To say the least, I’m disappointed with the House Majority Leader, Femi Gbajabiamila for the crass insensitivity he displayed against the Nigerian situation. His vulgar show of opulence and ostentation on one hand, and a clear aversion to modesty on the other as captured in a viral video showing him presenting a Mercedes G-Wagon to his wife as 50th birthday present was reminiscent of the PDP days that we all thought were gone for good.
The charade was quite a blow to my sense of judgement. I supported Gbajabiamila against Speaker Dogara and I did that believing he is better equipped morally and intellectually than Dogara to give the lower chamber the needed moral and political energy to keep pace with President Buhari in implementing the CHANGE agenda promised by President Buhari. I was wrong! Alas, Gbajabiamila is as cheap as they come; probably cheaper. He was just another another dupe waiting for the right temperature to hatch.
I don’t have problem with anybody spending a mountain to celebrate what he feels like celebrating but, certainly I have problem with people like Gbajabiamila who pretend to be what they are not. As a leading member of APC, a party that achieved success by gaining public trust by promises of changing the old order and institutionalising modesty, accountability, prudence and decorum, Gbajabiamila have a responsibility to respect the sensibilities of Nigerians by abandoning unnecessary methods that could potentially jeopardise the general efforts of sincere Nigerians working hard to restore sanity in the system.
For God sake what was Gbajabiamila thinking? That Nigerians would clap for him for affording a N100m luxury toy for his wife when half the population are barely surviving on one meal a day while dealing with dilapidated schools and hospitals? Gbajabiamila should have the political sophistication to know that his conduct, in one way or another, influence public perception about the party the party n which platform he rode to power. Better than anyone, Gbajabiamila should know that similar reckless behaviour brought down PDP and it should be considered a serious threat to President Buhari’s anti-corruption crusade which nobody associated with APC or President Buhari should be caught experimenting with.
By the way, if not for himself, the House Majority Leader should have considered the overall effect of his reckless behaviour on other committed members of the House who would equally suffer the negative public response that will follow his insensitive misadventure. It’s so sad that the seemingly calm and articulate Majority Leader chose to erupt only few days after two eminent Nigerians passed a vote of no confidence on the NASS. This week a former Minister of Finance, Prof. Ngozi Okonjo-Iwela told Nigerians how the previous administration bribed the NASS with a whooping sum of N17bn to have the budget passed. For those who considered NOI confession as belated, only today Prof. Attahiru Jega described some members of the NASS as “notorious bribe seekers”.
One could say Gbajabiamila planned his multi-billion Naira bash to coincide with above allegations and confirm the general belief that the NASS is a bastion of corruption beside being a liability Nigeria can do without. President Buhari recently opined that some members have been in the NASS for years doing nothing. Probably this is Gbajabiamila’s way of telling the President what they’d been doing. I’m truly disappointed and I suggest the House should subject the House Majority Leader a thorough investigation to ascertain his source of wealth to restore what’s left of the confidence of Nigerians in the House.
Maiwada Dammallam
