Looking at all the drama that took place in the National Assembly in recent weeks, which brought about the emergence of Saraki and Dogara as the leaders of the Assembly. I lean back to think and reflect on all the issues surrounding their emergence, the power play, the in-tricks, The Lord & master/servant scenario, the war of independence vs determination of so called Party Leaders cum godfathers to instill their will on the Assembly and by extension the generality of the entire 170 million Nigerian.
To me, the aim of the godfathers is to be in control of the Assembly, so as to;
1. Have their ways in law making i.e. Budgetary Allocations & Appropriations.
2. Use it to threaten the President at every juncture (i.e. Impeachment).
Also, for the purpose of having their way, in abiding with the commands they give him in oil block
allocations, appointments and removal of those, whose faces they don’t like.
They now hide under the guise of “Party Supremacy”.
How dare we Nigerians accept such ‘Rubbish’.
As they say, ‘That’s how it’s always been from Adam’ I therefore say ‘That’s why we are where we are today in Nigeria’.
This Party Supremacy(godfather) thing has only fanned the feathers of the minority elite, it has only benefitted the ‘Piper’ and left the whole country in abject poverty. It has made people in positions of power accountable only to the party, it’s leaders, godfathers and cronies, and not to the people of Nigeria, whom they are actually supposed to be accountable to!
PEOPLE make the Party. Without PEOPLE there will be no Party!
A party is only a name on a piece of PAPER. It is the assemblage of PEOPLE that brings the Party to Live!
Yes party members must abide by party rules. But our party leaders must be made to understand that once their members get elected, they then become accountable to the people ‘first & foremost’ before the party.
After all on Inauguration Day they swear ‘ALLEGIANCE’ to the Constitution and people of Nigeria and not the party!
The party is supposed to take a back seat and play the advisory role from that point on.
It is therefore ‘PEOPLE SUPREMACY’
Once our leaders recognize and accept this, all the bickering in the Assembly will never repeat itself.
Leaders should behave like leaders, after all, in African tradition, when younger people are confused, they go to the elders for counsel, direction and advice, which they then use to guide their decisions.
Please our leaders let us come to you for your wise counsel, to draw from your wealth of experience. Stop being over bearing and breathing down our shoulders to do your will at all cost, else all hell breaks loose!
I believe that it is only those that don’t want their kids to progress and become men and women of their own, that will keep them at home at the age of 40 and continue to spoon feed them. Then when they die, the kids become useless, even to themselves, waste all the wealth and become destitute.
Greed is another reason, the greed to continue to amass ill gotten wealth till they die and the greed to forever be in power and poppet all others to worship them as their gods till they die.
As the holy book says; There is time for everything under the sun. When your time comes use it. When it has passed, leave others to use theirs. If they need your advice they will come to you. If you think what they are doing is not right advice them.
All those passive politician, who have no love for the people, but themselves, are always the ones hiding under the influence of the godfathers to acquire positions they themselves know they don’t deserve. Thus swearing oaths with these godfathers to do their biddings to the detriment of the people, so long as their own pockets are filled, they careless whose ox is gored.
If you are sure of yourself and you are worth your salt, why not face the contest and get elected by the majority, instead of relying on imposition by godfathers.
My advice; Nigerians, it’s time to wake up and insist on ‘People Supremacy over Party Supremacy’.
| By: Leye Jokotoye Twitter: @leyejokotoye |
Be the first to comment