February 16, 2009
I am no fan of Mr. Gabriel Suswam, a former Member of the House of Representatives who is currently the Governor of the same Benue state he represented at the NASS between 1999 and 2007. As long as I am concerned he is among the clique of individuals who have held the country down to its current deplorable affliction. His very poor stint at positively impacting on our Power generation capacity when he had a rare chance informs my mindset.
Nevertheless, Mr. Suswam won my heart when a couple of weeks back at the 14th Pre-Convocation lecture of the University of Abuja he made it bold though short lived to capture the lower chamber and its members in well chosen words that rightfully confirmed the widely held notions of the House of Representatives as an august gathering of self centered, materialistic and ill qualified never do wells.
He cut it clearly and I was quite surprised that this inconvenient truth was coming from a member of the Governors Forum, another brood of mostly unsure individuals lacking any foresight on how governance ought to be.
Gabriel was my rare local political hero for that week; after listening to a very poorly read speech by Speaker Bankole’s representative at the occasion; he was obviously piqued by the tissues of lies dished out that continued to blame the military for our current woes; the same type of belly aching lies they told us from 1999 to 2007 while they plundered the country in forms worse than the military did over decades.
While dismissing the claim that the executive and military was responsible for the woeful performance of the national legislature so far, Suswam declared and I beg to quote partly:
"It is true that democracy is growing up in Nigeria-it is just about nine years old now. If the legislature has failed in those nine years to be able to mature enough or even appreciate its own responsibilities, I doubt whether it is the problem of the executive …… For instance, the issue of funding has always been a contentious one, but anytime funds are allocated to the legislature, you will see them fighting. As I'm talking to you now, they are fighting over car contract, and that is a clear indication that they are not mature enough to handle funding, so funding should be the responsibility of the executive, who will disburse them without any form of acrimony." – Gabriel Suswam ref Guardian (7/2/09)
The governor wonderfully went ahead to call for the review upward of the entry qualification of a representative candidate to a degree certificate holder so there can be improved forms of debates and law making in the ‘hallowed’ chambers.
There was nothing farther from the truth; part of the nation’s woes is traceable to the dearth of learned leaders at critical points of the managerial realm. Those dishonourables were never elected by Nigerians so they had no clue on how to appreciate their crucial responsibilities; besides that fact, they had no visions on leadership and its format of delivery. They were never representatives of the people but that of ‘leviathan’ – John Milton’s description of the evil one in his epic poem, ‘Paradise Lost’.
What eventually followed that declaration was a cacophony of condemnations, subtle threats and glaring intimidation of the man who dared look 360 of them in the eye and aptly told them what they were.
They threatened to declare him an enemy; bench warming men and women who never raised a point or spoke during sittings were forthcoming in contributing to a motion them league of charlatans illiterately called “The Governor Suswam Motion”, one that was meant to make his political life miserable. These same dregs led who opposed his invitation to testify at the power probe panel now reminded him of the unfinished Power Project and the harm its resurrection can do to him.
The man held on to his views for some days but like the typical Nigerian politician ever so lacking in bravery and forthrightness and with much scary skeletons in his cupboard, my ‘hero’ caved in, did a reversal, ate his words and apologized to the intimidating band of bullies.
The question is, what was there to apologise for? What did he say wrong? Did he dish out lies or malign them unjustly? Where they not fighting over allocations? Did they not influence the inflating of car contracts? How many of them can read fluently or write legibly? How many have Senior Secondary School Certificates? Have they not being so shameless to unnecessarily delay appropriations bills for months just because they wanted their dripping egos massaged? How many of them know what it really means to be a Representative? They only excel sheepishly in shouting ‘Ayes’ and ‘Nays’ to processes they barely understand or have a clue to.
Besides Yar’adua and Maurice Iwu, the House of Representative members come thirdly as worrisome threats to the countries current democratic practice.
Mr. Suswam, sir, it is very clear bravery is not in your diction no matter how you pretend to it; you belong to them all. Keep eating your words just as long as it doesn’t affect you political future!
London
[email protected]
Nevertheless, Mr. Suswam won my heart when a couple of weeks back at the 14th Pre-Convocation lecture of the University of Abuja he made it bold though short lived to capture the lower chamber and its members in well chosen words that rightfully confirmed the widely held notions of the House of Representatives as an august gathering of self centered, materialistic and ill qualified never do wells.
He cut it clearly and I was quite surprised that this inconvenient truth was coming from a member of the Governors Forum, another brood of mostly unsure individuals lacking any foresight on how governance ought to be.
Gabriel was my rare local political hero for that week; after listening to a very poorly read speech by Speaker Bankole’s representative at the occasion; he was obviously piqued by the tissues of lies dished out that continued to blame the military for our current woes; the same type of belly aching lies they told us from 1999 to 2007 while they plundered the country in forms worse than the military did over decades.
While dismissing the claim that the executive and military was responsible for the woeful performance of the national legislature so far, Suswam declared and I beg to quote partly:
"It is true that democracy is growing up in Nigeria-it is just about nine years old now. If the legislature has failed in those nine years to be able to mature enough or even appreciate its own responsibilities, I doubt whether it is the problem of the executive …… For instance, the issue of funding has always been a contentious one, but anytime funds are allocated to the legislature, you will see them fighting. As I'm talking to you now, they are fighting over car contract, and that is a clear indication that they are not mature enough to handle funding, so funding should be the responsibility of the executive, who will disburse them without any form of acrimony." – Gabriel Suswam ref Guardian (7/2/09)
The governor wonderfully went ahead to call for the review upward of the entry qualification of a representative candidate to a degree certificate holder so there can be improved forms of debates and law making in the ‘hallowed’ chambers.
There was nothing farther from the truth; part of the nation’s woes is traceable to the dearth of learned leaders at critical points of the managerial realm. Those dishonourables were never elected by Nigerians so they had no clue on how to appreciate their crucial responsibilities; besides that fact, they had no visions on leadership and its format of delivery. They were never representatives of the people but that of ‘leviathan’ – John Milton’s description of the evil one in his epic poem, ‘Paradise Lost’.
What eventually followed that declaration was a cacophony of condemnations, subtle threats and glaring intimidation of the man who dared look 360 of them in the eye and aptly told them what they were.
They threatened to declare him an enemy; bench warming men and women who never raised a point or spoke during sittings were forthcoming in contributing to a motion them league of charlatans illiterately called “The Governor Suswam Motion”, one that was meant to make his political life miserable. These same dregs led who opposed his invitation to testify at the power probe panel now reminded him of the unfinished Power Project and the harm its resurrection can do to him.
The man held on to his views for some days but like the typical Nigerian politician ever so lacking in bravery and forthrightness and with much scary skeletons in his cupboard, my ‘hero’ caved in, did a reversal, ate his words and apologized to the intimidating band of bullies.
The question is, what was there to apologise for? What did he say wrong? Did he dish out lies or malign them unjustly? Where they not fighting over allocations? Did they not influence the inflating of car contracts? How many of them can read fluently or write legibly? How many have Senior Secondary School Certificates? Have they not being so shameless to unnecessarily delay appropriations bills for months just because they wanted their dripping egos massaged? How many of them know what it really means to be a Representative? They only excel sheepishly in shouting ‘Ayes’ and ‘Nays’ to processes they barely understand or have a clue to.
Besides Yar’adua and Maurice Iwu, the House of Representative members come thirdly as worrisome threats to the countries current democratic practice.
Mr. Suswam, sir, it is very clear bravery is not in your diction no matter how you pretend to it; you belong to them all. Keep eating your words just as long as it doesn’t affect you political future!
London
[email protected]
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