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.

Monday, December 8, 2014

BUHARI LIES YET AGAIN, ADMITS TO OVERTHROWING SHAGARI !






Icheoku says in an interview with The Sun Newspapers, December 9. 2015, the man who is desperate to rule Nigeria again after three previously failed attempts, APC Muhammadu Buhari, has recanted his earlier claim that he was merely invited after the 1983 coup to assume leadership of the junta? many Nigerians including Icheoku doubted his claim then as well as his overall veracity for truth. Peradventure, he was caught pants down in an unguarded moment and he ADMITTED being a COUP PLOTTER. Below is the excerpt of the question and answer session that roped in and in his own very own words.


Q:- "Are you sorry for bringing to an end the Shagari’s government?"

Buhari:- "No, I am not sorry because I mentioned the reasons why WE DID IT. And we proved our case."

Icheoku says Nigerians now you know that the man who truncated democracy is trying to benefit from the same democracy he once killed. Please Sai No to Buhari; tell him DEMOCRACY hates anti-democracy elements. Moreso he is so yesterday to want to participate in a government of the future. Icheoku says Nigeria has no use of him and his ilks; especially not in 2015. He lacks candor and his words don't mean a thing.

BUHARI VOWS NEVER TO FORGET BABANGIDA?

Icheoku says here is another excerpt from that Buhari's interview:-

Q:- "You were detained after being removed from office via a military coup in 1985. Have you forgiven the man who removed and detained you?"

BUHARI:- "I have said it so many times that those who said I should forgive and forget were not being honest. There are things in life that you will never forget. But I have forgiven the persons who were responsible for removing me and detaining me BUT I will NEVER forget them.

Icheoku laments if only Muhammadu Buhari knows the content of "Our Lords Prayer", he would have been aware that he is required to first asks and receive President Shehu Shagari's forgiveness before asking or expecting or even effectively forgiving Ibrahim Babangida, assuming the Evil Genius asked for his forgiveness? Muhammadu Buhari was the first bandit to rob an elected President Shehu Shagari of his mandate; and IBB merely stole from him what he stole earlier from Shagari. It is like IBB merely re-stole from Buhari what he never rightfully owned nor effectively had? Therefore robing an armed robber at gun point what he earlier robbed at gun point is technically not armed robbery because the initial armed robber did not have rightful ownership and possession of the thing in the first place and should not be heard to complain if another armed robber takes it from him. Icheoku says Muhammadu Buhari has no standing whatsoever to feel bad about his removal as he did the same thing to a duly elected President Shehu Shagari.

JONATHAN, THE BEST PRESIDENT NIGERIA EVER HAD - OMOKRI?

"President Jonathan is the best president Nigeria has ever had. There is no political prisoner in Nigeria; as a matter of fact, Nigeria has become so free under President Jonathan that those in exile were able to return home. Some chose to attack him, others chose to support him; but the obvious thing is that there is no consequence because we have a God-fearing and philosopher-king  president." - Omokri, R. presidential aide to Goodluck Jonathan. 

Icheoku says every laborer must earn his wages and therefore must prove to the wage-payer that his money is not being vainly wasted on him or her? So, in as much as Icheoku is not contesting the veracity of what was said above, but would like to clarify further that the catchment imperative here is "ever had" but not "could ever have?" So offended Nigerians, who are miffed that a mediocre performer is being branded the "best ever had", should understand the context under which the statement was made. Icheoku says instead of crucifying the alleger for what was alleged, just  judge the statement within the context of the decrepitude former Nigerian leaders like OBJ, BUHARI, IBB, ABACHA, ABDULSALAM and of course the genocidal YAKUBU GOWON.  

Icheoku asserts that, compared to any of these mongrels, the timid Jonathan is tiers ahead of them all put together. Therefore Icheoku agrees that in so far as the comparison was made relative to what Nigeria has been cursed with thus far, it is a truism. But nevertheless, when compared to what could be possible in a country with over one hundred and fifty million humans, then it is a far stretch. Icheoku further avers that President Jonathan has not done commandingly and satisfactorily well enough to satisfy the expectations and cravings of Nigerians that know better; but he is a sure improvement from what Nigerians have witnessed previously in the past. However, the future would be better with a more prepared and bold enough person, who knows what to do and could do what is needed to take Nigeria to the next level, by just shaking things around and consequentially. 

Sunday, December 7, 2014

I LOVE MY COUNTRY - SULE LAMIDO

I LOVE MY COUNTRY - LAMIDO

"I love my country, Nigeria. I can never allow my personal aspiration to blind me to the dangers it can bring on my country. A country that made me what I am, gave me space to grow? I will do everything in my power to pay back Nigeria for what Nigeria has made me. I will work hard to see that Nigeria is stable, united and strong, so that as Nigeria has enabled me to grow, other Nigerians will also have the opportunity to grow to the best of their potentials, to be governors, ministers, parliamentarians, academicians, captains of industry, scientists, professionals and what have you." - Sule Lamido, Governor Jigawa State. Icheoku says what a highly commendable and patriotic statement.

