The ‘new’ Ben Murray-Bruce

The senator-elect from Bayelsa State is a master of show business indeed. What better way to announce his entry on the political stage than the right words carefully calibrated or choreographed to what Nigerians want to hear this time around. I present to you the ‘new’ Benedict Murray-Bruce who must have had his moment of epiphany after emerging senator on April 11.

Suddenly, he now seemingly has a front seat among human rights activists simply by the power of his words on newspaper pages and the social media. Wonderful tweets, articles, and speeches have turned him to an instant hero that some Nigerians are drooling over simply because we are a country in perpetual search of heroes and we end up deifying all manner of people too soon. True, all of us must pitch in and help our president-elect who seemed to have been overwhelmed by the realities of what he is getting into, otherwise he would not be asking for tips from someone his party claimed does not know his right hand from the left.

But we need to situate our new senator words in the proper context less we forget, as we tend to do in this part of the world. His piece published on the back page of THISDAY of April 29 titled ‘It Doesn’t Matter if the Cat is White or Black’ caught my attention the same day. I read it over and over again and I exclaimed “waoh”, this must be a ‘new’ Ben Murray-Bruce. I mean who would not be impressed when a member of the Nigerian ruling class embarks on self-immolation? The article ticked the right boxes especially when it started with the sentence that even though President Goodluck Jonathan was his candidate in the presidential election, yet he has a duty as a ‘patriotic Nigerian’ to help the president-elect succeed. Fantastic, if that is the new way politics is going to be played in Nigeria.

Accordingly too, it is our duty to remind the new senator of what he is attempting to do just as we must examine his past and situate it in the line of his self-assigned role of speaking truth to power. Let’s even forget the way he merged as a senator, after all the people of Bayelsa have decided that they want him as their representative but how did he come by the ticket to represent the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the election? As an entrepreneur we must all stand up and acknowledge him for his many business interests spread across the country.

From a humble beginning as Silverbird Productions in 1980 to three radio stations, Rhythm 93.7 in Lagos, Abuja, and Port Harcourt; to Silverbird Television; the Most Beautiful Girl in Nigeria; Silverbird Cinema, Silverbird Entertainment and Silverboard Galleria, our senator-elect surely knows many things about wealth creation. But how does he treat his staff in these places? Are salaries paid as at when due? What about his stewardship at the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA) where he was the director general? For those who are conversant with social media, a picture has been making round for some weeks now of a presenter with Rhythm 93.7 Abuja who is down with a kidney problem and his wife soliciting money for treatment. Let’s hope that his employers have done something for this person as well.

There is the other side, however, that encourages taking the message and forgetting about the messenger. And that is good, particularly in this instance. So, let’s encourage Mr. Murray-Bruce in his class suicide and goad him to actually be the ‘change’ we like to us in the National Assembly. For starters, let him show us his pay slip after he might have collected his first humongous and obscene allowances and perks after he is sworn in as a senator. A group has taken the National Assembly to court seeking that members disclose their salaries and allowances, reputed to be the highest in the world, under a FOI request, they demurred and the case is still on. Let Murray-Bruce break ranks and tweet a picture of his pay-slip.

There’s also the issue of another innovation in our democratic experience and that is constituency projects. Annually an approximate sum of N100 billion is allocated for projects for the 109 senators and 360 House of Representatives members and it has been so for over a decade without a corresponding evidence of these projects across Nigeria. Our dear senator-elect will do well by also rejecting to be part of the gravy train of constituency projects and walking his talk. Good enough that he advised that austerity measures must start from Aso Rock, but they must extend to the National Assembly as well and he can start by taking the lead. Dear senator-elect please start the revolution from the senate chambers and it will gain traction outside.