Legislators and their jumbo pay

The Nigerian state is constantly under siege. It is hostage to everything negative. Nothing good appears to be come out of the country, nothing cheerful. It is sad. Even when there appear to be some minuscule of progress, it turns out to be a well-crafted fraud of gargantuan proportions. Please don't get me wrong. I am not one of those cynical Nigerians who see nothing good in Nigeria or Nigerians. I am certainly not one to run down his country at the slightest opportunity. No. However, it would amount to unpardonable dereliction to look the other way when things are going wrong. It is our duty as citizens of this country to resist any attempt to undermine the economic well being of the nation - no matter who is involved. The common patrimony should not be allowed to be frittered away to satisfy the lust and greed of a few people who call themselves representatives of the people. The question is: Why are these so-called representatives NOT representing the people they claim to represent? Why? Why is the 'messenger' feeding fat on the commonwealth to the detriment of the 'master'? Why?

Recently the ever controversial ex-president, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo voiced out what we all knew - and grumbled about, even if in muted tones - how federal legislators (add to that local government chairmen, state legislators in some states)  mindlessly appropriate for themselves jumbo pay packages and allowances. There is no rational explanation for legislators to earn more than any other Nigerian, including professors, doctors, lawyers, etc. None whatsoever. If truly they represent the people, they ought to show solidarity with the people by ensuring that their remuneration is commensurate with the times and if necessary, take a pay cut to demonstrate their empathy with the suffering masses. What kind of representative would consign their constituents to perpetual penury by indirectly looting the treasury?

Our Federal legislators should urgently retrace their steps in the interest of the nation. Recently a comprehensive research was conducted by ThisDay newspaper on the level of performance by individual legislators in the National Assembly. That edition has become for most people, a collectors item as it was a detailed account of the contribution of each legislator to debates at plenary and committee levels. It was not surprising that most of them performed woefully. They failed. The naked truth is that majority of our legislators should be recalled for offences ranging from truancy, disgraceful non-performance or both. It was a disastrous outing for most of them. Some of them have not as much as opened their mouths (except for 'chopping' jumbo pay) since they resumed at the National Assembly! The report showed clearly that many of them don't understand legislative business. And they couldn't care less. Included in this group are legislators whose only understanding of legislative activity is oversight functions which affords them the opportunity to interfere in the running of government agencies and parastatals. It is an opportunity for them to collect inducements and lap up some other perks to add to the jumbo pay. This shameful conduct is what makes us wonder: is this what we bargained for in the titanic battle for democracy? Do Nigerians truly deserve to be treated so shabbily? Does it not offend the senses of decent Nigerians that at a time of great economic hardship and difficulties; at a time when the average Nigerian is scavenging refuse dumps for food and clothing, a few 'elites' are going home with jumbo, mouth-watering pay with constituency funds to boot? Where is equity in this democracy? Where is justice? Where is decency?

So IBB wants to Discuss June 12 and Dele Giwa?

I have just read an article in The Guardian (Aug 20, 2010 back page) by an IBB acolyte saying that IBB is not shying away from discussing the annulment of June 12 elections or of the assassination of Dele Giwa after reportedly banning reporters from asking him questions bordering on those two thorny issues.

This man is something else. The nickname maradona (which conveys the image of a tricky and artful dribbler) fits him like a glove of his size. Here is a man, perfect in the art of ambivalence. A man perfect in the art of double-speak. I can swear that on TV you can often see him speaking from both sides of the mouth. The Dele Giwa issue is one of the very intriguing cases of a government clearly bent on hiding the truth. The IBB government refused to set up a judicial board of enquiry to investigate the circumstances that led to the killing of that fine investigative journalist. The much we know, which remains the truth until proven otherwise is that on October 19 1986, a "government" parcel bomb was delivered to Dele Giwa on his breakfast table. The man was blown to pieces and with him the reputation of the government when they killed the clamour for a probe. We all know that the valiant effort of late Chief Gani Fawehinmi to bring the government officials mentioned in the whole sordid affair was thwarted, frustrated by this same man seeking to rule this country again. It begs the question: does he have other targets to dispense with? Why would he run away from a judicial enquiry? While it is true that Gani Fawehinmi's suit went all the way to the Supreme court and failed, the judgement could not be otherwise at a time when every effort was made to hide the truth. The courts are not there to enquire into anything that was suspicious. Courts deal with the facts before them. Not so a judicial board of enquiry. That was the missing link.

The June 12 imbroglio was planned and executed by IBB and his cabal. He must be ruing that mistake but does not have the courage or the grace to admit it. In the heady days of military rule, a man given to power drunkenness can take decisions without thinking of the future, without thinking of a time he would cease to be president, or of a time when he would return to ask for votes from the very people he ruled with an iron fist. Who does he think he is? In civilised climes a person like him would have been committed to prison many years after his 'tenure' for actively participating in a coup. He executed his friend Mamman Vasta, on charges of coup plotting. What an irony! He too should be tried for plotting and executing a coup against the Nigerian people. He should be the last man on earth to seek the people's vote. But I hear whispers that he may not really have anything new to offer besides keeping his promise to "step back in" after "stepping aside" on August 27, 1993. Lie. He did not step aside. He was forced out, forced aside in a most humbling fashion. The odds were against him and he knew it. Every attempt to cling to power including foisting a lame duck Interim Government crumbled like a pack of ill-cooked cookies to his shame. This same man wants to rule this country - why? Did he just wake from slumber to remember "the many things he would have done properly"? Well, he had his chance, he had eight years and squandered it in his many dribbles and flip flops in the name of government policy. It is very unfortunate that Nigeria has always been ruled by people who soon lose touch with the people when they move into Dodan Barracks or embrace the palatial confines of Aso Rock. The people hardly matter which is a big shame. There is no word to describe the perfidy of rulers who only remember the people at election times. IBB for instance blatantly refused to attend the Human Rights Investigations Panel in Lagos, citing security reasons but has since been seen junketing around the South-West axis without any form of harassment. Who was he deceiving? We know him for who he is - an unrepentant opportunist. But unfortunately for him he does not know when an opportunity no longer exists for him. And he cannot find it no matter how hard he tries. And he will not have it. No, not in Nigeria.

Who is IBB?

One of the greatest ironies of life is that certain persons live in the past and talk of the present. How that gels with the thinking faculties of certain individuals is very hard to fathom. A certain man at a point in time seized power by the barrel of the gun and became a maximum dictator. He had no parliament to contend with (he took care of that through a decree), He was the ultimate power in the land. The maximum ruler. Yet, he could not exercise political judgement in a manner that would have made him a hero unlike Kemal Atatürk of Turkey. IBB squandered all the goodwill he had and became an excellent failure. The same man turns up in a civilian era to say he can do better than when he was a dictator! Who is he deceiving?

What Politics?

Nigerians are an unfortunate lot. Politicians occupying the political space in the country don't think much about the electorate (that is if they think at all). The people don't matter, no, I take that back they only matter when they are to be used as foot soldiers to rig elections, thugs to be used as cannon fodder in the many unholy battles of their master with political opponents and sundry other dubious endeavours.

The multi-million dollar question is this: When will Nigeria have good politicians to produce good leaders? If the signs we are witnessing are anything to go by, then we are in for a long wait, a very, very long wait.