December 5, 2015
For some people, Dr. Saraki’s braggadocio, contempt, and grandiosity come across as self-confident strength, making the weak and frightened to gravitate to the "strong man" who appears dexterously super-human. To the sensitive, however, Saraki's facade is too light a material to cover that weakness he strives to conceal.
According to the iconic Irish playwright, George Bernard Shaw, “there are only two tragedies in life: one is to lose your heart's desire; the other is to gain it”. Anyone familiar with the history of our world knows, beyond any iota of doubt, that desire accomplished, more often than not, is the ruin of intemperate men.
Not too long ago, a Medical Doctor, who goes by the name of Bukola Saraki, emerged the President of the Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. The story of the disgusting and amoral tricks employed by him in claiming the exalted seat has not been forgotten by Nigerians. But that could be explained away on the altar of dangerous, but acceptable, kind of politics that has come to characterise our political space. And as it seems, no one else would beat Senator Saraki into line, if his political party, on which platform he rode into glory, couldn’t do it. The stench and mess of that episode are gradually fading and disappearing into history. And that would have been alright for Dr. Saraki. After all, he got just what he desperately wanted; even if he lost several admirers and followers who took him for a real leader worth being followed.
Becoming the Senate President – a gigantic pursuit demanding all known deadly tricks in the black book of political maneuvering – now seems a child’s play in his long list of aspirations. He has other important grounds to conquer; many more laurels to add to his bag of achievements. Currently, Senator Bukola’s gaze is trained on the Social Media. He wants all bloggers, commentators and other members of the very aggressive army of Nigerians socialising on Facebook, tweeting on Twitter, and messaging on WhatsApp to know that mentioning his name, or that of any other resource-gulping lawmaker in the Senate, could be chancy, perilous and precarious. So, Dr. Saraki, enabled by the support of his followers in the Senate, is processing a Bill that, when passed in to law, would send people into prison for saying wrong things about the untouchable lawmakers occupying the Red Chambers of the National Assembly. Welcome change!
But first, a few words of clarification. I’m not a lawyer; I’m a Pastor. This means that I know little or nothing about all the high-sounding legal jargons that would begin to fly here and there when Saraki begins to send men, in droves, to courts onward to the prison yards. But I know morality; I know virtuous behaviour. I know when a leader begins to endanger his path, like Dr. Saraki is currently doing, and empowering the prophetic words of the non-religious “Prophet” George Bernard Shaw to find absolute fulfillment in his life. I know when a man begins to chew more than he can swallow. I know, given my calling, when to call the heady to order and encourage him to tow the path of humility and eschew insanity.
The President of the Senate of the Federal republic of Nigeria is angry. Very angry. Why? He wants serious reduction in the hundreds, perhaps thousands, of mention that his name records on the Social Media daily. He wants his office respected and dignified. And he needs a new law to achieve this.
I’m not unmindful of the fact that the Bill in question was sponsored, not by Senators Saraki himself, but by Senator Ibn Na’Allah from Kebbi State. But Senator Ibn Na’Allah is a mere proxy, and his action a smokescreen. I’m equally aware that Kogi-born Senator Dino Melaye, a strange man needing careful, special study in the field of human predictability and comprehension, has gone totally hysterical, lampooning the online media site, Saharareporters.com, in his effort to secure the support of all other Senators on, and ensure the speedy passage of, the Bill.
Like Senator Ibn Na’Allah, the sponsor of the Bill, Senator Dino Melaye is a lackey of Bukola Saraki. And it is clear that when Dino Melaye weeps, the tears he sheds are Dr. Saraki’s.
But Senator Dino Melaye was not always like this. Or so I thought? Considering that I followed (and still follow) him on Twitter, loved him, appreciated his boundless energies as he roamed through the same Social Media platform he now wants me and others gagged on, gathering support during his electioneering campaign, opposing and challenging everyone who stood against his views, and selling himself to the Twitter lords and serfs, thereby emerging as a bulwark for the twitting populace, I am now at a loss as to where to place Mr. Dino Melaye in the strata of reasonability. He appears blessed with the eerie ability of keeping his motivations closest to his chest and never revealing his true intentions. Think about a man who employed the Social Media power to his fullest advantage while contesting an elective office but who now kicks against it! Well, he changed because Dr. Saraki suddenly appeared on the horizon.
What actually is the Senators’ fear? What troubles them? What is their concern? Simply that no one should employ the Social Media to criticise them, call them out where necessary, and then put their feet to the fire when that is required. In other words, Senator Saraki and Co. want put in place a retrogressive and unnerving scheme that restricts the employer from being able to question his employees, even when and where performance runs below expectation.
At this point, it is needful to establish a vital point: I do support or encourage irresponsible behaviour on the Social Media. And the idea I espouse here is not the postulation a new order of Online Movement that denigrates lawmakers. However, I believe what the Senate President and his co-travellers want is not the introduction, or even promotion, of accountable, answerable, conscientious and mature commenting, blogging and reporting on any of the Social Media platforms. What they seek is an opportunity for their actions to acquire such invincibility that it automatically becomes impossible for Nigerians to examine, appraise or criticise them. And they designed a backward Bill to realise this. Otherwise, as of today, our law books are filled with real and usable laws that can be relied upon to prosecute anyone who truly maligns a lawmaker through unfounded online publication or post.
Senator Saraki and others in the Senate want us to worry less about them, while they worry more about more money for their pockets, and more comfort for their souls. And all this at our expense. But I know it will take a totally lost populace to have a Senate peopled by the likes of Bukola Saraki, Dino Maleye and Ibn Na’Allah to look elsewhere while the Senators conduct their affairs. In fact, that would be the world's worst abdication of responsibilities. And it is not that Nigerians suddenly woke up one day to lose all confidence and trust in these Senators; no. Rather, both our recent, and not too recent, political trajectories are laced with stunning desperation and amazing wonders of our politicians to amass inexplainable wealth that tasks rational thinking.
