That should be simple logic in any democratic set up. Why Obasanjo, the pleni-potentiary Chairman of the PDP Board of Trustees and the chief backer of the Speaker cannot understand that elementary logic is astounding to me. May be, Obasanjo, the speaker and the new president as de facto and de jure leader of the PDP, know something that the rest of us don't know. That has got to be the case. May be if Madam Etteh is forced to go, she might be inclined to open another can of worms more terrible than what we know today.

  

The PDP has become not just a laughing stock, but a big embarrassment to the whole nation by insisting nobody else is qualified and competent to be Speaker in the whole South West zone but Etteh. it is simply ludicrous that the PDP and Yar 'Adua, the new President would say he wants to steer clear out of the business of the House of Assembly which is controlled by a Party in which he is the statutory head and chairman.

  

It is simply unbelievable that he can afford to see Nigeria going up in smokes, so to speak, and all the alibi the servant leader could offer, is to plead that his hands are tied by the  "separation of powers" prism in our Constitution. It is such a big shame! Where is the outrage?

  

If anyone ever has some second thoughts or doubts about whether or not President Obasanjo truly loves Nigeria, and not just himself and his self interest, the Ettehgate scandal has put paid to such doubts. it is a disgrace that Obasanjo would allow himself to be seen as the chief backer of a fraudulent and reckless Speaker who would want to spend more than half a billion Naira to renovate and refurbish a house built in 2002 by no less a construction company than Julius Berger.

  

If it would cost up to 628 million Naira to renovate the entire complex, I thought it would have made more sense to dynamite the whole complex and rebuild it from the scratch like America is doing to the Twin Towers or the World Trade Center.

  

The other question to ask is why the Federal Government or the Capital Development Authority would not call back Julius Berger to come pick part of those bills for building a lemon house to begin with for the initial price paid for the building when it was brand new. In more civilized polities, a building or structure of that sophistication and magnitude would certainly have been insured by a more responsible  Government.

  

A legitimate question to ask is why was the structure not insured to begin with? A more rational Speaker who is not penny-wise and pound foolish would certainly have explored such avenues before rushing to award such a senseless contract and hoping that her boy friend would bail her out, if the whole arrangement runs into a cul-de-sac like we are now finding out.

 

The last time I checked, the Tribunals across the country have found three of the PDP Governors as guilty of election rigging, and have been sent packing from the Government Houses. Kogi Governor was the last to be so fired. Even the son-in-law of the new President was not spared, and yet the PDP and Professor Maurice Iwu and Dr. Igbani, his mouth organ in INEC, are still hiding behind one finger, claiming that if they have the opportunity to do the elections all over again, they would not change a thing . While those armed robbers are still allowed to remain in office till now, certainly beats my imagination.

  

What purpose is it going to serve to let the same INEC that fumbled so badly, to continue in office, given all the facts we know today. Many more PDP Governors are destined to suffer the same fate as the Election Tribunals complete their jobs and leave the scene?. Only in Nigeria!

  

If Patricia Etteh agrees to step aside for a pro tempore Speaker to adjudicate the Idoko Panel Report, her stepping aside has to be seen as a one way ticket to oblivion, because she is definitely not coming back to that seat. It will amount to a travesty of justice to let her come back as the Speaker. She could be promoted, however, as President and CEO of O.B.L. (Obasanjo Presidential Library) at Abeokuta. I think she will be  a good candidate for that job. She can then pull down the whole edifice, and rebuild it with multiple billions of Naira, no questions asked.

 

I rest my case.

Dr. Wumi Akintide.