CONFUSION, LETHARGY OR WORSE, PARALYSIS? - AYKUBE

Until President Muhammadu Buhari’s government sufficiently picks up momentum, and is revving full steam into the Eldorado many believe he is capable of midwifing, it will remain legitimate, and even defensible, for critics to conclude that his pace is deplorably slow. His party, the All Progressives Congress (APC), can defend him all they wish, and his fanatical admirers can also rhapsodise his attributes all they can, but there is little both groups can do to mollify the anxiety of the country, or to encourage those who voted for him that the votes they expended on the ageing former army general will eventually yield the expected dividends. The president may have slowed down, but as this column has said repeatedly, he still possesses the right qualities to rule: honesty, simplicity, firmness, and equity, among many others. He has an obligation to ensure that those qualities are neither misapplied nor misused. 

Neither his party, however, nor his supporters can resolve the riddle of what speed is appropriate for these times. Among both his critics and the undecided, criticism of his pace, while audible, has not risen above whispers. As the weeks wear on, and the pains the people feel multiply on account of the government’s perceived inattentiveness, the whispers will rise gradually to a crescendo. If that should happen, President Buhari will no longer be able to control the momentum of the change he and his party promised, and will struggle, without any assurance of success, to stamp his will and ideas on his government, events and the country. His best bet therefore is to create, modulate and impose his authority on the vestigial momentum that accompanied electioneering. Rather than heedlessly jump to his defence, his party and his aides should let him understand these nuances. 

For the about two months available to him to fine-tune his preparations for assuming the reins of power after his election as president in March, it was not clear, for instance, that he paid enough attention to compiling a list of the close advisers and aides he would ned. He has now governed for a little over a month without the full complement of advisers, let alone hint at a ministerial list, and has shown no clear direction where he wants his government headed. The people, the world and the domestic economy have been left second-guessing him. While the world can afford the luxury of waiting for as long as the situation requires, neither Nigerians nor their economy has done fairly well in anticipating him. Of the latter two, the economy, though it is the more important and adverse actions on it more consequential, is far less competent in anticipating the president. It has virtually slipped into near paralysis. 

His party may be speaking to him behind closed doors, for their fate is intertwined with his, and they will sink or swim with him. But, so far, there is no proof the APC is exercising that gentle restraint and moral suasion the president’s actions and inactions desperately call for. Indeed, much more than the president, the party is itself enmeshed in a paralysis of its own finding and fouling. It has lost control of its national lawmakers, many of whom are defying it with increasing insouciance and considerable chutzpah. The party leadership itself appears rent in two, with no discernible philosophy or even a scintilla of discipline. Party members are left unattended to, as many of them file greedily and giddily behind their rebellious champions. If the party does not put a lid on its schisms, and take firm, practical and brilliant steps to curb the lurch towards chaos in their ranks, they will fritter away their hard-earned victory, a part of which has already been mortgaged to the rival Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) by errant and ambitious lawmakers and leaders. 

The president has rejected blame for the crisis convulsing the party. He had at first attempted idealistically to stay above the fray, arguing that he was prepared to work with any legislative leadership, irrespective of its composition or orientation. He had also probably assumed that that leadership would be as altruistic as he had been all his public life. Now, he may apparently be waking up a little too late to discover that the altruism he read into their actions and politics were merely theoretical and chimerical. There were indications, as this piece was being written, that the president might be wading into the legislative fracas after all. Nigerians will wish him much luck in pacifying the rebels. For without a united party behind him, especially one with a definite and uplifting worldview, it is doubtful whether he can create or retain the policy conciseness and vigour necessary to remould the country along the change mantra enunciated during his party’s electioneering. 

A part of the Buhari idealism that also needs to be dismantled in order to curb the confusion, lethargy and paralysis of the past few weeks is the president’s romantic notion of not wanting to hurt the legacy of former President Goodluck Jonathan. Other than a few desultory probes, including one involving the NNPC and another side bar involving the excess crude account, there is no consistent or comprehensive probe of the commanding heights of the Jonathan government. From all indications, a few more panels will be set up to look into aspects of the former government’s shortcomings, but there is no indication something grand, compelling and even cathartic will be attempted. President Buhari now has a healthy appetite for obeying the constitution, and is in addition a truly reborn democrat, as he has asserted vigorously. Surely, then, he must recognise he has an obligation, notwithstanding his campaign promises, to satisfy the longings of those who voted him into office, and who want a concise understanding of the terrible wrongs perpetrated under or by the Jonathan presidency. 

The PDP wails against what its spokesmen describe pejoratively and preemptively as an APC-induced witch-hunt. The president must decry and ignore these plaintive opposition jeremiads. His first obligation is not to satisfy or mollify the opposition, but to satisfy the majority of Nigerians within the ambits of the law and the constitution. In particular, he has a responsibility to help the country understand and come to terms with what happened before he assumed office, how and why things went terribly wrong, and how so much of the country’s resources and funds were wasted or stolen. He is at liberty to determine what punishment to mete out to high-profile offenders, or even pardon them. But he must neither abridge nor eliminate the people’s need to know all the atrocities that happened in the preceding years. If the present and the future are to make any meaning, the past must be understood. 

Overall, rather than be defensive, it is time President Buhari recognised that the criticisms he has received about the pace and structure of his presidency are designed to help him properly and scientifically lay the foundations for success. The confusion that enveloped his party in the National Assembly, the rather discomfiting manner the acting leadership of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) was appointed, and the even more distressing fashion the Department of State Service (DSS) leadership was changed after the unseemly struggle between the Service and the president’s Aide de Camp (ADC) at Aso Villa leave a very sour taste in the mouth. The president must put some precision into his presidency, avoid unforced errors, take charge of situations threatening to spiral out of control, and give the country firm, insightful, inspiring and proactive governance. 

If his spokesmen and aides suggest that by and by, the president would get it right and pick up speed, they have not offered enough arguments why they should be taken for their word. Nigerians want to give the president time, but contemporary events do not give them the confidence that when eventually he acts at all or picks up speed, he can be trusted to satisfy the longings of those who voted him into office. It is up to him to dispel their misgivings and quieten their mistrust.

APC, QUIT WHINING AND START GOVERNING - OKEY NDIBE.

Last week, I suggested that President Muhammadu Buhari has squandered a full month of his presidential tenure doing little. Many readers understood the spirit of the piece, which is, quite simply, that Nigerians deserve nothing short of engaged, stellar leadership from Mr. Buhari. And that sort of leadership should start—should have started—on May 29. It should not be triggered two months after the president’s inauguration. I’m willing to attempt again to capture my argument—as an act of generosity towards those who, out of mischief or self-interest, chose to misread me. In both body language and substance, President Buhari gave the impression of being overwhelmed by the demands of governance and statecraft. 

