21st December, 2018
PRESS RELEASE:
MURIC
ACCUSES LAWMAKERS OF POLITICAL IMBECILITY
Sequel to the rowdy session of the joint sitting of the Nigerian Senate and
the House of Representatives during the presentation of the 2019 budget by
President Muhammadu Buhari, the Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC) has accused the
lawmakers of political imbecility.
MURIC’s view was contained in a statement released on Friday 21st
December, 2018. According to the director and founder of the human rights
organization who signed the press release, Professor Ishaq Akintola, the
attitude of the lawmakers was infantile, pedestrian and ludicrous.
“Our lawmakers manifested
articulated immaturity and exhibited pronounced desertification of
parliamentary decorum. They desecrated the hallowed chamber. It was such a
shame of a National Assembly (NASS). They descended to the lowest abyss of
disgraceful conduct. It is now very clear that the 8th NASS is
suffering from acute poverty of patriotism, a yawning lacunae for dignity and an
irredeemable deficiency in righteousness.
“To boo and jeer during the presentation of an annual budget shows that
our legislators are not interested in how Nigeria makes progress. This was an
occasion when lawmakers are expected to show seriousness as the fate of the
nation and its people for the next year was being reeled out. In saner climes,
the elected representatives of the people manifest concern as the budget of
their country is read. They eschew politicking and listen with rapt attention. But
not Nigerian lawmakers of the 8th NASS. These are the same lawmakers
who delayed 2018 budget for seven months and refused to have anything to do
with it until they had sliced off the juicest portions unto themselves.
“MURIC is not depriving the lawmakers of their right to disagree with the
executive. But no lawmaker worth the salt anywhere in the world will carry
political disagreement to issues pertaining to the welfare of the citizens. The
budget of a country reflects the fate of the people and their welfare at least
for that year and sometimes impacts on their future. For choosing to make
caricatures of themselves on that august occasion, our lawmakers have proved
that they are not worth the trust reposed in them.
“MURIC is not tongue-lashing the lawmakers for booing. We are chastising
them for booing without knowing when to stop. Donald Trump was booed during the
State of the Union address on 17th January, 2018 but it was done in
a very civilized manner. Democrats who booed him kept quiet after a while and
listened attentively because they knew it was about America, not about Trump. They
booed Trump for being inhuman by trying to halt chain immigration of poor
people from the Third World. That was issue-based.
“Our own lawmakers booed the president non-stop to
the extent that Speaker Dogara who was expected to dive the closing remarks could
not do so. They booed without borders. They threw caution to the winds.They
booed President Buhari for identifying with the poor masses of Nigeria, for
refusing to steal and for exposing their voracious gluttony. It is laughable, detestable,
repulsive and condescending, It is, indeed, a tale of two cities.
“Lawmaking is a leadership position
but our lawmakers failed to display the necessary qualities of leadership. They
disappointed Nigerians. All those who partook in the booing and jeering need to
be taken back to school where they will learn the art of discipline and the
qualities of leadership. They are square pegs in a round hole. It is such a
shame that our lawmakers decided to vent their spleen in such a disgraceful manner
on their president simply because the man refused to join in the rapacious
avarice to loot the nation dry. They failed to realize that the line of
demarcation between lawmaking and law-breaking is very thin and fragile and
they crossed that line in their exhibition of legislative rascality.
“Whereas Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said, “The leader of the
people is their servant”, our lawmakers see themselves differently. They are
feudal lords. They belong to the capitalist and bourgeois political class to
whom the people’s welfare means very little. They lack a civilized political
culture and their political ideology springs from a ‘bolekaja’ mentality where
bitterness, acrimony, derision and violence take the driving seat. This much
was displayed by them during the presentation of 2019 budget.
“MURIC salutes President Muhammadu
Buhari for remaining calm and composed throughout the day. Mr. President stood
ramrod as they booed and jeered. His comportment unsettled his adversaries. He made
the nation proud by refusing to loose his temper. But the icing on the cake was
his fatherly admonition to the rascally lawmakers as he scolded them, ‘Let us
conduct ourselves properly. The world is watching us. We are supposed to be
above this’. That was Mr. Integrity incarnate speaking, the pride of our great
nation.
“Those golden words will remain on the marble as long as Nigeria continues
to exist. They are monumental, philosophical and didactic. Generations to come will
read them and they will ponder, ‘What a great leader that was’. But what will
they think about the rowdy lawmakers? ‘Verily, verily, we say unto the 8th
NASS, you were a huge disappointment!’
“The fault goes to the electorate anyway. Nigerians are adept at electing
incompetent politicians. Our level of enlightenment is near zero. But the worst
problem we have is our pathological docility. Venezuela parliamentarians learnt
to comport themselves the hard way. They were proving too difficult for the
president. The citizens invaded parliament and threw them out. Nigerians leave
everything in the hands of God whereas the Qur’an says, ‘God will not change the
condition of a people until they decide to change it themselves’ (Glorious Qur’an
13:11).
“As a parting shot, we remind those hostile lawmakers that their disgraceful
conduct on that day has added luster to Buhari’s glamour. He is already a hero
of our nation but they made him a greater hero. Whether he clinches a second
term or not, Nigerians, nay, the world at large, have written his name in
letters of gold.
Professor Ishaq Akintola,
Director,
Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC)
Director,
Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC)
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