TheCable

Two days ago, in far away Germany, the immediate past Deputy President of the Senate, Ike Ekweremadu was beaten and mortified by suspected members of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB). He was dragged and stoned with different objects! Ike is not just the immediate past Deputy President of the Senate, he is currently a serving Senator in the 9^th Assembly of the Federal Republic of Nigeria!

When the photographs and videos of the dishonorable and reprehensible event that took place in Germany started swimming in the pool of social media, virtually every Nigerian condemned it, not because Ike Ekweremadu has over the years been a productive politician—representing the interests of his people in the Senate, but because he’s still a serving Senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. And as far as Nigerians are concerned, it was a national disgrace and I do agree with the good people of our country!

While we condemn Senator Ekweremadu being disgraced beyond the shores of Nigeria, we cannot afford not to tell our politicians the truth. The truth is—no one will stone and beat productive politicians. Nnamdi Azikwe, Sir Ahmadu Bello and Awolowo were not beaten and disgraced in those days. What happened to Senator Ike should be a wakeup call to every political leader in our clime. You may criticize Nigerians for many things, but the truth is, citizens of other countries do not respect their leaders as much we do in Nigeria, but it seems our political leaders are beginning to push our people to the wall of disrespect, revolt and rebellion.

If my memory serves me right, I think it was the former Transportation Minister of the Federal Republic of Nigeria; Mr. Rotimi Amaechi—who said that the major reason political leaders are not being productive in Nigeria is because Nigerians do not stone them. I pray we are not going to wake up one day—finding out to our surprise—that stoning and beating of political leaders has become the order of the day in our clime. If that day would not come, then our political leaders would need to stop selfishly serving themselves and start serving our people selflessly. Our people have been taken for granted for too long a time!

Let me leave the appalling incident that occurred in Germany two days ago for a while and quickly register my displeasure on what briefly took place in Lagos yesterday. Prof. Wole Soyinka, Femi Falana (SAN) and other legitimate Nigerians wanted to hold a meeting and the place of their meeting was sealed off by some policemen. Whoever gave that order would not be remembered when the history of this administration is going to be laid bare as onions before the unborn children of our beloved country, but the only name that will be on the lips of everyone would be that of Buhari. I advice Mr. President to address the whole country, warning some overzealous officers to stop some undemocratic things they do, because of wanting to retain their jobs. Our military and policemen need to be told that Abdulsalami Abubakar was the last military president. And that the one in power now was chosen by our people at the polls. He did not get there through guns and bullets.

Those who are holding peaceful meetings and rallies are not our enemies. We all know our enemies and our policemen and soldiers know them. Our people do not deserve to be intimidated and harassed by those who have sworn to protect them. They have some legitimate rights as citizens of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. And one of them is “the right of the people peaceably to assemble.” And the more the administration of Buhari makes it difficult for our people to gather at anytime they choose to discuss what they want, the more cheated and dishonored they would feel and when this happens, they would automatically hate baba’s government, even if baba’s intentions are right.

It is the right of our people to assemble anywhere they choose, including the front of “Aso Rock,” provided they are not violent. As an effect of what those on his watch daily get done, PMB is unknowingly making too many enemies for himself. And baba needs Nigerians to love, cooperate with and not hate him, because it takes more than one man to build a nation. Infact, for baba to run a remarkable government, he cannot afford to fight those who brought him to power.

Back to what happened to Senator Ike Ekweremadu two days ago in far away Nuremberg, Germany.  For the umpteenth time, I unsympathetically condemn it, but I am still of the opinion that unproductive politicians can be ‘stoned, beaten and dragged’ for the whole world to see. How can they be legitimately ‘stoned, beaten and dragged’?

As long as you are collecting money from people who have never been useful to themselves, let alone their family members, electing them to serve you, stoning, beating and dragging them later wouldn’t make any sense. The man who was beaten and stoned in Germany was just returned to the Senate! If he is truly bad, why didn’t his people vote him out? And if his people collected money from him before returning him to the Senate, then it means they are worse than the man they stoned and dragged, tearing his cloth!

In a democracy, politicians are stoned, beaten and dragged by voting them out! And provided you wrongly vote them into power, you all can strongly come together to recall them. God is not going to come down to do that one for you. Every Nigerian needs to become informed. Ignorant citizens will continue to suffer on the watch of wicked and unproductive servants, politicians.