GUN VIOLENCE IN AMERICA: FOR WHO THE BELL TOLLS NEXT.

Just five people shy of Sandy Hook elementary school mass shooting incident that claimed 26 lives, the Uvalde Texas Robb elementary school mass shooting at 21 victims, now ranks among the highest grossing gun carnage in America. It is sad that such frequent blood spilling has tragically become part of our culture as a society. May the souls of the killed now rest.

25th AMENDMENT: ITS NOW ALL CRICKET.

Madam Speaker Nancy Pelosi once questioned former President Donald John Trump's fitness to remain in office due to what she claimed was his declining mental capacity. Does anyone know what Madam Speaker presently thinks about the incontrovertible case which America is now saddled with? Just curious!

WHO WILL REBUILD UKRAINE?

The West should convert frozen Russian assets, both state's and oligarchs' owned, into a full seizure and set them aside for the future rebuilding of Ukraine. Like the Marshal Plan, call it the Putin Plan.

A HERO IS BORN.

I am staying put. I will not run away and abandon my people. The fight is here in Ukraine. What I need are weapons and ammunitions, not a ride out of town like former Afghanistan President Ashraf Ghani - President Volodymyr Zelensky.

IT IS WHAT IT IS.

"There is too much hate in America because there is too much anger in America." - Trevor Noah.

WORD!

A life without challenges is not a life lived at all. A life lived is a life that has problems, confronts problems, solves problems and then learns from problems. - Tunde Fashola.

NOW, YOU KNOW.

When fishing for love, bait with your heart and not your brain, because you cannot rationalize love. - Mark Twain.

JUST THE FACT.

In our country, you can shoot and kill a nigger, but you better not hurt a gay person’s feelings - Dave Chappelle

DO YOU?.

“What you believe in can only be defined by what you’re willing to risk for it." - Stuart Scheller.

HEDGE YOUR CRISIS.

Never get in bed with a woman whose problems are worse than yours. - Chicago PD.

PROBLEM SOLVED.

'The best way to keep peace is to be ready to destroy evil. If you Pearl Harbor me, I Nagasaki you.' - Ted Nugent.

OUR SHARED HUMANITY.

Empathy is at the heart of who we are as human beings. - Cardinal Matthew Kukah.

WORDS ON MARBLE.

"Birth is agony. Life is hard. Death is cruel." - Japanese pithy.

REPENT OR PERISH - POPE.

Homosexuality is a sin. It is not ordained by God, therefore same sex marriage cannot be blessed by the church - Pope Francis.

CANCEL CULTURE IS CORROSIVE.


FOR SAKE OF COUNTRY.


MAGA LIVES ON: NO RETREAT, NO SURRENDER!

TWITTER IS BORING WITHOUT HIS TWEETS. #RestorePresidentTrump'sTwitterHandle.


WORD.

"If you cannot speak the truth when it matters, then nothing else you says matters.” - Tucker Carlson.

#MeToo MOVEMENT: A BAD NEWS GONE CRAZY.

"To all the women who testified, we may have different truth, but I have a great remorse for all of you. I have great remorse for all of the men and women going through this crisis right now in our country. You know, the movement started basically with me, and I think what happened, you know, I was the first example, and now there are thousands of men who are being accused and a regeneration of things that I think none of us understood. I’m not going to say these aren’t great people. I had wonderful times with these people. I’m just genuinely confused. Men are confused about this issue. We are going through this #MeToo movement crisis right now in this country." - Harvey Weinstein.


RON DELLUMS: UNAPOLOGETICALLY RADICAL.

"If it’s radical to oppose the insanity and cruelty of the Vietnam War, if it’s radical to oppose racism and sexism and all other forms of oppression, if it’s radical to want to alleviate poverty, hunger, disease, homelessness, and other forms of human misery, then I’m proud to be called a radical.” - Ron Vernie Dellums.


WHAT REALLY MATTERS IN LIFE - STEVE JOBS

“I reached the pinnacle of success in the business world. In others’ eyes, my life is an epitome of success. However, aside from work, I have little joy. Non-stop pursuing of wealth will only turn a person into a twisted being, just like me. God gave us the senses to let us feel the love in everyone’s heart, not the illusions brought about by wealth. Memories precipitated by love is the only true riches which will follow you, accompany you, giving you strength and light to go on. The most expensive bed in the world is the sick bed. You can employ someone to drive the car for you, make money for you but you cannot have someone to bear sickness for you. Material things lost can be found. But there is one thing that can never be found when it is lost – Life. Treasure Love for your family, love for your spouse, love for your friends. Treat yourself well. Cherish others.” - SJ

EVIL CANNOT BE TRULY DESTROYED.

"The threat of evil is ever present. We can contain it as long as we stay vigilant, but it can never truly be destroyed. - Lorraine Warren (Annabelle, the movie)


ONLY THE POOR WISH THEY HAD STUFF?

“I’m not that interested in material things. As long as I find a good bed that I can sleep in, that’s enough.” - Nicolas Berggruem, the homeless billionaire.

Saturday, December 27, 2008

ISRAELI - PALESTINE CONFLICT, NO END IN SIGHT!

