‘Like a partridge that hatches eggs it did not lay, are those who gain riches by unjust means.
When their lives are half gone, their riches will desert them, and in the end they will prove to be fools. – Jeremiah 17: 11
It is a shame of monumental proportions that 84 members of the senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria could, in pursuit of juicy senate committees, permit themselves to be rail roaded into passing a vote of confidence in a man, albeit the senate president, standing trial on thoroughly scandalous charges before the Code of Conduct Tribunal. Granted that Senator Bukola Saraki is presumed innocent, a more honourable group should have prevailed on him to step aside until his honour has been fully restored. It says so much for the moral of these senators, many of them brandishing, not only higher degrees, but membership of distinguished professions. Writing on today’s topic reminds me of Dr Segun Osoba, my teacher of unmatchable perspicacity, who taught both my Diplomatic History and Philosophy of History at degree level. Deploying deep insight and introspection, he had uncannily predicted today’s Nigeria way back some five decades ago. That wasn’t by magic, but the result of clear-headedness and a principled stand on the side of the PEOPLE in their interminable war against the supposed great men of power; the despoilers of common causes, and oppressors of the flotsam and jetsam of society. Like most rational thinkers, my teacher voted for Holism over and above, Individualism.
However, before we go into all that, let me most sincerely thank those who made my 70th birthday such an unforgettable and impactful event. This entire page will not contain their names but the good Lord knows you all. They made me an open book, saying what they know and believe about me as Olu Aluko did when he wrote on ekitipanupo: “indomitable is an appropriate word to describe Oga Orebe who, at 70, is still rugged, dogged, persistent and as ‘constant as the northern star – a man to admire and engage with, intellectually. Amiable and well cultured, he is a good example of what people should perceive of the Ekiti man!” I have since replied to thank him while not forgetting to ask all the forumites, and everybody reading this, ‘to kindly stretch a hand towards me in prayers to the end that the Almighty God will continue to instruct and guide me a right, to the last days of my life’.
What the group of 84 senators is doing, holding up Senator Bukola Saraki as being superior to other Nigerians and should therefore walk away with a slap on the wrist instead of defending himself before the Code of Conduct Tribunal, completely stands logic on the head as it makes nonsense of the Hegelian postulate that the whole is greater than the part, and that the state is superior to an anarchic agglomeration of individuals, no matter what name they call themselves. In Hegel’s metaphysical doctrine – I don’t know how much of this our aspiring emperors of the Nigerian senate know – value, integrity and common sense reside in the whole, not in the part just as the eye is worthless when separated from the body. In the instant case, Saraki and his colleague senators, like the senate itself, are nothing more than a mere part of a country whose critical component are the PEOPLE. It is therefore numbing and defies all logic that Saraki, in being taken before a tribunal for his alleged personal transgressions, and having all the wherewithal to hire all of Nigeria’s SANs, can suddenly be equated to the whole senate as is now being mischievously claimed by the complicit 84 members, uproariously insisting that the senate leadership is being targeted and embarrassed. Senator Bukola Saraki, in case they truly do not know, is only an individual and no amount of grandstanding by any number of bigoted individuals, seeking after their own greed, must be allowed to shame the Nigerian judiciary as his mocking lawyers appear to be inclined. To succeed in that will mean that Saraki is a super man who can will whatsoever he wants on Nigerians. This is totally unacceptable and for every misguided pro-Saraki group demonstrating, there must be twenty or more, representing the interests of the Nigerian masses who remain victims of our politicians’ anti social devises. This tit for tat must continue until those misguided senators know that it’s inadvisable for them to hop up to Abuja, any longer, because they have proved to be enemies of the Nigerian people.
For a whole sixteen years, these people, together with some who are now outside the power loop, but all the same luxuriating in their stupendous loot, ran this country aground, pauperising its peoples in the process. Now comes President Buhari, ready to right millennial wrongs since he appreciates that stealing is corruption but they think they can hamstring his administration. Nigerians say no. Indeed, they have a surprise waiting for them from the Nigerian masses and workers whose mere N18,ooo.oo monthly salary remains unpaid for months before President Buhari came to their aid. It will be a shame of unimaginable proportions should pauperised Nigerians look askance and allow this ongoing Abuja shenanigan by a people who, by their own admission, earn unimaginable remuneration.
In his defence when the EFCC arrested a former Speaker of the House of Representatives, it became common knowledge that these legislators, consequent upon a decision at an executive session on 30, March 2010, earn the following un-appropriated remunerations: Speaker – N100m, Deputy Speaker, N80m, House Leader N60m, Deputy House Leader N57.5m, Chief Whip N55m, Deputy Chief Whip, N54.5m, Minority Leader, N54.5m, Minority Whip, N50m, Deputy. Minority Leader, N50m, Deputy Minority Whip, N50m’.
Is it a surprise then they have been fighting to the death wanting to grab these sinecure positions? These remunerations may have since been increased and Nigerians can only imagine what senators must be taking home quarterly from the national purse if the above is paid to House members. This, I imagine, is why they have now decided to distract President Buhari. And Nigerians just must say enough is enough.
We must let them know that they lie if they ever think that through their continuing belligerence, they can cause anti-democratic elements to intervene because the civilised world hugely respects President Muhammadu Buhari for that eventuality to happen. Indeed, no soldier worth his commission will attempt that, having seen what transpired in Burkina Faso this past week. These senators, who are obviously not busy except mounting a guard of honour for Senator and Mrs Saraki wherever EFCC takes them, should find something worthwhile to do with their time. They should let Saraki be man enough to answer for his own actions. Saraki comes well prepared: a medical doctor, two-time state governor and Senate President. His fair weather friends, as he would soon know, should allow him defend himself so that, rather than being remembered for those charges, history would record him as a man who stood up for his actions. Enough, too, of this chimera. Senator Bukola Saraki cannot equate the senate. He represents only a third of Kwara State in that hallowed chamber and the charge he faces is not against the senate as an institution. Those who are saying so should know that they are being laughed at all over the civilised world.
For Nigerian politicians in general, there can be no better way of ending this piece than to quote Joe Igbokwe in his article in The Nation of 1st October, 2015 where he wrote:”Nigeria at 55 with Muhammadu Buhari as president provides a new window for all of us to sit up and be smart in re-ordering the way we do things. The massive flow of refugees from Libya, Iraq, Syria, Yemen and Africa into Europe should be food for thought for our leaders. Boko Haram insurgents, MASSOB and Niger Delta militants remain a big challenge to all. We must rise above ethnic sentiments in order to confront these threats and build the Nigeria of our dream.”
NATION
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