Oh Akpabio!

The Senate has set itself on another dodgy glide down the murky road of probes and enquiries. They had been there before. They are always on that route; and each time, they successfully drag us along with them. It is their past time which we are conscripted to participate in. Their newest adventure is a plunge into the same bucket with the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA). The NDLEA, they said, spoke words that were heavier than its mouth and therefore must be dealt with. The Senate and Nigerians must know what the NDLEA ate to their fill to gain such audacity to utter the sacrilegious words we heard it speak about a distinguished senator.

The NDLEA, on Monday, alleged that Senator Oyelola Yisa Ashiru from Kwara State had illicit drug users and abusers in his home. “The personal house of the senator in GRA, Ilorin, the capital of Kwara State had been raided in recent past, where drugs and illicit substances were recovered while two of his aides, Ibrahim Mohammed and Muhammed Yahaya were arrested.” Femi Babafemi of the NDLEA who made the allegations, added that the NDLEA had “credible intelligence” and that upon surveillance, they “confirmed that the senator’s house was being used as drug joint for drug dealers and users.” NDLEA said Senator Ashiru’s boys were the “Omo Senator” and were the ones it said were operating from Offa, a location it said its operatives also raided and arrest made in June 2023.

The allegations are quite weighty and were enough to trigger the anger of the Senate which Nigerians saw on Tuesday. The Senate thus set up a committee to investigate Ashiru and also bring the NDLEA to explain what is going on.

That would have been fair enough if the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio hadn’t judged the matter before hearing in it started. By the way he concluded his speech on the issue on Tuesday, you could smell one-way feud. “Colleagues, this is a serious matter. We must call the NDLEA to order. Injury to one is injury to all. I propose we set up an ad hoc committee to investigate the NDLEA’s allegations against Senator Ashiru. If they fail to provide justification, the Senate will take drastic action,” Akpabio said. The Senate President by this spoke against the constitution he swore to uphold, and he was brazen about it.

By saying “injury to one, injury to all” Akpabio is tacitly saying that an erring senator is acting on behalf of the entire senate. If this senator was arrested outside Nigeria for the same reasons the NDLEA is after him, will Akpabio and his team speak in the same manner they are speaking currently? If the Senate does not respect the NDLEA as an institution of government with important functions, and offer it support to function optimally how would the entire gamut of government institutions appear in the eyes of the watching Nigerian and foreign public?

Nigerians have been feasting on the ding-dong between the NDLEA and Ashiru, who is the Deputy Majority Leader of the Senate. The matter carries the sound elements of Fela Anikulapo’s ‘You be thief! I no be thief! Argument argument’. What could have led to this shameful development which has extensively been making headlines for days? What could be at the root of it? The Senate would not want to throw its ranking member under the bus just like that and the NDLEA will not allow heavy accusations of incompetence and corruption to savagely rip its delicate reputation apart for nothing. While the two elephants fight, poor innocent Nigerians would be the grass at the receiving end of it all. The ordinary, non-aligned citizens are the ones who would bear the ugly consequences and sundry repercussions of the indiscretion of the Nigerian Senate and the NDLEA.

However, we assume that Senate President, Godswill Akpabio means well in this circumstance, but he makes his being well-meaning sound and appear like a gleeful favour. We might not know the depth of the privileges in store for our distinguished legislators. We might also not be able to get to the bottom of how they arrived at their numerous unfathomable perks and no sacrifice. We have accepted our fate. But these privileges should also not be at the detriment of the overall image of the Nigerian society from which these representatives derived their legislative powers and that right to earn those privileges.

Senator Ashiru reported on the floor of the Senate that there were numerous complaints from his constituents of illicit drug use and abuse. He also said that a number of his constituents had been removed from sanity because of drug abuse. These reports spurred his debate in favour of an institute to rehabilitate drug users. He alleged that his speech on the floor of the Senate triggered the NDLEA to lay wrong accusations at his doorstep.

What Ashiru came up with are ordinarily supposed to lay a foundation for useful collaboration between the NDLEA and the Senate. Had he brought these issues up with the NDLEA before now? Are there previous reports of his efforts in this regard, and had there been moves to solve this problem until the bill to create the drug rehabilitation agency was tabled before the Senate?

Instead, a stage is now being set for Nigerians to watch two rams drink from the same bucket…

Senator Akpabio in all of these should be seen to act as a father. The President of the Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria is not expected to pamper one Nigerian baby at the expense or detriment of another Nigerian baby. Like a mother hen, he should brood over all the eggs under his care for better results and not discard one because he is in love with another. By child here, we are looking at the various agencies which are involved, and the effects of how we treat them on the general image of Nigeria as a country. There should not be a show of power in this because of the hordes of Nigerians whose freedom and joys are subjugated at international destinations because of their Nigerian passport. The reports from this Ashiru/Senate versus NDLEA are a fuel in how travelling Nigerians are treated at airports and countries’ entry points.

What would the international community make of our senators themselves when they arrive in countries other than Nigeria? Have they not heard of the principle of ótù mkpisi aka n rota mmanu, o zuo òhà? Don’t they know? That just one finger dipped in palm oil is enough to stain the entire group?

The senators, including Senator Akpabio, swore to this: “I  do solemnly swear that I will be faithful and bear true allegiance to the Federal Republic of Nigeria, that as a member of the Senate, I will perform my functions honestly to the best of my ability, faithfully and in accordance with the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and the law, and the rules of the Senate and always in the interest of the sovereignty, integrity, solidarity, well-being and prosperity of the Federal Republic of Nigeria; and I will strive to preserve fundamental objectives and directive principles of state policy contained in the FRN, and that I will preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the FRN; and that I will abide by the Code of Conduct contained in the Fifth Schedule of the Constitution of the FRN. So help me God.”

NDLEA should not be investigated by the Senate. The Senate should not be investigated by the NDLEA. Senator Ashiru should not be investigated by the Senate, neither should the Senate be investigating the NDLEA. In all of these, the submission by Senator Akpabio that “an injury to one is injury to all” will hover in the air around all that the Senate would be doing in the matter. The NDLEA too will have esprit de corps dripping all over its reactions and operations on this matter. They would be like the eni a f’òràn mo… A person wrongly accused of wreaking havoc who will always not keep mute.

The way to go should have been for Nigerians to see a statesman Akpabio. Being the Senate President and Chairman of the National Assembly confers that moral responsibility, and such an office does not be by the context of ‘injury to one is injury to all’ but by law and morality. Why would Akpabio not encourage the NDLEA to do its job thoroughly but rather decide to protect Ashiru simply because he is a serving senator?

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