Let me restate a point I made last week. The problem is not only that, a month into his tenure, the president hasn’t figured out his cabinet. That’s bad enough. But an even larger crisis was the president’s failure to make a single significant policy pronouncement in one month. 

If a man sought the highest political office in his country a record four times, I’d hope that it’s because that man is in possession of some viable, perhaps even tested, ideas for moving his society from point A to point B. It doesn’t make sense to seek political power, sans ideas, and then start groping about for what to do only after being entrusted with power. 

That’s a recipe for disaster. Some critics of my column reminded me that one or two past presidents took longer than a month to name their cabinet. It is a particularly exasperating argument. If a delinquent child flunks an exam, is it much comfort to remind the child’s parents that another child, who similarly failed to prepare, had also failed the exam a year or two before? 

Why don’t we hold our leaders, and ourselves, to higher standards of performance and conduct? Why don’t we encourage President Buhari to hit the ground running, rather than adopting the snail style and mediocre performance of his predecessors? 

In a personal email, one reader cautioned that my criticism of the young Presidency could help shape a skeptical national mood about Mr. Buhari. The email was both misconceived and ascribed too much power to me. I can only describe what I observe, not create or sweep aside reality. If Mr. Buhari’s first month in office was a model of diligent, focused leadership, and I wrote a column to argue otherwise, I would be making a fool of myself—for the facts would be there to contradict me. 

In other words, President Buhari remains (largely) the master of his presidential fate. If he’s doing a terrific job, Nigerians will see, touch, hear and taste it. In that event, the naysaying of a malicious critic would be seen by all for what it is—an effete hatchet job. 

Writing has its place in shaping perception, but that writing has to stay close to verifiable facts. 

And one of the bizarre facts of our current politics is that Mr. Buhari’s All Progressives Congress (APC) looks less like a party that won an historic election three months ago than a choleric bazaar of strange bedfellows who detest one another. 

Nigeria is in dire straits, the economy in the doldrums, oil revenues significantly down. It is a time that demands that men and women of mettle stand up to be counted. And what does Nigeria’s new ruling party offer us? A squalid, fractious political mess, I’m afraid.  Several factions have emerged, and they appear determined to work at cross-purposes. In the National Assembly, the APC has staged a brawl-fest worthy of American professional wrestlers. With the exception that the legislators were, unlike the superstars of American wrestling, were not playing to a script. 

And here’s what deeply consternating about the APC’s whole implosive affair. There’s no hint of a positive redeeming value at the heart of it. It’s not a debate about how to provide Nigerians with shelter, jobs, healthcare, sound education, how to lower Nigeria’s misery index. No! There’s no sense that a search for the best path to Nigerians’ well being is a factor in the numerous squabbles. There’s not a tad of evidence that the APC’s various factions are animated by a humanistic vision. 

Instead, what appears to be at stake is the usual scramble for lucre—or an inelegant race for power that can be constantly traded in for cash. 

Nigerians have little to show for all the billions of dollars that have propped up an edifice that first announced itself as a nascent democracy—and then turned plain nasty. The APC rode to power on the mantra of change. Yet, the only change the party has so far demonstrated is the swiftness of its recourse to balkanization. It doesn’t seem as if President Buhari talks much to Senate President Bukola Saraki, who owes his post to an alliance with the Peoples Democratic Party. 

I’d be at ease if the schisms were dictated by intra-party ideological differences. But one’s hunch is that this is all about power, and power in its rawest, rudest, basest form. 

When APC officials take a break from fighting their internal wars, it is to whine to Nigerians that the Goodluck Jonathan administration vacuumed up all the money in the treasury. I’ve just about reached the edge of patience with that repeated line. How about a little bit of action? 

Guess what? Nigerian voters sent President Jonathan packing precisely because of their conviction that he was not a good husband of their resources. I was one of the former president’s staunchest critics. Rather than regale us daily with complaints about how the Jonathanians looted, the Buhari team should tell us what they intend to do about it. They should take action. Mr. Jonathan and those who worked with him should be rigorously questioned about their stewardship. And, if implicated in acts of corruption, they should be prosecuted. But—and Mr. Jonathan himself made this point—the Buhari team should also investigate and prosecute Nigeria’s other former heads of government and their circles. 

In the meantime, the reclamation of Nigeria’s stolen funds is no excuse for the suspension of governance. For me, the frequent disclosure that Nigeria is near broke serves to underline the nature of the challenge facing the Buhari Presidency. That challenge is three-fold. One is to find creative ways of sourcing or attracting the funds he needs for the work he must do for Nigerians. Another is to spell out how he intends to wrest looted funds, including those in the hands of APC officials. Finally, he should move to block the holes deliberately designed into the Nigerian system in order to enable public officials to steal with impunity. 

If President Buhari and the APC are not up to the task, then they ought to be served notice that whining alone does not translate into leadership. 

A LIVING IN BONDAGE ANDY, ASKING 'WHAT DID I FIND MYSELF IN' - PRESIDENT BUHARI?

Icheoku says one of the finest movie ever made in Nigeria and from the Nollywood stable, 'Living in Bondage' appositely surmises the present state of anomie in the land. A situation where the citizens are wondering what went wrong with the president of great expectation they elected and the president is seemingly wondering too, what did I find myself in. A case of the falcon not hearing the falconer or the falconer not calling loud enough or the falcon probably gone deaf but not to the knowledge of the falconer? Which one is it or is it none of the above? Icheoku says except for the lopsided appointments PMB has so far made, in which he grossly and disproportionately favored his Miyetti Allah people of the North to the detriment of Southerners, nothing seems to have moved an inch ever since that his swearing in of May 29th 2015. 

Just for the records, Boko Haram seems to have regained their momentum and now once again enjoying a free range in the country's Northeast? The staged kidnapped Chibok girls have neither been located nor released? Kidnappers are still kidnapping people and killing their victims, and just recently a Professor from the Southwest died in their hands? Armed robbers are still waylaying citizens and robbing banks (Ikorodu)? Unemployed are still praying for their promised monthly stipends while waiting for also promised jobs to fall from the skies of PMB's Aso Rock? Power is still what it was pre-his inauguration - very epileptic? Availability of petroleum products is still as anemic as a kwashiorkor victim? The almighty dollar instead of becoming tamed as promised has completely lost its mind in a mercurial climb to the stratosphere? World oil prices has not received the steroid shot that was promised? So Icheoku asks, were Nigerians sold a dummy or were they 419ed, scammed into making the choice they made on March 29? Icheoku does not know the answer off the bat, but developments thus far have only consolidated our position that a snake-oil is a snake oil and their salesmen should not be allowed with Nigerian electorates' ear shot. But hey, Nigerians made that choice and they must learn to live with it. As for those Buhari apologists who are saying that it is too early in the day to pass judgment, Icheoku reminds them that the chick that will become a cockerel starts exhibiting such signs at a very early age. So go figure!

