MARTIN LUTHER KING JR., A BIRTHDAY ANNIVERSARY!

To the man who prophesied a Barack Obama's presidency, Icheoku says, happy post-humus birthday to you! Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I have a dream" speech is today, a reality; and in the White House is an African American president who was judged not by the color of his skin but by the content of his character.

When Martin Luther King Jr foretold several decades ago what is possible in today's America, many people never knew that, to his many attributes, he was also a prophet. In their midst was a prophet, who was without "honor and unknown" in his country? But belatedly though, many now acknowledge and some even reluctantly that he was definitely a unique and special kind of person.

So, as we mark his birthday today January 18, 2010, Icheoku prays that America continues to give purpose to his dream; and that before too long America will be more united, more color-blind and together we all can help make America, greater and better for all to live in as well as enjoy the bountiful opportunities, therein abound. Once again MLK, Icheoku says, thank you for braving the trail that led to today's more accepting and more all inclusive America!

HAITI DESOLATE, IS LIFE REALLY WORTH ALL THE TROUBLES?

Blessed and fortunate are those who died and received a descent burial/funeral. In Haiti, such an honor has become such an 'unimaginable luxury' that so many people have since been forced by circumstance to pass on it. So far, several thousands of dead people have been scooped up by pay-loaders, dumped in trucks, driven to city out skirts and landfills and dumped in a big hole and given mass burial?

Dead people everywhere being treated like piece of dirt or log of wood as they are thrown just like a piece of unwanted trash out to the dump? It is instructive to note that many of these victims were without any known identity or clue as to who they were, so they are now forever lost in the crowded land of dead people in Haiti! The several thousands of John and Jane Does of Haiti?

Icheoku wants you to just remember that the People of Haiti, members of the general human universe, men, women, children and even infants, were all respectively looking forward to a future world and making plans for days to come, before an earthquake from hell decreed otherwise and interrupted their lives! These victims are now gone and lost forever; many without even a grave yard or tomb stone where their families can periodically go to spend time with such loved lost ones. None whatsoever exists, the earthquake like an identity thief stole and wiped away their identities! So what is life if it is a blank slate? Life must have other meaning for it to be meaningful.

So as you read this and examine both pictures, ask yourself, 'that malice you hold against someone', is it worth it? Ask yourself whether that your body which you indulge with so much cosmetics including elective cosmetic surgeries, spending money which could otherwise have been used to feed so many hungry mouths; is such vanity worth it? Do you ever imagine the possibility of being just one of the many who perished in Haiti's 7.3 earthquake or survived but still with a gloomy future starring them at the face? Do a favor to God's people today, call 1-800-RED-CROSS and tell them Icheoku sent you. Do it for God, do it for Haiti people and do it for the humanity which we all constitute membership of!

My dear friend, it is not worth it. Life is but an ephemeral thing of which duration, we do not have a clue. The manner of its end, we are lost at sea trying to figure it. The solution therefore is to look and appreciate every person you meet in this journey called life, treat him/her as deserving of your second appreciative look and whatever good you can do for a person, never hesitate to do same.

PLEASE DONATE TO A HAITI DISASTER APPEAL FUND today or "Text Haiti to 90999" or call the Red Cross at 1-800-RED-CROSS! Please help clean up Haiti's dead so that living-survivors may not be smothered by the attendant health problems resulting from the dead and the dying; so many hands are needed to help Haiti recover the dead and bury them more properly. Icheoku says, it is the right thing to do and their color of skin should not influence your decision to help God's own children in despair!

HAITI NEEDS YOUR HELP URGENTLY, PLEASE DONATE TODAY!

With 50,000 dead so far recovered, 7000 of which have already been buried in a mass grave and about 200,000 more to be picked off the streets, Icheoku says, Haiti is now but one giant graveyard? What can we do to help a dazed and out Haiti? We cannot rewind the hands of the clock to pre-earthquake Haiti but we all can, acting together, at least help Haiti pull through this nightmare!

To help with the Haiti effort, please contact the Red Cross or any of the other Haiti aid agencies and make your donation today. As always, remember that we are all in it together, as citizens of a world in which what affects one person in Haiti also affects the other in farawy place like Myanmar? It is all about giving whatever you can to help a Haiti bamboozled; and please note that nothing is too small for a nation that needs everything.

Pictured here is young Cindy Terasme who, although screaming for his dead brother; seems to be asking, "God, where are you and why"? Icheoku says, it is an epochal destruction from hell and Haiti will need all the help it can get to start all over again, from scratch, literally!

HAITI APOCALYPSE, AFRICA YET TO SHOW SUPPORT TO A BROTHER IN DISTRESS!

Three long days after the catastrophic 7.3 magnitude earthquake incapacitated Haiti, no African country or the African Union has yet expressed or shown real support for the ongoing global effort at finding answers to those questions posed by the disaster. Practically every continent in the world from Asia to Europe to North America and South America, is already participating in the Haiti's effort except for motherland Africa!

Africa, whose sons and daughters populate the Hispaniola Island nation of Haiti, is still a no show in Haiti, despite the able leadership so far provided in managing the crisis by President Barack Obama of America. Continental Africa that should be the first to report to duty in a ravaged Haiti is still dragging its feet behind, yoked down by rudderless leaders and rulers who do not really understand what leadership means and fail or could not provide one. From Nigeria to South Africa to Egypt to Ghana, each is waiting for the other to decide if their assistance is needed in Haiti or whether they should leave the effort for the more well positioned bigger powers or to some extent, lacking the sense of direction as to what should be done in the circumstance? At least, there is something known as a widow's mite, and in as much as the world is not expecting Africa to bleed more than their blood content; at least they should do something in acknowledgment of the disaster effort. No matter how little, it did not bring itself and that is the only thing expected of a poor and afflicted Africa, yet they are not showing any understanding?

Haitians that were sold into slavery and dumped in the strange Island of Hispaniola by the French in 1667? Haitians who were subjugated, dehumanized and used as common slave laborers until they stood up to the French in 1791 and said, 'enough of the servitude!' The once proud and mighty Haitians, who humiliated the then fearsome Napoleon Bonaparte's army into a crest-fallen retreat back to Paris; securing their independence as the first black slaves emancipated country in 1805? Proud Africans of the Caribbean, who could no long stomach the arrogance of the French who took them away from their kindred in Africa, conscripted them into slavery as indentured farmers and tillers of plantations which supplied their excesses?The first black African slave colony to declare their independence, shortly following after America? A humiliated French with a superior navy, who in order to save face, conspired with other "white-men" Americans to levy a suffocating economic blockade on the nation of Haiti and extorted reparation from them for their lost slavery estates and holdings, and for 100 long years? Icheoku says, may be the land of Napoleon should be called upon now to reciprocate in kind, and bear the cost of fixing the today's broken Haiti in a reverse reparation of some sort? Imagine a 100 year king's ransom, converted to today's money with added interest, will be more than sufficient to rebuild Haiti from grounds up?

