We Shall Have to Sit-Out This NASS!
by ahjotnaija
9 billion Naira to change your wardrobe et al is not change. It is a reminder of what we once experienced in the past assemblies. This first act by the National Assembly (NASS) is a good move to aligning itself with its predecessors- the three-term PDP-controlled Houses. Now, when we want change, we are best advised to look anywhere for one but not in this NASS. The APC-fied PDP’ers have shown the direction a la the old saying of morning showing the day. They shall loot us dead!
Some call on President Buhari to deliver or face wrath. I bless this demand. Well, we might as well expect nothing from him, at least not for now (or in the longrun 🙂 ) It’s too early to judge his perfornance but his body language of no-meddling/working-with-whatnot is one of I-dont-care what happens elsewhere as if an hijacked NASS is not powerful enough to ruin his presidency. I hope he u-turns from this faulty mindset. A Nigerian President is powerful enough to weigh in on issues (and influence positively) almost all of the time, if wisely done, of course that only if he wants.
This largesse in the name of allowance is another pointer to the fact that the president might need to put “leadership” aside to “play-politic” these shameless legislooters to caution their appetite, telling them it is too early in the day to die of money-constipation. If not, this show of open thiefery will continue to beshadow any success President Buhari will boast in the years to come. Come to think of it: These men have not even worked yet for us apart from electing an agbeyibeboje senate president.
This is my take: When I realize that we have the likes of Ben-Bruce, who twitter-lied about casting a vote he did not cast, then a “persecuted” Buruji Kashamu et al under Bank- plus State-Treasury Armedrobber Bukola Saraki, it dawned we don enter one-chance with this current NASS!
Was the chant of change a delusion when we voted APC!? It is, and it is not. We wanted change and we expressed it via the ballot. Like Professor Adesanmi once said, President Buhari is an idea, a facial and moral representation of that true change the people earnestly wish for. The emergence of this government is thus not a complete delusion, it is a realization of a true desire, we saw it as inching closer to that redemptive elixir we seek to heal our national sickness.
Now, wanting change is one damn good wish, the delusion therein is to have gone for an alternative that was too PDP-like in its core. By the way, no denying there is a handful of less-bad/corrupt individuals among these countrylooters, but think it, of what good is blindness if the darkness it can offer is not total. The submission of a corrupt core is not a blame of the masses’ choice for change but a simple confirmation of why current NASS and its first two acts are reminders of what we hated so much in the past and still hate in the now. There could be no better way to capture the past so perfectly than in the appropriation of so much money to a group of men who own so much already but deem it fit to amass more wealth without working for it!
Of course, we shall have to sit-out this NASS, we are clear about this, but we shall remind them tirelessly why we voted them in, being fully aware that they are men-of-old anyway. We give them this chance to change indeed or damn the consequence. One of the changes we so much desire is a complete review of the current two chambers-assembly. It is not sustainable if we are intent on moving an inch forward positively. Think of how much we shall have saved of the 9 billion Naira if we had only a chamber of these countrythieves to feed!
ajagunna 