PRESIDENT MUHAMMADU BUHARI, SOLE ADMINISTRATOR OF NIGERIA PLC?

Icheoku says President Muhammadu Buhari is running Nigeria as a private fiefdom where his knowledge is solely important; while forgetting that in a democracy, a team is required for a plurality of brain-trust in order to pull the country together and jointly move it forward. Three months into his presidency, there is no Secretary of Government; there are no ministers and there are no heads of parastatals appointed yet and you wonder what idea does this man from Daura have moving Nigeria forward. But hey, Nigerians deserve what they got as they voted for him regardless of his past trait of being a maximum dictator who admits of no opinion. President Muhammad Buhari, Icheoku asks, what is the game plan for moving Nigeria forward or does one not exist?

DONALD TRUMP ASININITY, BOYCOTT EVERYTHING AND ANYTHING TRUMP?

Icheoku says a man who swore that President Barack Obama was born in Kenya and challenged anyone with emphatic proof to the contrary is capable of any other horrendous verbiage. Therefore Icheoku is not surprised when the racist white pig, Donald Trump, once again put his foot in his mouth, disparaging Mexican immigrants as no good dead-enders. He has said and done worse things before and being the reddest of the rednecks walking the face of America will say and do more heinous things in the future. 

A man who claimed that he employs many blacks and Hispanics as janitors and security guards in his businesses and you wonder are this people only good for such lowly employment? A man who said that if black people claim that their life don't matter in America or that they are being shafted, they should move back to Africa and there start killing themselves? A man who claimed that immigration in America should be restricted to European migrants only and not to all those Africans and Mexicans?  Icheoku knows what a racist Donald Trump is; so the latest Mexican sewage only goes to consolidate his hold to the title of a pin-head racist white pig who does not see anything good with people of color being admitted into America while wishing that those of them already here be shipped back to where they came from. 

However, if only Donald Trump was a good student of history, especially his own peculiar history of white peoples advent into America, he would have known that there is some wisdom in the kettle not calling the pot black.  A past history of his which saw thousands of Europe's worst decrepitude persons being banished from the mainland and shipped to the new found land. Bands of bandits comprising of murderers, rapists, armed robbers, child molesters and other manners of bestial people who Europe deemed as unwanted and not fit or worthy of cohabiting the same real estate with and shipped them off and out. These were the original European immigrants to America and they came without visas nor authorizing credentials from Native American Indians, the true owners of the land.These were the people that Donald Trump descended from; the people who sired Donald Trump's generations past, the people whose bloodline Donald Trump inherited and which he is still passing on to his own offsprings and offsprings' offsprings. 

So Icheoku asks is this a case of a former slave now calling the new slaves names simply because his memory is now faint as to his own shared historical past? It is the height of idiocy for such a man whose forebears  shared the same fate as the new immigrants arriving from across the southern border, to so foul-mouth the new arrivees; admitted his own peculiar experience was many hundred years ago. So let all decent people make Donald Trump pay and as a starting point, Icheoku has destroyed all Donald Trump's ties and shirts previously owned and possessed by Icheoku and suggests that everybody who felt violated by what sewage sipped out of Donald Trump's mouth follow suit. Icheoku's further pledges not to spend a dim again on anything Donald Trump until a full mea culpa is made by him, recanting all his despicable past disparaging attacks especially his latest broad-brushing of an entire civilization as criminals. 

What or who gave Donald Trump the right to have a say on who enters or does not enter America since he is not an Indian but a descendant of once illegal migrants himself. Icheoku is emphatic that all undocumented immigrants on Mayflower and years before that who entered America without the authorization of Native Americans are as illegal as immigrants who are currently jumping fences on the southern border. Therefore Donald Trump lacks the moral authority to upbraid or disparage Hispanics following the example of his own ancestors and now coming to America. 

What a huge joke this fat white pig is that thinks that he stands any chance in hell whatsoever in present day America inching his way to the White House. Luckily some still decent people and corporations in America, who felt similarly violated by what oozed out of Donald Trump's mouth have condemned him and are now forcing the wheels off his economic wagon. NBC, NASCAR, MACY'S, UNIVISION, TELEVISA,  FAROUK SYSTEMS, RABBIT CERVECERIA, ORA TV and SERTA have all severed ties with Donald Trump and Icheoku hopes others will follow suit to make the kitchen too hot for Donald and force him to apologize. It is indeed quite regrettable when these sons of privileged white background deride other people without any whiff of circumspection whatsoever. What Donald Trump said sure did cross every line of decency, matter of fact speaking; and is condemnable and should be condemned by all and is here condemned by Icheoku as very repulsive.

USA WINS FIFA WOMEN'S WORLD CUP 2015, KUDOS TO COACH JILL ELLIS.

Icheoku says and of course to the ladies that played their hearts out to earn a well deserved victory, routing Japan 5-2 in the finals to win the gold. Team USA were stellar throughout the tournament, crowing their effort with a mercurial finals that saw them put more goals in the net more than any other time in their playing career as well as in the competition.  Their coach Jill Ellis also proved all the naysayers wrong, winning the gold in a championship that many critics and sports analysts never gave her coaching tactics any chance at a victory, talkless of winning the championship gold, not at all. Icheoku says congratulations to Coach Jill Ellis and her ladies for doing the United States proud; particularly for winning their arch nemesis Japan which defeated them in the last tournament in 2011. Well done fellas!

PMB MEETS BO ON JULY 20TH WITH NO MINISTERS?

Icheoku says if President Muhammadu Buhari is meeting with President Barack Obama on July 20th in the White House and the Americans are desirous of holding meetings with their Nigerian counterparts and PMB is going to the summit without ministers, with who would America's secretaries and government officials hold their discussions and bilateral talks? Icheoku is just asking but not that Icheoku is bothered about the now really clueless government that Nigeria is saddled with which cannot seem to get its acts together or to get up from its stupor of winning an election against all odds and get going. Three months into office and yet there are no ministers and you wonder if President Muhammadu Buhari according to his peculiar habit, now wants to run Nigeria as a sole administrator? 