MIYETTI ALLAH'S HOSTILE TAKE OVER, IN FULL GEAR?

Icheoku says behold the soldiers of Miyetti Allah, lined up and ready to take their country back, regardless of what any person thinks or feels about their born to rule mentality. As far as they are concerned, it must be their way or the highway and any Nigerian who does not like it must be branded "dog and baboon" whose blood would be used to water the grounds? Icheoku says must Nigerians continue to always tolerate the idiotic mindset that fuels such attitude of exclusive entitlement to power? 

Icheoku has nothing against a viable opposition taking over in 2015 and indeed, actually is in support of such earth-shaking development to shake the PDP out of its doldrums; but can't the APC give Nigerians a viable alternative they can live with? Icheoku says sixteen years is such a long time for one party to be in power that they have become somewhat complacent and no longer working hard enough to earn their continuing support by Nigerians to remain in power. If Icheoku has its way, no party would be in power for more than two terms of eight years, and in that way Nigerians would be better exposed to which party is indeed better for them.  

But when the PDP has remained in power for this long, with some of their top guns boasting that they would be in power for sixty years, what option do Nigerians really have to check what indeed works better for them or what others have to offer? But unfortunately, the APC is not working hard enough to really give Nigerians this elusive option, to enable Nigerians indeed decide, because of the candidate they are pushing and trying to force down on Nigerians. Icheoku says that BUHARI is not the answer to the question, who is a Jonathan's alternative? 

Why must it be another North-westerner or even a Muslim or even a Hausa/Fulani oligarch for that matter? Shagari is from there; Buhari is from there; Abacha is from there; Yar'Adua is from there; and technically, Babangida and Abdulsalam are from there, being both Hausa/Fulani Muslims? Icheoku asks why must the North be only North-westerners - what about Northeast as well as North-central? The APC have other potential candidates who are not from the usual Northwest belt, who are equally Northerners and even non Muslims. They also have potential candidates who are even from the same South-south belt as the man they are planning his ouster from Aso Rock. So a well-meaning APC, would strategically go out of its way to give Nigerians a candidate from the same zone as the man they want to remove. That way, they would really present Nigerians a clear choice, devoid of the religious, sectional and tribal permutations that would determine voting pattern in 2015, in the unfortunate event the inevitable Buhari candidacy crystallizes. 

Anyway, it is for Nigerians to decide whether these mean faces is what is required now in the land or would they prefer some happier faces leading the way. As for Icheoku, we certainly desire some happy smiling faces in a country that is already saddled with too much pain and anguish as a result of the Boko Haram continuing menace. Look at El Rufai and the man he once criticized for not retiring and leaving the turf for younger generation, Muhammadu Buhari's faces and you wonder why they are this melancholic? Icheoku says governing Nigeria is not synonymous as performing funeral rites, so undertakers need not apply. 

Icheoku pleads with Bola Tinubu to please spare Nigeria this unsmiling sadist as today's Nigeria no longer needs such a demagogue as its leader. No matter what, there is always a reason to be optimistic that there is some good still left in life to warrant a happy face; but long drawn faces, who needs that in Aso Rock? Please APC delegates, Just Say NO To Buhari; reject him as your presidential candidate; at worst, the eminently corrupt Abubakar Atiku would suffice, at least he smiles and radiates some hope! To APC delegates that would soon gather in Lagos to choose their presidential candidate, Icheoku pleads that the future and fate of Nigeria is in your hands, so on December 10, please use your ballots wisely.

BOKO HARAM, AMERICAN HYPOCRISY IS DANGEROUS - AKINYEMI

"Continuing references to human rights violations by the Nigerian military will carry more credibility if they come from the Vatican which gave up fighting wars centuries ago, than from the United States whose favourite weapon, the drone, makes no distinction between civilians and combatants. I believe the term “collateral damage” was coined by Colin Powell to justify the often appalling civilian casualties that resulted from United States military activities abroad." - Professor Bolaji Akinyemi, criticizing American government's skewed excuse  of human rights violations by the Nigerian army as reason for refusing to sell arms to Nigeria to enable them fight Boko Haram.

Icheoku says the Americans apply laws and implement their foreign policies as it suits their interests; otherwise which country is more despotic, with glaring gross human rights violations throughout the face of the earth than the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, which continues to strictly enforce barbaric Wahabism-based Sharia law, while still  enjoying the coziest relationship with America? Icheoku adds that Abu Ghriab was not a Nigeria's army making? Also please do not mention that Palestine is suffering untold inhumanity in the hands of the proverbial 51st State of the United States of America located in the Middle East? 


