Silence is golden, but… Femi Adeoti Column,

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True. Silence is golden. But, it’s not expedient all the time. Neither is it desirable, advisable. Or even tactical at all times. You have to be prudent in applying expediency.
For now, silence is not expedient in the Senate. It’s far from being desirable in the Red Chambers. The reason for the fracas, rumpus, uproar, et al. Tension is at its zenith.
Fire on the mountain. The clock is ticking and tickling in the upper house. Bubbles may burst. Implosion and explosion are brewing. Competing and compelling.
The Senate is in turbulence. And in eyes of the violent storm. The masquerade is dancing in the village square. The whole community is glued to its dancing style and steps.
There’s nowhere to run, no place to hide. The situation is crazy. And under critical alarm. No need for control because it’s out of control.
Thanks heavens. The senators are doing what they’re doing to themselves. They are at one another’s throats. Shamelessly stripping themselves naked!
Oh! We cherish it with great relish. Our fervent prayer: May the end not be in sight so soon. Not even in the farthest future.
We were very much aware. We knew it too well. That there are rots everywhere in this our evil-invested clime. But we never knew. That it’s that brazen and dastardly in the Senate.
Last Tuesday. We watched in utter dismay. The senators with utmost avarice. Slicing Nigeria greedily into their bottomless pockets. A bunch of insatiable species. Undistinguished, dishonourable!
A so-called ranking/senior senator carting away N500 millions! And just like. Some hide under constituency projects. And they have in their kitty, a whopping N2billion to N120billion.
Senator Abdul Ningi, Bauchi Central (PDP), gave himself and his colleagues away. We are glad he did: “As we speak here, some senators got as high as N120billion and some N100 billion for constituency projects in the 2024 budget. Someone like me got only N2 billion. Some senators got far less than that.”
The trouble wasn’t over. It only started. Ningi spurred another party man into action. So, senator representing Cross River North (PDP), Agom Jarigbe, opened up. We again danced for joy.
He refused to be cut down. He screamed on the floor of the Senate: “Let us wash our dirty linen in public. If we want to go into those issues, all of us are culpable.”
The bang: “Some senators here, the so-called ‘senior senators’ got N500million each. Despite the fact that I’m a ranking senator, I didn’t get any funds. Did I go to the press?”
That sealed it. It was a monumental damage to the Senate. They are no longer trading in millions. They have raised the bar to billions. And to the detriment of the mass majority.
Imagine, how these sums could turn lives around for the best. See the breakthroughs it would have made. Specifically in remotest parts scattered all over the country. We have them in large numbers. Overwhelmingly in excruciating pains.
The Senate has clearly set itself up. Yes. Against the real, the innocent and the poor. And they must be made to pay heavily for their misdeeds. They have unknowingly drawn the battle line. And we promised them; no retreat, no surrender. No friends, no foes.
Ningi, Jarigbe and Co knew this. They realised silence is neither golden, nor expedient now. The reason they voiced out vehemently. Loud and clear. Though, that didn’t exonerate in any form.
Forget the desperado of Senate Leader Opeyemi Bamidele. That’s expected of him. He’s to defend whatever and whoever. And mend the “unmendable” fences.
Let him and his clique know this. We have got what we wanted. And needed in Ningi, Jarigbe and Co. And we’re extremely satisfied. We are now armed with facts and figures. Not the fallacies and falsehood being branded around. We refuse to buy into their hallucinations and delusions.
Opeyemi sank further down below in despair. He wanted to save the ugly situation. He ended up making it uglier and messier. He resorted to ethnicity. That is the pastime of desperate rulers. They lag on to it lavishly. Only when it’s convenient.
He told his boss, Senate President Godswill Akpabio: “He (Ningi) lied deliberately. Mr Senate President, you’re occupying that seat 40 years after a South South person occupied it.”
Right. The late Senator Joseph Wayas (Cross River), occupied that seat. That was between 1979 and 1983: “The last time a Southerner (South Easterner precisely), was there was during Obasanjo and they were being changed every time.”
Now, this is the ethnicity narrative Opeyemi is pushing so hard: “It was only stable when it returned to the North. David Mark spent eight years, Saraki completed his four years, Lawan spent his four years.”
He then turned to his country: “Don’t be deceived, the losers of the June 2023 Senate president election are still angry. Some have accepted, but a few haven’t. They have plotted to remove you before June 2024.”
His jaundiced advice. He urged Akpabio into negative action. For the wrong reason: “That is why you must not allow this deliberate mischief by Ningi to go away. He did it on purpose.
“He knew he was lying. He set the public against you, he will do it again. We must apply our sanction.” And Ningi was heavily axed for three months!
Opeyemi was audacious enough. To tell us to watch for a year. And see whether they would not perform wonders with the free money. We won’t buy into his black market.
We have been waiting since 1999. Nothing concrete for us to take home. But everything for you. To grab and run with it. You have done that several times over. And with uncanny dexterity.
Ethnicity has always been your weapon of mass destruction. It is more profound during electioneering. That won’t work for you this time around. No matter how ferocious or deadly you apply it. We remain steadfast in our resolve.
It’s appalling! What do these senators want us to take away? What do we make of their shambles? They are littering every space in the National Assembly. Monumental disaster is it!
Hope the House of Representatives taking useful lesson from its senior colleague? The house should be encouraged. To follow suit rapidly and rabidly. It is booting in the House. We can sense it; we can smell it.
All these shenanigans are welcome. They’re better exposed. It’s good for our collective wellbeing. We are grateful. Things are falling into pleasant places for us. Let these federal lawmakers keep doing what they are doing.
Let the beat go on. It should go down speedily to state assemblies. They need urgent purification too. They are no exceptions. They are birds of a feather, they flock together.
We swear! It’s part of restructuring. We yearn for it. We crave for it. God, give this National Assembly the guts. To free us from all self-inflicted shackles.
Can we ever trust these lawmakers for once? We’re afraid. They are deeply involved in our plight. We can’t agree less with Ningi: “All of us (senators) are culpable.” In fact, they form the bulk of the first culprits
When you thought you had it bad enough. Just then. The ugly, the worst would dazzle and daze you.
Unarguably. The 10th National Assembly is truly an uncommon gathering of characters. We have never witnessed such an assemblage of queer elements.
We’re extremely blessed with leaders, rulers and “ruinners” in this clime. Yes, the good, the bad and the ugly. We have them in reckless abundance. They “full ground.” Courtesy: INEC, judiciary in that disgusting order!