The House of Representatives never ceases to amuse Nigerians. Last Tuesday, lawmakers descended into further ignominy following the embarrassing turn of events in which the hallowed chamber was transformed into a mental asylum after rival factions in the ongoing PDP crisis; engaged in verbal altercations, which, to say the least, was disgraceful, and totally condemnable. The shouting match, which degenerated into a near fist fight, broke out when members of the Bamanga Tukur-led faction stormed the venue of a meeting and disrupted an address by the splinter group leader, Kawu Baraje. The ensuing rowdiness saw the rival factions, trade invectives to the chagrin of onlookers, including journalists. This unmistakable act of imbecility is totally against all known norms of political decorum; and one for which the legislators ought to be held accountable. In the politics of 2015, the inability, of the PDP so far, to handle the crisis in a civilized manner, is a pointer to the immaturity and abysmal rating of political leadership in the country. This is a huge disservice to Nigeria. Against this background, all Nigerians must say enough is enough.
Apparently, House Speaker, Aminu Tambuwal, had during a plenary, announced the scheduled meeting on the floor. But when Baraje started to brief the House, the session was disrupted amidst chant of “Bamanga Tukur” by a group led by Henry Ofongo (PDP Bayelsa). Baraje’s speech was subdued as the group continued shouting at the top of their voices and clapping their hands, as though possessed by a malevolent spirit. This ignited a free-for-all to the point where some of the 108 pro-Baraje lawmakers, like Dakuku Peterside and Bashir Baballe, were poised to trade punches with the pro-Tukur lawmakers that included Kingsley Chinda.
Certainly, no modicum of public morality or iota of legality supports this national embarrassment. It was senseless, unimaginable, disgraceful and devoid of any perfunctory exaggeration. That show of shame was nothing short of a desecration of the hallowed chambers of the House and a smear on an institution that symbolizes the people’s will through their elected representatives. Given the effrontery and brazen rancor with which the PDP lawmakers verbally assaulted one another, this unbridled indecorum, is all the more sickening because it was not over any edifying ideal or the interest of the Nigerian people; but a remotely controlled continuation of the battle between those supporting the President’s reelection and those opposed to it. And the tragedy is: if these lawmakers are the ones representing the people, then the people are doomed!
Admittedly though, this is a needless crisis that could have been avoided altogether. It is nothing but a manifestation of the deepening crisis of impunity, devoid of political maturity and tolerance that has held the country hostage, since the return to civilian rule in 1999. The situation is bewildering because it is happening under a supposedly democratic dispensation. It is also ironic because democracy is generally reputed to have inbuilt institutional mechanisms, both formal and informal, for addressing political differences and conflict of interests at all levels. Interestingly, the political accommodation of dissent has been recognized as one of the cardinal elements of sustainable democracy.
Unfortunately, Nigerian politicians have opted to unnecessarily suffocate the political space through the excessive deployment of the power of incumbency. Ordinarily, recourse to the abuse of State power is not a sign of political strength. Rather, it is a manifestation of an embarrassingly low level of political maturity, especially by lawmakers. The unacceptable spectacle of the peoples’ elected representatives mouthing obscenities and trading vituperative invectives and casting banal aspersions against each other inside the National Assembly approximates the insidious political intolerance that has come to define Nigerian democracy. This indeed is sad. After over a decade of democratic experiment, there should be no more room for such disgraceful conduct.
This is not to say that those who fault Mr. President, or better still, the Presidency for failing to find a way round the crisis are totally wrong. The crisis should have been handled as an internal PDP matter, without allowing it to drag to this embarrassing extent. The reason for the emergence of the “new PDP”is a matter of common knowledge. In other words, this is not a problem to which there is no political solution. And, in another context, it would not have been out of place to say that Jonathan himself, seeing that the matter was getting out of hand could equally have used his bully pulpit as president of Nigeria and de facto leader of the PDP to reach out and engage the splinter group in a manner that would not heat up the polity. This would certainly fetch Jonathan badly needed political goodwill to fight the battle in the polls against the entrenched sectional interests by an eccentric minority, hell-bent on making him a one-term president against the spirit and letters of the constitution.
The President must understand that in the face of the widening schism that has fractured the PDP, divided the Governors’ Forum and polarized the country, any abusive use of incumbency to politically emasculate supporters of the “new PDP”, only further diminishes the “old PDP” and its octogenarian leaders. This is not part of the attributes of statesmen.
That notwithstanding, the raging feud in the ruling party is taking unduly too much time to resolve. Despite ongoing peace talks, amid lawsuits and counter lawsuits, it does not appear that any resolution of the crisis is in sight as the rival factions appear to be digging deeper into the trenches. However one looks at it, the disgraceful House brawl was a sickening reflection of the despicable depth of politicking in the country; and another distraction, which has inadvertently turned the internal troubles of the PDP, into the trouble of Nigeria and its people. President Jonathan, whose party by its conduct in office has become a national embarrassment, must recognize that he has a major responsibility for whatever happens to the country. He and leaders of the PDP must put aside their personal ambitions and stop ridiculing Nigeria in the eyes of reasonable peoples all over the world.