It will be recalled that Haiti was once the pride of the western hemisphere and the Caribbean and was also then prosperous? It is also instructive that when they forced the French out of the Hispaniola Island; the French fearful of also losing their then Louisiana territory to another revolution, hurriedly sold it off to America for $15million dollars at 3cents per acre? Just the facts, ma'am! It will also be recalled that the French had then sort and received America's support and help in blockading Haiti between 1820 to 1940; and that it was just in 1960 that America finally recognised Haiti as an independent neighboring country? So it is understandable when America says to Haiti, in its greatest hour of need that "you will not be forsaken or forgotten again"! Icheoku says, what a well thought-out and made, good statement, geared towards redressing the ills of the past in order to make things whole and straigthen the crooked roads? Now that we have had a little relation back excursion, journeying back into history's memory lane to trace the origin of present day Haiti, we must pivot back to the referenced subject, - 'Haiti's earthquake and attendant world help', without the Africans? Africans, whose Caribbean African brothers were just hammered by an unforgiving mother nature.

There is one country in black Africa which claims to be the giant of Africa; this country is notorious for its 419 operatives, drug-trafficking, kidnapping, corruption and most recently was branded a 'terrorist country of interest?" Nigeria, Icheoku asks you, where is your African brotherly support for fellow Africans in the Caribbean, trapped in the ruins of Haiti, three long days after the earth underneath them shook, trembled and quaked like a yo-yo? The rest of the world are already on the ground in Port-au-Prince trying to salvage all they can salvage and assisting Haiti pick up their pieces and also bury their dead? Africans are a no-show! Of all the countries already sweltering their butts out in Haiti, no black country is among them; and we are talking about a fellow black-country, going through one of the worst disaster in recorded history?

Icheoku calls on Nigeria to lead the African-charge and proceed immediately to contribute their own quota to the effort - a necessary step towards becoming a world-citizen country! It does not just lie in the mouth to proclaim oneself a giant, but shies away whenever some heavy-lifting or tasks needing a giant's strength comes up. Moreover Nigeria was recently rumoured to be interested in a United Nations security council seat, a step which sounds ok; and her contributions to a Haiti-paralysed, will go a long way in smooching itself back into the hearts of the voting members of the United Nations who will consider such move in a positive light. Moreso, after the ugly incident of December 25 involving Northern Nigerian Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, a strong presence and participation in the Haiti search and rescue/recover operation will definitely be a good step towards rehabilitating its forever damaged image. So where is Abuja in this Haiti hour of great need; and where are the Abuja henchmen or are they still occupied with succession fight for the office of the previously missing President Umaru Yar'Adua who recently appeared and spoke to a foreign media from his foreign hospital bed, a few days ago?

In conclusion, Icheoku says if African Union does not know what is expected of them regarding the tragedy of Haiti, that is very unfortunate; but their somewhat strong representation will go a long way in bridging the waters of the Atlantic? Also the quest by Libya's strongman 'King' Moummar Ghaddafi to unite Caribbean Africans with their motherland Africans will find merit in halls of Port-au-Prince as well as other prospective unifying countries? A brother in need is a brother indeed, so Haiti shall never forget those who helped it recover from its worst natural disaster. If however African Union is saddled with so much responsibility already within the continent in turmoil that they have nothing to spare in aid of Haiti, Nigeria should as matter of urgency and self-esteem, break free of the union and render some assistant to Haiti. Our recommendation, Nigeria should ship some 500 soldiers over to Port-au-Prince to join a one-world effort at rendering a brotherly help to a nation that could use all the help it could get under the circumstance.

If Icheoku recalls correctly, Nigeria gave Myanmar (Burma) $500 million dollars the last time they were in a financial ditch; so a check this time, made out to Haiti in the amount of at least $500 million dollars to assist a brother country, will be a fair-sized widow's mite? Considering the short and long term needs of this devastated Island country of just 9million people, 50,000 of who have now perished in the earthquake, that amount might as well be just an instalment down payment. Nigeria, do it on behalf of all black people all over the world, the motherland and as a thing of pride for continental African! Icheoku calls on the acting Nigerian president and vice president, Jonathan Goodluck to summon the Federal Executive Council and table the need for Nigeria to send immediate assistance to suffering Haiti. Let that Rush Limbaugh or Pat Robertson of Nigeria stand up to oppose such a fine idea in international diplomacy and let the world laugh him or her off the cliff. It is our firm belief that only a parochial, dumb and short-sighted member, if any, will object to or oppose this move, which is capable of erasing the 'sins of Nigeria' or at least some of them; especially the latest dishonor of becoming "a terrorist country of interest"? Icheoku says, sending assistance to Haiti is a good cause, Nigeria; so do it and now!

HAITI IN RUINS, ANOTHER TALE OF AN UNENDING TRAGEDIES?

Icheoku says, many Haitians must now be wondering out aloud, 'where is their God' and pondering what manner of sin they commit specifically, far and beyond any other peoples of this world, to warrant the wrath of this destructive 7.3 magnitude earthquake? Haiti has become the butt of so many terrible and horrible things, both man-made and from mother-nature, that the people are asking, why just Haiti?

Three devastating hurricanes within the past two years alone, one tropical storm which caused a flooding of Noah's biblical proportion; and now, as a new year 'present' no Haitian wanted or would wish for, the mother of all calamitous occurrence, an earthquake measuring 7.3 on the Richter scale, which literally destroyed Haiti as we know it? 100,000 people estimated dead as a result of the earthquake? A cathedral destroyed and gutted by fire? The tax office destroyed? Hospitals, schools, main prison and thousands of peoples homes gone forever. The national palace, their presidential house destroyed as if an atom bomb had gone off, with its rumbles resembling an ancient Roman or Greek ruins? The house of legislature known as parliament in shambles?

So what is then left of this country one may ask; except to say that mother-nature appeared to have targeted the government of President Rene Preval and intended to wipe it away? Icheoku asks, could it be that the gods are mad at the new government and would rather have the deposed President Aristides still there as the peoples-choice and elected president? Of all the calamities which have visited Haiti recently, this 35 seconds lasting earthquake ranks topmost; being the mother of all Haitian calamities. Most earthquakes usually lasts for about 6 seconds, but for this one to have lasted for 35 seconds, qualifies it as an earthquake from hell.

To the people of Haiti, our hearts goes out to you and as the world helps you dig out from the hole which the earthquake has dug you into; we pray that your Christian faith will provide you the much needed succour at this time of great tribulation. Thankfully enough, President Barack Obama is in the White House and will do whatever it takes, to get you back on your foot. Were it otherwise, may be the likes of Pat Robertson, Rush Limbaugh and Fox News Network would have possibly influenced a different outcome and a somewhat New Orleans treatment would have been re-enacted? Imagine a supposed man of God saying that it was because of a "pact with the devil" that Haiti got hit by an earthquake? His type was the reason why Ghandi once said, 'I have read the bible, it is a nice book except that Christians do not practice what it contains'? So why a man of God cannot have a little empathy for the victims of what appears to be the world's worst earthquake defiles every logic except that of, "Haitians are of the wrong skin type; they are simply too dark-skinned for some few racists white men of America to consider such devastating earthquake a major disaster?

