By Rev Fr Gerald Nwafor
When a madman is dancing naked at the market square, his relatives and friends are the people who feel ashamed, since the madman cannot fully comprehend what he is doing. On another hand, when your sibling is dancing the dirty dance, you cover your face and look away (Nwanne gi na agba ajo egwu na ama oko iku ana ako gi).
I was thinking that what happened in the month of November would be the worst of it all, but look at December now. As we sat down to watch the Senate screening of the ambassadorial list, I could not withhold tears from my eyes to hear the senators telling the nominated candidates to take a bow and go without any question or interrogation about what they would do for the country as ambassadors. The diatribe between Senator Adams and Senator Ali Ndume was the climax.
I was so ashamed that I could not tell my friends that those two people were serving senators of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. When Reno Omorkiri came into the screening chamber, I saw Senator Natasha stand up and move away from where she was sitting. The whole cacophony seems awkward from start to finish since none of the nominees were asked even one question. I am sure one or another country will reject one of the ambassadors sent to them.
I am not a prophet, but I look at the list of names I think 99% of them have cases in EFCC, or some sort of public opprobrium. Without mentioning names, one of them said that the sitting president is a known drug lord and a serial forger of certificates. How can you go back to your vomit? Why on earth would you like to associate yourself with a drug lord and a serial forger if you claim to be a clean person? These people have lost all their sense of shame.
Now I am the one feeling ashamed whenever people ask me about my senator and the ambassadorial screening. At one point, they tried to ask people the simplest question to justify their claim that it is not a senate of rubber-stamp and bow-and-go senate.
A nominee cannot mention the names of the three senators in the state of origin he came from in Nigeria. Even primary school pupils sing about their senators and governors, and nominees for ambassadorial posts cannot, what kind of shame and embarrassment is this? I remember someone talking about a round peg in a round hole, so that senators can be good representatives for the country of Nigeria. I can assure you that some of the nominees are neither peg nor hole; therefore, they are not supposed to be there in the first place.
On a careless switch of events, the wife of the first lady of Nigeria stood up to interrupt a governor making a speech. She said the governor should stop singing while speaking since she has other events to attend. The first family has been stepping onto landmines since assuming office. The daughter of the president went to Benin to tell Oba Benin that she is the Iyaloja (the market leader) of all the markets in Nigeria. I do not think it will work in Eke-Awka, Eke-Ekwuluobia, Nkwo Nnewi, and Otu-Nkwo Onitsha.
The son, Sheyi, was involved with the student union affairs, and the president himself has not given us the full explanation of what our plane and military men are doing in the prison in Burkina Faso. Since I joined humanity, I have not seen a situation where the wife of the president stood up on a formal occasion to go and interrupt a person speaking. What has happened to protocol? Are we now a country of everything goes? I watched how bold the first lady was in error.
She went back twice to tell the governor to stop singing. I was so ashamed at one point that maybe she forgot what she was there for. Thanks to the governor, who ignored her and continued with his speech. I do not know what to call that behavior, but I was ashamed myself. A few days after, I saw the first lady telling a group of less privileged kids that the rescue of the kidnapped girls was the fastest in Nigerian history. So kidnapping and paying ransom have become part of our history! In our culture, the saying goes like this: “When someone speaks, you can judge the level of knowledge.” (Nwata kwue okwu amara ka uche ya ra).
The first lady needs a little education on the areas of protocol and public speaking to eliminate this public embarrassment and shame. She is not an elected official, but by virtue of her marriage, she is connected to the corridors of power, and that should not be an avenue to abuse public officials in their state.Finally, when I think that I would not receive shame anymore from the Nigerian government. I was informed about the arrest of Senator Chris Ngige for allegedly squandering two billion Naira.
Chris Ngige was remanded in Kuje prison, where MNK used to stay. I think there is a room in Kuje for politicians of Igbo dissent. Yaya Bello, the former governor of Kogi State who embezzled 80 billion Naira, is walking free. Not only is Bello walking free, but he also orchestrated to removal of Senator Natasha from the senate so that he can take over the seat. Please, somebody can make it make sense to me, because I cannot understand how someone who stole 80 billion can be walking free, and another who was accused of 2 billion is arrested and remanded in prison? I am looking for a news channel where I will find what really happened between the government of the Republic of Benin and the president of Nigeria, and France.
Do not take anything that the government of Nigeria is telling you, especially if it is coming from one Mr. Bayo. He has proved beyond a reasonable doubt that he cannot be trusted. He lied when the UAE did not restore flights to Nigeria. He lied when he said that Saudi Arabia would invest more than $600 million in our economy.
He lied when he said that some of the kidnapped girls ran away, not rescued. He just lied that the plane and the eleven military men being held in Burkina Faso had been released.
His shame de-shames me, but I am telling you not to believe anything they said. I do not know the next thing that will happen from now on, but I have shaved off my eyebrow (akpugom iku anya), and I am ready for anything coming out from the Aso Rock.
