Power is nothing

They say “The Best of men, is still but a man, at the very best”. Nigerian politicians will do well to repeat that to themselves daily. No matter how valiant and all-conquering a human being is in this life, he/she is still nothing but a human being. It’s a wonder how we never get the lesson despite the number of people we have seen expired on this planet in this country where life expectancy is so low. Our politicians especially never learn. Hubris, foolish pride, is their second name. 

I am concerned today about their inordinate and blind quests for power; a mad, bloody quest for self-aggrandisement that has not done us any good as a people. 

 The other day it was Enyinnaya Abaribe (Abia), supported by Kabiru Marafa (Zamfara) who moved a motion that since Acting President Yemi Osinbajo was out on a very brief journey to Addis Ababa, there was the need to make their boss, Senate President Bukola Saraki, the new Acting President. If you ask these men of power, they will tell you how there is a lacuna in power and how the country is about to burn down as a result of any tiny interregnum, but in truth they are in a single-minded pursuit of one thing only; raw power. Senator Saraki probably had the information the VP was back, and so shot down the ‘motion’. Such are the rascalities that Nigeria is paying grown up men for in the National Assembly. What a total waste of a full day.

 The camp of the current Acting President is also jittery.  The Acting President – the hard worker that he is – hardly sleeps abroad. The wife of the president, Mrs Aisha Buhari, Nigeria’s most vocal First Lady as far as I can remember did say something about the jackals and the hyenas hovering all over Aso Villa, and that the Lion King will soon return. Me I like the woman. She has the right instinct to protect her husband. This is the same woman that was shredded into pieces and called a power-monger by her husband’s fanatical supporters for raising an alarm some months back. I hope they can now see that the woman had a point.

 But we saw it all in the Yar’adua days. All sorts of legalese were bandied about. All sorts of fears were spread.  Politicians filed out and revved up the emotions of our people. They said it was a taboo for a president not to be in Aso Rock.  They played the religious and tribal card freely. They created the monsters that they called us to fight.  See, power is nothing except you can use it to elevate your people’s humanity. However, the very sum total of the use of power by our elite is the total privatization of everything owned by Nigerians, and not much else. For every road that is left undone, every abandoned hospital and health centre, every decrepit infrastructure, the money is in one mansion somewhere, or abroad, or in someone’s personal account, or has been laundered to pay someone’s children expensive school fees in the best school in the world.  The money was simply taken by some hardened criminal who was nearest to it at that point. Every time we complain that ‘government has not released money’ I just laugh. Government usually releases money but those to whose hands the monies are released have devised too many schemes to ensure only they get the benefit. Shi kenan.  

 We didn’t learn from the Jonathan saga.  Can we look back today and say the fight for Jonathan was worth the money, the emotions, the blood and tears? I personally think not.  Now we are regaled with all the stealing by Diezani, by Dasuki, and the rest, and all the crude oil frauds by Kola Aluko. Nigeria has become a huge criminal enterprise. Lately it was the $35million Ikoyi building that Diezani bought (in 2003 mind you!), that made the news. If a woman has $35million, what again is she looking for in life?  The Nigerian greedy breed steals just to show off to their equally sick friends. Even in the country where greed became a virtue – like the USA – their entrepreneurs could point to how they changed the world with their products. The Nigerian moneybag has no product. 

But back to Senator Saraki. I was not among those who tried to pull him down over his Code of Conduct wahala. I actually believe that the CCB had messed up the case right from the beginning, and didn’t show it had good records. I also felt they waited since 2006 to prosecute the man in 2015 and that was suspicious. However, since the man has been freed by the tribunal, I think there is a renewed confidence to take it all, and something like a Machiavellian is emerging, egged on by the likes of Dino Melaye, a rabble-rousing senator who believes he is too smart for the whole of Nigeria. I urge oga Bukky to slow down else he will meet more than what he escaped. 

 It is in this light I view the matter of the recall of Dino by his constituency. If the recall comes through, it will be perhaps the only democratic act we’ve performed since perhaps 1999. This is if it could be confirmed that indeed a simple majority of his registered constituents signed the recall referendum. As a private citizen, I am more interested in the Senate allowing the voices of the people to be heard for once. And I don’t see why Dino should not be recalled. I made the mistake of driving through his constituency (Kabba-Bunnu) and the West of Kogi State in general, about two weeks ago and it was a scene out of Hell. I lost two tyres and passed the most treacherous spots I’d ever seen. We would say these were federal roads, but young Dino is the most senior citizen in government from that whole (Okun) zone! It is his duty to ensure something is done urgently, not to be showing off his dozens of exotic cars and flaunting his mansions on social media. The man is simply irresponsible. And of course he cannot legally account for his so-called wealth.  Of what use is such a senator to the people? 

 I wager if Dino is recalled, many constituencies in Nigeria will suddenly develop the confidence to recall several others. But Saraki and Ekweremadu are busy protecting their falling edifice. Hear them:

 Ekweremadu says Dino’s recall is ‘Dead on arrival’. He continued; “They (constituents) need to come back here and convince every one of us that they have done the correct thing. Unless they do that, they cannot even give effect to it. So, why are we wasting our time? Let us move on and allow them to waste their time,” That is an elected Senator denigrating the people who pay his salaries. Nigeria’s men of power have gorged themselves of wine and pork so much they forgot what this is all about. 

Saraki, his boss, concurred. “There is no need for further comments… The deputy senate president has said it; 10 years is no joke in leadership. We have seen clearly the processes. Let the process speak for itself. I don’t know why funds are being wasted, which should have gone on more important things. INEC is also at the middle of a test. Eventually, it must come back here for us to decide whether it is satisfactory or not.” 

 Again, power is nothing. And one day, the real owners of power, the people of this country, shall triumph over all the nonsense that is going on. Certainly, things will not continue like this forever. Something has to give.