Words are like birds

Nigeria’s federal lawmakers recently came under public condemnation when the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, had a ‘slip of the tongue’ while announcing the commencement of a 7-week vacation for members of the Upper Chamber. Senator Akpabio said “in order to enable all of us to enjoy our holiday, a token has been sent to our various bank accounts by the clerk of the National Assembly.’’ When some senators alerted the Senate President that the live coverage of the plenary was still on and that his statement could cost them their public image, he quickly reversed himself and said “I withdraw that statement’’ and then proceeded to say, “in order to allow you to enjoy your holiday, the Senate President has sent prayers to your boxes to assist you to go on a safe journey and return’’. Media reports indicate that each of the 109 senators received N2 million to help them ‘enjoy their vacation’.

Regrettably, this was not the first time the senate president would make a gaffe. Last month, he minced his words during a live transmission of plenary when he said, “Let the poor breathe”; a phrase commonly used to criticise the hardship Nigerians are currently going through. In a statement, Senator Akpabio explained he did not intend to insult Nigerians, adding that he was not unaware of the hardship Nigerians were facing. He said the motive behind “Let the poor breathe” “was to firmly reject any plan of increasing electricity tariffs for Nigerians, considering the ongoing economic challenges that Nigerians are faced with.”

Let’s go back to the discourse of the day; senators’ holiday allowance. Whichever image Senator Akpabio tried to protect or preserve with the second and corrected version of his remark, it failed to bury the recklessness in his first statement. The reason that better explains this failure is rooted in the African proverb which says, “Words are like birds, you can’t catch them if they escape.” Nigerians watching the live transmission of the plenary session of the Green Chamber on Monday August 7, 2023 heard Senator Akpabio’s first remark loud and clear, and therefore, couldn’t have been amused by it. Senator Akapbio, knows that given today’s advancement in communication technology, his statement would have travelled over sixteen thousand kilometres in less than one second from the Three-Arms Zone in Abuja where the national assembly complex is located to the ears of anyone who cared to watch the live transmission of the plenary in faraway Auckland, New Zealand; the farthest distance from Nigeria’s capital.

A politician with a profile such as that of Senator Akpabio who has been everything a Nigerian politician would like to be should have known why God did not give man two mouths in the same manner He, the Creator of the heavens and earth, gave man two ears, two eyes, two hands and two legs. This was the subject-matter of this column which was published on Saturday July 8, 2017. In that piece titled “Why God gave us toe ears, one mouth”, we showcased the wisdom in Allah’s choice of giving man two ears and just one mouth. It’s simply for man to talk less and listen more. Perhaps, it would be relevant to relate part of that discourse for the benefit of other ‘Akpabios’ in leadership positions.

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Leaders are actually expected to listen more than they speak. When comments are fewer, they avert gaffes. Essentially, God prefers that we listen twice as much as we speak. If God had wanted man to talk as much as he listens, He would have given him two ears and two mouths. Talking less and listening more signifies the unique virtue that is inherent in few words. Many of us fail to realize that, in few words, we conceal our shortcomings and hear the gaffes of others. Fewer men ever regretted being gentlemen of few words, but many men have made statements they wished were unspoken.

The recurrence of Senator Akpabio’s gaffes cannot just be taken for granted. The Arabs are right when they say, “That which is in you comes out of you.” Akpabio’s first remark is simply a reflection of how insensitive to the plight of Nigerians our legislators have become. If Akpabio’s colleagues had any concern for the economic predicaments of Nigerians, they would have condemned the senate president’s callous statement. Rather, they only advised him to rephrase his remark; meaning that the only wrong they saw was not in the statement but in the damage the statement would do to their public image. By their actions so far, members of Nigeria’s 10th national assembly have succeeded in exposing their complete lack of empathy for the hard times Nigerians are passing through. Not long ago, the same set of legislators approved N70 million for themselves in a supplementary budget submitted to them by President Tinubu; an act that was condemned by Nigerians with one voice.

It is heart-breaking that those who sought elective positions to lead Nigerians out of their economic woes have turned out, within the short period of their assumption of office, to mock indigent Nigerians whose bad situation was worsened by the sudden termination of the oil subsidy on May 29, 2023; a month earlier than the date planned for its total withdrawal. It’s ridiculous that the same lawmakers who are asking ordinary Nigerians to tighten their belts and make sacrifices in the face of record-high inflation rate amidst free fall of the naira are showing their unreadiness to make the least sacrifice as they choose to live flamboyantly!

The “Renewed Hope” agenda of the Tinubu-led administration cannot survive let alone materialize under a climate of lavish life which the 10th assembly lawmakers are determined to live at the expense of the basic rights of Nigerians. For how long, for instance, have the lawmakers worked to deserve a holiday allowance? If the legislators had any empathy for the country’s challenges and the survival difficulties faced by ordinary citizens, they should be working to reduce the exorbitant cost of governance and reject every self-aggrandizing allowance. May Allah guide us in all our words and actions, amin.