When will this madness end? When will this internecine war come to an end? When will enough be really enough in the Middle East? Every now and then there is a flare-up of age-long hostilities between biblical brothers and no one seem to have a handle on it? December 27th, 2008 so soon after the birthday of our Lord Jesus Christ, his kindred in Israel let loose their dogs of war and from the skies came bolts of fire to scotch the recalcitrant rocket-firing Hamas nuisance. A sledge-hammer being used where a scalpel may be needed, one might say?
No, says Icheoku, as the Hamas nuisance needs to and should be put to an end once and for all. According to an Israeli, Avraham Chen-Chatam, 57, the Israelis need to finish this once and for all and strike back as hard as it can be very painful to Hamas. The result, over two (200) hundred Palestines have been killed in retaliation for one Israeli killed by a Hamas-streaking Qassam rocket and there appears to be no end in sight. The bombardments continues despite calls from various world leaders to end hostilities. According to the Israeli government, the campaign is open-ended and is aimed at stopping Hamas rocket and mortar attacks that is traumatizing her population. This round of hostilities started so soon following the end of a six-month Egyptian-brokered truce between Israel and Hamas; which truce ended just last Friday, December 26th, 2008.
Reports reaching Icheokudotcom, has it that Israeli warplanes dropped more than 100 tons of bombs on identified installations in Hamas-ruled Gaza on Saturday December 27th, 2008, in what is reputed as one of the bloodiest days in decades of the Middle East conflict. What does Hamas have to offer in response to fire and brimstone raining from the skies over Gaza from the under-bellies of United States of America supplied F-16 fighter planes but the chants of Allah Alkabr? But unknown to these "fanatics" they need to do more to protect themselves from a reaction to their provocation than simply calling on their god to come down and fight for them. A good starting point is to stop the provocative Qassam rocket firing into southern Israel which provoked this current retaliatory bombardment of Hamas infrastructures in Gaza strip. For every action, there is a reaction and there is always so much a people can take under such circumstance since the Israeli government has a duty to protect her citizenry.
Pictured below are some bodies of more than a dozen uniformed Hamas police, victims of Israeli air-strike as they lay dead on the ground at their Gaza City's main security compound; while above right is the lone fatality of Hamas Qassam rocket attack in the Israeli town of Netivot. Although Hamas vowed to fight on, saying they will continue the resistance until the last drop of blood, according to Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum; but Icheoku asks what is the wisdom behind such strategy?
This morbid mentality is very foolish as it is simply suicidal and the world is getting tired of the provocative antics of Hamas who continually fires rocket into southern Israel as agent provocateur of the conflict. Hamas should know that they are unevenly matched with the Israeli military hence a military solution to the conflict is not probable nor likely. A more savvy group would have used the least torturous means to negotiate a fair bargain for the people of Palestine instead of their present head-on collision approach with a far weightier military. What all these show is an unseriousness on the part of the leadership of Hamas and the Palestine people for a conclusive resolution of this problem; maybe they will lose the reason for their existence were a resounding solution ever reached, hence their choice of gun-powder confrontation.
How many Palestines and Israelis will have to lose their lives before Hamas and their rabid supporters realise that they are fighting an unwinnable battle against the mighty Israeli forces with the backing and tacit approval of Washington? Simply put, it is foolhardy.
Pictured here left is the Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert who said that Israel knows how to give proper response, at the right time, in the right way and responsibly.
Icheoku says, the Israeli security agencies should consider decapitating some of the present crop of die-hard absolutist Hamas leaders and see if the incoming ones might play ball with a negotiated settlement of the intractable problems between both entities. Icheoku's position seem to be in tandem with Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni who confirmed that Hamas' political leaders could soon be targeted. According to Livni, Hamas is a terrorist organization and nobody in Hamas is immune.
But the hard charging and loud-talking Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh, in a show of "bravado" or rather defiance, declared that his movement would not be cowed. The other actor in this macabre theater, the Palestine President, Mahmud Abbas, pictured above right, is however walking a thin line not to be seen as sleeping with the "enemy" and at the same time secretly wishing that the Israelis could do a job he could not himself do - the overthrow of Hamas in Gaza. However the Israelis appears ready to fight with the Defence Minister Ehud Barak vowing to expand the operation if necessary. According to Barak, there is a time for calm and there is a time for fighting, and now is the time for fighting!

Unfortunately, despite the overwhelming Israeli show of force, it was not clear their offensive would halt the barrage of rocket-fire from Hamas controlled Gaza strip which Hamas took since June 2007. Some rockets got into Israel as at the time of this report despite the massive air bombardment of Gaza. Also similar Israeli past efforts such as their operation against Hezbollah never achieved their stated objective.
The United States of America on Saturday blamed the militant group Hamas for breaking a cease-fire and attacking Israel, which retaliated with strikes of its own during what became the single bloodiest day of fighting in years. According to White House spokesman, Gordon Johndroe, Hamas are nothing but thugs, so Israel is going to defend its people against terrorists like Hamas that indiscriminately kill their own people. The White House also called for the cease-fire to be restored saying that they need to stop the escalation. Continuing, the White House said, "we have said in the past that they have a choice to make. You can't have one foot in politics and one foot in terror."

That Israel has always hoped for and wanted quiet for the residents of the South and that they should enjoy genuine calm and be free of the threat of unceasing Qassam and mortar attacks that have disrupted life in the South for a very long period,"
Hamas with its 20,000 fighters is no match to the mighty Israeli military with its fighting prowess, which is now being accused of using disproportionate against the rocket firers. But shouldn't Hamas have known this fact all these months of provocative rocket firing into southern Israel?
Icheoku says the stated objective of Hamas and such other extremists of the Middle East to annihilate Israel and completely wipe Israel off the map is a mere wishful Utopian thinking of a deranged warped mind. It is not going to happen and this fact should get into their head, fast and sooner. The best solution is a negotiated settlement where the two feuding foes can live side by side in each identifiable independent communes or states. Until Hamas becomes rational and reasonable to realize that their belligerent and bellicose approach can only visit pain and suffering on her population, no meaningful peace can ever come to the middle east and the whole world will periodically wake up to the same cycle of mayhem going on between the Israelis and the Middle Eastern extremists as represented in Hamas and Hezbollah.

FATHER CHRISTMAS MASSACRES FAMILY!

What made a man so incensed, that he dressed up like Santa Claus, drove up to his former in-laws' house and sprayed them with bullets, killing 9 of them in the process? It was at a Christmas eve party at the home of his former in-laws, his ex-wife Sylvia Pardo's parents, Joseph and Alicia Ortega; which he thereafter demolished in an explosive blaze.
Icheoku says, it is rage! Rage against a society which have so much empowered women that they have turned men into the receiving receptacles of their every whims. Simply put, it is this rage that is now manifested in this Christmas-eve massacre in Covina California, United States of America! This unique and weird Father Christmas brought to his ex-in-laws, some Christmas present from the north pole made of hot leads. He was driven to the ends by a very nasty and bitter divorce, a job lost and a state of morbid hopelessness. He was simply speaking, forlorn!
His name was Bruce Jeffrey Pardo, 45, pictured above; and he does not even look like a typical mass-murderer! He looks more like the Scott Peterson type. BJP was simply RED and even holds a bachelor's and master's degree in electrical engineering; and was employed at ITT Electronic Systems, Radar Systems, in Van Nuys before he was laid off.

BJP appeared at the ex-inlaws front door with only one mission in his mind - to completely eradicate his ex-wife's family from the face of the earth! In an executioner's style, BJP meticulously shot nine members of his ex-wife's immediate family to death, including his ex-wife, her parents, brothers and sisters as well as some other relatives and friends. To ensure that his vicious plan was completely carried out, after the shooting, he set the home ablaze, just in case anyone was hiding somewhere in the house beyond the reach of his bullet.
BJP wearing a Santa Claus suit, was armed with four guns and carrying a fuel-spraying device wrapped like a present, when he showed up at the home at 11:30 p.m. Wednesday December 24th, 2008 as the party of about 25 people was under way. BJP fired a shot into the face of an 8-year-old girl who answered the door and then systematically targeted relatives of his ex-wife, while seemingly permitting other non-family member guests to flee. BJP later retrieved a contraption which he had come with, that mixed carbon dioxide and/or oxygen with high-octane racing fuel. He sprayed it inside the house and ignited it, resulting to an explosion, completely destroyed the house and its contents including some of the gathered party-goers. Subsequently, BJP drove to his brother's home in a neighbouring city of Sylmar where he shot himself to death. However, before committing suicide, BJP booby-trapped his rental car which later exploded as a bomb squad tried to disarm it.