Russia crushed Chechnya rebels with America's assistance and the world knew how humane and nicely done that campaign was? The Brits in their Northern Ireland campaign also tapped into America's help as well as during their battle with Argentina over Falklands Island and they were  "noticeably" Mother Theresa-like when they fired and sank a retreating Argentinian navy ship with over five hundred sailors on board, who are still resting in their Atlantic Ocean watery graves as Icheoku keys away this piece? When Saddam Hussein held sway and was gassing his fellow citizens with nerve gas, who manufactured and supplied those fumes to him?  Vietnam, Japan, Germany, Mexico, Cuba, Panama, Nicaragua, Iraq, Libya, Afghanistan, North Korea etc are all escapades that should be better wished away as if they never happened?

Anyway it is world geo-politics and it is what it is. This is  what is causing Nigeria's inability to procure weapons from anywhere since the Americans said no to their offer to buy. Armament manufacture and supply is a business controlled mostly by America; and because they also have the biggest weapons market as the largest procurer and consumer of weaponry, no country would want to be shut-out from the American market by provoking the Americans by dealing with Nigeria. Therefore a somewhat pariah(ed) Nigeria would find it extremely difficult, barring resort to the black market, to find any country willing to do arms business with it once America does not give them the green light to so do? 


It is a matter made more laughable  because America, a supposedly Christian country fighting Islamic terrorists everywhere else in the world, is rather looking the other way while an Islamic terrorist group, Boko Haram, is wrecking havoc in a country presently under a Christian headship? In other terrorists-infested places, America is begging for volunteers to be freely equipped to help fight the terrorists; but Nigeria, with a standing army ready to fight the same type of terrorists, is even begging to BUY weapons, yet the Americans would not let them? Is anybody smelling the same rat which is fouling the air around Icheoku's nostrils in this double-standards?

Icheoku asks why is fighting Islamic Al-Queida and ISIS terrorists good enough but fighting a similarly murderous Islamic terrorist Boko Haram off the radar for the Americans? The only fathomable reason is that Saudi Arabia has interest in the outcome of the Boko Haram insurgency in Nigeria and they often trade deals with the United States in a quid pro quo fashion; so America is probably letting them navigate the Nigerian situation. So until the christian president of Nigeria goes and the House of Saud retakes their premium African country as a puppet master, Boko Haram would continue to have a free range in Northeast Nigeria. The Americans would not like to spite their Middle East oil mafia, who helps them control the valve of world's oil supply, by directly intervening in the Boko Haram crisis by providing arms to Nigeria. It is horse-trading at its best. 

On a hindsight however, Icheoku laments that had the Nigerian government after the Biafran war, not been so vindictive and wiped out 'Biafran Weapons and Ordinance Development Agency', may be Nigeria would have since become an arms exporting country and not the arms-beggarly nation who America is snubbing and refusing to sell arms to?  But if only the genocidal Yakubu Gowon and his band of marauders had tapped into the ingenuity that birthed ogbunigwe, Ojukwu bucket as well as many other allied weapons and ordinance that were invented by the good brains of Biafra as demanded by the exigency of the time. But that discussion would be left for another time. 

Saturday, December 6, 2014

BOKO HARAM INSURGENCY, SO MANY UNANSWERED QUESTIONS?

"The defeated terrorists, who arrived in a large convoy of 30 vehicles, motorcycles and equipment, were on a mission to take control of Ashaka." - Nigerian military. 

Icheoku queries where are these Boko Haram terrorists getting their funding from? Through which financial institutions are they moving their money? Where are they buying all these military trucks, vehicles and equipments from? Where are they parking these their vehicles at and where are they fueling them from? Where are they getting trained in the art of war and who is providing the training? Through which ports are they bringing their equipments  into Nigeria from and on what roads are they driving them from the port of entry to their Sambisa evil Forest? Who is providing them with logistics and intelligence? Which communication network are they using to coordinate their activities? How are they moving money around to both pay their foot soldiers, provide for their families and pay for weapons and ordinances? Why is it that a national military always allow these murderous miscreants an escape route instead of flanking them off and using sickle and anvil  tactic completely obliterate them? 

