Etteh, PDP, and the Rest of Us

By

Olufemi Nelson Fajolu

fajinelson@yahoo.com

When the news broke out that a female lawmaker had been chosen to lead the Nigerian House of Representative, some of us were happy. This is because we all felt that our democracy was growing to maturity where discrimination against the women folk is being overlooked. I was personally happy when I learnt that Ms. Etteh was a resident of the United State of America (USA). I had thought that she would be somebody that should know what service to the people meant having seen what obtains in the USA.

Since my arrival in this country (USA) last year, I had not cease to wonder why our successive leaders in Nigeria had chosen to treat us with so much wickedness, I have seen public utilities work the way they should, I have seen leaders coming to term with and listening to the people they claim to be representing, I have seen policemen treating even the worst criminals with so much respect. What we always hear from our leaders is Rome was not built in one day and the likes, but the same people make sure that they and their family members are protected from the pains that they make us go through.

There had been accusation and counter accusation on the exact cost of the contract awarded for the renovation of the official residence of the Ms Etteh – the Speaker of the House. While her accusers are putting the cost at N628m (Six hundred and twenty eight million naira), the pro-speaker’s lawmaker are putting the cost at N328m (Three hundred and twenty eight million naira) – of course the speaker had not deemed it feet to come out and tell Nigerians how much was approved for the renovation. N328m at the rate of N125 to a dollar will be $2.64m (Two million six hundred and forty thousand US dollars). Haba, in the USA and specifically Bowie, Maryland where we learnt madam speaker had her house, that amount can buy the best of any house and you will still have enough money to pay your bills for a good number of months. In a country like Nigeria, where the Schools from elementary to the higher institutions are in dilapidated condition, where the hospitals are crying for basic facilities, where the roads can simply be referred to as death traps, where unemployment is skyrocketing and the employed earn less than $5 (to be frank) a day, what can be more wicked and inhuman than this wasteful and shameless spending of the taxpayers’ money on a house that was only renovated in 2003 (less than four years ago)? Madam speaker must tell Nigerians how often she does home improvements on her Bowie home and how much she spent on such improvements.

In defending their daughter, the mother of the speaker and a family member had claimed that Ms. Etteh is in politics because she wants to serve her people – of course that is the most popular song on the leaps of the thieves called leaders in our fatherland. The family went further to tell Nigerians to leave their daughter alone. I do not blame them, they must have done a lot in bring up Ms Etteh, they are probably thinking the values they imparted into her are still there. Somebody should please inform this family that the Patricia they brought up had changed, she had succumbed to peer pressure, she had soiled her hand with the oil of the so-called national cake, she had stepped on the proverbial ‘banana peel’ and what follows is for her to face the consequences. The family can only wish that she would learn her lessons from this incident.

The Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP), on which platform the speaker got to the house, as we learnt are now making efforts to sweep this case (like many others) under the carpet. The Party succeeded in sweeping many of such cases in the last regime because we had a president with a taste for desecrating our nation’s constitution and a believe that the Party’s words are laws that are superior to the country’s constitution. But the present administration under the leadership of Alhaji Umar Yar’Adua – a man I personally respect for his fear of God almighty has made it clear times and times that the era for lawlessness from any quarter is gone. It is on this a basis that I will challenge PDP to hands off this case and allow the house to conduct a thorough investigation into the allegation and anybody found culpable should be made to face the wrath of the law.

This case also brought to mind the secret way in which our government is being run. For heaven’s sake, why should government’s activities be run like a secret society? What is wrong in publishing the names of the various contractors handling various government contracts and the amount of respective contracts? Why should the public be left be in the dark about how their taxes are being spent? There is an urgent need for President Yar’Adua to sign the Freedom of Information bill into law now.

Olufemi Nelson FAJOLU

Bladensburg, MD, USA. 20710.