The stunning thing about this massacre was that BJP had no prior criminal record or any history of domestic violence whatsoever. He was known to his neighbours and friends as a friendly man who always walked his dog and who was also a volunteer usher at the local Redeemer Catholic Church in his city of Montrose, California. So whatever the trigger might have been, it must be so seething indeed to catapult him from his near and almost angelic status to such a savage beast that caused a family to simply cease to exist! Icheoku says that BJP possibly snapped following his just concluded nasty, bitter, contentious and costly divorce battle which he felt, dealt him a bad card unfairly. He couldn't take it and the result was a family that is now completely destroyed and wiped out! What a nightmare before Christmas!

To the intending or soon to be ex-wife, Icheoku says, please do not make the parting so bitter and acrimonious that some very unintended consequence results. Always think about the possible innocent third parties who may be hurt in a feuding war with your ex-husband. But to the so-determined ex-wife to be, while taking your ex-husband to the cleaners, please pause to ponder that he may be just another lunatic like Mr. Bruce Jeffrey Pardo of Covina, California who might come calling with guns and explosives for his jaundiced idea of a pay-back! So in any event, weigh your options very well and advise your actions accordingly and safely.

Play Video Video: New Details Emerge In Covina Massacre CBS 2 / KCAL 9 Los Angeles

Thursday, December 25, 2008

UMARU YAR'ADUA SAYS, 2009 IS IT!

"Long deferred, the promise of Nigeria shall not continue to remain just a potential. It will soon be redeemed. Our season of renewal has dawned". With these fighting words, President Umaru Yar’Adua of Nigeria promises to wake up from his slumber to start tackling the myriad of problems facing Nigeria. Whether Mister Slowman, the Sloth finally wakes up from his election-fraud induced stupor is a yet to be determined occurrence, which only 2009 will prove; but Icheoku will always keep an eye on him particularly on his promise of democracy-dividend for Nigerians.
President Umaru Yar'Adua pledged a renewed pace in governance and accelerated delivery of critical infrastructure to Nigerians in the coming year 2009; adding that many of his outstanding inaugural promises will also be fulfilled. Principal among which are his long anticipated power emergency plan, electoral reform and the oil and gas sector reform.
President Umaru Yar'Adua also thanked Nigerians for their patience and support for his administration to which Icheoku retorts that Nigerians were not patient but were merely confused, waiting to see if death or the Supreme court could put an end to his rudderless presidency. Now that the Supreme court has failed to act and death seem to have taken a hike (Umaru Yar'Adua appears to be recovering), Mr. President will now see the true colours of Nigerians, whose silence he misconstrued for patient and support. Icheoku says, Umaru Yar'Adua, BE PREPARED!
Continuing President Umaru Yar'Adua said that the challenges facing Nigerians may seem daunting, but that these problems are not beyond Nigerians as a people. Nigerians inflexible tenacity, their incredible passion for excellence and resilient search for a better future mark them out as a people. They are part of their national heritage to which Icheoku says these can only be said of Southern Nigeria as their Northern counterpart are simply antithesis to all the above nicely encapsulated attributes.
According to President Umaru Yar'Adua, this yuletide period is both a time for celebration and reflection; patronising Nigerians further he said that as Nigerians engage in this annual rite of renewal, that he wish them bountiful festive season and a peaceful and prosperous New Year. Further that as he joins Nigerians in celebrating God‘s wondrous gifts to them as a people and in embracing the New Year with renewed hope, he also joins them in reflection: not just on the past year, but also on his government's responsibilities to Nigerians. To the last limb of this statement, Icheoku says those responsibilities are legion and have been largely ignored; they remain mere hope. A cardinal responsibility of the government which is has almost been forgotten under President Umaru Yar'Adua, is the security of lives and properties of Nigerians which is now nearly non-existent! Hope this gives Mr. President, a head-start!

Icheoku says that she will be one voluntary watch-dog of President Umaru Yar'Adua 2009 promise to Nigerians. We shall keep him honest! We shall keep an eye on him! Our only regret is that Umaru Yar'Adua did not include a proviso to his 2009 firm offer to fix all that is broken in and about Nigeria. A reasonable and rational being with the chequered health-history of Umaru Yar'Adua would have included in his statement, provided my health improves and allows me to be a functioning president instead of trying to govern from various hospital beds around the world. In any event however, we shall see what changes in 2009 or will it be just another bone thrown to the dogs for distraction. Only time will tell, President Umaru Yar'Adua! Have a happy holidays.

Wednesday, December 24, 2008

NUHU RIBADU, FIRED!

We are breaking our holidays to announce that the new Nigeria Mafia Don, James Onanefe Ibori has fulfilled his third, in a four-prong promise to Nuhu Ribadu. At last this man who stood up against corruption in Nigeria, although lopsided, has been let go from the putridly-corrupt Nigeria police force, courtesy of James Onanefe Ibori, picture right here in suit. James Onanefe Ibori is the nemesis in chief of Nuhu Ribadu and the 9 billion naira he allegedly sunk in the presidential campaign of Umaru Yar'Adua has bought him unquestionable access and power in Nigeria. Nuhu Ribadu is now his victim number 1.
First James Onanefe Ibori promised Nuhu Ribadu that he will remove him as the chairman of EFCC and it came to pass. Second, that Nuhu Ribadu will be demoted from his Assistant Inspector General of Police position to deputy Commissioner of Police and it came to pass. Third, that he, Nuhu Ribadu, will be dismissed from the police and it has also now come to pass. Icheoku is now axiously waiting for the fourth promise that he, Nuhu Ribadu will be imprisoned to also come to fruition. Three out of four cannot be just a lucky chance and were it a prophet that predicted it, he/she would have his church thronged over-night like a bee-hive. Anybody still in doubt, including Nuhu Ribadu, of the ability of James Onanefe Ibori to bring about a promised cause of action needs to visit a shrink. The implication is that either Umaru Yar'Adua is absolutely corrupt himself or his indebtedness to James Ibori cannot be amortized in a safe and reasonable manner anyway, otherwise why should he stand silently yoked to this atrocious misbehaviour against Nuhu Ribadu?
It says a lot about the complicity of the very sick man of Katsina, Umaru Yar'Adua who pretends ignorance while encouraging his minions to have their devilish ways in Nigeria. Like the fabled Shehu Shagari's ignorance of the notorious escapades of Umaru Dikko in the 80's, today Umaru Yar'Adua is playing possum while the likes of fraudster James Onanefe Ibori is grinding Nuhu Ribadu up in a wood-chirper. If this leprechaun cannot govern Nigeria, can someone please ask him to resign or better still make him do so; or are Nigerians waiting for the sky to literally collpase on them before they would rise up against the institutionalisation of full-throttle evil in that country? Today it is Nuhu Ribadu but whose turn shall it be tomorrow or who knows for whom the bell tolls next? However and ironically though, there is a seeming good in this chastisement of Nuhu Ribadu, that for once a northerner is at the recieving end of corrupt and powerful men-induced trauma in Nigeria! It sounds more like a pop-fiction that in Nigeria, a northern mallam is being hounded by a southerner mafia? That appears really very cool in a country where these northern mallams have been parading themselves as demi-gods over the years since independence and dishing out their venomous torture on the rest of Nigerians to their hearts delight and with unrepentant arrogance. How the tide turns?
However, everybody in Nigeria especially the current men of power including James Onanefe Ibori, Mike Aodonkaa and Mike Okilo should look at the travails of Nuhu Ribadu and learn a prudent lesson therefrom on the triviality and ephemeral nature of power. The yesterday's man of power, Nuhu Ribadu has been reduced to a mere chicken-prey of today, by the newest power-brokers in Nigeria and the vicious circle goes on and on, round and round. Icheoku says it is a culture of inbred corruption in a society where criminals are crowned traditonal rulers; where criminal 419 operators are members of national and state houses of assemblies; where a fraud such as David Mark is the senate president and a democracy-subjugator Umaru Yar'Adua is the president! So what does one really expect from such awful society but a place where crimes are rewarded and honesty is punished just like the case in hand of Nuhu Ribadu!
Icheoku lays all the blame and responsibility for all Nuhu Ribadu's troubles culminating to his final sacking from the Nigerian police force, squarely on the desk of the weakilng Umaru Yar'Adua since as the president, all the buck stops on his desk. Umaru Yar'Adua is fully seised of all the trappings of Nuhu Ribadu saga and to pretend otherwise is ludicrous. Umaru Yar'Adua is a cold-hearted corroborator who previously corroborated with Olusegun Obasanjo to truncate democracy in Nigeria. Were that mega-drama of Nigeria "selection 2007" to be a penal criminal case, Umaru Yar'Adua would have been charged and found guilty of recieving stolen property - the presidency, which Olusegun Obasanjo stole from Nigerians and gave to Umaru Yar'Adua for keeps. This assertion is with all due deference to the abracadabra of the Nigeria Supreme court decision validating the mandate.
Anyway, goodluck Mr. Nuhu Ribadu as you await your promised prison sentence; but if Icheoku were to advise you, we urge you to immediately take flight out of Nigeria now; as the brave general is that general who comes back from war to tell his tales. Should you be stubborn and eventually find yourself in prison, you will not escape the fate which befell MKO Abiola. They will kill you off; so do not let them have their way, run for your dear life as he who fights and run away, lives to fight another day. Please Nuhu Ribadu, do not tempt the devil! Do not push your luck - now is the time to run for your life! Seek political asylum somewhere safe! Do it now!