Icheoku says there is simply too many unanswered questions about the continuing Boko Haram insurgency in Nigeria;   and until Nigerians, seriously and honestly, without all these partisan accusatory finger-pointing, begin an intrusive inquisition about what is sustaining the insurgency, the Boko Haram annoyance might as well become one heck of a continuing nuisance that Nigerians would come to accept as having become part of their daily life and for some time to come if not forever. It does not add up that Boko Haram insurgency has lasted this far, a fact made more disturbing because America, as well as some other nations allegedly helping Nigeria fight the insurgency, has body-heat detecting equipment that can zero down on humans even in the thickest jungle including Sambisa Forest; and also a convoy of thirty vehicles should not be too difficult to be easily spotted by a helpful friendly country's satellite. Anyway, it is President Jonathan's problem to try and figure those things out and provide answers to Nigerians on the continuing nuisance that is Boko Haram; but Icheoku's, to encourage Nigerians to demand more from their leadership. 

DEFINITION OF CLASSY, WHAT SAY YOU?

It is not what you do but how you do it. It is not  what you wear but how you fittingly wear it. It is not who you are but how you carry yourself. It is not what you drive but how you drive it. It is not who you know but whether that knowledge makes you a better person. It is not who you are with but what that person thinks of you. It is not where you have been but whether that experience enriched you. It is not in where you live but how you live in it.
So, now you know that it does not behove on you to profess your classiness as it does not lie in the mouth to say you are classy. Let witnesses bear the testimony and judge you accordingly. Your actions and reactions to issues and matters, as well as what comes out of your mouth should also be able to back up their assessment either way. As a checklist always ask yourself:- when you talk, do you communicate? When you listen, do you hear? When you look, do you see? When you complain, do you nag?  When you walk, are you aware? When you get mad, do you blow off the gasket? Above all do you have compassion for the little guys and gals you meet along your way? 
Also remember that the high decibel of shouting or screaming out your lungs usually turns people off and tunes them out from whatever you may be trying to get across. Be civil in your conduct and civilized in your manners. I am Icheoku and I approve this message that being classy is a way of life but not an act or show; it is often imitated but never duplicated!

Friday, December 5, 2014

A NIGERIAN RESIGNS AN APPOINTMENT, A NOVELTY?

"I am compelled to take a hard decision of tendering this letter of resignation of appointment. Even though during the past eighteen months to be precise, I was caged in this office, virtually redundant, doing nothing and without any defined schedule of responsibility, yet I remain grateful to you and your government." - Abdullahi Muhammed Lamba, former Chief of Staff, Kebbi State Government, Nigeria. 

Icheoku says it is a highly commendable development that a Nigerian and a politician for that matter, could so easily resign from an appointed office and walk way  regardless; instead of continuing wallowing in the deceit that was keeping his lack of job-description job? Icheoku says kudos, Alhaji Lamba! Way to go; and if only others have the moral fortitude and pride which often guides such honorable decision. Icheoku says best of luck in your future endeavors. 

ERIC GARNER MURDER, WHITE PEOPLE ARE CRAZILY WICKED?

Icheoku says if indeed there is heaven, according to their bible, even Judas Iscariot would first make it therein before any white person would sneak past the security thereat, if ever. These people are crazy, inherently wicked, very mean and worse of all, they don't give a damn nor care a hoot about what their victims have to say, feel or think? The latest murder of Eric Garner and the blatancy of the nearly all white grand jury to let his killer, Daniel Pantaleo, walk, a free man, once again brings to the fore the lopsided-nature of dispensing justice in America? It is a continuum of what black people as well as other minorities of America are forced to live with, have been subjugated to, meant to deal with daily and in all facets of life, all these years since their so called abolition of slavery, which to all intent and purpose, was merely rather symbolic than actually transformational. 

In every department and sphere of life in America, racism   squarely stares one on the face? So why would anybody think it is only their police officers that are racists, when these officers are just but part of a group whose middle names could as well pass as racists? You get a job when they let you have one but you will not be paid equally as your white colleague, same qualification and experience? Your white colleague gets all the liberties and opportunities to rise while any slightest infraction sends you packing, including scheduling you on holidays especially Christmas just to have you quit? Their neighborhoods is equally off the limits for people who do not share their color pigmentation? You turn on television and majority of the anchor persons are Caucasians? You are charged for a crime and you don't get a break from the justice system while similarly charged white people get probation, slight reprimands and/or little confinement? Your children cannot go to their children's schools, they have their own churches and the list goes on and on; and someone said America has moved on from its racist past?

When a white person commits a crime, they try to explain it away as an aberration and an exception; but when a black person commits a crime it becomes a pattern of behavior, their way of life and thus painting a whole population with one brush as criminals? Meanwhile almost all the heinous crimes in America such as mass murders, school shootings, movie theater shootings, shopping mall shootings, cannibalism, incests as well as other sexual deviant behaviors and crimes against women and children are majority white committed? But instead of acknowledging the proliferation of crime among white people, they would dismissively treat such offenders as a mental health case issue that needs help instead of punishment. Sandy Hook Elementary School shooter Adam Lanza; Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh; Florida neighborhood watch killer George Zimmerman; fifty billion dollars Ponzi schemer Bernard Madoff; John Kennedy killer Oswald Lee; Florida loud-music shooter Michael Dunn; cannibalism serial murderer Jeffrey Dahmer, etc, are all white people? When you add white people CEOs who rob Wall street, companies and banks of millions of dollars, taking down those institutions in the process, they will still explain it as an errant case? But when a black person robs a corner store of an ordinary five dollar gallon of milk, it becomes those bandits, out with them, away with them, lock them away and throw the keys away? 