Rush Limbaugh went a step further to accuse President Obama of 'acting too fast on the earthquake and that he is pandering to his black-people?' Fox News Network would not even touch the earthquake in their coverage, as a major event; while every other network devoted their time covering the disaster, the racist-rascals at Fox were busy trash-talking some trivial and less important local political issues. In their jaundiced eyes, Haiti might as well be washed away from this earth, being "the other ones" and not worthy to live or their disaster not worthy of their air-time? But elections have consequences and luckily, Haitians have someone in the White House who understands that they are human beings too.

Icheoku would also like to call on Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez to now demonstrate his statesman and vaunted power in Latin America by coming to the aid of Haitians immediately and strongly. If he does not have an aircraft carrier to send with loads of aid supplies; may be he can underwrite some of the assistance going into Haiti. Otherwise he should seal off his loud mouth and remain where he belongs - a third world small player? The same message goes to Libya and Iran, both countries which are seeking some international relevance. China is already showing cause and we expect Russia to follow soon. Nigeria is also expected, as a giant among black peoples of this world, to rush off assistance to their black-brother Haitians; in the spirit of black fraternal brotherhood, may be a check for $500million dollars to assist in the recovery will be a good way to start?

Icheoku says, 100,000 and possibly 500,000 causalities in a country of just 9 million people is rather too many to loss in a day's calamity. Where were the gods of Haiti? Some confirmed report has it that the United Nations special envoy to Haiti, Hedi Annabi and the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Port-au-Prince, Joseph Serge Miot (here greeting the pope) were among known prominent people who have so far lost their lives in the disaster; both men were crushed to death by falling building debris. May their souls and the others departed now find rest in the Lord. What a world we live, which we do not have control of; and a life we have that can be snuffed away at any time; a rapture of some sort and yet the Rusk Limbaughs and Fox News managers are behaving as if their own life has some special insurance to protect them when the time comes? To the Haitians, help is on the way and recover you shall. Be strong!

PLEASE HELP HAITI TODAY, DONATE SOMETHING, ANYTHING; AS THEY LOST EVERYTHING AND COULD USE ANYTHING! CALL THE RED CROSS NOW!

FYI:- The earth-quake, reputed to be the strongest earthquake to hit Haiti since 1751, struck at around 4:53pm local time with an epicentre, located ten miles west of the capital of Port-au-Prince. Haiti is one of the three countries in the Caribbean that make up the Hispaniola Island. They are 95% blacks and 85% Roman Catholic Christians and French is their official language.

BILL CLINTON, THE FIRST BLACK PRESIDENT HAS A SNOW-WHITE SOUL?

He is not called slick Willy for no reason, he has the ability to chew you up and spit you whilst laughing with you. He is a living example of smooth, sleek and sleazy personified and had rode series of roughshod with people, friends and enemies alike; each of which were deceived as to their true relationship with the man who left his human gnome on a blue dress. And so it is, that former President William Jefferson Clinton is once again in the news, a remark he made to Late Senator Ted Kennedy, which has been brought to the fore courtesy of a just published book titled "GAME CHANGER", has again proved that the little boy from Hope Arkansas who grew up to become America's 42nd president, still has some 'good-ole-boy' blood running in his veins.

Like the popular saying goes, you can take a person out of the hood but you cannot take the hood out of the person; so will a good ole boy always remain a good ole boy? And it does not matter the fact that that one is a former president and married to a current Secretary of State? According to the published book, while trying to snag up Late Senator Ted Kennedy's endorsement for his wife's presidential candidacy, Bill Clinton was quoted as saying to Ted, 'few years ago, Obama would have been making and serving them coffee" and by necessary implication not qualified as a fit and proper person, being a person of color, to be president of the United States? Unbelievable one may say; but that is for only those who have allowed the magic of Bill to becloud their vision or sense of understanding of the man Bill, who has the tenacity to sell sand to desert dwellers, in their desert hell-holes. But for close understudies, including Icheoku, Bill Clinton's mesmerising charm beguiles the real man behind the facade and we have reasonable bases for our argument.

Former President Bill Clinton politically, cares and likes black people as long as they remained in "their place" and not try to disturb the locomotion. It is just like telling your domestic servant or guardsman that you love him as long as he remained in the guardhouse and not venture within the main building. It is akin to the love a farmer has for his prized oxen, as long as it tills his soil, it is all well and dandy but as soon as it is aged or wounded and cannot provide the labor of love, it is time to put it to sleep or down below? It is the unspoken 'moss-code' of getting along or being tolerated by the society, of black people in America; who must 'know their place' and not venture out of a pre-determined circle or in any way disturb the groove? But then of course, a black man named Senator Barack Obama would not take any of that and was determined to pull the rug underneath the good ole boys' feet and it was all systems go?

Initially none of the good ole boys led by Bill Clinton himself, gave him any fighting chance until the miracle of Iowa smacked them right on their lips and it became a run to the hills emergency alarm? Bill started prizing endorsements from old faithfuls' hands, people who owed him one favor or another; and he was bagging such endorsements easily until he arrived at the doors of the Senator from Massachusetts, Ted Kennedy. According to the narrative, Ted had then not made up his mind on who he was going to endorse and had elected to hear from both candidates pitch to him before he would finally make up his mind. Unfortunately for Hillary, Bill towed the line of the 'good ole boys,' and made allusion to the other candidate being good enough to make and serve them coffee just few years prior? The same good ole boy thinking which nearly derailed Ted's elder brother, JFK's candidacy in the 60's. Being Irish in those days did not fit the template of what an American president ought to be; but the family put up a good fight and eventually a Kennedy was sworn in as America's 35th president. So what Bill said was a shocking reminder of what 1950 America represented and Kennedy would have none of that. He immediately made up his mind and off he went to Washington and endorsed Barack Obama in one of his most memorable and very passionate speech of his political life. This took place despite a debilitating cancer which was mercilessly working over time on his brain. The rest is now history as his endorsement helped in no small way to propel, with the active and ever loyal Kennedy clan's political train, then Senator Barack Obama to the presidency.

That President Bill Clinton was dubbed a black president was rather surprising in itself, since there is really no basis for that, judging from what historians recorded of his presidency and his private life relationships with people of color. Which black-man or person served in his cabinet; after the alleged murder of Ron Brown, the former commerce secretary who died in a mysterious plane accident on the mountains of Bosnia Herzegovina? That Bill Clinton was captured on camera laughing prior to announcing the death of Ron Brown is also a fact; admitted he later realised that he was on camera and faked a sorrowful frown? Icheoku asks, which black-man was in the highest ranking position during his eight years presidency, none; since he considered blacks only good enough for under-Secretary positions as well as other junior positions. Even President GW Bush empowered two black people, Colin Powell and Condolezza Rice, and appointed them into very senior positions in his government.