Tuesday, December 23, 2008

HAPPY HOLIDAYS TO YOU!

To our teaming world-wide audience, Icheoku says, have a very happy holidays! Whether you are a Christan, a Jew, an African, a Buddhist, a Muslim or a Pagan, it is that season of the year when loved ones are sincerely thought about. It is that season of the year when gifts are exchanged between loved ones. It is simply put, the season of giving in appreciation of what we received during the year which is drawing to a close. Whether it is Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa or any other thing you may be celebrating, we say enjoy!
Icheoku will be taking a few days off for the holidays, and except in the event of a major breaking news or event to warrant our immediate take-on, we shall see you next year, probably with President-elect Barack Obama's swearing-in ceremony commentaries. We also wish to thank you for making Icheokudotcom one of the fastest growing commentary-based website of our times and pray that you continue to make us your companion during the coming year, 2009.
Until then, have a jolly fun-filled holidays and may the new year 2009 bring a lot of joy to you, your family & friends. May all that you could not accomplish this passing year come through in the new year and make you a happy, fulfilled person. Salute! Ciao! So long! Arios! Bye-bye!

Monday, December 22, 2008

AFRICAN DESPOTS, ANOTHER ONE BITES THE DUST!

Guinea’s long-time dictator, President Lansana Conte, is dead, dead as a door-knob! Conte, who took power in a military coup after the death of his predecessor, President Sekou Toure in 1984, died Monday December 22nd, 2008 at the age of 74 years of yet to be disclosed illness. It is widely known that this despotic general who strong-armed Guinea for about 24 years, was a lifelong chain-smoker and suffered from a litany of health problems including chronic diabetes, leukaemia, heart-condition and stomach ulcer. Icheoku says if non of these ailments killed him, at least death did and finally, his iron-grip of Guinea has come to an end. Like the way of all despots, Conte is no more!

Born in 1934 in the town of Moussayah Loumbaya, about 70 kilometres (43 miles) from the capital Conakry, Conte went through military training in Senegal and Ivory Coast before being enlisted in the French army. He served in the French army in Algeria, and left with the rank of sergeant when Guinea gained independence in 1958. He then worked his way up the ranks of Guinea's army, becoming captain in 1971 and later commander of the northern region of Boke. He took part in the independence war in neighboring Guinea-Bissau and his reputation as a man of rigour and integrity earned him the prestigious promotion to deputy chief of staff. For all his 24 years in power, Conte only succeeded in putting his tiny West African country of about ten million people, in the words of Captain Moussa Davis Chisapt Camara, in a state of "deep despair". What a legacy indeed!

Guinea, the bauxite mineral-rich but very impoverished country has been ruled by only two men since her independence from France in 1958. Just Conte and Toure! Conte came to power in 1984 through a military coup, following the death of President Sekou Toure, who had ruled Guinea since independence. Following the death of Conte, some other military adventurists in Guinea led by Captain Moussa Dadis Camara, pictured here right in a beret, has purportedly taken over government in yet another military coup de` tat.

But reacting to the alleged military coup in Guinea, Nigerian President Umaru Yar’Adua condemned it, warning that “any government that emerges by undemocratic means will not be recognised,” to which Icheoku retorts, was it a democratic process that enthroned you, Umaru Yar'Adua? No one in the world takes Nigeria's Umaru Yar'Adua's democratic gospel serious because of the undemocratic manner he was smuggled into office in Nigeria by Olusegun Obasanjo led cabal; hopefully this Guinea military officers will not be an exception.
Mr. Conte's health and his undisclosed illness has been an issue of national debate in Guinea for so many years. Rumours of his death surfaced periodically, including in 2003 when he was forced to go on national television to deny them. Icheoku says here, Conte shared the same trait with Nigeria's President Umaru Yar'Adua who will not tell nor disclose the nature of his health condition and the illness which is afflicting him almost to near incapacitation.
Also just recently, the editor of a local newspaper in Guinea was arrested after publishing a picture of the frail Conte struggling to stand up. A spokesman for the president went on television to lie to the people of Guinea that their Conte was not ill. The newspaper was ordered to print a photograph of Conte, showing him in a "very good health". Here again, Nigeria's President Umaru Yar'Adua learned very well from the now dead master and Nigeria's Independent Newspapers is today at the receiving end of Umaru Yar'Adua's anger for refusing to distort the fact and not retracting its Umaru Yar'Adua's health-scare story.
Like the dead Conte, Nigeria's President Umaru Yar'Adua, is flying to different overseas hospitals for treatment because of the comatose medical facilities in Africa; and like all atypical African leaders they do not care enough for their people to develop health-care facilities at home. Yet this privileged accessible health-care could not save him from death, the end of all beginning! Death has visited and Conte has joined his ancestors, story finished!