May be the Evil Genius Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida was right afterall that his junta overthrew Muhammadu Buhari in 1985 for being too rigid and too myopic and not accommodating of any opinions outside his. Icheoku asks did former President Goodluck Jonathan's "slow" transition also affect the supposedly existing ministerial list which an efficient Muhammadu Buhari otherwise ought to have had ready prior to his being sworn in as president? A man whose party threatened to form a parallel government and you wonder with which ministers would they have ran their parallel government, anyway? But hey, like Baba Iyabo, Icheoku just 'dey' laugh at those Buharists who invested so much in the man with a magic wand from Daura coming to whisk away all Nigeria's problems. Icheoku asks these folks, how far is your expectation working out and if you saw then what you are seeing now, would your voting have been any different? 

PMB, SLEEPING ON DUTY WHILE NIGERIA BURNS - 406 KILLED UNDER HIS WATCH?

Icheoku says in President Muhammadu Buhari's first 36 days in office, Boko Haram have killed 406 Nigerians and counting; an average of eleven Nigerians killed each day  and without any meaningful response from his government?  Yet the ugly duckling Oby Ezekwesili and her band of despicable 'Bring Back Their Girls' motley crew are not raising hell with the new government about this continuing state of insecurity in the country? Icheoku says this is not only a shame but a solid evidence that those band of despicable 'Bring Back Their Girls' rabble rousers were there all these while to carry out a script and not that they sincerely mean well for Nigeria or that any girls were kidnapped or missing int he first place. But hey, what goes around comes around and you wonder when this their conduct will finally catch up with them. 

Here now is a chronological timeline of Boko Haram mayhem, a group which seems to have now completely ran amok since the advent of PMB on May 29th, 2015:-

May 30 - A total of 39 Nigerians were killed, 13 during an attempted night invasion of Maiduguri and another 26 in a bomb attack on a mosque near Borno market.

May 31 - 4 Nigerians were killed at Gamboru market, Maiduguri

June 2 - 17 Nigerians were killed at Maiduguri abattoir

June 3 - 4 Nigerians were killed in an attack in a mechanical workshop on Baga Road.

June 4 - 2 Nigerians were killed by a female suicide bomber near a military checkpoint in Maiduguri

June 5 - 40 Nigerians were killed in a suicide attack on Jimeta Night Market

June 7 - 3 Nigerians were killed in a suicide attack on Baga/Monguno Highway

June 11 - 37 Nigerians were killed in separate attacks on six Borno villages

June 15 - 11 Nigerians were killed in a two suicide bomb attacks in Potiskum

June 17 - 15 Nigerians were killed by accidental explosion in Monguno

June 22 - 8 Nigerians were killed in two suicide attacks on Baga Fish Market, Maiduguri

June 23 - 15 Nigerians were killed in suicide bomb attack on Nannawaji Village, Gujba LG

June 23 - 20 Nigerians were killed in an attack on Debiro, Hawul LG

June 27 - 5 Nigerians were killed killed at General Hospital, Molai, Borno State

June 30 - 48 Nigerians were killed in Mussaram I and Mussaram II near Monguno

July 1 - 98 Nigerians were killed in Kukawa Village

July 2 - 11 Nigerians were killed at Malari Village along Bama/Konduga Highway

July 3 - 29 Nigerians were killed in Mussa Village, Askira-Uba LG.

Icheoku queries, at this rate, will there be any Nigerian still left alive by the time President Muhammadu Buhari completes his term of office, if not sooner? Yet all of the deranged Nigerian supposed activists including the Ota Deity, Bab Iyabo Olusegun Obasanjo, his paramour the ugly duckling Oby Ezekwesili as well as governors of Bornu State and other Boko Haram infested Northeastern States have suddenly gone mute and you wonder why? It is just the conspiracy that took out the man from Otuoke that is knifing through Icheoku so badly that it hurts and still hurts till this day; otherwise Icheoku has always known that President Muhammadu Buhari has no plans to rein in those anarchists whom some school of thought believe he nurtured or at least influenced their coming into being through his utterances. But let see how he finally gets around explaining to Nigerians how he could not deliver on that promise to rout Boko Haram when he leaves office. May all the souls of those killed rest in peace.

BRIAN 'DOUCHE BAG' DUTCHER, CRAZED-OUT WISCONSINITE WANTS OBAMA DEAD!

"The usurper is here and if I get a chance i'ill take him out and I'ill take the shot." With those words, another Obama hater has found himself in the hot waters of the law, arrested and facing serious prison term for threatening the president of the United States of America, President Barack Obama. A sequel threat to a FaceBook posting on June 30, 2015 wherein he wrote "That's it! Thursday I will be in La Crosse. Hopefully I will get a clear shot at the pretend president. Killing him is our CONSTITUTIONAL DUTY!”  Interviewed to ascertain his seriousness to carrying the alleged threat out, he affirmed; stating that "He would not have said what he said if he didn’t intend to carry it out. 

Icheoku says what other evidence is needed here except that being a white man American, he will be viewed with pity and sympathy as a mentally challenged person who needs help rather than the criminal he is who made a very serious threat to cause bodily harm on the person of President Barack Obama. Were he P. Diddy, he would have been charged with 'terrorist acts and even for successfully taken needed steps towards carrying out the act. But hey, this is America and we understand how things usually works for or  against the color of anyones skin. 

Icheoku says they are so many and very plentiful, crazy people of America who wants to do the president harm. But fortunately enough, the various security agencies are equal to the task as they squarely facedown such challenges involved in protecting and guarding the president. Good enough too, they usually catch these miscreants before they could ever have the opportunity to carry out their evil plan. Now another crazed-out man from Wisconsin, 55 year old Brian D. Dutcher, has been added to the list of those with 'no love lost with Obama' Americans, who would want and wishes the president dead. They want to or rather would like to so do, except that the security cordon shielding the president would not let them; hence they end up in justice nets, caught while fantasying their plans to wreck such terrible havoc. 

Like with every American president, President Barack Hussein Obama have received his own fair share of multiple threats to his life ever since becoming president. Luckily so far, none of them has come to fruition as the secret service have improved so much since the assassinations of the past, ending with the 1963 assassination of President John FitzGerald Kennedy and the attempted 1983 assassination of President Ronald Reagan. But anyway, it comes with the territory as no one expects everyone to like and love the president or anybody for that matter; and provided the security agencies remain on top of their game, nipping such threats in the bud, there should be no cause for alarm or needlessly worry about the safety of the president. 

PRESIDENT BUHARI'S NEPOTISM GONE WILD, APPOINTING ONLY NORTHERNERS?

Icheoku recalls when in 2011 then candidate Muhammadu Buhari was prancing around that he won the presidential election because he won the North but was admonished by then Niger State Governor Aliyu Babangida that the North alone does not constitute the entire Nigeria; and that the fact that he won the North does not necessarily mean that he won the election. Further, way back in 1985 when the same Muhammadu Buhari violently overthrew President Shehu Shagari's government (Major General Bako was killed at Aguda House where he went to arrest Shagari); the now President Muhammadu Buhari saturated his Supreme Military Council as well as other cabinet and principal staff positions with majority Northerners. A pattern or habit or character of a an arch tribalist, you decide.