Anyway, this piece is not to beat up on the blue-dress tainted, Monica-gate soiled Bill Clinton; no, it is just to point out that a leopard always will spot its trademark patterns. A good ole white boy he is, and that he will remain till the end of times; it runs in the body gnome and sometimes is acted out involuntarily. So, be that as it may, Icheoku says it does not matter how the sausage was made or the stumbling blocks put along the way; what is important is that the 'would be coffee maker' is today, seating in the White House as 44th American President. And for the next four years and most likely eight, President Barack Obama will remain the president of all Americans, including Bill and Hillary Clinton; and no amount of nostalgic feeling of the good ole days, when blacks had a separate drinking fountain will change the new day in America. Luckily enough those white folks who still have Bill Clinton's thinking are now greatly diminished, and the only choice they have is to either fall in tow or stay out in the cold. Only in America can the story be told of a "former would be coffee maker" who became president; and not as a folk-lore but a true life inspirational story and President Barack Obama is it. Our dear Bill Clinton, Icheoku wishes you a safe journey as you travel to Haiti, as United Nations ambassador extra-ordinary thereto, to assess the damage wrought by the 7.3 earthquake that just struck the Island! But always remember that it is a new day in America!

HARRY REID'S 'NEGRO DIALECT' COMMENT, NOT RACIST?

Senate majority leader, Harry Mason Reid is just another white-man and so what, if he used such epithet or something even worst? Icheoku says, the problem in America is that what people are usually really thinking is often times sacrificed on the alter of political correctness; and that is the single reason why Rush Limbaugh appears to be out of whack. Rush Limbaugh is standing very tall in the broadcast/talk-radio industry today because he says what he thinks, and is not beholden to any-one's sense of being politically correct. It is a given that from top to bottom of American society, are many people who hold white superiority-complex views; but because they are not allowed to utter such out without the attendant consequences, they bottle them up but it periodically finds its way out such as the present "negro dialect' hullabaloo of the senate leader.

Honestly, Icheoku would rather we discuss it more often, talk about it more openly with passion and with a view to finding a common meeting grounds for the phobias we hold against each other's race to dissipate, rather than to pretend that everything is honky dory and look for someone to crucify each time the tongue sabotages one's thought. This approach is not solution-driven but politically geared towards playing ping-pong with such sensitive issue as racism which is the underpinning problem of today's America. People not given a chance because of their skin pigmentation or being told to know their place because their skin is not pale enough? It is the truth about America and we have a very long road to get to Eldorado assuming we are honest with finding a solution to an age-long problem which is hindering our greater essence and being.

Particularly of interest is that no one in America, including Icheoku, gave President Barack Obama any chance of succeeding with his presidential run; not because he is not eminently qualified but for the simple fact of the society which we find ourselves in - a society which gives white-men extended leeway which no other person including their women enjoy. A society that will see something good in a third-rate white male before they could acknowledge a first grade minority especially a black-male stellar quality. So the then Senator Barack Obama's presidential candidacy was dead on arrival simply because he was a "negro", period and Harry Reid was not alone but one out of hundreds of millions who hitherto rightly thought that a black president is an impossibility in America? Yes, that is the reality of life in America and one wonders what the seeming outrage is, that Senate majority leader Harry Reid voiced out what 99.9% of white Americans are thinking? Icheoku says, it is not a big deal and should be a none issue since this is America and everyone understands the unspoken code of a presumed white superiority within the land. It is somewhat of an internal social contradiction and societal conflict which has been hounding America since slavery days and continues till today. Our solution is to talk more about our differences to galvanize us the more; but not the lipstick approach of do not disturb the bee-hives and let matters remain as is. Such disposition is not an acceptable road-map to an America where people would be solely judged by the content of their character and not the color of their skin, which currently underlies everything.

Who in America is not a racist - whites, blacks, Hispanics and Asians etc as everyone is in a hell-raiser of a struggle to keep and maintain what they think is rightfully theirs; and are prepared to keep the other guys out no matter what it takes, including in-your-face racism! What would make one presidential candidate to refer to another presidential candidate as "that one" if not to send a subliminal message to his constituency that 'he is not one of us'; a racism comment? Icheoku would rather Harry Reid be properly contexed as thinking out loud the main challenge which then candidate Obama faced and not in any other way to portray it as a mean utterance of a vindictive racist 'niggerphobe'.

It is an American thing to always look down on and think low of black people, and the earlier we bring this problem to the fore-front of our discussion tables the better; but to pretend otherwise and act surprised whenever a Harry Reid's comment is heard is deceitful. Look at all the network televisions in America and tell Icheoku how many black-people anchor or present anything there, from CNN, CBS, NBC, ABC, MSNBC to FOX etc? Their argument is that their audience will not feel comfortable watching the face of a black-man on their television sets and such 'going out of the norm' will make them lose their audiences? This 'they are too black for our television audience', only succeeds in maintaining and fostering a stereotype which would have been broken were these television executives willing to forcibly break these mindsets by keeping black-faces on their televisions, whether or not their racist white audience want it or not? But they are in television business to make money and advertisers take their products where the audience is and there goes the vicious unending circle of racial conundrum in America. Some of black folks that periodically get hired to fill some slots or to fulfil a racial content quota are always as white if not whiter than a normally sun-tanned white person. Still maintaining the talking point that lighter is better, paler is preferred in a multi-mixed society of ours, America!

But they will hire anything that is white irrespective of how dumb, unintelligent, uneducated and uninformed he or she is and the ratings continues their southern trend. Imagine the beauty queen, airhead of Alaska, now also hired to show-off her beautiful face on Fox television; and you tell Icheoku Sarah Palin is the brightest bulb in the chandelier of possible applicants, including some 'Negroes' that probably applied for the position, assuming it was not a 'no-bid' position simply created to accommodate one of their own? Watching our television programs and shows today, it would appear America is a mono-racial white society, which it is certainly not; except that certain people would rather it is. They try too hard to keep it that way - the heritage way, the founding fathers way, the Mayflowers pilgrims way etc, but they failed to realise that before them were the native Indians who owned and occupied the then territory known as north America. It is somewhat clannish, as effort are made to keep the pie always within the family, making sure that no minority ever gets to enjoy the fat paychecks which some of these positions command? Icheoku says without much gainsaying, that it is only Lady Oprah that succeeded on network television, being as black as she is; others must be half cast, quarter cast or as light as daylight before they are ever given a hearing chance or attempt succeeding on that platform. The same goes with Hollywood and the vicious circle goes on and on and forever.

Now a Harry Reid said something, and all the people who institutionalized and defend 'whiteness' in America are opening their loud-mouth, beating their chests that an 'abomination' has been committed? One way to start making 'dark-complexioned' people more acceptable in America would be to start allowing them to show up on televisions as anchor and presenters? That way opportunity will be given to them to prove that they are not just the crack-heads, robbers, muggers and debit-dads they are made out on our televisions to be? They will have the chance to their ten-cent thought and opinion on issues and also display their uncanny ability to read a teleprompter correctly just like any other white man out there pretending on our televisions to be both smart and a genius?

