You would not but wonder how we come to have these types for leaders.
President Mohammadu Buhari this past week, once again demonstrated why, whether amongst his rambunctious or supine predecessors, or among the indistinguishable assortment of humanity now ogling his office, he will always be the pick of thinking Nigerians who, happily, are in the majority in this country today.
After continuously running helter skelter, adjourning the business of the legislative branch out of a fear of being swept off their giddy offices, our legislators finally came back few weeks ago and were scheduled to receive the 2019 budget from the President at a joint sitting of the two chambers, which happened in a most riotous fashion on Wednesday, 19 December, 2018.
Thank God for little mercies.
Nobody who knows former President Olusegun Obasanjo or his deputy, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, well enough, could have doubted that neither would have tolerated the jeering, the idiocy and the outright rudeness which were targeted at the President as he attempted to perform that solemn constitutional function.
Of course, suffused with tree climbers and sundry liars, and given that the days of Ghana Must Go bags, full of freshly minted U. S dollars in exchange for budget passage were long gone, now permanently buried in the bowels of history , their shameful behaviour was not totally unexpected.
But in the days of yore, if Atiku could at all be restrained, there was no way you could have stopped his boss from planting his palms on the cheeks of cheeky legislators like Diri Duoye (Bayelsa, PDP), Johnbull Shekarau (Plateau, PDP), Boma Goodhead (Rivers, PDP), Kingsley Chinda (Rivers PDP) and Chukwuka Onyema (Anambra, PDP), to mention only a few of the jeering gang.
But not so Buhari who you would never see fight the piggy fight.
As The Nation emphasised in its analysis of the thoroughly shameful event: “Buhari stood before them in honour and dignity of an anti-corruption crusader, a reformist and ‘no-to-business-as usual’ leader. He was kingly as he towered above his tormentors and noisemakers, not only in height, but also in responsibility” and, of course, decency. But the pungent analysis was not done as it continued: “National Assembly was a House of Babel yesterday. Decorum was sacrificed on the altar of partisanship. President Muhammadu Buhari and the nation were embarrassed. The parliament became a laughing stock. The legislative/executive feud assumed a new dimension. Hope of cordial relations dimmed. Nigerians were taken aback. Many observers asked in bewilderment: is the Senate and House of Representatives worthy of national pride? His message was ignored, not because it lacked potency. The budget speech fell on deaf ears of many legislators, who may be acting a script. (undoubtedly, a Dubai pre-planned conspiracy or isn’t Saraki Atiku’s campaign Director –General wanting anything to embarrass Buhari as if such rascality is capable of winning election) The President’s remarks were interrupted. Some lawmakers were shouting on top of their voices, to the consternation of constituents who viewed the unruly behaviour on television. As President Buhari reeled out his achievements across the sectors, shouts of “no, no no” and “lie, lie lie” filled the air. For the president, it was a test of emotional stability. President Buhari kept his cool. But, as the irritation persisted, he urged calm. As a statesman, he patiently cautioned the unrepentant legislators. “May I appeal to the honourable members that the world is watching us…we are supposed to be above this.” When they would not listen, he added: “You are only messing up yourselves.” A thoroughly well deserved spanking of the unruly adults.
Rather than take part in their un-parliamentary behaviour, the president became a preacher of sorts; a moral force and an exemplar, bringing back to their senses, those unruly few who did not realise they were being captured live by the international media.
You would not but wonder how we come to have these types for leaders. But you do not wonder for too long. Blame Saraki, Atiku etal who plotted the crisis in the Senate from day one. The unfeeling legislature continues to treat its striking workers with disdain even when they haul home about N14M monthly while all their miserable workers ask for is a mere pittance, a small fraction of their wardrobe allowance. It even got so bad one of them who is in jail, carted home over N80M as allowances in the six months since being jailed. Their response to that reprehensible act has been nothing short of sabre rattling. I hope the Attorney –General would immediately put in place the process of recovering that humongous amount of money and making everybody complicit, no matter how seemingly important, answerable.
But far worse is the fact that Saraki has since gone lyrical, lecturing Nigerians you would think he just came back from Harvard Business School. Hear the aspiring ‘Nobel Laureate’ in chicanery:
“The last three-and-a-half years have been eventful ones at the global level and in our domestic economy. From dips in oil prices to major shifts in the economic landscape, crude oil production shut-ins and security challenges, the economy and Nigerians have been directly impacted by these events.
“Many businesses closed down and many people lost their jobs during the recent recession. In the same period, we lost innocent citizens to the insurgency in parts of the North East, thousands were displaced, and many lives also lost due to clashes between farmers and herders, in addition to the general hardship unleashed by unstable economic winds.
“The recovery from the recession is still fragile. The fundamentals underlying the recovery remain weak, and if unchecked, can lead to dire consequences. The economy still runs on oil and very little progress has been made in terms of diversification.
“As a result, the expansionary budget policy in effect since 2016, which was aimed at raising spending and stimulating growth in the economy, was not matched by achievable revenue targets. The corollary is a higher and rising deficit as well as a considerable debt burden, all due to an unsustainable fiscal stance.
“The under-performance of independent revenues is straining government’s ability to meet its expenditure, especially investments in critical infrastructure. This further exposes the government to higher deficit levels which have been largely financed by borrowing.”
Not anywhere in this lengthy thesis would you see him mention anything about a N3.5 billion allegedly laundered from the Paris Club Loan Refund by elements who are no state actors and you wonder how this came through their ever itchy fingers, ordering hundreds of thousands dollar jewellery from Dubai but yet having the Godlessness to talk about poverty in Nigeria. Neither were we regaled with anything pertaining to the bloodiest ever bank robbery in Nigeria which saw 33 Nigerians murdered in cold blood by blood hounds who have since allegedly implicated Mr Lecturer as their armourer. When did the wise saying that you should first remove the log in your eyes before helping to remove the spec in another’s eyes go out of fashion?
Here is the most perfidious party man ever who thought nothing of selling off his party and thus set off the most intractable executive-legislative disharmony ever in Nigeria. Were Saraki wise, or given to introspection, he should by now be on his knees, begging God for forgiveness, and pleading with Nigerians for pardon.
One only hopes he will one day, sooner or later, come to the realisation of his heinous crime against fatherland.