Take, for instance, the case of Nigeria's rich Senate President.
As far back as 2002, current Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki had 15 cars (all acquired between 1997 and 2002) valued at N263,400,000.00 (two hundred and sixty-three million four hundred thousand naira). In five years, as declared by Saraki himself to the Code of Conduct Bureau, he spent about N264 million acquiring cars.
Here we go:
1. Navigator = N15M.
2. Peugeot 406 = N2.9M.
3. Ferrari 456 GT = N25M.
4. Mercedes V220 = N6M.
5. Mercedes 300 E = N2M.
6. Mercedes S320 = N16M.
7. Mercedes E320 = N11M.
8. Mercedes S500 = N20M.
9. Mercedes G500 = N18M.
10. Mercedes CLK 320 = N9M.
11. Mercedes ML 240 = N8.5M.
12. Lexus Jeep (Bullet Proof) = N30M.
13. Mercedes 500 (Bullet Proof) = N45M.
14. Mercedes S500 (Bullet Proof) = N30M.
15. Lincoln Navigator (Bullet Proof) = N25M.
In Appendix 4 of the CCB form submitted by him, Saraki claimed he acquired the cars from proceeds of “Business” and “Savings.”
As at 1997 when Dr. Saraki began the acquisition of these exotic cars, he was just 35 years of age. And going by his history, he had only worked as a Medical Officer at Rush Green Hospital, Essex, from 1988 to 1989. Just one year!
The following year, 1990, he became a Director of Societe Generale Bank (Nigeria) Limited. A position he held till the year 2000. Standing out from this is the fact that Dr. Saraki's financial fortune changed drastically and dramatically when he became a Director in a Bank belonging to his family.
Note that the above cars were the ones he had acquired before becoming Kwara State Governor in 2003. There's no information yet as per the number and cost of other cars he must have purchased between 2003 and now.
Perhaps he bought these cars from his legitimate earnings; perhaps not. What is sacrosanct, though, is that Nigerians need explanations on the source of the wealth of a 35 years old man spending over a quarter of a billion naira procuring cars. As expected, however, Saraki would have none of this.
But, irrespective of Dr. Saraki's source of wealth, one thing stands out: Senator Saraki is afflicted by the combined maddening maladies of blinding greed, dangerous acquisitiveness and permanent loss of soul!
Here is one more reason why we are where we are as a nation!
And now I ask: should a people have a man as Dr. Saraki as Senate President and not keep an eye on him and his activities, given what is known of him, and given that the initial mistake of his emergence must be lived with and endured? Wouldn't such a people be considered irresponsible?
Unfortunately, Dr. Saraki and other lawmakers in his camp think that those trying to keep them on their toes are the irresponsible gang, who fail to see the power of their exalted office and accord them heavenly respect. That the Senate President and his sidekicks seek this new power to gag Social Media commentators tells more about their desire to enslave Nigeria's brilliant and restless minds.
And then there is one more important point that Saraki has refused to see: leadership requires that you throw yourself fully into the business of doing right – just right – and trusting the populace to defend you. Pray, what will any sane leader who does right both in the secret and in the open worry about as per a commentator’s criticism? The best defence for the leader is not his power to muzzle the led; his real staying and defensive power is in knowing what the law of the land requires him to do, doing same, and trusting the people being served to rise to his defence when wrongly accused.
Our current Senators do not seem to appreciate this viewpoint. Their position, twisted as it is, is that they must, given that they are now "above" us, whip us into submission. They expect that Nigerians must bury the idea of confronting them intellectually and ideologically on any of the online platforms. That approach creates a problem though: employees ruling over and subduing the employer! Who accepts such a curse as the norm? Nobody! Even for a man whose brains went on sabbatical leave, the first thing to regain when the brains resume work is the liberty to control how his employees act and react while doing his business.
And these lawmakers are our employees. We put them there. The law says so! They may forget, but we should not. They went from place to place, town to town, asking that they please be sent to Abuja to make laws for us. They promised they would listen to us. They swore they would do our wishes. They begged, and we listened. We made Dr. Saraki and Co. lawmakers. Now they say we must not ask them questions. Now they say them must regulate what we say; that they must control our thought patterns and enslave our minds. Such impudent audacity!
For some people, Dr. Saraki’s braggadocio, contempt, and grandiosity come across as self-confident strength, making the weak and frightened to gravitate to the "strong man" who appears dexterously super-human. To the sensitive, however, Saraki's facade is too light a material to cover that weakness he strives to conceal.
And the Senate President will do well to note two crucial points. The first is the need to avoid this ongoing, but reversible, journey into political oblivion that threatens to make him an unwanted material among the very powerful and active Nigerian online commentariat. The second, and most important, is for all Nigerian Senators, led by Dr. Bukoka Saraki, to always crosscheck with advanced democracies of the world on what the trends and customs are on any issue they wish to pursue. This way, certain backward-pulling atavistic political idiosyncrasies would be avoided.
At the moment, what the Senate President and his friends are proposing is a journey back into atavism - a dead and buried oddity that is unneeded in this age and country.
Pastor Gabriel Olalekan Popoola, a former University of Port Harcourt Students' Union Leader, worships with the Living Faith Church.
Email: [email protected]
Twitter handle: @Gabrolap
googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('comments'); });
googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('content1'); });
googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('content2'); });