But not in today's America when the only time a black-man's face shows up on television is when he is being handcuffed or chased through the streets of America for one alleged crime or the other. So many black men have realised that there are only two ways to get extended-television coverage on our televisions - kill a white woman like OJ Simpson or screw so many white bimbos like Tiger Woods? As always, it must be for an infra-dig that a black-man is remembered and aired on television without let or hindrance? Tyler Perry aka 'Madea' was on Larry King the other night bemoaning how the opening of his multi-million dollar 'Tyler Perry Studio' in Atlanta did not get any mention on any of the network televisions; albeit were he being arrested for some trumped crime? They completely ignored and treated such a huge feat by a black-man as a none issue worthy of their air-time. Icheoku hopes you get the drift here, we are not condoning what Harry Reid said or did not say; no, all we are saying is that he is not alone and represents 99.9 of white Americans from top to bottom of the food chain. Like Jesus Christ said, he who is without sin should throw the first stone, and we are surprised that some white Americans are throwing stones at Harry Reid for his comment when virtually all of them have the monkey of thinking less of black people?

Apology or no apology, it does not matter as what we should spend our energies on is the mindset that thinks this way; which unfortunately are in the majority. The only reason Harry Reid is tendering an apology now is because he got caught for a statement which he made since 2008? If he was contrite enough and not driven by political correctness and possible survival, why did he not on his own accord, bring the matter up when it happened and since apologised for same? It is all a game which many of them play and his is not worst than any other white guy's, who may have made uncomplimentary, derogatory or demeaning remarks concerning black-men in America? Icheoku asks, what is wrong after-all with a "light-skinned African-American with no Negro dialect" comment, when that seems to be the requirement of many American establishments before they can look at a black-man's resume, while intending to fill a position with a none white American? If in doubt look at the faces on your television or the minor characters on shows or programs; better still look around your office or work environment or your neighborhood and let the incontrovertible fact stare right back at you!

But for the book, aptly titled "Game Change," no one would have heard anything about what Harry Reid was thinking about then presidential candidate, 'African-American Negro' Barack Obama? And so are millions of other Harry Reids of America who see first the blackness of a person and makes up his mind about him; before proceeding later to find out the content of his character if time still permits? Let us as Americans move on and stop haranguing Harry Reid, his apologies accepted, but Icheoku would rather we talk more about our differences and fears in order that we may find a more acceptable and coalescing common grounds to forge a better society of men and not just disparity black-men, white-men, Hispanic-men, Asian men, Native Indian-men, Arab-men etc? We are all children of God and if God intended for only white people to populate this land, maybe the evil slave-dealers that profited from slave trade would never have entertained the idea of forcibly conscripting their fellow human-beings and selling them off to plantation owners for profit? Like the biblical story of a Joseph sold into slavery in Egypt by his brothers, who later rescued them and their kindred from famine; may be there is a reason why slavery happened and with it a mixed-race American society. Let us wait and see if the divine intention will manifest now that a black-man is in the White House, an American president! To Harry Reid, Icheoku says, your sins are forgiven, go and sin no more, just pass the health care reform bill now!

PRESIDENT UMARU YAR'ADUA OF NIGERIA, GONE FISHING?

Where is President Umaru Yar'Adua of Nigeria, missing from Aso Rock since November 23, 2009? He was last traced to King Faisal Medical center of excellence in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia but has now disappeared from the center? No one knows exactly where he is, not even his vice president, but one thing is certain, his life-support station is empty of his shrivelled cocoon, near lifeless body? Unconfirmed reports however has it that the president has since assumed room temperature and is now lying prostrate, somewhere cold, dingy and lonely?

As is common practice with some cultures and communities throughout West Africa, in Nigeria, when a king or chief dies, his death is not immediately announced until all the sacrificial human-heads needed for his burial-rites are fully procured and readied to accompany such a high chief to the land beyond. So could this be sustaining the rumor making rounds that President Umaru Yar'Adua is no more, long gone to be with his maker? That for the avoidance of total breakdown of law and order, the kingmakers of Nigeria alongside some other Western powers are trying to quickly raise and prepare the next person to take over before officially announcing the transition. Source tell Icheoku that it was in order to keep the place (Nigeria) controllable, that the 'late' President Umaru Yar'Adua has been put on a life-support where he will remain until power is transited; following which the plugs will be pulled and his carcass taken to Katsina for Isalmic burial? But never count out the 'magic' of the cat with nine lives Umaru Yar'Adua as he might still turn the corner and cheat death once again. Considering that Israeli's Ariel Sharon is still hospitalized over five years since he went into comma, may be Nigeria's petrol-dollar will see this caricature of a human specimen, hanging for his dear life, aided with machines and for a very very log time; to compensate him for losing his presidency?

Now back to some presuppositions:- if President Umaru Yar'Adua is still alive, why has he not commented on the terror incident of December 25, visited on America by his nephew Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab? Icheoku says, if Umaru Yar'Adua is alive why has he not deemed it fit to address the nation or at least formally author a letter of leave of absence to the senate so that Nigeria can carry on while he recovers? If Umaru Yar'Adua is alive, why is Turai Yar'Adua the de-facto president of Nigeria moving her precious stones as well as other stuff out of Aso Rock and in the dead of the night? If Umaru Yar'Adua is still alive, why does it require some of his co-travellers in foolery to relate to Nigerians that the president is 'sound and fit? If Umaru Yar'Adua is still alive why can't he show up in an audio/video recording to disprove the nay-sayers, including Icheoku? If Umaru Yar'Adua is alive why does it take one of his fellow conspirators to tell the world that the president spoke with the vice president? Why not let the vice president speak for himself instead of being forcibly put in a spot where he cannot easily extricate himself and had to 'admit' to a lie and possible cover-up, of such phantom conversation with a man in a vegetative state? If Umaru Yar'Adua is alive and is but in an unsightly condition that he cannot appear in video, let him wear a mask of sharia and address a world waiting so eagerly and tenderly for him or his apparition to speak up!

From all indications, it would appear that a live-Umaru is now but a wishful thinking, as the man whom Obasanjo used to punish Nigeria for refusing his third term bid is no more; and/or is so incapacitated that he does not and can no longer recognize the face of his co-president Turai. Icheoku's investigation revealed too that President Umaru Yar'Adua is no longer a patient at the foreign hospital in Jeddah Saudi Arabia where he eloped to on the day he was last seen by any Nigerian but Turai, on November 23, 2009? Now his life-support station at the hospital is empty, haunted by the 'ghost of Umaru', but the body is nowhere within sight which fuels the fear of a 'dead' president of Nigeria? Although a lead placed the now 91 pounds fully emaciated Umaru Yar"Adua somewhere in Germany, but we are yet to conclusively confirm it. A 91lbs adult man is something one sees only in the land of the living dead where Umaru now rightly belongs? So for the umpteenth time, President Umaru Yar'Adua, if you are still breathing and not completely brain-dead and derained of your cognitive function, please speak to Nigerians NOW! Record a statement with a camcorder and have Nigeria Television Authority (NTA) relay it to Nigerians; and since you can 'sign' a budget and 'spoke' to Jonathan Goodluck, David Mark and Olademeji Bankole, Icheoku says, you must have sufficient energy to record just a 37 seconds infomercial for the Nigerian people to assuage their restiveness. We also wondered why the new Chief Justice did not fly to your hospital beside for his swearing in, but had to settle for his departing colleague to induct him? An aside for a fast 'recovering' president, who is 'fit and sound' and who shall 'very soon return' to Nigeria? What a giant BS!

