By Ugochukwu Ejinkeonye
The
first time I heard her name was a couple of weeks or so before the inauguration
of the present National Assembly. At that time, rumours had begun to make the
rounds in media circles that former President Olusegun Obasanjo, intent on
still holding the nation to ransom from his multi-billion naira farm in Ota, Ogun State ,
was bent on imposing a certain Mrs. Patricia Foluke Etteh on the nation as
Speaker of the House of Representatives.
Although there were widespread concerns about
her obvious intellectual and political limitations, and in fact, hushed
disapprovals even within the PDP’s unwholesome “family” and among her would-be
colleagues at that time, nobody could stand on the way of the Emperor and
Conqueror of Modern Nigeria.
And so, at the end of the day, a conquered
nation watched dumbfounded as Foluke Etteh, propelled only by the fearsome
determination of the Emperor and Life Leader of the PDP behind her, timidly
emerged from one dark hole to become the Speaker of Nigeria’s Lower Legislative
House, while, another Obasanjo unabashed loyalist and comrade-in-arms, David
Mark, was pronounced Senate President.
Well, if there is any consolation in the whole
monstrous set-up, it may be detected in the growing optimism that Etteh, and
all other vestigial remains of the Obasanjo nightmare, are today in several
strategic positions solely to continue reminding us of the primitive state of
our politics. By their predictable failure of character and leadership, they
would, hopefully, succeed in awakening in us the capacity to feel deeply
mortified that even in Africa today, Nigeria appears to be the only
nation still left behind in what is clearly the slimy pit of jungle politics.
So, as Etteh and Co. play their level in our politics and governance, they can only help to continually shock us into the harsh realization of the extent of our country’s backwardness, and our folly in resigning ourselves to the insidious dictations of a few men of tunnel vision and unwholesome intentions, who, having conquered the nation by force of arms, have imposed on us our fourth eleven as leaders, for the simple reason that they can always be trusted to place their narrow interests over and above those of the nation. No, wonder
I am not surprised at Etteh’s strange
understanding of the essence of public office. She is only playing her level.
To expect her to ascribe to some higher ideals in leadership and politics would
amount to stretching her modest intellectual and moral properties beyond their
malleable limits. For her, public office is just one more prized opportunity to
play the “big lady” and wallow in profligacy at public expense, nothing more,
nothing less.