Icheoku does not care either way about the exit of this despot but pray that other sit-tight African despots like Egyptian Mubarak, Libya's Ghaddaffi, Omar Bongo of Equatorial Guinea and Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe take a serious look at the kind of legacy they intend to live behind at their final call. Mother Africa is crying tears of sorrow over the type of inept leadership forced on her by heartless despots, which has led to her stunted growth ever! To the people of Guinea, the death of Lansan Conte should be seen as an opportunity to fix what was broken and hopefully you will find a true leader who really cares about Guinea and her people!

Sunday, December 21, 2008

THEONESTE BAGOSORA, THE IDI AMIN DADA OF RWANDA!

Blood-thirsty African-leaders? First it was Idi Amin of Uganda; Charles Taylor of Liberia; Omar Hassan Ahmad Al Basher of Sudan and now a former senior defence official of Rwanda has been convicted of instigating Rwanda's 1994 genocide and sentenced to life in prison. His name, Theoneste Bagosora!
The African bloody-beast, Mr. Theoneste Bagosora masked in a suit left, led a very maniacal committee that plotted the massacre of ethnic Tutsis and moderate Hutus during the genocidal Rwandan war that claimed the lives of more than 800,000 Tutsis.
Bagosora, 67, and the two senior military officers were found to have organised, trained and armed the Interahamwe militia, which was responsible for most of the killing. His committee was also responsible for drawing up a list of Tutsis and moderate Hutus who opposed their vision of an ethnically pure Rwanda. Mr. Thoeneste Bagorosa was so maniacal that the Canadian General Romeo Dallaire, head of UN peacekeepers in Rwanda at the time, described him as a "known extremist" and the "kingpin" behind the genocide!
Bagosora assumed control of military and political affairs in Rwanda when the former President Habyarimana died when his plane was shot down in 1994 - the catalyst for the genocide. On the morning of 7 April, Bagosora in person is said to have given the order to a group of Interahamwe in Rennera to begin the extermination of the Tutsi civilian population. On this same day, he reportedly ordered Major Ntabakuze (Commander of the “Batallion Para-Commando”) Major Nzuwonemeye (Commander of the “Batallion de reconnaissance” - see "related cases"), and Lieutenant-Colonel Nkundiye ( former Commander of the Presidential Guard) to start the massacres. In addition he was said to have given the order to military groups, including units of the Presidential Guard and the “Bataillon Para-Commando”, to go ahead with selective killing of people whose names were on a list. Still on the same day, radio channels broadcast a communiqué from Bagosora inviting the population to stay home and await further instructions. This communiqué was said to have simplified the task of the military and the militias in eliminating the Tutsis and moderate Hutus.
On 11 April 1994, the military (which included units of the Presidential Guard and the Interahamwe) surrounded the Official Technical School to force out numerous Tutsis who had sought refuge there. Bagosora was reportedly at this location at the same time. After a forced march of two kilometres, the refugees were slaughtered by these military and militia units. From April until July 1994, Bagosora participated, with officers of the General Staff of the army, in daily meetings at which they were kept informed of massacres perpetrated against the Tutsi civilian population. They took no measures whatsoever to put a stop to these massacres, refusing categorically to intervene. In April 1994, Bagosora is said to have given the order to transfer funds from the National Bank of Kigali to Gitarama by the “Bataillon de reconnaissance”. Furthermore, he is reported to have negotiated arms purchases (from South Africa amongst others) in the name and for the account of the government. He is said to have continued, after he fled Rwanda (in summer 1994) to travel throughout Africa in order to purchase arms to fuel the Rwandan genocide. Considered to be the “mastermind of the genocide”, Bagosora was above all accused of having participated in the planning, preparation and execution of a plan which permitted a great number of atrocities to be perpetrated during the genocide. These crimes were committed by himself, by persons to whom he gave assistance or by his subordinates, either through his awareness of them or his acquiescence in them. Bagosora lived in Yaoundé from July 1995 until his arrest on 9 March 1996.
Icheoku says Mr. Theoneste Bagosora is another example of a black-eye for Africa! Gladly enough he has been put away for the rest of his natural life and in the solitary environment of the prison, he will pine away, tormented by the spirits of those he sent to their untimely gruesome end. Theoneste Badosora will be haunted by all the dead of Rwanda which he heralded. That hatred of another will so boil over as evidenced by this monster Theoneste Bagosora, to exterminate the lives of others is unfathomable. Our gratitude goes to the men of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), sitting in Tanzania, who convicted Theoneste Bagorosa and pray that their decision will discourage other lunatics of Africa from embarking on such blood-letting orgy in the future. Icheoku hopes also that the other African mad-man at Khartoum Omar Bashir, has been placed on notice by this decision as his genocidal action in Darfour has since been taken judicial notice of.
Profile: Col Theoneste Bagosora

Thursday, December 18, 2008

LUCKY IGBINEDION, A CONVICT!

Icheoku says, what a welcome first step, the conviction for corruption of the erstwhile governor of Edo State, Nigeria, Mr. Lucky Osawaru Igbinedion! The take-home lesson here, is that for once a Nigerian ex-public official has been held accountable for the sins of official corruption. Bravo to the judiciary that made this possible and our thanks to the EFCC, the agent-provocateur!
As for the sentence of just fine and forfeiture without any prison term, Icheoku says it is acceptable to us; as the imperative here is that for once a hitherto deemed untouchable, fraudulent public official has been convicted of official corruption in Nigeria. Lucky Igbinedion, the scion of the powerful Igbinedion ESAMA family of Okada, Benin-Edo State, Nigeria is now a convicted felon! Lucky was not lucky this time and has been held responsible for his criminal corruption.
Precisely the former governor of Edo State, Lucky Igbinedion, was on Thursday December 18th, 2008 convicted by the Federal High Court, sitting in Enugu for neglecting to disclose a bank account in the asset declaration form of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) after he left office. Lucky Igbinedion was ordered to repay the sum of N3,579,524.16, being part of the proceeds of his official corruption, in a Guaranty Trust Bank (GTBank) account number 4124013983110 back to the government. The court also ordered that Lucky Igbinedion's held company, Kiva Corporation pay a fine of N500 million for the N100 million stolen from Edo State Government. In addition, the court ordered that Lucky Igbinedion's Kiva Corporation winds up as required by law with all its assets forfeited to the Federal Government of Nigeria pursuant to Section 18 (2) of the Money Laundering Act. It also ordered Lucky Igbinedion to forfeit a landed property in Abuja, two plots of land in Benin City, a home of four bedroom apartments with boys' quarters, and another storey building and a bungalow.
But the EFCC in rejecting the sentence said it is believes that the essence of a plea bargain is not only for suspects to forfeit the proceeds of crime but that such should go with a sentence which will serve as deterrence. The Chairman of the EFCC, Mrs Farida Waziri while instructing the commission’s counsel to file an appeal against the verdict said, "the commission will rather go the long way of prosecution than to settle for a plea bargain verdict that has no bite or will not serve any deterrence purpose."