Moments as this calls for everyone who can to do whatever is necessary to cool down the temperature in the land; just open the air-intake valve and let normalcy return to motherland. In the absence of the president and for not doing what he is constitutionally required in his situation, Icheoku says, let his impeachment process commence or better still declare his office abandoned and fill it immediately by swearing in the vice president. The current problem is not an 'exclusive-Nigerians-affairs, no, as the whole world is watching and laughing, wondering what type of DNA Nigerians are made of? A country that can never get anything right? A country infested by 419? A country known for its crass corruption? A country held hostage by some past despicable leaders and continuing till this day? A country now branded a terror 'country of interest'? A country overflowing with the blood of innocents? A country being ruled by a missing president? A country whose president is AWOL and still in charge? Do these guys have grey-maters in their brains; otherwise, why do they think and act like fools? Nigeria is the proverbial ostrich that digs its head into the sand, pretending to be hiding when its entire body is jutting up in the air? It is a shame that these Abuja politicians think they have the power to do whatever they want including turning Nigeria upside down on its head and looting its treasury to their hearts delight! But what they do not know is that they are Nigerians, and among the world's present laughing stock; they are the ones that can and will travel overseas and stand to be 'fingered' at the airports, so why are they not getting it - the crying need to fix the broken Yar'Adua by replacing him with his able vice president? And it does not matter whether or not your name is David Mark, Oladimeji Bankole, or Umar Murktar; a Nigeria always remains a Nigerian. Admitted that Nigeria is boiling over and tethering so dangerously close to tipping over, off a cliff of implosion; but history will not be kind to the crop of imbecility that is holding Nigeria hostage.

Icheoku asks Nigerians, to prepare for the worse as they pray for the best that Umaru Yar'Adua's demise and the ensuing power struggle and fight for succession will not plunge Nigeria into another inferno. A fiery combustible inferno that will char every Nigerian irrespective of the position he holds or presently occupies. Anarchy does not know a prince; and may be Nigerians will be singing like the French did during the Bolshevik revolution, every politician to the lamp post, if we cannot hang you, we drown them, if we cannot drown them we crush their heads but one way or the other, they have to die to save the motherland. One last note, Icheoku urges Nigerians never to forget that Aremu Olusegun Obsanjo is a culprit here, he caused the present problem of 'a missing President' Umaru Yar'Adua because he single-handedly imposed Yar'Adua on Nigeria, fully aware of his susceptibility, and therefore should be held responsible for the current tension in the land. Also such 'marooned-fish' situation as Yar'Adua's can be avoided in the future if only the 'fit and sound' stand for elections! Let anyone who wants to run for office in the future, submit himself or herself to a battery of test by all the candidates agreed and approved doctors and let such medical report be made public thereafter. Let the next election of 2010 in Anambra State and the general election of 2011 be an open-season for all eligible Nigerians, and may these clogs in the wheel of progress all pass away and let Nigeria be free from their puppet strings. Whether President Umaru Yar'Adua is brain-dead or is dead as in dead, of as a door knob, only his eventual appearance or his body showing up somewhere will lay the current speculative frenzy about him to rest. Until either happens, Icheoku says that every Nigeria is deservedly entitled to second-guess the president's rather 'too long' absence from Aso Rock; hence the call for plugging up the hole in the presidency, is a widely held position which time has now come! Once again, President Umaru Yar'Adua, where are you?

ABDULMUTALLAB IS JUST ONE OUT OF 150 MILLION, NOT LOGICAL!

To all those apologists, 'patriots' and implicit-defenders of a Nigeria now branded a 'terrorist country of interest', fiercely arguing that such branding is an over-kill and that terrorist Abdulmutallab is just one 'bad apple' out of a country of 150 million people, Icheoku says, one terrorist from Nigeria is simply one too many. Looking at northern Nigerian terrorist Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab and the background that produced him, William Shakespeare was right that there is no way to know the mind's construction by merely looking at the face? Abdulmutallab looked as normal as any other Nigerian from the sharia North, and as innocent looking as any almajiri; but beneath the cold demeanor lies a cold mean heart of steel? So what magic wand is expected of the Americans to distinguish and differentiate from a terrorist and none-terrorist Nigerian? Icheoku says, none; hence each person bearing that green passport shall be treated as a potential terror-suspect until proved otherwise. This is the ramification of the December 25, 2009 Abdulmutallab's terrorist adventure into America and nothing can be done about it. Get it, Dora Akunyili?

Every relationship including that between countries, is based principally on trust which once broken is usually irreparable and very difficult to amend. It is the paramount bond which once broken is lost forever, gone, as there is no putting the genie back in the bottle with relationships. This is the case of Nigeria now with the international community, whose citizen Abdulmutallab shocked the world on December 25, 2009 with terrorism. But surprisingly enough, Nigerian officials are arguing that 'it was just one case of a renegade kid and that alone is not so egregious to designate Nigeria an axis of terror country of interest? Icheoku says to these Nigerian officials, if there is one Abdulmutallab, there could be two; if there are two, there could be twenty? If there are twenty there could be twenty thousand; if there are twenty thousand, there could be two hundred thousand and so on. So what the situation calls for is not protest to America but a total vigilance and a more proactive containment of the Islamic religious upheavals in sharia Northern Nigeria.

In a country of 150 million people, half of which are Wahabism Islamist Muslims, from which Abdulmutallab sprouted, what guarantees are there that there are no other Umar Farouk Abdulmutallabs lurking among the population? Icheoku asks, is the leader of Boko Haram not a Nigerian? Is Maitasine not a Nigerian? Zaki-Zaky too? So what is the ruse about Abdulmutallab being just one person among many? Or perhaps, these pacifiers of Islamist Northern Nigeria are micro-defining the term terrorism, to deliberately exclude Nigeria's internal terrorism of incessant Muslim religious riots? Instead of being remorseful for the act of their compatriot Northern Nigerian terrorist, these people are busy boastfully, threatening diplomatic showdown with the victim-country, America? A situation akin to one's child going into a neighbor's house and wrecking havoc such as attempting to destroy his china; and instead of the parents taking responsibility for their child's mayhem and apologising for the same, they remained defiant, unapologetic and now threatening "no-more-friendship" with their victim neighbor? Adding, after-all they have ten children and only one of them attempted to destroy the said china? Sounds ridiculous, not when you are one of these Nigerian officials, who failed to appreciate America's thinking in classifying Nigeria a terror "country of interest".