Black people in America are regarded as and often times treated worse than animals that must be caged or killed and/or effectively controlled by any means necessary? They must be put down and kept down and they expect you to take it as dished out and not say a thing in form of complain or protest? Icheoku says admitted that black people have become psychologically so traumatized over the years by the cruelty of white people, that some of them sometimes behave awful and in a reactionary manner, but their outbursts and somewhat misfit behaviors are just symptomatic of the continuing injustice they have suffered and are still suffering in America till date. They are branded angry black people but none of these white people ever ponder to ask why these black people are angry nor do they care to really know and understand the root cause of this anger anyway. Icheoku says the disparity in justice dispensation as heavily skewed against black Americans is such that a people who constitute less than twenty three percent of the population are today more than seventy five percent of the United States prison population; a prison population which is the highest in the world with over three million people locked away and up behind bars?  

Now back to what Eric Garner, who was publicly strangled to death, did, to warrant his public execution? Eric Garner was a father of six children and a husband of twenty seven long years to his beautiful wife, a record in black communities byway.  He was semi-retired from his job as a gardener and was hustling to support his family, in addition to the meagre check he receives monthly from his former employer. He was buying packets of cigarette and singly retailing them on the street corner to those poor indigent smokers who could not afford the exorbitant twelve dollars a pack, cigarette sells in New York. That was all he did to warrant his being choked to death; and someone says America is a free enterprise country where everyone is trying to make a buck? Icheoku asks  what is then wrong in Eric Garner trying to earn some money selling those loose cigarettes; at least he was not robbing a liquor store nor holding up a bank? As far as Icheoku is concerned, the only offense he might have committed is his not paying additional taxes on the profit he possibly realized retailing those single cigarettes; after however previously paying taxes on them when he purchased them in packets; and he had six children and a wife and a mother to support? 

Anyway, what is done is done and nothing would bring back this man to his now grieving family; but the injustice done in not at least indicting this killer-cop screams to high heaven. Icheoku is not saying that the killer cop SHOULD and MUST be convicted, but at least, he should have been publicly indicted for the apparent crime which was caught on camera and let the courts determine his culpability or lack thereof. But when a bunch of retired angry white people, who want to take their country back, through a grand jury, decided to let him walk, that's where the beef was raised. Justice was not done, neither was it seen to be done and this is where the rubber met the road in the anger being expressed by a cross section of Americans who still have some humanity in them and could relate to what Eric Garner's bereaved family is going through at this moment.

Icheoku says it is very unfortunate it happened again and so soon following the Ferguson Missouri Michael Brown's murder that also went unpunished. But every black man and woman in America understand the precarious nature of living a black man's life in America. A life of little or no value, in the eyes of these white people, which can be so easily snuffed out in a strangle-hold by a white police officer and there is no consequence whatsoever? Icheoku laments that nobody asked these white people to invade Africa and poach black people as free-labor slaves for their plantations? Now that they have invented machinery to do the jobs and no longer needed their slave services, in their cotton fields and sugar plantations; and with their lawns and agricultural lands now being tended to with Mexicans' cheap labor, they want these descendants of the slaves to beat it and leave their America? Icheoku asks where do they want them to go? Adieu Eric and may God, using your passing, touch these white people's hearts to make them change their ways and start treating others who do not look like them fairly IJN.

Thursday, December 4, 2014

ERIC GARNER CHOKE-HOLD DEATH VERDICT, BLACKS DON'T MATTER?

Icheoku says at least with Ferguson, there was no video evidence of what happened; but when a video did indeed exist that recorded the broad daylight murder of a black-man in New York by white racist police officers and the grand jury still returned a not-to-be-indicted verdict, then something is terribly wrong in America and its justice or rather injustice system. Icheoku laments that the New York verdict is just another example of the numerous free passes constantly given to White police officers, who needlessly kill or mercilessly bludgeon black people and for no justifiable cause. Rodney King was brutally savaged by six Los Angeles white police officers without any consequence; ditto Amaduo Diallo who was toilet-plunger(ed) in the rectum by the same New York police department officers; Oscar Grant was not so lucky as he was shot to death while laying face down handcuffed and surrounded by several police officers at a train station in Oakland; Kelly Thomas was so brutally damaged too, as well as a host of many other such cases. 