However during the last presidential election campaign, Muhammadu Buhari gave out some flicker of hope of being a changed man, a converted democrat, especially to doubters including Icheoku, when he repeatedly assured and reassured that he is not bigoted nor fanatical. That if he wins the election, he will be president to all and every Nigerian; an assurance he has severally repeated since being inaugurated president of Nigeria on May 29, 2015. But to the chagrin of many, the feelers coming out of his Aso Rock so far seems to suggest otherwise and that an old dog cannot be taught new tricks. The prognosis is that the old man Buhari has not changed; as he has once again gone gun-ho North; totally recoiling to his tribal base as if they are the only ones that matter now and who should be primarily catered to? His appointments so far seems to indicate that he has zero trust on any other Nigerian who is not of Hausa/Fulani stork, particularly those of them from the core Northwest. That the Ota Deity, Baba Iyabo Olusegun Obasanjo has not yet fired one of his 'satanic verses' letter to PMB, horn-mad at this crass display of cronyism and nepotism befuddles Icheoku. Also that the ugly Oby Ezekwesili has not yet opened her wide mouth to condemn this development is shocking; needless to add the chill caused by the taciturnity of those 'Bring Back Their Girls' feminist crusaders who are now being appointed to positions in government and you wonder if their job is done since the staged kidnapped Chibok girls are still not home with their parents?

Less than forty eight hours ago, he summarily sacked the director general of State Security Service Ita Ekpenyong and in his place appointed a man from his own very village, Lawal Musa Daura, to run the service. We are not talking about North or Northwest or Katsina State but a man from the same Daura as the president and Icheoku asks is this cronyism, nepotism, 'umunnaism' or what? Yet none of those fair weather watch dogs by choice, the police men and women of governments in Nigeria is raising any eyebrow over this developing trend of crass nepotism. Then add other appointments he has made since he started making appointments and you wonder if he is unaware that there are other people who constitute Nigerians other than Hausa/Fulanis? The new INEC chairwoman Amina Zakari is from Jigawa State and a distant blood relative of PMB, from the same Northwest; head of Department of Petroleum Resources Mordecai Dantean Baba Ladan is from Kano State, also Northwest; Accountant General of the Federation Ahmed Idris is also from Kano State, the same Northwest; Chief Security Officer Abdulrahman Mani; State Chief of Protocol Lawal Adbullahi Kazaure also from Bauchi; his ADC Lt Col Mohammed Laval Abubakar is from Kano State, the same Northwest; acting director of general security and prospective National Security Adviser Abdulrahman Bello Dambazzau is also from Kano State, the same Northwest; Special Senior Assistant Media and Publicity Garba Shehu is from Adamawa State and then acting Chief of Staff Hamid Ali; all are Northerners! Needless to add insult to injury that the president, senate president and the speaker of the House of Representatives are all Northerners too.

Icheoku says how else can anyone spin this trajectory of behavior not to confirm that the man President Muhammadu Buhari does not trust or consider any other Nigerian worth of his inner circle? Regrettably, if this trend continues as is most likely to, because Muhammadu Buhari once personally confessed to Olusegun Obasanjo that he does not have many friends from the South who he can trust, then Nigeria is in for a rude shock and convulsive awakening. This is a man who said he will be and is president of all; yet is so far acting like his understanding or idea of Nigerians are only those his Hausa/Fulani Nigerians of the core North? But hey, Icheoku raised the alarm when it could have mattered but those Buharists in Nigeria, both North and South, turned deaf ears to the cry to beware. Therefore, may PMB continue to visit Nigerians with whatever his parochial inclination tells him is right and good for ONLY his Hausa/Fulani people of Northwestern Nigeria;  whose turn it is anyway to party like it is 1999. Like the man from Otuoke, Icheoku does not give a darn about whatever PMB decides to do with Nigerians, especially those from other tribes who voted for him anyway and against their own very interest, and as he sees and deems fit. Little wonder he has been crawling through governance so that he can craftily and quickly implement all his immediate Miyetti Allah agenda before Nigerians wake up from their stupor. Anyway, by this, Icheoku is merely laying out the facts and for the records, that's all. So goodluck Nigerians with your PMB.

SAME SEX MARRIAGE QUESTION, THE HOMOSEXUALITY CONFUSION?

Icheoku says the hullabaloo and perplexity surrounding the recent United States of America Supreme Court's decision to legitimize sodomy is principally being fueled by the Bible. A same sex marriage decision which would not have taken the current air of a great infamy if only the white people that wrote the bible had edited out that tale of Sodom and Gomorrah. This would have nipped the issue in the bud and being so preempted, nobody including Icheoku, would have any serious issue or hard feelings reconciling the current irreconcilable difference between what they originally wrote is a frowned behavior and the sudden somersault now approving same. So going from a once an abominable act to now an acceptable behavior is what got people giddy and confused as to which triumphs over what? 

It is a given that a none existent infraction is not an infraction per se; but where a behavior is religiously 'codified' as a frowned act in the bible then it makes necessary sense that people would question what they already know as juxtaposed with what is now being indoctrinated. It would ordinarily have been okay or at least not raise much of an eyebrow if that is what some people want; moreso since there would not have been anything in the bible which otherwise is prohibitive of such behavior. But where it is explicitly a prohibited conduct as elaborately told in the story of Sodom and Gomorrah, and the same people who wrote the bible are the same people now propagating this inconvenient relationship, the question becomes, on the fork of the current road, which way is the right way? 

Icheoku asks is it therefore the obvious perdition which is tantamount to an express one-way ticket to hell or the unsettled biblical verses which have now become even more doubtful as a result of this pivoting? Icheoku says you decide which road to follow, but like Joshua said to the people of Israel Icheoku will remain conservative on this question and will take a cue from animals as to the way going forward short of what is already known. So until animals too start same-sexing or stops being straight, Icheoku's position on sex and marital relationship is that the status-quo should be maintained and remain unchanged. The world cannot continue to bend backwards just to accommodate some negligible percentage of its population peculiar lifestyle. Query:- will polygamy and polyandry or bestiality be next?  

JILL ELLIS SHAMES CRITICS, TAKES TEAM USA TO WORLD CUP FINALS CANADA 2015?

Icheoku says it appears now a very plausible  argument to make that the Nigeria's women Team Falcons' loss to the United States of America's women's team in the FIFA Women World Cup Canada 2015 championship was not a fluky occurrence afterall. The same team USA just handed world ranked number one team Germany 2-0 in a semi finals match to anchor a berth in the finals; proving conclusively that they are indeed a better side and that the unsportsmanlike attitude of disgruntled Nigeria's coach Edwin Okon, who refused to shake the hands of the USA coach Jill Ellis at the end of their game was rather uncouth and lamentable. Icheoku wishes the Coach Jill Ellis led side all the best in their Sunday finals match against whichever country wins the England v Japan other semi-finals match later today. 