Icheoku says that the court's order is an agreeable very good first-step in the right direction; but that it should have made its order of forfeiture to benefit Edo State government, being the rightful victim of Lucky Igbinedion's pillage. However the judgment-properties may be distributed, the lesson of this verdict is that today a king who does not know Joseph has risen and called for rendering of accounts. Today, Lucky Igbinedion is a convict, a simpleton, a common-criminal, a 419 fraudster who defrauded his home state in breach of his fiduciary duty of trust, being the governor then. Lucky Igbinedion cannot vote nor be voted for anymore in any election in Nigeria, now that his criminal past has finally caught up with him. It is a standing rule of democracy that criminals like Lucky Igbinedion do not participate in the electoral process. Whether he can even have a driving licence is arguable. Icheoku believes that Lucky Igbinedion stashed away several other undiscovered looted millions of Naira somewhere, but the essence of his trial was not to impoverish him but to hold him responsible for official corruption! So, many thanks to the EFCC and the judiciary for a job well done! One down, many more to go!

Wednesday, December 17, 2008

DORA AKUNYILI POSTING, EXHIBIT 1A OF THE TROUBLE WITH NIGERIA!

Holly molly, this is a classical text-book example of putting a square peg in a round hole, Nigeria style! Nigeria can never seem to get its act right? Imagine the indefatigable NAFDAC chairwoman, Iron Lady Professor (Dr) Dora Akunyili being deployed to a mere glorified back-room ministry of Information and Communication? For what purpose, Icheoku may ask?
Of all the vital ministries in Nigeria, some of them in epileptic dyspnea, needing very urgent and intrusive emergency attention; and the re-invigoration of new blood, it was only the Information and Communications ministry that the Northern Oligarchs deemed a fit and proper cage to confine Dora Akunyili? Why did she even accept the position or will she die of starvation if she had said to President Umaru Yar'Adua, "thanks, but no, thanks?
The problem militating against Nigeria's rise to greatness is that mediocrities are always bestowed with the responsibility of running vital organs of the government which they are very much ill-equipped and ill-prepared to manage; while proven go-getters are usually relegated to inconsequential ministries because they came from the wrong geographical real-estate in Nigeria? Is anyone out there still wondering why the Nigeria-project has stalled all these years since her independence from Britain in 1960? Just take a cursory look at the ministerial assignments handed down today by President Umaru Yar'Adua of Nigeria and now tell Icheoku, which one of these mallams has any proven record of achievement to head their assigned ministry and a heavy-weight performer like Dora Akunyili is given an ordinary Information Ministry? Tomorrow, it is going to be the same result - a failed, comatose ministry on life-support and a Nigeria which still crawls since her birth. Icheoku concludes that Northern Nigeria is the bane of Nigeria!
With the successful antecedent of Professor Dora Akuniyili at NAFDAC, many a Nigerian thought that she will be deployed to the proven ground-zero of Nigeria, the POWER ministry; to go and wake up the slumbering, comatose never-expect-power-always ministry. President Umaru Yar'Adua is a talker but not a doer as he always disappoints Nigerians whenever it is time for him to walk his talk or show Nigerians, his seriousness with all his postulations. Umaru Yar'Adua promised to fight corruption in Nigeria and the first thing he did was to fire the corruption czar, Nuhu Ribadu! Umaru Yar'Adua promised Nigerians the return of the rule of law and the shutting down of ChannelsTV, arresting of e-media bloggers and harassing Independent Newspaper shows his own jaundiced-definition of Umaru Yar'Adua's rule of law? If Umaru Yar'Adau was serious about power emergency, why did he not assign an Amazon-warrior like Professor Dora Akunyili the task of giving Nigerians the ever-elusive power-supply? But no, Umaru Yar'Adua under pressure from fake drugs and goods dealers, simply removed their nemesis from NAFDAC and instead demoted her to a mere back-yard ministry of Information and Communication. May be Umaru Yar'Adua was planning the same Nuhu Ribadu-treatment for Dora, but decided to be more diplomatic about it? What position in the hierarchy of importance, amidst the very urgent needs of Nigerians, does the Information and Communication ministry occupy, that such a talented go-getter as Dora Akunyili, with her much vaunted abilities and capabilities should be muzzled up in such a fill-the-gap ministry? This is a big waste of an invaluable human resource! It is a complete misplacement of an asset. Talk of a complete disregard for proven performance. Umaru Yar'Adua has once again, failed Nigerians and it is about time that Nigerians realize that this sick man from Katsina is merely taking them for a ride - a really, long roller-coaster ride!
Icheoku says that Northern Nigeria is continually and with impunity, acting as the lord of the manor in Nigeria. Once again they have added impetus to this assertion by usurping all the key-ministries in the President Umaru Yar'Adua newly re-constituted administration. It is also pertinent to note that the same Northern Nigeria holds the presidency (Umaru Yar'Adua), secretary of government (Mahmud Yayale Ahmed), national security adviser (Aliyu Mohammed), Chief Justice of Nigeria (Idris Legbo Kutigi), president Court of Appeal (Umaru Abdullahi), as well as the senate presidency (David Mark); and one wonders where the very essence of Nigeria's federal character has suddenly disappeared to? And for a complete routing of Nigeria by the North, the North has, in addition, appropriated these very important ministries - defence ministry (Shettima Mustapha); finance ministry (Muhktar Mansur); agriculture and water resources ministry (Abba Ruma); national planning commission (Shamsudeen Usman); transportation (Ibrahim Bio); science and technology (A.B. Zaku); works and housing (Hassan Lawal); Federal Capital Territory: FCT (Adamu Aliero); petroleum ministry (Rilwanu Lukman) and Justice and Attorney-General of the Federation (Mike Aondoakaa).
Icheoku now asks, what is then left but the crumbles, when all these vital federal government ministries, both in responsibilities and size of budget with attendant employment opportunities and contracts, are aggrandized by just one section out of the three main sections or tripod of Nigeria? This is one case where the silence should no longer be golden and the Oha-na-eze, Afenifere, Niger Delta groups should denounce this fascist north for their wanton disregard for the continued unity of Nigeria. The North is perpetually undermining the unity-fabric of Nigeria by their crass, abashed domination of Nigeria. They do not have even an oil well, yet one of their own has to keep a watchful-eye over the oil-revenue? Where are the people of the Niger Delta, who own the oil lands and appurtenant waters? No, they are damn too "inferior" to oversee the revenue coming from the bowels of their land? This time, the other component parts of Nigeria should speak up and demand for fairness, their continued silence will be interpreted as cowardice of a slave, fearful of his slave-masters! Enough of this bullshit going on in Nigeria! At least they (North) should have waited until their complete mummification and islamization of Nigeria into an Arewa Islamic Republic, before becoming so brazen! If the table were to turn, would they, the North, accept such tacit exclusion? It is simply speaking, an abominable greed of the North, by the North and for the North!

