I wish to start off this article with an honest caveat, which is, that Professor Sola Adeyeye, a senator of the Federal Republic, is a man I respect very much. That affirmation made, I shall proceed to write about Senator Adeyeye, not as the Omoluabi I thought I know, but rather as a typical member of the 8th senate given the fact that the rodomontade, the arrogance, the bluster and the haughtiness Nigerians now see daily oozing from that hallowed chamber, must surely have gotten to this otherwise respected academic. Even as disreputable as the 8th Senate has turned out to be, with its members absconding from the duties for which they earn disproportionately, in droves, daily following its president to a tribunal defending a barrage of truly horrendous charges apart from mercilessly mutilating the annual budget and making it completely inoperable, I had naively believed that we still had some exemplars there, amongst them, Senator Adeyeye. But no more; not with the incident I shall proceed to painstakingly report here. A socially responsible Dokun Adedeji, a Medical Doctor, and dye in the wool Buhari supporter, had felt so serially mentally assaulted by the shenanigans of this senate that he decided to intellectually engage with its members. In groups, he wrote to them as follows and the subsequent dialogue between him and Senator Adeyeye ensued: “Are you with your constituents on the matter of CHANGE for our country? You sold your majority to reactionaries for immediate advantage. You have betrayed us! We regret”. It was to this very simple question and observation to which, completely out of sync, an otherwise distinguished Professor Sola Adeyeye who, as a result of his education, long sojourn within that hallowed chamber of supposedly elder statesmen as well as his having logged decades, living and working in the U S, one had come to see far beyond falling victim of the Yoruba wisecrack: ‘aguntan to ba ba aja rin … – a sheep found in the colony of dogs eating dung, responded in this thoroughly unexpected manner even though he must have realised that the question was not addressed to him in his personal capacity: “I have stood steadfastly with my party and constituents because there is neither enough weapons in Nigeria to frighten my soul nor enough money to buy my conscience,” a line I once heard him say on television. “Only Liars and bastards accuse the innocent. May God forgive you, Dokun Adedeji.”Still eager to have a decent dialogue rather than some haughty insults, Dr Adedeji replied: “Prof, I understand your anger but your response is inexcusable. You belong to this Senate and I have no barometer of assessment save your statements and reports of your dissension, if any. Prof, I know, for instance, that you lived and lectured in America. Were you in doubt at any time as to where Senator McCain stood on any issue? Is that question too much to ask of you? I am not an Internet noise maker like your colleague- the Common Sense Senator – but I ask that you try to Google me if you have the time! Our nation is in dire need of leaders who care and love her! If you allow the reactionaries to hold sway, your coming back is a waste.”
Rather than soberly interrogate the dire issues raised by Dr Adedeji as both an academic, a professor to boot, as well as a member of that otherwise respected chamber from whom much is expected, Senator Adeyeye behaved, true to type, like one of Nigerians’ new ‘bosses’ at the National Assembly from where the likes of Hon. Abdulmumin Jibrin usually talk down to us. He furiously wrote back: “Unfortunately, I do not know you enough to say that I am equally disappointed in you. Suffice to say that I am disgusted at anyone who would do no fact finding before lying against me and hauling needless accusation on the innocent.” Conversely, a much calmer Adedeji wrote back: ‘Prof, did u truly write this? I am thoroughly disappointed to know that a ‘Distinguished’ Senator of Nigeria would descend this low with such language! Very sad.”
It must be said that Senator Sola Adeyeye is, indeed, the Senate leader, if that will tell us anything about this red chamber.
When I saw the earlier exchanges, as the senator’s responses were meticulously served on our web portal, the Ekitipanupo, I assumed they came out of an exasperation with a senate that has become famous for all the wrong reasons which could, in turn, enervate any decent member. The more I read his subsequent responses, the more I saw a public servant who considers himself beyond, and above, being questioned by citizens from whom he, and his other colleagues, earn grotesquely more than a fair share of the national patrimony. All these would have been funny were we not talking here of an otherwise, sober and respected member of the senate who had popped up many times in that chamber to, unlike most of his colleagues, show that he has a place in his heart for the poor masses of this country. In this respect, he had many times been literally about the lone ranger. However, this below par performance, which saw a senate ranking member resort to absolutely repugnant words in answer to a responsible and politically aware citizen, is one reason the senate must very quickly re-examine itself lest Nigerians give it the ‘Senegal treatment’ at the next available opportunity.
While at this, it may not be out of place to observe that the shenanigans of Senate President Bukola Saraki may not abate until the entire Nigerian judicial system is brought into complete disrepute. He has not only been lawyer- shopping – he currently has as his lead counsel, Kanu Agabi, the alleged mentor of not only the chief prosecution counsel but that of the tribunal chairman as well – and as we saw this past week at the Code of Conduct Tribunal where he was asking the judge to disqualify himself, he may yet be back asking the Supreme Court to reverse its earlier decision in this very case. Now it seems to me like the problem with this country is no longer just the National Assembly, repugnant as it is, but Nigeria itself. What exactly is it with Nigeria? Are we now reaping the whirlwind of the winds sown by the likes of IBB and OBJ? One was the father of what was called New Breed politicians but which Nigerians regard more as New Greed politicians or is it Obasanjo’s unremitting impunity that has come back to haunt us? A study of the dramatis personae on our political spectrum today will show that a greater preponderance of those presently in our political life have their roots in the Babangida -Obasanjo era; a period during which the Nigerian moral fibre suffered its greatest diminution as epitomised by an increase in corruption and election rigging beyond anything we ever knew in this country. If in 1999, Obasanjo exposed budget padding by the National Assembly leadership and ensured they had their day in court, today budget padding has become the norm; not just with the leadership but just about anybody in those chambers can insert billions in the name of his/her ‘constituency’ where he most probably has no office. Heading to courts, like our 99 SANs or accompanying the wife of their boss to EFCC offices has become the norm in preference to making laws for the good governance of the country. Indeed, our legislators would now rather bring down the house, the way they rushed their CCT amendment bill through the first and second readings, even when the PIB bill, unattended, has taken a permanent residence in their custody. And in the particular case of the Senate President, I think the time has come to plead with him to spare that distinguished chamber the ordeal and low esteem it has ominously attracted to itself. Senator Bukola Saraki, scion of the redoubtable Saraki family of Ilorin, should be told by whoever loves him, that there is life after Senate Presidency. He should also be informed that, sans being able to dispense patronage as he had generously done in that chamber, he would hardly find a quarter of his so-called supporters behind his back. I think they should realise that it is time Nigerians stopped asking: what a senate? What manner of senators?
Enough is enough.
Credit: Femi Orebe, Ekiti Forum, The Nation.