observer rated Dr. Batista's chances at recovering his donated kidney at somewhere between impossible and completely impossible. Icheoku strongly disagrees with one other analyst who is of the opinion that when you give something, you can't get it back; but says, that certain gifts are conditioned upon the occurrence or performance of certain act. So when there is a failed performance or non-occurrence of the act or event then such gift fails as may rightly be the case with the kidney here.

Icheoku says, Dr. Batista is entitled to his kidney. The court should order Dawnell to give Dr Batista back his kidney as the bargained for love and affection has gone out through the window, with the winds. His intention in making the donation in the first place was to bequeath his body-part to someone he loved and believed was part of him; so now that the center can no longer hold, to each should be his own. Without his gift, Dawnell would probably be dead by now, so she would not have had the opportunity to even jump the fence of Dr. Batista's love. So who is wrongfully benefiting from the failed bargain but DAWNELL who is trying to reap where she did not sow! Icheoku says, this re-echos the popular aphorism, only fools fall in love, and Dr. Richard Batista?

NIGERIA, WHAT A HELMET?

The thing wrong with this picture is that the motorcycle (popularly called Okada) rider in blue T-shirt, has an available helmet which he could have worn but choose otherwise. Instead, he decided to make a statement of either defiance or stupidity with an improvised empty container or bucket of possibly used paint as his preferred helmet. Very visible on the front-end of the motorcycle between the two bar-handles is an orange-colored helmet which he ignored to wear, but instead chose to dramatize the new helmet-law in Nigeria with his strange-looking plastic bucket!

This is one example why Nigeria is ungovernable as people do not usually obey laws but most times, choose to make mockery of them. What stops this mallam, pictured in Ijeshatedo area of Lagos, from simply throwing his helmet on his head instead of the plastic bucket he is wearing; and knowing fully well that the helmet-law is meant to cut down on his losses in event of an accident? The tragedy of this picture is that some policemen who are supposed to enforce the helmet-law, possibly saw this motorcyclist with his bucket-helmet driving around the Itire council area of Lagos State without arresting him. Icheoku says, they were all possibly, smiling and making jokes about the new "foreign/homegrown" helmet?

Icheoku says, such conduct as displayed by this motor-cyclist is not laughable and should not be condoned by anyone. In as much as it elicits laughter, being so hilarious, the rider is apparently making a mockery of the new helmet-law and should have been stopped cold. He should in addition, be made to take full responsibility for his action, as he broke an existing law of the land and ordered to pay a very steep fine/penalty as a deterrent. The term deterrent is what is missing in Nigeria's law enforcement lexicon, otherwise all these in-fractures of existing laws would not exist. On the new helmet-law however, Icheoku says, it is a welcome step towards mitigating motorcycle-accident victim's losses. Helmet saves lives as it protects the head upon contact with the pavement. Icheoku's one other concern is the possible transmission of head-lice (pediculus humanus capitis), dandruff, ticks, odour, eczema and other head-hair and skin contagious diseases from one passenger to another through sharing of one helmet.

The African sun could be so intense and easily heats up the human-body including the head-hair; thus makes head-lice very uncomfortable that they become so agitated and jumpy and could easily stick unto a helmet waiting to be transferred to the next passenger's hair. If every passenger is to share one helmet, shouldn't be a requirement also that some disinfectants be sprayed in the helmet before the next rider's use? Whatever happens, Icheoku says, riding "OKADA" with a plastic rubberised empty bucket "helmet" is not COOOOOOOOOL!

A GERMAN BILLIONAIRE COMMITS SUICIDE!

For just losing a few hundred million dollars of his fortune to the global economic melt-down! Icheoku says, if a billionaire should kill himself because of the bad economy, what would a pauper do? May be jump into a pot of boiling hot-grease and fry to hell? Who says the rich do not also cry? After reading this or hearing about it, do you still want to be rich, super-rich, stupendous rich? Who still wants to be a billionaire?

A German billionaire, Adolf Merckle pictured here top left, committed suicide after his business empire, which included interests ranging from pharmaceuticals to cement, ran into trouble amidst the current global financial crisis. His weapon of choice, a fast moving train similar to the one pictured here below, which he threw himself in front of and was crushed to death near his villa in Blaubeuren-Weller. Blaubeuren-Weller, in the state of Baden-Württemberg is about 100 miles west of Munich in southwestern Germany.

Adolf Merckle, 74, was ranked as the world's 94th richest person in 2008, with a personal fortune, estimated at $9.2 billion, according to Forbes magazine.

According to his family's statement announcing his death, "Adolf Merckle lived and worked for his family and his firms; the distress to his firms caused by the financial crisis and the related uncertainties of recent weeks, along with the helplessness of no longer being able to handle the situation, broke the passionate family businessman, and he ended his life.” The police in Ulm confirmed that his suicide note has been found but has not made the contents public.

A native of Dresden, Mr. Adolf Merckle made his way to Western Germany after World War II, where he parlayed his family business in chemicals into one of the biggest pharmaceutical concerns in the world. He built his family’s small pharmaceutical business into a 120-firm conglomerate employing 100,000 people. He was regarded as a modest man who frequently bicycled to work. His business empire also included HeidelbergCement, the company that bought the once mighty British conglomerate Hanson with more than €10 ($15) billion in sales, Ratiopharm, a recognized generics-drugs maker that became a brand unto itself with about €2 ($3) billion in revenue and Phoenix, a drugs wholesaler with about €20 ($30) billion in revenue. Mr. Adolf Merckle also owned stakes in companies that made a wide array of goods from all-terrain vehicles, software to textiles. In addition to his personal worth estimated at more than $9 billion by Forbes magazine, his companies’ combined turnover was in excess of $40 billion, making him Germany’s fifth richest man!

The last weeks of his life were spent with his holding company, VEM Vermögensverwaltung wrangling with a consortium of banks for a bridge-loan that would secure credit for his companies, following the global financial meltdown. He was to lose some of his company holdings as a result of the restructuring but which outcome he would rather not see; - his businesses being consumed as a result of disastrous investments and the global financial crisis. Mr. Merckle also lost several hundreds of millions of dollars last year in a misplaced stock-market bets in Volkswagen AG, in which he wagered that the stock price would fall. According to people with knowledge about the matter, the stock instead skyrocketed in what market participants have described as one of the most dramatic short squeezes ever. As Mr. Merckle grew increasingly desperate to keep his empire afloat, he lobbied the regional government in his home state of Baden-Württemberg late last year for temporary financial backing but to no avail; culminating to his death by suicide on Monday, January 5th, 2009.

Icheoku asks, did Adolf Merckle sell his soul to the devil of his vast financial empire? How could a billionaire who came to this world with nothing be so distrust that he cannot survive on a few hundreds of millions of dollars less, that he would rather jump in front of a fast moving train? Even if it had meant liquidating or winding-down, any option would have been better than smashing oneself in front of a moving train. That he was facing the possibility of an imminent dismantling of his vast financial and business empire as well as the sale of major holdings in one of his flag-ship company is not a sufficient justification for what his family is now being forced to deal with. According to one analyst, who like Icheoku, could not understand why a billionaire should kill himself because of economic downturn, Mr. Adolf Merckle probably had other issues bothering him and the current economic crisis provided him with the much needed tipping-point to go over the cliff's edge.

Mr. Adolf Merckle was survived by his wife and four children. Icheoku does not understand the justification for this suicide as there is nothing to try to understand; however to the bereaved family, we say, seek the face of the Lord for solace as you bear the loss of your patriarch! Please accept our condolence!