Tuesday, December 16, 2008

GANI FAWEHINMI, A CONSCIENTIOUS NIGERIAN!

Icheoku says that he needs no further introduction to the world but will add, were there to be about ten of this man in Nigeria, Nigeria will not be in the sorry state, it is in today. His name, Chief Ganiyu Fawehinmni, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (British equivalent of a QC) and a human rights lawyer extra-ordinaire in Nigeria. Once again, this torn in the flesh of the ever-corrupt Nigerian governments, has asked the apostate President Umaru Yar'Adua's Nigerian government, to stuff their "national honour" to their, you know where? His reasons for rejecting this window-dressing of an "honour" makes great sense in every decent soul; but in a country like Nigeria where everyone sheepishly prostrates before the government like a house fly before palm-wine, it is surprise, surprise! Icheoku says, Gani Fawehinmni is an exceptional Nigerian of great conscience, of whose mould there is no other living Nigerian!
For rejecting this Nigerian government bribe of a national honour of the Officer of the Order of the Federal Republic, (OFR), Gani Fawehinmni has once again vindicated his character as according to Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida, the only man in Nigeria who does not have a price-tag! No one can compromise Gani as he is as solid as the rock of Gibraltar; no amount of intimidation, threat or bribery can make Gani sell his conscience. President Umaru Yar'Adua has now tried like his predecessors of yore and the result is the same - absolutely, no deal! Gani's demand is that Nigerian governments level with Nigerians and do right by and for the people of Nigeria. This time, it was the government‘s insincerity in its war against corruption and the treatment meted out to the former Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, that ticked him off. According to Gani, it will be insidious for him to be receiving such an honour under a government that is a “total failure” and unserious about eradicating corruption in the country. Whether now or in the life beyond, how can I wake up in the morning and look at the insignia of honour bestowed on me under a government that persecutes anti-corruption efforts, particularly its arrowhead, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu?
Chief Gani Fawehinmni in rejecting the award said, the Federal Government of Nigeria has been characterised by a collapsed infrastructure, total paralysis of the health sector at all levels, constant nationwide power failure and attendant negative effects on all sectors of the economy, pervasive unemployment, thereby generating increased armed robbery cutting across all ages of our people, debilitating homelessness, retrogressive educational programmes and policies, which have made no Nigeria university to be ranked within the first 500 universities in the world and no effort is being made by the regime to improve on the humiliating situation.“Put simply, the Federal Government is a total failure, worsened by lack of direction and leadership. Is this the atmosphere for the award of national honour? Certainly not. This is an indictment against all governments in Nigeria, including the present government that awarded the OFR to me.“The present government that awarded me the OFR has been guilty of abuses of human rights. For example, the closure of Channels Television station in Lagos and Abuja on September 16, 2008. The man who helped to catapult this regime into office, Olusegun Obasanjo committed some of the worst abuses of human rights as civilian leader between 1999 and 2007, namely: he sent troops to murder 2,999 innocent Nigerians in Odi, Bayelsa State in November 1999. He also shut African Independent Television (AIT) on November 30, 2005.“Without doubt, all our infrastructure are decadent and no effort has been made by this regime to improve on the infrastructure. Under this regime, power generation is next to zero and everyday the country is thrown into darkness. The manufacturers and domestic users of power are at the mercy of generating sets.”
For standing firm all these years (about 43years) with his firm convictions, irrespective of the government in power and what they throw at him, Icheoku hereby declares Chief Gani Fawehinmni, the one Saint in the hell called Nigeria and pray that the good Lord will preserve him, keep him alive and hearty to continue his onerous fight against all that is evil and militating against Nigeria. Long live Gani Fawehinmni!

Monday, December 15, 2008

WELL DUCKED, MR. PRESIDENT!

Icheoku asks, did the secret service detail protecting President George Walker Bush fail in their assignment by allowing the crazy Iraqi shoe-thrower a second attempt at his target, our President? The first could be interpreted as an unexpected surprise, but the second time is unacceptable considering it could have been any other more harmful weapon. Icheoku hopes that the secret service will review what happened in Iraq with a view to avoiding such embarrassment to Americans by proxy of our President in the future.

Hate him or love him, President George Walker Bush is still our president and this fact should be made known to the whole world including this Iraqi mad-man; and Americans protect their own. In the composite picture right, President Bush looked slightly bemused after ducking the shoe hurled at him by this Iraqi fanatic while Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Maliki tried like any gracious host to reach out and parry off the thrown-shoe before it hits his American guest, President George Bush.

Icheoku says congratulations, Mr. President, for twice successfully ducking those filthy Iraqi shoes hurled at you by that fanatic masquerading as a journalist. Mr. President, Icheoku wants you to know that you did America proud by not allowing that Iraqi dog hit a home-run with those dirty dusty shoes of his. Mr President, you denied him his possibly greatest joy at humiliating an American President by striking a target with those his smelly shoes. Imagine an Iraqi pig's shoes landing on the head or body of an American President? Bravo, Mr. President for those quick reflexes which you displayed at that Baghdad press conference, it pays to be alert and nimble!
Icheoku sometimes wonders aloud if the Iraqis would rather they had remained under the dictatorship of "Sad-man Insane" as opposed to the relative freedom they appear to now enjoy? Even their Prime Minister Al Maliki would not have had the privilege of hosting an American President were it not for the fall of Sadam Hussein, courtesy of the Americans and President George W. Bush. For this pig to now throw his dusty shoes at George Bush is the greatest case of ingratitude for all the blood and treasury expended in liberating the Iraqis. Under the deposed Saddam Hussein, this shoe-thrower's head would have been cut off for bringing shame and ridicule to the brave Iraqi people. His daring to put a guest of the Iraqi government under fear of bodily harm, would have been treated by Saddam Hussein as a treasonable high crime felony warranting the guillotine; possibly his family, clan and community would have equally been wiped out under the deposed regime for producing such a disgrace.
This shoe-throwing is inexplicable under any circumstance; and for showing such disrespect and contempt to a visiting foreign dignitary, this Iraqi shoe-thrower deserves some years in the slammer for his uncivilized behaviour. His conduct is abhorable and should be condemned by all right-thinking people, world over, irrespective of the popularity or lack thereof of President George Walker Bush. However, President Bush had the last laugh by artfully dodging the raving mad-man of Iraq's shoe-missiles, thereby denying that loser, his intended target.
Icheoku says that this despicable shoe-thrower, Muntather Zaidi, a correspondent for Baghdadiya, a satellite TV channel that broadcasts from Cairo should not walk, as he assaulted an American President and a visiting guest of the Iraqi government!

NIGERIA, THE STATE OF AFFAIRS IS VERY BLEAK!

