18th September, 2013
The show of shame that took place at the National Assembly Tuesday after Senators and members of the House of Representatives resumed from their long recess did not come as a surprise to many Nigerians because that has always been their stock in trade when they are deliberating on issues that touch their raw nerves, not necessarily issues that affect the generality of the people they represent at the National Assembly.
As usual, they took their dissent to a ridiculous length by exchanging blows on the floor of the House of Representatives and engaging in a shouting match at the Senate when the Chairman of the break away faction of the Peoples Democratic Party, Alhaji Abubakar Kawu Baraje, stormed the National Assembly. A member of the House of Representatives, Mr. Ini Udoka from Akwa Ibom State lifted a chair and was preventing from throwing it, while a female lawmaker poked her fingers into the face of a male lawmaker.
They would have elicited the support of Nigerians if not that the fracas was caused by lawmakers in support of the Bamanga Tukur-led faction of the PDP and those in support of the Baraje-led faction.
It is a shame that the lawmakers would turn a blind eye to a burning issue like the two-month old strike by the Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, and engage in fisticuffs over the schism in PDP. We expect our lawmakers to break from the past and commit to seriously dealing with pressing national issues. Our country is currently on tenterhooks and needs urgent solution to the myriad of problems plaguing it.
We are faced with high rate of criminality, especially kidnapping that seems to be getting out of hand. Instead of tackling these problems, our lawmakers resumed from their recess and started chasing shadows. They should get serious for once and rekindle the hope of Nigerians that they can get better representation from them at a time everything seems to be collapsing in the country.