Rascals in the House by Emmanuel Yawe

Emmanuel Yawe

royawe@yahoo.com | 08024565402

I was watching the Channels Television evening news when an item from Benue state  made a dramatic entry. Members of the State House of Assembly broke into what we call in Nigeria a “free for all”.

They kicked with the fury of Kung Fu fighters; sent boxing jabs with the precision of Mohammed Ali and wrestled with the comic mannerisms of sumo wrestlers. My daughter, a secondary school girl turned round to
ask; “Daddy, why are they behaving like motor park touts?” I was too engrossed to answer.

A few days after the Benue show, a similar drama broke out at the Federal House of Representatives. The conduct of the House members was nothing different from what the members of the Benue House did. And eventhough my daughter was not by my side this day, secondary school students were in the public gallery of the House to watch the show.

The last time I devoted this page to the conduct of House members was when Dimeji Bankole was the House Speaker. That time too the House had broken into a “free for all” and the Honourable members were gnawing at each other, beating themselves and tearing their clothes to near nudity. Dino Melaye, now a Senator was a star performer in that act. On that day too, secondary school students were in audience at the public gallery to watch the show. I captioned that column, published on…A HOUSE OF SHAME.

The persistence of brawls in the House, even after a member….was pummelled to death right there on the floor of the same House in a previous commotion has made it inappropriate to call their behaviours acts of shame. Shame can only be found amoung people with a sense of proportion, a sense of regret and a sense of responsibility. It is hard to find any of these qualities in  sufficient quantity the House.

To be sure, physical brawls are common in legislative houses all over the world. When legislators engage in such acts in other parts of the world, it is often over serious issues of national and international significance. Regrettably in Nigeria, most often when law makers get physical – including the brawl in which a member was thrashed to death – it is over positions and personal emoluments. Nothing more.

It has not always been like. I have conducted diligent search in the archives of the of the first republic and I have always been thrilled by the flowery language of Dr Namdi Azikiwe, the thundering speeches of Sir Ahmadu Bello, the intellectual tone of Obafemi Awolowo and the excellent debating style and conservative parliamentary humour of Sir Tafawa Balewa. Between these parliamentarians, there were many issues in dispute. But not even once did I notice in the hansard of their time that they resorted to fistcuts in order to press home their point. When for once there was mayhem in the Western Regional House of Assembly, it was considered such an abberation that anti riot policemen were called upon to disperse the members. They teargassed the combatants and a state of emergency was declared in the whole region.

The 1999 constitution on the presumption that responsible men and women will be elected to constitute the legislature entrusted them with serious national responsibilities. It is now clear from the conduct of our lawmakers that these responsibilities are a big inconvenience to them. From their actions, it is rather clear that those who sent them into the legislative houses only succeeded in ruining the brilliant careers of some motor park touts.

For instance, House members have been saddled with the responsibilities of oversight functions on government ministries and departments. The framers of our constitution must have done this with the belief that as the direct representatives of the people, these members will protect the interest of the common man by curbing cleptomania and ensuring prudent use of public resources and property. Alas, the opposite is the case. They have ingenously turned oversight functions into avenues of terrorising and extorting money from the executive arm of government. The most embarrasing example is that of a committee chairman who after investigating the subsidy scam on petroleum products was caught in a sting operation collecting bribes from an oil dealer. The money was said to be so much that he stuffed it in his flowing gown (babanriga) and when this overflowed, he put down his long cap and loaded some of the hard  currency in it before carrying the bribe on his head, covered by his long cap. Smeared by this scandal of monumental proportions, the report of his investigation committee consequently died a natural death. Many other investigations suffered similar fate.

It is therefore clear from the conduct of these house members that the constitution overrated the quality of the people Nigerians will elect into these houses. It is true that there are some members of high intergrity in the House. Unfortunately they are so few that they have been swamped by their thieving colleagues.

The recent commotion in the House calls for a closer examination of the members. I find the  decision of the APC members to rebel against the directives of their party leadership an unhealthy and dangerous development. These members have not demonstrated in any way a sense of understanding of the serious responsibilities that go with their assignments. If they understand the severity of their assignments at all, they have not demonstrated that they have the maturity and responsibility to carry it out. They need the guidance of their party.

If one is to judge by the number of fights they have carried out in hallowed chambers of the House and the issues that stimulated these brawls, then these members are not worthy of any responsibility beyound that of managing their families; that is if they have families at all. In my considered opinion, only homeless people will scavenge and fight in the manner I saw those members fighting on the floor of the House. I shudder to think that my fate and that of over one hundred other citizens is left in the hands of the rascals in the House.

 Ref:  http://www.peoplesdailyng.com/rascals-in-the-house/