The Nigeria newspaper, Leadership, on December 15th, 2008, wrote a comment on the state of affairs in Nigeria titled "FRONT PAGE COMMENT: State Of The Nation". Icheoku finds the commentary very interesting hence our editorial decision to republish same here for you, our world-wide audience; it pointedly, zeroed down on what ground-zero really looks like in present day Nigeria. Happy reading!
"The state of the Nigerian nation is not good. Not even Thomas Hobbes' state of nature – "laborious, nasty, brutish and short" – is enough to describe life in Nigeria these days. The cause is known but the solution, though appearing simple, has surprisingly become far-fetched, thanks to the conspiracy of a small elite class. It has been said that no one has the right to govern a people without their consent. But in Nigeria, even that has been upturned. All the institutions of government appear to have failed and the generality of Nigerians no longer have confidence in the ability of the Nigerian state to protect them anymore. The steady bloodletting of innocent people in the Niger Delta, the recent avoidable mayhem that claimed hundreds of lives in Jos a fortnight ago, and the devastation of families by armed robbers every minute of the day are only a few examples of the inchoate failure of the Nigerian state.
The state of the nation today confirms that President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua is not the leader to lead us out of the doldrums. Across the nation, there are crises of frightening proportions. There is no electric power anymore: mosquitoes, heat and armed robbers have made nights dreadful for most of the urban poor. Small businesses are dying because there is no power supply. Despite the enormous funds called "security votes", which are regularly shared by local, state and federal governments, there is no security of life and property. The education system has collapsed. Federal budgets are not being implemented and jobs are almost nonexistent, even as schools continue to churn out millions of uneducated school leavers and graduates each year. Cities, including the Federal Capital Territory, lack clean water. The health of many a Nigerian is constantly imperilled by lack of potable water and fake drugs. Health institutions have moved from being "mere consulting clinics" to glorified mortuaries. Bad roads are causing accidents and killing travelers on a daily basis. And while every country in the world is fashioning out a bail-out plan for their individual economies, our president does not seem to be aware of what is happening around the world. The Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) has collapsed and it has stayed collapsed because of a non-challant leadership.
The man who promised, more than 18 months ago, to be a "servant-leader" is neither serving nor leading. It is taking him and the nation so long to appoint ministers. Few persons understand the current administration's "seven-point agenda", the policy thrust that has consumed billions of naira in media advertisements but little in actual implementation. Yar'Adua's campaign promise to declare an emergency in the power sector is yet to be fulfilled. At present, the entire nation of about 150 million people consumes less than 1,000 megawatts of electricity. Yet, to get out of the power mess and get businesses moving, Nigeria requires upwards of 100,000 megawatts. Because the refineries are not working, 100% of the country's fuel needs is imported. Any wonder that Nigeria is rich while Nigerians are poor? Oil has served no useful purpose, except that it has fed the few who are benefiting from corruption. For too long, corruption in high places has been allowed to ruin the nation. Democracy has finally been buried by the collective conspiracy of a number of crooked persons in the executive, legislative and judicial arms of government. See how certain judgements emanating from the courts have foreclosed any hope that elections held on the Nigerian soil will ever be free, fair or credible again. To defeat election riggers in court, a petitioner would need to assemble all the voters in his constituency and name them one by one in order to prove his case beyond reasonable doubts. The alternative is to assemble a private army intimidating enough to force INEC and the government not to tamper with actual election results.
To become prosperous here, one no longer has to work hard even if he has a job. It's either he knows someone who can help him "win" an election or belongs to a criminal gang. Like everyone else, therefore, the generation born during and after Nigeria's independence in 1960, whose future is being ruined by entrenched political corruption, are no longer at ease. Pushed to the wall on all fronts, they seek survival by taking to crime. Where are Nigeria's leaders? Where are the guardian angels of the nation? Have they given up? All we need to do to know how severe the nation's situation has become is compare Nigeria with countries like Ghana. Yes, we need to be scared for the future of our nation and all those we are going to leave behind. Little wonder that several Nigerians who can afford it are already thinking of alternative countries.
As 2008 comes to a close, there is no better time to soberly reflect on the state of our nation. Nigeria is not working. The world has already left us behind. Opportunities have been lost and the price of crude, the nation's mainstay is likely to further plummet. We cannot afford to continue in this mess, living like a nation without leaders. People of character and goodwill must congregate and regroup to beat a new path for the only country we have. 2009 must be different".

Sunday, December 14, 2008

CHINA, COMPLAIN AND BE DECLARED MENTAL!

If you open your mouth to complain, you are declared mad as one who have over-stepped his/her trained stoic acceptance of what is, as is! . In the Chinese city of Xintai, Shandong province, one automatically become a certified lunatic fit for housing in a state's mental institution if one opens his/her mouth to complain about how things are going wrong in the society. At such institutions, the so-declared loony is debriefed, re-programmed and forcibly medicated until such a time as the state determines that such a person is no longer a threat to the way things has always been! What a life for the citizens of Xintai?

Authorities in Xintai, a municipal region in eastern Shandong province China, had so far forced at least 18 people with grievances, ranging from police brutality to property disputes, into a local mental hospital according to reports. Sun Fawu, a 57-year-old retired miner from Dagouqiao village in Xintai, was force-fed drugs and injections during a more than 20-day stay at the Xintai Mental Health Hospital in October. He had campaigned for years to get compensation for spoiled farm land and housing stemming from coal mining near his village. Sun was released only after he signed a document saying he was mentally ill and "would not petition again". Lao Shi, an 84-year-old retiree from Tianbao township, was sent directly to hospital in 2006 after travelling to Beijing to complain about a local property dispute. The former public servant counted 18 petitioners in over two years there, a list corroborated by Wu Yuzhu, the hospital's director. The hospital also has its misgivings," Wu told the paper, saying that it was under pressure to take petitioners, some of whom would arrive escorted by police.
Checking petitioners into the hospital was in part a matter of hard-boiled economics, a local official said, given that cash-strapped local governments could ill-afford to chase petitioners to Beijing and other places. According to Chen Jianfa, assistant to the head of Quangou township in Xintai, "every time we have to send three or five people to Beijing, and pay their food and accommodation, it's not a matter of pennies; hence it is better to prevent their Beijing trip by confining them in a mental institution. If a petitioner slips through to Beijing, the head of both the local branch of the Communist Party and government get punished for the lapse.
Icheoku says, thanks to freedom of speech as guaranteed in the constitution otherwise so many of us would have been institutionalized by now. But to the Chinese authorities, how long are you going to keep the emotions of your 1.6billion citizens bottled up? Every human emotion need some venting of steam otherwise one day it will result to a forceful explosion leading to revolution. You cannot beat someone and at the same time demand that, that person do not cry. It amounts to approbating and re-probating and it brings out the worst vermin in any mankind. So Chinese authorities, allow your citizens to breathe some air of freedom to avoid the inevitable clash of citizens with their government in the near future; baring an immediate change of attitude. How can a rational citizen be declared a lunatic just because of a demand for some rights? Only in China is the answer found in Xintai, province of Shandong!
China: Complain About the Government; Get Institutionalized