By J.S. Okutepa, SAN
I do not know why most Nigerian politicians in leadership positions are far removed from the realities of the suffering of the Nigerian masses. There are always sycophantic praises of leadership, particularly of the president, by those who are close to him. They hardly tell the president the truth about the realities on the ground in the economy and other areas of governance. They tell the president that things are getting better under him and that his policies and programmes of government are working when they are indeed not working.
I came across a video of the Senate President, Senator Godswill Obot Akpabio, singing praises of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Nigeria’s president. In the video, Senator Akpabio was singing as a choirmaster at an occasion. He sang a song that things are getting better since Asiwaju came on the throne and as Asiwaju is on the throne, things are getting better for Nigeria. He was so unashamedly singing the song as someone who does not know the plights of Nigerians. I wept that the Senate President can do this sort of things. For what I asked. To mislead the president or to taunt Nigerians.
If things are getting better since Asiwaju became president and now he is on the throne it must exist only in the fantasy of the president of the Senate and those who are being fed from the resources of Nigeria. The Senate President did not point out which things are getting better. Is the security of Nigerians getting better since the government before this and even this government? I do not think so. Are staple foods available at cheaper rates for the poor masses? I do not think so. Have security agencies stopped extorting money from Nigerians on the roads? I do not think so. How motorable are our roads? I see few. What about healthcare facilities? They are still, in most cases, mere consulting clinics. How have we fared in terms of respect for the rule of law and due process? I think we are getting bad and no improvement.
The song “Things Are Getting Better” by Choirmaster Godswill Obot Akpabio is the worst insult to the poor and the suffering masses of Nigeria. This is the head of an arm of government that should hold the executive accountable, engaging in sycophantic praise singing of the president to the irritation and annoyance of the truth on the ground. No wonder no serious oversight functions in defence of probity and accountability are seen being seriously undertaken by the legislative arm of the Nigerian government.
I do not think God will forgive those who have consolidated wickedness as official state policy unless they change to work for the people. Selfish interests have overshadowed the interests of the people. Which things are getting better? Only Godswill Obot Akpabio knows. Perhaps the president of the senate can give us particulars of those things that are getting better in concrete terms and which can be seen and felt by the poor masses under the leadership of the current government.
Where are the things that are getting better? Only the president of the Senate can tell. Things must be getting better for only him and a few others around him. But for the poor masses and ordinary Nigerians who patronise Nigerian markets, things are getting worse. Nigerians are not finding things better. Rather, Nigerians are seeing worse things in their lives. Roads in the villages and even rural parts of Abuja are in a worse state. The electricity supply has not improved. Industries are not being opened up. Employment is still not available for graduates.
Nigerians who have no means or with no means and or access to unaccountable government funds are not getting anything better. Things are not getting better, Mr Senate President. For Mr Senate President to know that things are not getting better I challenge him to drive on roads from Abuja to Lagos without escorts and see how things are not getting better. He can also do the same from Abuja to Makurdi, then to Gboko, all through Ogaja to Uggep to Calabar to Uyo and see how the roads Nigerians travel through are in terrible states and terrorist infested.
Today’s lifestyles of many in power and what they do with their ostentatious living styles do not seem to instil in the younger generation any more desire to be honest, dedicated and hardworking with values and respect for decency and decent earnings. So when the president of the Senate can, in the face of current hardships, tell Nigerians that things are getting better with Asiwaju on the throne, one begins to wonder what level of insensitivity to the stark realities on the ground.
Why do Nigerian public office holders in most cases, live in denial of the realities of our situation? Is it because they are far more removed from the people, or because Nigerians are just being taken for granted? Let the Senate President kindly stop adding pepper to the already wounded Nigerians who are suffering in many areas of the Nigerian economy and social life. Enough of insults to the sensibilities of Nigerians and our feelings. Let the Senate President travel by road to many states without escorts and security, and then return to sing if truly things are getting better. What a country of sycophancy.
The views expressed by contributors are strictly personal and not of Law & Society Magazine.