Icheoku recalls that it is the same coach Jill Ellis who was being pilloried by some section of the American media as well as soccer analysts for her "un-tactical" handling of the team. The same crop of humans, who in their usual fashion, never finds anything good or useful in a "foreign" born coach, coaching an American side and were up in arms to frustrate her effort preparatory to lining her up for the firing range. They criticized everything and anything she did, regardless of the successful outcome; and even when the team won Colombia with two goals margin, they still criticized her for not scoring a dozen goals instead? Icheoku was glad when the coach finally took it to them, admonishing that this is a world cup and what is imperative is to win and advance, regardless. In coach Jill's words, "This is the world cup. I am satisfied with advancing. Most goals in World Cup tournaments. a majority of them, come on set pieces; we've been brilliant. It is about finding a way. I thought we stroked the ball around pretty well. So, yeah, I'm pleased with where we are." 

Icheoku says very well and eloquently put and now, America knows who is doing the right thing by and for Team USA in the FIFA Women's World Cup Canada 2015. This is exactly what putting one's money where one's mouth is, looks like; and what other better way to do this than to roll over world's number one side Team Germany resoundingly and with two un-replied goals. A finalist in the last 2011 edition of the tournament, Team USA, having gone through women soccer powerhouse China and now Germany, is more poised to lift the championship cup this time. Icheoku is convinced that irrespective of who wins between England and Japan, Team USA will face them, more assured and determined, to win the championship on Sunday. Icheoku says congratulations Team USA and their able coach Jill Ellis for their brilliant performance in the tournament thus far and in anticipation of their lifting the championship cup on Sunday. Team USA have already proved themselves worthy champions of this year's tournament and Icheoku cannot wait for their final icing on the cake on Sunday. Well done for a job so far well done and brilliantly so far executed; so bring home the cup Team USA. Bravo!!!

GREEK PM ALEXIS TSIPRAS, HUMBLED AND NOW SEEING WISDOM IN 'TALK IS CHEAP?'

Icheoku says when he swept into office riding on a populist agenda, based on a flowery campaign rhetoric to roll back decades of austerity measure in his country in decline, little did the Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras know that the formulators of 'talk is cheap' were well versed in letters and had great wisdom. Suddenly, less than six months in office, he is now totally subdued, completely humbled and literally begging for mercy as his country plummets deeper and deeper into economic sinkhole. How such a tiny island country of Greece, that practically produces nothing and with very tiny percentage contribution to global GDP, would think that they can just have their way, with her prime minister promising of heaven on earth to the people but without much to back it up, still baffles many thinkers. 

Now the country of eight million people owes more than they can pay, a total of about three hundred billion dollars, and like Oliver Twist are still asking for some more. So which creditor, in good fate, would, when the ones already lent has not been repaid and without any viable guarantees or plausible repayment plan, freely lend some more? Icheoku does not think it will be a smart business move to continue pouring more money into such a bottomless abyss of an economy, barring Greece's unconditionally accepting stricter terms on all future lending. It is time to administer the bitter medicine that usually cures the sickness; it should henceforth be a case of the beggar not having any choice in the matter. If the Greeks want money, the Greeks should comply with terms of getting the money, period; otherwise let their creditors count their losses and shut off the spigot for good. 

Unfortunately, like the Greeks, Nigerians will very soon also find out that their President Muhammad Buhari's campaign promises were equally all hot-air and no substance. Talk is cheap and campaign speeches and promises are even cheaper. Anyway, Icheoku wishes  Nigerians happy trails, as they, filled with their own wild expectations, await for the miracles that were promised them by their leader to materialize. But they might end up like the Greeks, beggars wishing to ride horses? Like Andy in 'Living in Bondage', a Nigerian movie, eloquently surmised that if only the whole nine yards were succinctly explained to him before he dabbled into it", Nigerians might soon so confess. Just like the Greeks' current 'had we known", Nigerians might soon regret if only they were seized of the whole facts, they would have voted differently. But is it too late for both countries to undo what they did, falling prey to soaring campaign rhetoric and now finding out that they have been taken for a ride and got shafted? Your guess is as good as Icheoku's, admitted the jury is still out on the case of Nigeria and for the Greeks, a called election might see Prime Minister Tsipras out of job.

Icheoku says that Greek's Prime Minister Tsipras u-turn is one sure example of someone eating the humble pie, forced to make a u-turn from his avowed rolling back of austerity and in its place more austerity. This  will leave Greek voters wondering what kind of trade they made, electing a prime minister to lead them out of their austerity only for him to lead them back into more austerity. Icheoku honestly believes that this was not the bargain the Greeks intended and they reserve the right to claim fraud and recall their prime minster from office. Regrettably, similar fate  ironically awaits Nigerians, as they too, like the Greeks, will very soon similarly wish they never traded Jonathan for the snake-oil that is President Muhammadu Buhari. But Icheoku will like PMB to prove us wrong as we cannot wait to swallow our words back; so President Muhammadu Buhari, make our day.

AFRICANS, TAKING UP ARMS AGAINST GAYDOM?

REMOVING THE FLAG IS NOT ENOUGH - PRESIDENT OBAMA.

Removing the flag from this state’s capitol would not be an act of political correctness; it would not be an insult to the valor of Confederate soldiers. It would simply be an acknowledgment that the cause for which they fought - the cause of slavery - was wrong - the imposition of Jim Crow after the Civil War, the resistance to civil rights for all people was wrong. It would be one step in an honest accounting of America’s history; a modest but meaningful balm for so many unhealed wounds. It would be an expression of the amazing changes that have transformed this state and this country for the better, because of the work of so many people of goodwill, people of all races striving to form a more perfect union.  By taking down that flag, we express God’s grace.

THE EULOGY AT CHARLESTON, SIMPLY THE BEST.

Icheoku was personally moved to tears while listening to President Barack Obama deliver the eulogy for Reverend Clementa Pinckney's funeral at Charleston South Carolina. At one point Icheoku was seeing a Martin Luther King moment, his being assassinated right there on the pulpit; and prayed harder that the president moves rather more quickly and get away from that place before an assassins bullet whizzes through. Icheoku was perturbed and disturbed and in mortal fear that something bad might happen but thankfully the place was well secured and the president made it out there in one piece. The funeral oration was simply up there in the clouds, ranked among one of the president's best; and simply so captivating that only a dark souled monster would not be moved by it. He struck resonate tunes; he touched hard and bitter often no go area truths of America and he whipped some passion in many Americans, especially black Americans. Icheoku was overtly impressed and for once in a very long time, rekindled the waning love and faith Icheoku has in the president. It was stellar, it was beautiful and it was nicely delivered. Here now is the full transcript (text) of the 'Amazing Grace' hinged eulogy:-

"Giving all praise and honor to God. The Bible calls us to hope.  To persevere and have faith in things not seen. They were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance, admitting that they were foreigners and strangers on Earth.