Icheoku does not think they get it and here is the fork on the road regarding Nigeria's current designation of a terror 'country of interest.' An attempted bombing of an America's Delta airline in American city of Detroit by a sharia Northern Nigerian Islamist fanatic, which a conservative radio talk show host in America, Rush Limbaugh, has already dubbed "an act of war" is being trivialised by the authorities in Abuja threat of diplomatic showdown? These Abuja politicians also failed to understand that the December 25 incident somehow 'messed up' President Obama's security credentials to protect Americans; and that it might hunt him during the next election? And the traducer is a Nigerian and someone in Abuja expects him not to be mad at Nigeria? If as Nigerian authorities are suggesting, terrorism is a novel thing in Nigeria, an aberration and that Nigerians are not terrorists, that Abdulmutallab is just a stray-cat, Icheoku asks, is the cutting off of Gideon Akaluka's head and hanging it on a totem pole for a celebratory macabre-parade on the streets of Kano, anything short of terrorising a particular people of Nigeria? What is terrorism if not to instill fear on a people; and haven't the Hausa-Fulani Islamist northern Nigerians instilled enough fear already in Nigerians of certain religion and ethnicity? Please tell Icheoku another thing, but we are not buying the bone being thrown to the dog that Nigerians are not terrorist; may be Southern Nigerians but Northern Nigerians definitely fits the profile. The same people who drove Miss World contestants out of Nigeria because their religion frowns against such 'skin-exposure,' when Nigeria is not an Islamic country; admitted they have a registered membership of Organisation of Islamic Conference, OIC?

Funny enough the same people in Abuja haranguing America for being very decisive and proactive in checkmating Nigeria's terrorism, failed to call out the Islamic Council of Nigeria, Association of sharia Northern Nigeria governors, the Sultanate, the Katsina emirate council and the council of Ulamas for their failure to seriously condemn the terror of their son that was December 25? Yet Nigeria is not a terrorist country? Icheoku asks, doesnt this their collective silence amount to a tacit approval of their son's act of infamy; which almost claimed the lives of 289 innocent people and forever tarnished Nigeria's image as a terrorist country too? A pugnacious Northern Nigeria, ready to take the whole Nigeria down the hell-hole with the help of one of their evil son named Abdulmutallab? A north which is the main clog in the wheel of progress of Nigeria and for too long; if only the now fighting South-West sons and daughters of Oduduwa saw what Biafra saw 40 long years ago and wanted out, this yoke would have since been extinct and non-existent!?

'NOT GUILTY' PLEA OF ABDULMUTALLAB, ILL-ADVISED AND UNWISE!

Wonders shall never end and so it is that the Northern Nigerian Fulani terrorist Umar Farouk Abdul-Mutallab, plead 'not guilty' to a crime which he committed before well over 289 witnesses? May be he is still thinking that the justice system in America is like what his filthy rich Islamic-charities supporting father could readily influence. Unbeknownst to him here is not Nigeria, Northern Nigeria, Katsina or Funtua! This is America, the land of the free and home of the brave; and where justice is truly blind and cases are decided not on who you are but on the merit, based on available facts and evidence. To terrorist Umar Mutallab, Icheoku asks, on what basis did you make your 'not guilty' plea or are there any other circumstances not known to the watching world on which some scintilla of doubt would arise to raise some reasonable doubt in your favor? Artist depiction of Magistrate Mark Randon taking the plea of terrorist Umar abdulmutallab.

Any sane mind with some modicum of knowledge of the law, knows that his fate is a sealed one and only an obstinate terrorist like him would in the circumstances, want to drag-out a case which has no chance in hell of finding in his favor and does not need much to prove his guilt. At least his other brother-in-terrorism, Richard Leeds, the shoe-bomber, was fanatical enough not to waste any-body's time going through a trial and pleaded guilty to his own charges straight away. Icheoku thought that Abdulmutallab was 'brave' and would have, like other Guantanamo terrorists, elected to be summarily executed; rather he chose to go through a trial? A trial which he failed, denied and/or refused to put those 289 passengers on Flight 253 through; and he did not allow them to plead their case before he summarily condemned them to untimely violent death, which he were about to carry out when the good Lord intervened and stopped him through an observant passenger. Now why does he seek what his wicked soul is incapable of offering or giving to any one? The only plausible answer is because he is a coward and a coward shall he remain forever, for surreptitiously setting off a terrorist act inside America. Happily enough the court has indulged him the trial opportunity which he sought by accepting his 'not guilty' plea; at least it proves that America is not the monster which his 'extremist brothers in terrorism' has made it out to be.

Be that as it may, the 'not guilty' plea lacks merit as he was caught red-handed committing the crime for which he has now plead to a six count charge indictment. In a most perfect situation, a "not guilty plea by reason of insanity' would have been his best possible bet and which could have availed him; but not in the present circumstance when he nearly destroyed our airplane alongside the lives of over 289 passengers and crew in flight. He was fully well aware of his actions and also the wrongfulness of it. He also fully intended to produce the desired outcome, which motivated him to act accordingly and methodically took necessary preceding steps to produce it. It was a journey, planned and executed with a clear destination in mind. First he went through an epiphany, converting to an Islamist extremist, and in the process, buying line, hook and sinker the warped teaching that the 'Great Satan' lives in the west and we must bring them down?

Then he abandoned his college education and went full steam, diving into the boiling waters of Islamic fanaticism; and later proceeded to their citadel of terror in Yemen to perfect his training and indoctrination. After graduating as an al-queida 'air-soldier', he received the 'blessings' of the al-queida mullah in Sanaa Yemen and flew out to Ghana en-route to Nigeria from where he embarked on his infamous journey-of-no-return to America with a stop-over in Amsterdam. It is on record that he bought a one-way ticket to America with cash, signifying his intention never to return back again to his family, since being a suicide-bomber he expected to die in the explosion? It is also on record that he left Nigeria for America with only a carry-on, believing, why waste things other living persons both from his immediate family and his extended al-queida brothers could use long after his body is evaporated in the resulting explosion? He meticulously put on the bomb-laden diaper and passed through various airports securities with such a weapon of mass destruction, fully aware of his prohibited criminal behavior but refused or failed to report same or hand himself in to the authorities? He sat through 14 hour flight and with few minutes to landing, readied himself for 'martyrdom'; igniting the fuse or whatever it was that would have triggered the explosion. Above here right is the Nigerian government delegated lawyer, Mrs Maryam Uwais, chaperoned by two body-guards who rescued her from a curious and furious media, who mistook her for the mother of the terrorist and nearly drew blood with intrusive questioning?

Legally speaking, Umar completed the crime and should be held liable for it; but we all must wait until the court says so, being the only one institution to pronounce and adjudge him guilty. The fact that his intended consequence was averted by the act of a watchful passenger does not exculpate him or in any way excuse his crime. So on the question of his mental state, Icheoku says, a mechanical engineering student and/or graduate of London University College, who planned and followed through with the above detailed terrorist plan and who has never had any history of mental disease nor have ever been treated for one, is certainly not insane! If he pleads coercion, what steps did he take during his two months 'terrorism-graduate' program in Yemen to inform authorities? No, he was fully aware of what his intended bargained outcome was and went ahead anyways. Abdulmutallab's court appointed lawyer red-haired Ms.Miriam Seifer, here left in glasses.

