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Dotun Oyeniyi
 Author, Economist and Practicing Attorney
London, England

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In the exercise of naming political 419ers in the legislative houses, let it surprise no one that if Senator Nuhu Aliyu is allowed to name names, he might come up with an astonishing list in which the first on the list might be the list maker himself – Nuhu Aliyu, probably followed by David Mark and my good friend – Mr Dimeji Bankole. By the time the full list are read out, maybe, just maybe, we would have less than fifty legislators with a mandate not acquired through political equivalent of economic 419. So let those who live in a glass house stop recklessly throwing stones.

 

419 LEGISLATORS IN THE HOUSE: HELPING ALIYU STATE THEIR NAMES
 by Dotun Oyeniyi
 

Nigeria is at it once again. A nation that continues to craft a spectacular image for itself in terms of its ability to spring out to the whole world, in a repetitive and endless format, news of incredible events, which could only be thought to be in the realm of improbable fictional imaginations of Hollywood scriptwriters, but which are factual and played out in Africa most populous nation.

Where else could it have happened if not in Nigeria, that a nation’s sitting chief law officer was murdered and no one was brought to book? The prime suspect in that horrendous murder was still being detained when the ruling People’s Democratic Party virtually plucked him out of the prison and delivered him to the upper legislative house as a distinguished senator. This is not to apportion any guilt to him. It is for the courts to apportion guilt and they have cleared him of any guilt. So be it. What is beyond comprehension, and even constitutes an assault on commonsense was the inability or the arrogant refusal of the PDP to look beyond a murder suspect as a candidate for a senatorial seat. In any event, the trial was enmeshed, ab initio, with so many flagrant anomalies. Very typical of the Nigerian Police, with an appalling record of resolving murder cases, that they depended almost entirely on circumstantial evidence which rarely suffice to secure conviction in murder trials. The rest, as they say, is now history, at least for now.

On the 27th of January 2002, an explosion from the munitions depot of Ikeja military cantonment claimed more than a thousand lives, some died instantly and others drowned in the nearby canal as they tried to escape the ferocious inferno. The whole world looked at us with a mixture of sympathy and consternation. The response of the federal government and the military hierarchy to the management of that crisis was unspeakable. Not the least when the then president visited the scene and was met with the rage of a distressed mob who shouted at him in anger. Chief Obasanjo met their grievance with another brand of ‘militocratic’ anger which was unbecoming of the president of a nation. ‘Shut up you fools.’ He appears to have shouted at the wailing crowd. ‘I am not supposed to be here in the first instance, don’t you have a governor? Where is Bola Tinubu? Tell me, you think it is the duty of your president to come and commiserate with you. You are wrong; I have better jobs than doing that…..’

It is only in a nation like ours that a serving president will dare utter such forbidden phrases that was pregnant with sarcasm, arrogance and incivility to victims of his own government’s negligence. It is doubtful if any of the victims – the maimed survivors and dependants of the dead have been compensated in any way to date.

The series of unending loss of lives in hundreds to pipeline fire which the government appears to be incapable of stemming had seriously reduced the worth of an average Nigerian life so much so that the most recent pipeline fire in Lagos that consumed hundreds of live was not even aired on the BBC for a second. Blame not the BBC but ourselves, if you label your bucket ‘bin’, do not complain if the people dropped their garbage inside it.

However, I am beginning to jump the gun somewhat. The real thrust of this article is not to delve too much on the old news from Nigeria but to analyse the latest in the series generated by Senator Nuhu Aliyu that 419ers abound in the legislative chambers.

Just about two weeks ago did the hitherto anonymous senator from Niger state stated the obvious – Nigerian Legislative houses are dotted with 419ers. The news was not much of a surprise to the world but what is amazing is the furore generated by the news. Faced with a barrage of criticism from his honourable colleagues who took up ammunitions in their droves against him, Senator Aliyu chickened out of the controversy in a least tactical and shameful manner like Nigerian police will extort money from motorists. What do we expect from a retired DIG, a professional police by Nigerian standard? Well, if he had chosen to eat his words, one can help him name names.

It becomes imperative to define who exactly is a 419er. Irrespective of the modus operandi involved, a 419er is he who uses con to disown another of, and convert to his, that other’s valuable possession. The valuable possession is usually but not exclusively money, it might be an asset convertible to money. Houses, cars, land, goods and from Nigerian politician’s perception of democracy as a lucrative business, political mandate qualifies as an asset of target by 419ers.

In the light of the inclusion of political mandate as an asset of target by 419ers, how many of our lawmakers in Abuja can still dare Senator Aliyu to name names. How many of them became legislators on a platter of a fraud-free mandate? The elections which produced most of them were characterised with so much fraud, blatant rigging and ballot stuffing that a big question of legitimacy dangles over both legislative houses.

In the exercise of naming political 419ers in the legislative houses, let it surprise no one that if Senator Nuhu Aliyu is allowed to name names, he might come up with an astonishing list in which the first on the list might be the list maker himself – Nuhu Aliyu, probably followed by David Mark and my good friend – Mr Dimeji Bankole. By the time the full list are read out, maybe, just maybe, we would have less than fifty legislators with a mandate not acquired through political equivalent of economic 419. So let those who live in a glass house stop recklessly throwing stones.

 

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