Icheoku says it is increasingly becoming an imperative that something more than the usual peaceful marches and demonstration protests is needed to put senses back into such people that return such inexplicable verdicts and those police officers that triggered them in the first place. What a travesty and you wonder if this caught-on-tape killer-cop, Daniel Pantaleo, is not guilty, who else could ever be guilty? Icheoku asks has the life of a black-man in America become so trivial or are these white Americans waiting for a major earthquaking incident to happen involving a very top-heavy black person before an indictment could be secured of a white police killer? The latest New York victim, Eric Garner,  has no job and could not find a job either, and was merely retailing single cigarettes to enable him make some money to afford milk for his little girl and the white police man choked him to death and no indictment? It is also pertinent to note that using choke-hold on suspects is a prohibited act of the New York police department, yet the offending white police officer is neither indictable nor guilty? Icheoku says please give me a break America with this arrant racism. Rip Eric Garner and may Charles Barkley now feast on his dung with his rants over Ferguson.

Wednesday, December 3, 2014

BUHARI, NOT GOOD FOR NIGERIA



WARNING: - BEFORE YOU BUY INTO THE BUHARI SNAKE OIL, WATCH THIS (THE BUHARI) VIDEO!!!

MARRIAGE, AN IMPEDIMENT?

"If Jesus Christ had married, he probably would not have succeeded in his mission to save mankind, considering the powerful and overbearing influence wives have on their husbands." - Oluwasegun S.O. 

Icheoku says in as much this somewhat states the obvious, but what about the saying that behind every successful man there is always a woman? Conversely, the downfall of every man is often woman-caused? Anyway with things Divine, who are we mortals to add or subtract; and in as much as some Christians believe that Mary Magdelene was married to Jesus, Icheoku says it does not really matter either way, as what was destined, as usual, would always come to pass.

ANYIAM-OSIGWE, ASSASSINATED?


021214F-Michael-Anyiam-Osig.jpg - 021214F-Michael-Anyiam-Osig.jpgIcheoku says the narrative does not add up, of how this man died; allegedly shot dead by armed robbers? Any critically thinking mind,  piecing together the account of events leading up to the killing of Nze Michael Anyiam-Osigwe, would definitely come to the same conclusion that there is a lot the public is not being told about how this man met his death? 