Luckily too, he is a full grown adult, fully responsible for his actions including the terrorist act of December 25, 2009. As observed earlier, his father's Nigerian influence is but a flatulence in America; so Icheoku asks again, what is the game plan here that facilitated his 'not guilty' plea? To the best of our knowledge, none exists and he was expected by all reasonable persons to accept his actions, plead guilty and face the consequence. That way, may be his stay for life without the possibility of parole in a 300 feet underground maximum security prison somewhere in Colorado could have been shortened to 75 years or with granted few visitation rights. But being the terrorist from hell he is, he want to drag the process on; but this folly will only succeed in infuriating many more people world over. A smart terrorist would have cut down on his losses by taking it straight on the jaw with a 'GUILTY PLEA!'

It will be recalled that the diaper-bomber Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, was arraigned yesterday before Eastern District U.S Magistrate Mark Randon, in Detroit for his crimes. His parents were a no-show and so were his al-queida terrorists friends at his arraignment; they failed to show up to support their son and captured brother-terrorist? Once again lonely and alone, he sat through the court's proceedings with only his court appointed lawyer to provide him some legal support? But who wants to be identified as a terrorist's parents or supporters or even friends, since any one of them is arrestable for aiding and abetting a terrorist? Icheoku wished however that the parents who begot this vampire made themselves available to World journalists, to explain why they did not throttle this animal before he reached puberty and before he could dream up this madness. But they were spared the bullet as they cleverly holed up in their Abuja Nigeria hide-away, very long far away from the shores of America.

Anyway, his fate as we know it, is permanently and forever sealed; now that we caught him before he could kill us or do us real harm. As the president rightly said, we are at war with al-queida and this prisoner of war ain't going anywhere soon; he will surely be our guest for a very long long time; away from his families both in Nigeria and the al-queida proving grounds of Yemen. But should his lawyer, Miriam Seifer have advised or signed off on this 'not guilty' plea of her terrorist client, in view of the mountain of evidence stacked up against him and the emotions of another terrorist bombing on our soil? Icheoku does not think so and is of the opinion that the plea was dumb, stupid and not well thought out or otherwise miserably considered!

FEMI FALANA, A LEGAL LUMINARY STANDING UP TALL FOR DEMOCRACY!

When the thorn in the flesh of Nigeria's well entrenched corrupt establishment, Gani Fawehinmi, passed on, many decent Nigerians were despondent that there will be no one else to wage their unending battles. Icheoku also quipped in then that the fight against Nigeria's devilish leaders and instituted corruption may have been interred with the remains of Chief Gani Fawehinmi. But peradventure, Olufemi Falana as of his own right, is proving himself to be a solid and formidable replacement for the departed legal icon!

For standing up against a very compromised and institutionalized corrupt Nigeria establishment; and for particularly championing the course of a full functioning democracy in Nigeria, where transfer of powers will be easily, peacefully and effortlessly achieved, Icheoku declares Femi Falana, the new gate-keeper of Nigeria's consciousness! Thank you Femi for standing up to be counted at this perilous times in Nigeria wavering democracy.

Of special note, is his recent standing up for the former chairman of EFCC, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu against his traducers; despite his high-handed excessiveness when he had power. It was a matter of principles and Femi rightly understood that Nuhu is presently being victimized specifically for stepping on one certain toe; and for this he is an honorable man. Perhaps the mother of all his battles - his current effort to force a democratic peaceful transfer of power from an indisposed president to his able vice president is equally very remarkable. Icheoku says, never in the recent history of Nigeria has any one man stood up for like this and for what is right, irrespective of the fact that he has no dog in the fight, not being from the South-South Nigeria. Femi is just doing it for what is right and honorable in a democratic setting where smooth transition and/or transfer of power is sacrosanct with a truly functioning democracy. For this selfless act of using the law to do what is right, Icheoku declares him a legal warrior for democracy too.

We have also been wondering why the political impasse generated by the sickly President Umaru Yar'Adua refusal, unwilling and inability to transfer power, albeit temporary, to his more healthy vice president Jonathan Goodluck while he recuperates; was allowed to fester and for this long? Our consternation was also amplified at the taciturn of many Nigerian leaders, especially those past leaders who refused to speak up and support such a quick orderly transfer of power in order not to have a power vacuum in Nigeria. Unfortunately, every soul among them have been foot-dragging in order not to be possibly seen as being anti-Umaru Yar'Adua's presidency. But Icheoku asks, should their loyalty to the sickly President Umaru Yar'Adua be more important than to Nigeria, which one supposed to supersede the other? But thanks to the instituted Nigerian-sycophancy syndrome, which have beclouded and pervaded their idealistic thought. Their failure to appreciate that there is just only one Nigeria and there could be several presidents; and that there must be first, a survived and viable Nigeria for any president to preside over.

In appreciating the good works of the President of West African Bar Association, Femi Falana, Icheoku laments the culture of complacency of the Nigerian public, whose cynicism has provided the bankrupt and decrepitude leadership in Nigeria, the wind underneath their sail. Their surreal indifference to matters affecting them is so mind-numbing that it shudders; and this is what those crass leadership always cash in on to pervert Nigeria as they deem fit. If only Gani Fawehinmi had support? Beko too? Tai Solarin also? Professor Awojobi inclusive? Fela Anikulao Kuti too and now the only two living and still standing Nigerians worthy of mention - Wole Soyinka and Femi Falana. If only there are a few thousands of Nigerians like the mentioned, maybe President Umaru Yar'Adua would have transferred power to his vice president ever before jetting out to a Saudi Arabian hospital bed without the necessity of the present lawsuit. But as usual, Falana was seen as a lone voice in the wilderness of Nigeria, and as far as Yar'Adua is concerned, he might as well shout himself hoarse for all he cares? Our prayer now is that the Federal High Court in Abuja will rise up to the occasion and do the right thing; using President Umaru Yar'Adua's very own "rule of law" mantra to find the president incapacitated, unable to continue functioning as one and order him to transfer power to his more viable vice president. As we have always said, while praying for his quick recovery, the president can always reclaim his mandate whenever he turns the corner, and upon his full recovery.

And as if the insult of an AWOL president is not enough for Nigerians, Attorney General Mike Aondoakaa is now saying that President Umaru Yar'Adua does not owe Nigerians any full explanation concerning the nature of his ailment; for which millions of dollars of Nigeria's money is being spent and used to pay for his hospitalization? His dumb argument is that Yar'dua's privacy needs precludes the disclosure of his medical records to Nigerians; and yet he is Nigeria's president and his medical tabs are being picked up by Nigerian tax-payers? Are Nigerians not entitled to know what medical needs of their president they are paying for? Icheoku says, only in a banana-republic will such obstinacy be tolerated by the governed regarding their president. Our hope is that the suit filed by Femi Falana, praying that the Vice President, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, be made the acting president while the president recovers, will be accorded the desired judicial assent by the Honourable Justice Daniel D. Abutu, presiding. This way, democratic powers as opposed to 'civilian dictatorial powers' will be accorded its full validity with regard to how power vests in a proper democracy. Until the suit's January 14, 2009 adjourned date, let us pray that the matter is resolved politically before then so that the court is saved from stepping into a dicey political question. Once again, our kudos to Lawyer Femi Falana for braving the vagaries of the land, including arrest and detention, kidnapping and even assassination; and stepping up to the plate to defend democracy in Nigeria. Way to go, Femi!