We are here today to remember a man of God who lived by faith. A man who believed in things not seen. A man who believed there were better days ahead, off in the distance. A man of service who persevered, knowing full well he would not receive all those things he was promised, because he believed his efforts would deliver a better life for those who followed. To Jennifer, his beloved wife; to Eliana and Malana, his beautiful, wonderful daughters; to the Mother Emanuel family and the people of Charleston, the people of South Carolina.

I cannot claim to have the good fortune to know Reverend Pinckney well. But I did have the pleasure of knowing him and meeting him here in South Carolina, back when we were both a little bit younger. Back when I didn’t have visible grey hair. The first thing I noticed was his graciousness, his smile, his reassuring baritone, his deceptive sense of humor - all qualities that helped him wear so effortlessly a heavy burden of expectation.

Friends of his remarked this week that when Clementa Pinckney entered a room, it was like the future arrived; that even from a young age, folks knew he was special. Anointed. He was the progeny of a long line of the faithful - a family of preachers who spread God’s word, a family of protesters who sowed change to expand voting rights and desegregate the South. Clem heard their instruction, and he did not forsake their teaching. 

He was in the pulpit by 13, pastor by 18, public servant by 23.  He did not exhibit any of the cockiness of youth, nor youth’s insecurities; instead, he set an example worthy of his position, wise beyond his years, in his speech, in his conduct, in his love, faith, and purity.  

As a senator, he represented a sprawling swath of the Lowcountry, a place that has long been one of the most neglected in America. A place still wracked by poverty and inadequate schools; a place where children can still go hungry and the sick can go without treatment. A place that needed somebody like Clem. 

His position in the minority party meant the odds of winning more resources for his constituents were often long. His calls for greater equity were too often unheeded, the votes he cast were sometimes lonely. But he never gave up. He stayed true to his convictions. He would not grow discouraged. After a full day at the capitol, he’d climb into his car and head to the church to draw sustenance from his family, from his ministry, from the community that loved and needed him. There he would fortify his faith, and imagine what might be.

Reverend Pinckney embodied a politics that was neither mean, nor small. He conducted himself quietly, and kindly, and diligently. He encouraged progress not by pushing his ideas alone, but by seeking out your ideas, partnering with you to make things happen. He was full of empathy and fellow feeling, able to walk in somebody else’s shoes and see through their eyes. No wonder one of his senate colleagues remembered Senator Pinckney as “the most gentle of the 46 of us - the best of the 46 of us.”

Clem was often asked why he chose to be a pastor and a public servant. But the person who asked probably didn’t know the history of the AME church. As our brothers and sisters in the AME church know, we don't make those distinctions. “Our calling,” Clem once said, “is not just within the walls of the congregation, but … the life and community in which our congregation resides.”  

He embodied the idea that our Christian faith demands deeds and not just words; that the “sweet hour of prayer” actually lasts the whole week long - that to put our faith in action is more than individual salvation, it's about our collective salvation; that to feed the hungry and clothe the naked and house the homeless is not just a call for isolated charity but the imperative of a just society.

What a good man. Sometimes I think that's the best thing to hope for when you're eulogized - after all the words and recitations and resumes are read, to just say someone was a good man. 

You don’t have to be of high station to be a good man. Preacher by 13. Pastor by 18. Public servant by 23. What a life Clementa Pinckney lived. What an example he set. What a model for his faith. And then to lose him at 41 - slain in his sanctuary with eight wonderful members of his flock, each at different stages in life but bound together by a common commitment to God.  

Cynthia Hurd. Susie Jackson. Ethel Lance. DePayne Middleton-Doctor. Tywanza Sanders. Daniel L. Simmons. Sharonda Coleman-Singleton. Myra Thompson. Good people. Decent people. God-fearing people. People so full of life and so full of kindness. People who ran the race, who persevered. People of great faith.

To the families of the fallen, the nation shares in your grief. Our pain cuts that much deeper because it happened in a church. The church is and always has been the center of African-American life - a place to call our own in a too often hostile world, a sanctuary from so many hardships.  

Over the course of centuries, black churches served as “hush harbors” where slaves could worship in safety; praise houses where their free descendants could gather and shout hallelujah - rest stops for the weary along the Underground Railroad; bunkers for the foot soldiers of the Civil Rights Movement. They have been, and continue to be, community centers where we organize for jobs and justice; places of scholarship and network; places where children are loved and fed and kept out of harm’s way, and told that they are beautiful and smart - and taught that they matter. That’s what happens in church.  

That’s what the black church means. Our beating heart. The place where our dignity as a people is inviolate. Well there’s no better example of this tradition than Mother Emanuel - a church built by blacks seeking liberty, burned to the ground because its founder sought to end slavery, only to rise up again, a Phoenix from these ashes. 

When there were laws banning all-black church gatherings, services happened here anyway, in defiance of unjust laws. When there was a righteous movement to dismantle Jim Crow, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. preached from its pulpit, and marches began from its steps. A sacred place, this church. Not just for blacks, not just for Christians, but for every American who cares about the steady expansion - of human rights and human dignity in this country; a foundation stone for liberty and justice for all. That’s what the church meant. 

We do not know whether the killer of Reverend Pinckney and eight others knew all of this history. But he surely sensed the meaning of his violent act. It was an act that drew on a long history of bombs and arson and shots fired at churches, not random, but as a means of control, a way to terrorize and oppress. An act that he imagined would incite fear and recrimination; violence and suspicion. An act that he presumed would deepen divisions that trace back to our nation’s original sin. 

Oh, but God works in mysterious ways. God has different ideas. He didn’t know he was being used by God. Blinded by hatred, the alleged killer could not see the grace surrounding Reverend Pinckney and that Bible study group - the light of love that shone as they opened the church doors and invited a stranger to join in their prayer circle. The alleged killer could have never anticipated the way the families of the fallen would respond when they saw him in court - in the midst of unspeakable grief, with words of forgiveness. He couldn’t imagine that.  

The alleged killer could not imagine how the city of Charleston, under the good and wise leadership of Mayor Riley - how the state of South Carolina, how the United States of America would respond - not merely with revulsion at his evil act, but with big-hearted generosity and, more importantly, with a thoughtful introspection and self-examination that we so rarely see in public life.