Icheoku on his part is emphatic that based on the circumstances surrounding his death, as narrated, that MAO was not a victim of a random attack by a band of marauding bandits. Rather he fell into the snare of a well planned, carefully choreographed and clinically finished assassination, by some evil people, possibly including his family members, who specifically wanted him out. Hopefully security agencies would, upon forensic investigation, also arrive at this conclusion, make necessary arrest and prosecute his murderers for the crime. But the story, culminating to his demise as is being told, is more of a fable, better reserved for the less endowed upstairs. 
Now patiently travel together with Icheoku as we journey back through the road of what allegedly transpired that eventually led to his death:- The family were en-route Owerri (Nkwerre-Orlu) Imo State from Lagos, for a funeral or an event and in a convoy of about four vehicles. Suddenly on approaching Okada town junction on Benin-Ore road, they ran into a band of armed robbers conducting an operation? They abandoned their vehicles and ran into the bush while their three-man police security detail engaged the armed robbers in a fierce fire-fight? The armed robbers overwhelmed the police detail, who then managed to summon for the help of additional police officers to the scene.  Eventually and still while Michael and co were still hunkered down in the bush, the combined team of police officers forced the armed robbers to flee? 
Please specifically note that these "well trained and fully armed" police officers did not and could not kill nor even successfully arrested any of one of these armed robbers? Following their "victory" over the armed robbers, the lead-police officer, using a bullhorn, called out to everyone who ran into the bush to come out as everything is now all-clear? MAO alongside others, honored the police assured announcement and reemerged from their hiding places inside the bush. Everyone drove off, except for  MAO, whose car suddenly became immobilized and so could not drive off while every other person except him did? According to the story, a bullet had perforated MAO's vehicle's engine and rendered it un-drivable? Icheoku queries a bullet perforating a car's engine, when each day we watch police television shows where police officers hide behind their vehicles engine section while exchanging fire with hoodlums? 
Continuing, suddenly as stranded MAO was still fiddling with his vehicle and wondering what the next line of action would be, one of the supposedly vanquished armed robbers, emerged from nowhere to put two hot leads into MAO's chest and thigh? There was no air-ambulance to MEdiVac MAO to the hospital and he was bleeding profusely from the exit chest-wound? There was also no ambulance either, with trained medical personnel to render good first aid and at least properly secure his bleeding fountains? 
According to their explanation, the nearest helicopter service available was over five hundred miles away in Port Harcourt from the shooting incident and the pilot "does not fly after 6pm and so cannot come to the rescue either?" The result was that a man already mortally wounded and clinging to his dear life, was driven by road back to Lagos, another distance of about four hundred and fifty miles before first proper medical attention could be rendered? He subsequently died in the hospital while preparations were afoot to evacuate him to a foreign country where adequate professional medical assistance is available?  Then the curtain of the narrative falls and with it a life that was productively lived but wickedly cut short. 
Now asks yourself where were those reinforced police team that "overpowered" those armed robbers when that lone straggling armed robber came back? Why was it MAO that the armed robber directed his shot at and at his heart; and there was no evidence of any particular act of provocation from MAO that could have so incensed the bandit to warrant such an aggravated aggression on him? Further, after point-blankly firing the deadly buck-shot at MAO, why did the armed robber not also shoot the other remaining people who were with MAO including two of his brothers? Also, nothing was stolen by the armed robber from either MAO or from any of the other persons as he quietly walked away and disappeared after 'mission accomplishing' his job? Why was it only MAO's car, among the many that were similarly abandoned by the fleeing victims at the scene, that developed a problem that immobilized it? 
Icheoku is asking these pertinent questions because a car engine is not so easily susceptible to nor is it readily compromised by ordinary bullets such as was fired in a cross fire shoot-outs? 
So is it possible that while Michael was hiding in the bush that his car was specifically sabotaged to render him a sitting duck for the assassin to find and execute? Further, why was a  deathly wounded MAO not taken to University of Benin Teaching Hospital or even Okada Teaching Hospital, both of which are very close to the scene, to be first fully stabilized before further seeking medical treatment for him? Why was a man bleeding from the heart driven by road so tortuously to Lagos with all the traffic jams and bad driving conditions factored in? 
That a member of the very powerful,  influential, wealthy and well-connected Anyiam Osigwe family of Nigeria, was mortally so wounded and the surviving brothers could not summon help or a helicopter to rush him to a hospital is beyond Icheoku's comprehension? Icheoku is aware that they have access and could have easily put a call through to Aso Rock or the Edo State Government House in Benin for an immediate SOS rescue; but instead decided to make a journey back to Lagos by road and for several hours carrying a man with life-threatening gunshot wounds on his chest and upper thigh?  Finally why were they traveling by road instead of undertaking the less than one hour flight time it takes from Lagos to Owerri or Enugu or even Asaba? 
Icheoku says there are just too many questions not being answered, which if answered would help clear the fog of this case. Icheoku is emphatic that this case smells of an assassination, but certainly not a random act of armed banditry which is plaguing the country. It also does not matter what those brothers of his with him are saying as their own version of the account of event, a thorough investigation is necessary to uproot the very root cause of MAO killing and let parties thereto present explain or answer some of these burning questions. Until then,Nigerians should see it as a lawless execution of a fellow citizen and seriously demand answers from those in the know. 
Icheoku says while the country is so deeply plagued and being suffocated by wanton insecurity,  politicians in that "largest economy in Africa" so called,  who could not do right by the citizens and at least provide some MEdiVac helicopters for emergency occasions like this, and who have also refused to adequately fund the police to help them produce crack crime-fighting police force that could have averted this needless and avoidable death, are once again busily perambulating all over the place and asking Nigerians to reelect them? Icheoku asks reelect them for what? What have they shown for their election of these past years? If only the APC would provide Nigerians with a real choice they can live with? Icheoku laments what a loss! So long Michael Anyiam Osigwe, Adieu!

Tuesday, December 2, 2014

THE SERVANT-LEADERSHIP, ANY NIGERIAN EXAMPLE?

The type of leadership any politician would provide, whether a servant-leadership or a looter-in-chief leadership, is evident in the "do or die' attitude and near desperation of that politician in his or her quest for power. Having a selfless as opposed to a selfish, self-centered disposition, is the hallmark of a servant leader, which unfortunately is in a very short supply in Nigeria. Icheoku says apathy and political in-activism on the part of the voting electorates is helping institutionalize this loot-o-cracy by these greedy thieving politicians. Icheoku says it was the late Dee Sam Onunaka Mbakwe, governor emeritus of Imo State as it then was, who once said that the rat does not eat something which belongs to a person who is wide awake. Icheoku hence advises Nigerians to become very wide awake in order to stop these band of thieving politicians before they get access to the treasury by means of the ballot. 

Nigerians should just ask themselves, when has serving a people become by force; otherwise why  the desperation to secure power by any means necessary and thus giving credence to the end justifying the means? Icheoku says  these people cannot be so insanely possessed in their quest, if indeed they are merely motivated by their desire to render service to the electorates? But we all know that politics in Nigeria is the surest route to steal and steal, and amass stupendous wealth, none of which these politician actually needs; but which in the words of Imo State Governor Rochas Okorocha, helps guarantee that "our generations yet unborn shall never lack?" Icheoku condemns this attitude as crass gluttony exemplified and thievery of the worst kind, the taking of more than one actually needs by these politicians while starving millions of the people, of the little they need to in order to just stay alive.

