Nigerian National Assembly: The Madhouse Of A Nation By Elias Ozikpu

It is a disturbing irony that Nigerian lawmakers, besides their knack for sponsoring anti-people bills, have gained considerable notoriety for lawless conduct and outright rascality. This conduct, which has attracted untold opprobrium and significantly bastardized the Nigerian identity, is a skewed image of responsible lawmakers.


But whatever the kind of garment we may choose to robe them in, they remain the product of a shameful people with no self-worth - they are the product of our own doing! This is why questions such as: 'how on earth did Dino Melaye become a Nigerian lawmaker?' represent the most dim-witted question(s) any Nigerian should be heard asking, at a time when the most unscrupulous political candidate can secure the vote of a Nigerian with only the mere flash of ill-gotten Naira notes (the 's' in 'notes' is employed only for the sake of dignity). The Nigerian electorate is so vulnerable, ignorant and desperate that these Machiavellian ploys by the oppressors succeed with no one raising the crucial question of credibility and probity.

These are the nauseous circumstances under which Mr. Dino Melaye got ushered into what was supposed to be one of the most hallowed houses in the land, and which has given him the 'senator' appellation. Sadly, very sadly indeed, it is a grievous situation that is bound to stay with us for a long time. At the height of Dino Melaye's recent scandal, I was privileged to have perused and heard a plethora of critical reactions, but it is my personal opinion to assert that we are without the moral competence to question Mr Dino Melaye's deleterious conduct. The rationale for this is not unfathomable. If, for instance, fresh elections were held today, Nigerians will throng to the polls and re-produce a mass of Dino Melayes and Bukola Sarakis. That is the tragedy of our nation, from which our political and social retrogression stem. It is like cladding a mad man in ceremonial robes and expect him to admire his new looks for the simple fact that he has spent years roaming the streets ungarbed.

That said, Dino Melaye is not alone in this show of infamy. Misconduct has tragically become synonymous with Nigerian 'lawmakers' (or should it be lawbreakers?), and a whole people have had to put up with the ignominy created by a group of people whose conduct should be the archetype of excellence in the Nigerian life. Obviously, moral excellence in this respect is totally out of the question as we have seen them create discreditable scenes on countless occasions.

In the recent past, and precisely in July of 2013, the Rivers State House of Assembly hugged the limelight when members of the House staged what was completely an eyesore - an eyesore that naturally debased the Nigerian character. A similar occurrence manifested on the floor of the National Assembly in June of 2015. During these grotesque occurrences, there were flying punches, flying chairs, missing or broken maces, hospitalized people, to say the least. But the grandest of them all came on the 20th day of November, 2014 when our 'distinguished' lawmakers were caught on cameras throughout the world whilst scaling the fence of the National Assembly complex, on the day security operatives locked the entrance of the complex in a move that was politically driven. That day remains indelibly gloomy in the political history of Nigeria - a day created by indiscipline, nurtured by impunity and embraced by docility.

At this stage, it is not clear if these ruinous acts by the nation's 'lawmakers', which are tantamount to hooliganism, have in a little way spared the sanctity of the Nigerian state. Indeed, there is bound to be wholesale anarchy when the man who enacts laws is the first to pick up a sledgehammer to smite the same laws he enacts.

At school, we were taught about the importance of history in the life of any nation or individual, and how history shapes present events. It follows therefore, quite naturally, that Dino Melaye and Company are good students who astutely studied the history of the Nigerian Senate. In their study, Melaye and his unruly colleagues have learnt, indefectibly too, that anyone who aspires being a member of the House must indeed embody misconduct, lawlessness, grand scale corruption, hooliganism, and so on and so forth.

That the Nigerian state is presently battling a dire ailment is clearly not a mendacious claim. It desperately needs a leader(s) whose desire to serve is honest and reassuring to stir the nation to a safe destination. If this is not done, Nigeria will remain a big joke in the hands of these clowns.

Elias Ozikpu is a playwright, novelist, essayist, polemicist and a thinker. He is a restless African.