By Igbotako Nowinta
The tragedy of political representation in Nigeria is that, in most cases miscreants, half-baked graduates, celebrated cultists, hardened criminals, ideological hollow personalities, drug barons, renowned hit men and petty minded scoundrels are given easy access to climb the podium of power, while the likes of Barack Obama, David Cameron, and Emmanuel Macron etc., in our midst are frustrated and dumped to rot away mercilessly. Is Senator Elisha Abbo one of the best or brightest political materials in his Senatorial Districts in Adamawa North? Certainly not! Because he had been there playing the game as crudely as possible, licking the ass of his political godfathers, today he has survived and brought absolute shame to himself and the nation by his uncomplimentary behavior at the Abuja Sex Toy Store. Unfortunately, as the youngest (41 years) Senator among the packs at the hallowed chambers in the National Assembly, he has unknowingly submitted his name as a negative personality for the Not-Too-Young-To-Run agenda.
Senator Elisha Ishaku Cliff Abbo, representing Adamawa North Senatorial District of Adamawa State, recently threw his dirty and stinking character, recklessly to the whole world, thanks to the Central Control Camera (CCTV) that was installed at the Abuja Sex Toy Shop.
The Senator’s exhibition of a typical motor park behavior by crudely assaulting a female attendant (nursing mother) in that Abuja store, and dragging his police orderly to complete a most brazen humiliation of the lady, ordering her arrest, is nothing new under the political firmament of Nigeria.
What is new is the fact that the likes of Senator Elisha Abbo are being exposed and ridiculed with the aid of a technology (CCTV) and the phenomenon of a social media that are far remote, powerful and absolutely beyond their power or influence.
It is sad to note that many of the political office holders in Nigeria often get away with such excesses in our clime, with the mentality that the law is an ass that must be ridden and manipulated without caution; that as a politician the rest of the citizenry are inferior, poor, powerless and hopeless.
Not too long ago, a former sitting Governor of Edo State, (Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, with rage, told a struggling widow to go and die because she dared to appear and trade in an ‘unauthorized spot’, so to say, in the capital city of Benin.
Oshiomhole, bowing to public out-cry then, played smart, and quickly amended his way by giving the said widow some cash reward, scholarship for her children and a political appointment to cover his shame.
About a month ago, a staff of the Edo State Traffic Management Agency (EDSTMA), Osaretin Osazuwa, was rough handled and wounded by a member-elect of Edo State House of Assembly, Roland Asoro, representing Orhionmwon South Constituency, because he dared to accost the wife of the lawmaker for breaking traffic rules.
We don’t know how far the leadership of Edo State Civil Society Organizations (EDOSCO) has gone with the issue because they had threatened to make Roland Asoro and his wife regret their uncivilized conduct.
Examples of public assault abound by political office holders. The earlier stringent measures are applied to curtail this ugly development according to the laws of the land, the better for our fledgling democracy. Certainly, we cannot continue like this!
Senator Elisha Abbo, from what we have seen based on his background as a professional politician has been absolutely schooled in the class room of thuggery, violence and rascality, to see himself as a demi god in any political arena or contest, to ride rough shod over people, to get his way through hook or crook.
If the above assertion in incorrect, Abbo would certainly not have behaved such nastily and in that uncivilized manner of subjecting that woman in the Abuja shop to such gross violation of her fundamental Human rights.
Abbo never knew that as a Senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, he ought to have carried himself responsibly in public at all times; that as a Senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria his actions and words are never to be measured with the scale being used for bulldogs and political brigands.
The tragedy of political representation in Nigeria is that, in most cases miscreants, half-baked graduates, celebrated cultists, hardened criminals, ideological hollow personalities, drug barons, renowned hit men and petty minded scoundrels are given easy access to climb the podium of power, while the likes of Barack Obama, David Cameron, and Emmanuel Macron etc., in our midst are frustrated and dumped to rot away mercilessly.
Is Senator Elisha Abbo one of the best or brightest political materials in his Senatorial Districts in Adamawa North? Certainly not! Because he had been there playing the game as crudely as possible, licking the ass of his political godfathers, today he has survived and brought absolute shame to himself and the nation by his uncomplimentary behavior at the Abuja Sex Toy Store.
Unfortunately, as the youngest (41years) Senator among the packs at the hallowed chambers in the National Assembly, he has unknowingly submitted his name as a negative personality for the Not-Too-Young-To-Run agenda being promoted by the current leadership in Nigeria, and a giant minus for matured, cultured political representation.
Because has rubbished himself, the challenge before the ultimate leadership in the National Assembly is to organize a refresher course or a long retreat to indoctrinate the likes of Senator Elisha Abbo with the basic notes of how to be positive lawmaker, contributing peacefully to the well beings of the electorate in Nigeria.
The challenge coming from this pathetic case is for the Inspector-General of Police, Muhammed Adamu, to urgently send a strong signal to his rank and file, and officers, currently being used as police escorts or security details, to desist from being used as mere ‘boy’s scout’ or ‘house boys’ by some of the unscrupulous politicians like Senator Elisha Abbo.
If Nigeria must develop quickly, there is need for well-meaning Nigerians to come to the common ground, that will lead to the political sanitation of our selection process, in order for our country to start enjoying sooner than later, the benefits of positive political representation.
In the final analysis here, Senator Elisha Abbo needs to be recalled by his people, from the hallowed chambers of the National Assembly for the shame he has brought upon them.
Nowinta wrote: Where We Are – a call for democratic revolution in Nigeria.
