OUR distinguished senators are really distinguishing themselves
chambers was not very cheering. It had nothing to do with
any of the things we pay them such exorbitant sums to
debate. It was not about the economy that needs all hands
on deck. It was not about youth restiveness and rising
crime. It was not about the malnutrition in IDP camps and
children dying of hunger on a daily basis. It was not about
the avengers in the South or Boko Haram in the North or
herdsmen in between.
It was not about any of the national issues crying for
attention. It was about the Senate looking inwards. But it
was not a critical self-introspection like the amount of
money it guzzles from our depleted purse. Or the number of
times it goes on recess in a year. Or its poor attendance
record not to talk about its low attention span. Or the
rightness of a select group of people collecting pensions and
salaries from the Senate.
No. The news that closed the week was about two senators
who threw decorum to the winds and allegedly used words
that should never have left decent lips.
The issue that led to this was not, like I said, about national
interest. It was about self-interest and the need to protect
certain high ranking officials from facing the consequences
of their actions. It was about caucuses and the Nigerian
penchant for turning everything into politics including crime.
This is not what we pay them for but this is what they do.
This time, neither of the two main caucuses allowed itself to
be browbeaten or intimidated. The result was a shouting
match that led to a gutter language. One allegedly called the
other a thug and a dog. The other in response, allegedly
threatened to beat her up and ‘impregnate her’ on the floor
of the Senate and ‘nothing will happen’. He was alleged to
have further said that she was too skinny for him anyway
and would prefer a fleshier senator like…. .(name of the
‘fleshy’ senator is withheld for decency).
These comments if true, show that this person has no
regard whatsoever for womanhood. It shows him to be an
uncouth chauvinist who is utterly contemptuous of the
feminine gender. His defence, a press statement a couple of
days later was even worse. How could he impregnate a
menopausal woman he asked in his statement. He forgot
that he was speaking about somebody’s wife, somebody’s
mother and a fellow senator. This is from an honourable
member, a distinguished senator, a two-time Member of
Congress.
This week opened with the news that this distinguished
senator flew to Lagos, and videoed himself walking down
Bourdillon Street, the home of the female senator to show
that nothing could happen to him. I do not expect this kind
of antic from even a student activist. I felt sorry for him, his
family, his constituency and the country. This guy has no
idea of the import and the weight of his office. This is a man
whose long time ambition is to oIne day rule this country.
You’ve got to feel sorry for Nigeria. How is it that this is one
of the people that are supposed to make laws that will
govern Nigeria?
I have been expecting some reactions from the leadership
and public condemnation from same that these two people
brought the hallowed chamber into disrepute. I have been
expecting other senators to re-emphasise the need for
comportment and decorum in the conduct of senators.
Nobody has the right to call another person a dog, least of
all a fellow senator. And nobody has the right to drag a
body, especially a body of the status of the Senate to the
low that it was dragged to by the other gladiator. But all we
have heard from the hallowed chamber is a deafening
silence. And all we have heard from APC, the party of
change to which the two belong, is also a deafening silence.
This is the Senate that wants immunity for its principal
officers in the first instance. This Senate of anything goes
including possibly murder, wants immunity. This Senate that
has not shown any regard for corruption and crime wants
immunity. This Senate that does not recognise talk less of
protecting those who put them there wants immunity.
Immunity from who? The government or the people? You
can imagine giving this our man in question immunity.
There is no doubt in my mind that we need a body that will
check the excesses of the executive. Especially an executive
like this one that tends towards being autocratic. But it
cannot be the Nigerian Senate that allowed the scale of
corruption that took place under Jonathan. Or this present
one that is so self-absorbed. We need a robust senate that
is ever so conscious of the long term needs of its
constituency and the long term needs of the country. A
senate that will earn its respect by the quality of hard work
of its members and the quality of debate on the floor of the
House. The people have a role to play in making sure that
we clean up the Senate and have an upper chamber that we
desire. We should stop accepting whatever it dishes out to
us.
We should insist on getting value for money. Nobody is
paying a senator to follow his principal to court. If there is
anything to be learnt from the Turkey experience, it is that
we the people have more than a say. We have power to
effect a true change. We have the power to resist individual
ambitions that are not in the collective interest. And we
should never have allowed the past Senate President and all
his fellow returnees who supervised the malfeasance that
characterised the last administration to still be in the
Senate.
An article credited to Rtd General Alani Akinrinade made the
rounds last week. Whether it was written by him or not, it is
an article that all senators and House of Representative
members should read because it encapsulated how people
really feel about our Congress. Titled: ‘A joke too far’, it
talked about the carrying on in the present Senate; its
achievement or lack of it and lambasted it for daring to talk
of impeaching a democratically elected President. He called
its members prodigal sons and suggested to concerned
Nigerians that turning out en-mass to ‘OCCUPPYNASS’
would not be a bad idea.
Now, would it? Especially if it would make our ‘distinguished
senators’ to shape up or ship out.