The Abuja choir of democratic parasites

As most Nigerians continue to groan over the yet-to-be resolved fuel scarcity across the country, with no power, no water, no jobs, grinding poverty in the land, as well as an economy that is already going south, some Nigerians, evidently, do not feel what the masses are feeling or in the least bothered if majority of the people are under excruciating economic stress.

For this latter set of Nigerians, so long they can continue feeding fat on the common wealth of the country like parasites, it’s all well and good. So long they are able to push their selfish individual and group interests through at the expense of the larger collective, the national interest can as well go to hell! So long they can get millions and hundreds of millions if not billions of Naira into their accounts through various known and unknown, legal and illegal means, it’s so very alright.

And even if the budget is yet to be passed almost five months into the year, and Nigerians continue to die across the country for reasons that are mostly preventable, or they are being killed by Fulani herdsmen, important national matters deserving urgent attention can wait for the personal matters of this band of people. Sadly, danger looms ahead of them, yet they seem to be blind seeing it.

Of whom do I write? You know them already; members of the National Assembly, especially our senators even though their counterparts in the House of Representatives are also not exempted.

Daily, their conducts make one not just angry but sad, flabbergasted and disappointed. Sad that those we elected to represent us are woefully failing in that critical responsibility. Flabbergasted that they care little about being patriots. Disappointed that they generally give no damn about the opinions of the Nigerian people!

Meanwhile, Nigerians are angry. Frustration is rising. Disappointment is growing. And the pain in the hearts of citizens is increasing. However, our senators feel assured they have adequate security protection around them and there’s nothing Nigerians can ever do to them. They also tell one another, nothing dey happen, like TuBaba is wont to say.

And nothing better explains this type of mindset in the last few days than the ungodly and unpatriotic action of the senate to go ahead and purchase 36 Toyota Land Cruiser jeeps at the whooping cost of N35.1 million instead of the N17 million market price despite the overwhelming opposition of Nigerians to such selfish, frivolous, wicked, inconsiderate, insensitive, inordinate and clearly unnecessary expenditure at this time of all times when the country’s revenue has dwindled drastically.

As I watched Ibrahim Gobir, chairman of the senate committee on Services, trying to justify the purchase of the jeeps on television days ago, I couldn’t help but shake my head in pity. What have we done as Nigerians to deserve leaders who are not in any way ready to sacrifice for the country or leave inspiring legacies?

Responding to criticisms from Nigerians about their insensitivity in spending such money on the jeeps given Nigeria’s present economic challenge, Gobir said the purchase of ‘only’ 36 jeeps was informed by the senate’s concern for the state of the economy as they could even have bought one each for senators.

“We are supposed to buy 109 cars but because of the paucity of funds, because of our sensitivity and concern for lack of funds, we bought only 36 to go round per state. Come to think of it, there is no minister that hasn’t got about three, four cars – one Land Cruiser, maybe a back-up and two Hilux cars. There is no director in the civil service that hasn’t got a car. There is no permanent secretary that hasn’t got a Land Cruiser. In fact, every House of Assembly member has either a Prado or a Land Cruiser and here is a senator you say he cannot have one Land Cruiser.”

Now, imagine such balderdash. Of course, most of his colleagues in the Abuja choir of democratic parasites have also been singing the same meaningless song. For these 8th Assembly senators, having a Land Cruiser is a status symbol even as they must also take their share of the national cake since the plan is to sell the jeeps to themselves at ridiculous prices before they exit in 2019. When our leaders understand that true service is really about what they give and not what they take, and that the worth of a man’s life is not in the vastness of his possessions but in the value of his contributions and impact, the better for them, for our country, and for humanity!

The handwriting on the wall which these senators must see and read very clearly even if they continue to fool themselves and play the ostrich is that things can no longer continue to be the same way they used to be. Nigerians, it’s becoming clearer day by day, are tired of their shenanigans, and are ready to reclaim their country. A senate that is cool and okay with a leader so terribly tainted with corruption like its President, Bukola Saraki, can certainly not be representing all sincere and patriotic Nigerians.

Meanwhile, as you’re reading this, an NGO, Citizens United for Peace and Stability (CUPS), has started protests against the senate’s decision to buy the jeeps. The group’s coordinator, Retson Tedheke, said one of the NGO’s demands is that the jeeps are returned to wherever they are bought from. The group also wants the National Assembly to make open its N150 billion budget for all Nigerians to see. Now, these are very legitimate demands which represent the wishes of the Nigerian masses and one I’ll counsel our senators heed. There are even occasions I wonder what the wives, husbands, children and relatives of these senators tell them in their privacy. They also deserve some blame in this.

Sincerely, were any of these senators to be my father, I would tell him: “Dad, you need to get out of the senate today. Honestly, this can no longer continue. The shame is too much. Your name and integrity are already tarnished. Please, resign without delay and find other ways of redeeming yourself and contributing your quota to our country’s development.”

The country we currently have is one where civil servants are being owed months of salary, where government can’t provide basic security, where pensioners are dying on queues trying to process the payment of their pensions, where the youths hardly have any hope of fulfilling their dreams in life or that there will be a better future, and where few Nigerians can actually mention the positive impact of government on their lives.

Yet these senators, most with several vehicles in their garages, and possessing mansions within and outside Nigeria built or bought through money they were able to grab from the system, are not pricked in their conscience that as leaders, they will one day give accounts of their stewardship and so ought to always do all within their powers to justify the opportunities given them.

As men and women who are already made in life, I believe our senators, more than any other group of people in our country, should be preoccupied with what they will do for their country rather than what their country will do for them. That is why I believe they all need to fear God far more than they have so far shown and have some mercy on Nigerian masses. They need to understand that not listening to what the masses are saying now would have consequences in future in ways they hardly expect or even imagine.

However, if we will tell ourselves the honest truth based on our national experience since Nigeria’s return to democratic governance in May 1999, now is the time to start being serious about how to seriously cut down on the obscene financial allurements of public office even as we also ask ourselves if we actually need a full-time National Assembly moving forward. That’s a fundamental lesson I believe we must have learnt and one we ought not to ever forget despite our notorious habit of national forgetfulness.

Kolawole is an award-winning journalist and author. You can follow him on Twitter: @ofemigan