Icheoku says who in his or her right mind, being so sincere  to serve the people, would borrow millions and sometimes billions of Naira, maim and kill people, as well as wrought all manners of other kinds of violence, just to secure the authority to "serve" the people?  Their cunning approach is usually a subterfuge they use to masquerade their ulterior intention to visit untold wreck on the peoples sovereign wealth once elected; which was aptly captured in the words of Professor Tam David West. According to TDW, "Aspirants who throw money around are public thieves, looters. The bribe money they offer is public money, our money, recycled to corrupt the public for their selfish ends. Why would anyone take the trouble to spend all his millions to buy votes to enable him serve the public? They have hidden agenda to mega-loot if elected. It’s because he knows that when you elect him, he would make it up in no time. Nigerians, lets say No, No, No, this time, to these band of politicians." Icheoku agrees with the learned professor of urology and says but are Nigerians listening to such wise counsel.

Please Nigerians, when next any of these rabble-rousers  come knocking at your door, tell him or her to take a hike as you are tired of listening to the "messianic" hogwash oozing from their mouth. Icheoku also will like you to demand a break from all these politician-desperadoes and pontificators, who are busily extolling how they would solve all Nigeria's problems once elected, by magically wanding every problem known to Nigerians away. Icheoku says these brand of politicians are deceiving Nigerians and they do not mean well for the country and would loot it into bankruptcy.  So when next any of them comes to you, asking for your vote or your understanding on why they are the best of the pack, and would like to serve you, please tell them thanks, but no, thanks. Alternatively, demand that they  pay you your own portion of the democratic dividend upfront; and/or that they should help you mow your lawn and see what type of a servant-leader they truly indeed are or intend to be if they comply. Please as 2015 comes into view, be vigilant, be active and do the needful not to let these rats into the treasury. Icheoku says this is the time to stop complaining about bad leadership by electing a good leadership. Salute!

Monday, December 1, 2014

RELIGIONISATION OF POLITICS - TAM DAVID WEST

RELIGIONISATION OF POLITICS - TAM DAVID WEST
"I have always held that for a lasting and stable polity, we should bring religion into politics but take politics out of  religion. If the codes (Dos and Don’ts) of religion are injected into politics, politics will be necessarily sanitized of all filth. No election rigging, No cheating. No corruption. No looting. No killing. No violence. No intimidation. Love will take over from hate. Real democracy will be realized. There will be justice, peace and progress for all. Remember that things about religion go deep into one's bone marrows, those of politics only end on the epidermis"" - Professor Tam David-West

OBASANJO IS A SPOILER - OZEHKOME MIKE.

“I think that Obasanjo is a spoiler who does not want to sit in podium of great and revered political leaders across the world. Such action as he has taken do not behold well of a man who is suppose to be an elder statesman. The statement (he made) may be true and self evident in terms of executive corruption in Nigeria at all levels particularly at the Federal and State government levels, and in terms of increasing legislative rascality that we have been witnessing from the National Assembly particularly the House of Representatives. All these allegations may be true but there are certain question that need be asked. Firstly, how did Obasanjo perform as President of Nigeria?

Was it not in his time that corruption was elevated to a doctrine and a fundamental objective and directive principle of state policy? Was it not during his time that Ghana Must Go bags where seen being physically carried from House of one legislator to another either to remove an existing Senate President or to perpetuate his third-term agenda. Was it not during his time that the greatest economic and financial scandal in Nigeria’s history, the Siemens and Halliburton scandals were re-enacted? Was it not during his reign that the Petroleum Trust Fund and Petroleum Equalisation fund became a nest of indelible corruption? 

Was it not during his time that two major towns in Nigeria- Odi in Bayelsa and Zaki Ibiam in Benue State where mindlessly destroyed and leveled to the ground by rampaging military men in a manner that portended genocide, where many people, animals and properties where wiped out from the fave of the earth? Was it not during his time that Nigeria won the Gold, Silver and Bronze trophies in corruption under the Transparency International Corruption index? There are more decent ways and manner in which a former president can channel his grievances to a sitting president and the National Assembly, all of which are open to him without question (but he choose otherwise)." - Mike Ozehkome, lawyer and activist, taking on Ota deity Olusegun Obasanjo for his continued meddlesomeness in Nigeria. Icheoku says Mike Ozehkome spoke for Icheoku as well as millions of Nigerians who hereby admonishes Olusegun Obasanjo to just go away and disappear out of sight. Enough of this Obasanjo's Pharisees complex.