Blinded by hatred, he failed to comprehend what Reverend Pinckney so well understood - the power of God’s grace. This whole week, I’ve been reflecting on this idea of grace. The grace of the families who lost loved ones. The grace that Reverend Pinckney would preach about in his sermons. The grace described in one of my favorite hymnals - the one we all know: Amazing grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me. I once was lost, but now I’m found; was blind but now I see. 

According to the Christian tradition, grace is not earned. Grace is not merited. It’s not something we deserve. Rather, grace is the free and benevolent favor of God - as manifested in the salvation of sinners and the bestowal of blessings. Grace.  

As a nation, out of this terrible tragedy, God has visited grace upon us, for he has allowed us to see where we’ve been blind. He has given us the chance, where we’ve been lost, to find our best selves. We may not have earned it, this grace, with our rancor and complacency, and short-sightedness and fear of each other - but we got it all the same. He gave it to us anyway.  He’s once more given us grace. But it is up to us now to make the most of it, to receive it with gratitude, and to prove ourselves worthy of this gift.

For too long, we were blind to the pain that the Confederate flag stirred in too many of our citizens. It’s true, a flag did not cause these murders. But as people from all walks of life, Republicans and Democrats, now acknowledge - including Governor Haley, whose recent eloquence on the subject is worthy of praise - as we all have to acknowledge, the flag has always represented more than just ancestral pride. For many, black and white, that flag was a reminder of systemic oppression and racial subjugation. We see that now.  

Removing the flag from this state’s capitol would not be an act of political correctness; it would not be an insult to the valor of Confederate soldiers. It would simply be an acknowledgment that the cause for which they fought - the cause of slavery - was wrong - the imposition of Jim Crow after the Civil War, the resistance to civil rights for all people was wrong. It would be one step in an honest accounting of America’s history; a modest but meaningful balm for so many unhealed wounds. It would be an expression of the amazing changes that have transformed this state and this country for the better, because of the work of so many people of goodwill, people of all races striving to form a more perfect union.  By taking down that flag, we express God’s grace. 

But I don't think God wants us to stop there. For too long, we’ve been blind to the way past injustices continue to shape the present. Perhaps we see that now. Perhaps this tragedy causes us to ask some tough questions about how we can permit so many of our children to languish in poverty, or attend dilapidated schools, or grow up without prospects for a job or for a career.      

Perhaps it causes us to examine what we’re doing to cause some of our children to hate. Perhaps it softens hearts towards those lost young men, tens and tens of thousands caught up in the criminal justice system - and leads us to make sure that that system is not infected with bias; that we embrace changes in how we train and equip our police so that the bonds of trust between law enforcement and the communities they serve make us all safer and more secure.   

Maybe we now realize the way racial bias can infect us even when we don't realize it, so that we're guarding against not just racial slurs, but we're also guarding against the subtle impulse to call Johnny back for a job interview but not Jamal. So that we search our hearts when we consider laws to make it harder for some of our fellow citizens to vote. By recognizing our common humanity by treating every child as important, regardless of the color of their skin or the station into which they were born, and to do what’s necessary to make opportunity real for every American - by doing that, we express God’s grace. 

For too long, we’ve been blind to the unique mayhem that gun violence inflicts upon this nation. Sporadically, our eyes are open: When eight of our brothers and sisters are cut down in a church basement, 12 in a movie theater, 26 in an elementary school. But I hope we also see the 30 precious lives cut short by gun violence in this country every single day; the countless more whose lives are forever changed - the survivors crippled, the children traumatized and fearful every day as they walk to school, the husband who will never feel his wife’s warm touch, the entire communities whose grief overflows every time they have to watch what happened to them happen to some other place.  

The vast majority of Americans - the majority of gun owners - want to do something about this. We see that now. And I'm convinced that by acknowledging the pain and loss of others, even as we respect the traditions and ways of life that make up this beloved country - by making the moral choice to change, we express God’s grace.

We don’t earn grace. We're all sinners. We don't deserve it. But God gives it to us anyway. And we choose how to receive it. It's our decision how to honor it.  

None of us can or should expect a transformation in race relations overnight. Every time something like this happens, somebody says we have to have a conversation about race. We talk a lot about race. There’s no shortcut. And we don’t need more talk. None of us should believe that a handful of gun safety measures will prevent every tragedy. It will not. People of goodwill will continue to debate the merits of various policies, as our democracy requires - this is a big, raucous place, America is. And there are good people on both sides of these debates. Whatever solutions we find will necessarily be incomplete.

But it would be a betrayal of everything Reverend Pinckney stood for, I believe, if we allowed ourselves to slip into a comfortable silence again. Once the eulogies have been delivered, once the TV cameras move on, to go back to business as usual - that’s what we so often do to avoid uncomfortable truths about the prejudice that still infects our society. To settle for symbolic gestures without following up with the hard work of more lasting change - that’s how we lose our way again.  

It would be a refutation of the forgiveness expressed by those families if we merely slipped into old habits, whereby those who disagree with us are not merely wrong but bad; where we shout instead of listen; where we barricade ourselves behind preconceived notions or well-practiced cynicism.

Reverend Pinckney once said, “Across the South, we have a deep appreciation of history - we haven’t always had a deep appreciation of each other’s history.” What is true in the South is true for America. Clem understood that justice grows out of recognition of ourselves in each other. That my liberty depends on you being free, too. That history can’t be a sword to justify injustice, or a shield against progress, but must be a manual for how to avoid repeating the mistakes of the past - how to break the cycle. A roadway toward a better world. He knew that the path of grace involves an open mind - but, more importantly, an open heart.  

That’s what I’ve felt this week - an open heart. That, more than any particular policy or analysis, is what’s called upon right now, I think - what a friend of mine, the writer Marilyn Robinson, calls “that reservoir of goodness, beyond, and of another kind, that we are able to do each other in the ordinary cause of things.”  

That reservoir of goodness. If we can find that grace, anything is possible. If we can tap that grace, everything can change. 

Amazing grace how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me; I once was lost, but now I’m found; was blind but now I see. 

Clementa Pinckney found that grace.  

Cynthia Hurd found that grace.  

Susie Jackson found that grace.  

Ethel Lance found that grace.  

DePayne Middleton-Doctor found that grace.

Tywanza Sanders found that grace.  

Daniel L. Simmons, Sr. found that grace.  

Sharonda Coleman-Singleton found that grace.  

Myra Thompson found that grace.

Through the example of their lives, they’ve now passed it on to us. May we find ourselves worthy of that precious and extraordinary gift, as long as our lives endure. May grace now lead them home. May God continue to shed His grace on the United States of America.'