Senator Elisha Abbo is Nigeria’s youngest senator and one of the 108 men who are elected to decide the course of the lives of ordinary Nigerians. Relatively young, he has succeeded in worming his way to the corridors of power, empowered to serve his country and its teeming masses of people to the best of his ability.
Unfortunately, instead of getting down to serious work immediately, perhaps by drafting a radical bill that will distinguish him from the older and more experienced members of the Senate, Senator Abbo’s introduction to the Nigerian public takes place in a shop where adult sex toys are sold in Abuja.
He is not involved in a notable argument in the red chamber on any issue of great importance to his country, but conducts himself in a manner that is unbecoming of a lawmaker, which also exposes the distressing fact that the Nigerian youth may not represent much of a positive change in the affairs of the country.
Abbo is still at the receiving end of severe criticism for assaulting a female attendant in the shop where he had gone in search of sex toys. Although it is not an offence to be in a sex shop, as a senator of the Federal Republic, he should have conducted himself in a more dignified manner. His visit to the shop for adult sex toys, as reported in the media, in the company of three women, brings out to the open his tendency to be wasteful, greedy, self-centred and corrupt. It also exposes his real priorities.
Notwithstanding, his presence in a sex shop is just a moral affair and not a legal issue. In fact, he could still leave the sex shop and summon energy to present reasonable arguments that will benefit the masses on the floor of the senate. The real legal issue arises when he proceeds to assault and batter a Nigerian lady who is an attendant in the shop.
He does not limit his action to the assault, but orders a police man assigned to him for the purpose of his official duty and protection to arrest the lady. Shame! The officer who should interrupt the disgrace goes ahead to secure the arrest of a Nigerian who had just been beaten for no just cause.
Elisha Abbo is a bad way to introduce a young generation into Nigeria’s upper legislature. If a new cycle of young minds is about to start, like they say, the future belongs to the youth, he has only proved that there may be no silver lining at the end of the dark clouds that have since been looming over Nigeria.
He has also shown that age is not the problem, but the quality of leadership.
Senator Abbo has committed a clear offence. All that is necessary is that the security agencies are prompted by the video alongside the social media pressure and then proceed to secure his arrest while charging him to court.
In his action, three things are worthy of notice. Foremost is his immoral presence in sex shops when important legislative business should have begun. At his age, Barack Obama was elected a senator in Illinois and would proceed to distinguish himself as a young lawmaker, an achievement that later stood him out for election as President of the United States.
Second, the real concern is the response of the police officer who, having clearly seen the person who initiated the aggression, went ahead to arrest the lady. This proves that Nigerian law enforcement agents protect members of the political class at the expense of the masses.
The third and most disturbing is the question of the future of a nation where a senator is in a sex shop beating up a pregnant lady. Pastors are being accused of rape and Imams are defiling young girls. Everywhere you turn in Nigeria, ugly and foul news seems to be awaiting your gaze in the media space.
What significant difference can one expect from the younger generation? What new wave of sexual assault is taking over Nigeria? Is there a trend noticeable in gender-based violence? Are the plagues that are tormenting Nigeria ready to stop?
Abbo’s abomination is a shame.
Koye-Ladele Mofehintoluwa wrote in from Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife
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