Broken bridges
By Sam Omatseye

While the rage persists with all its partisan effluvia over Honourable Farouk Lawan’s lack of grace and integrity in the Otedola bribe saga, we should not forget that this whole drama has exposed again the soft and seedy underbelly of our political system.

On the surface, it is about one man’s greed and another man’s revenge. But at bottom, it is about a political class unwilling to tackle the fundamental woes of a nation. The fuel subsidy report issued by the Lawan committee of the House of Representatives was beloved by one group and hated by another. The way one group wants to sully the other group is to bring the opponent’s bribery folly into the tale.

Let us catch Lawan as a thief, and then the report of our own corruption will be forgotten. But what the story tells us is that one corrupt group wants to wield the sword of corruption to torpedo the enemy. So, as the tale goes on, we are not focused now on what really happened that N2.1 trillion was spent on fuel subsidy but whether or not one man accepted the bribe of N96 million. Even if it was N10, it is no less an act of folly. It is the absurd way of Nigeria.

It is not that Otedola is angry that Lawan could take the money, but that Lawan should want to head off a team to expose the rottenness of his business and political group. But we all know that Lawan, with his deceptively puny build, tortoise eyes and ambitious pedigree, was eyeing the top post in his home state of Kano. Now, all that bites the dust. And the man, who once led hunting squads to finish off other titans of the House like the inelegant Olubunmi Etteh and Salisu Buhari of the vaulting ambition, has become the hunted. His fall has been a sort of modern-day humpty dumpty, careening down. All his fellow members looked him in the eye, some with wistful disdain, others with impotent pity, and others still with a ironic sense of pecuniary betrayal, the last wondering gratefully why they were not enlisted in this tragic narrative.

That was Lawan of the righteous boasts; the Lawan of “my report is indestructible”, the “leave me alone” Lawan and “let me do my work”. “All you Jonathan friends stay off” Lawan. It is a story of a good report from a questionable reporter, or a good message from a cheeky messenger.

But let us not forget the message. Let us not let partisans obviate the essential truth of the matter: that an industry has robbed us of our daily bread. The real refrain should be “give us this day our daily oil.” The oil flows out of our ken while an oligarchy of depraved men and a few women drink to our fatal ill-health.

Noted is the fact that it is not so much Lawan that Otedola and his group are after. It is the fall of the House of Representatives. The Presidency craves the fall of Speaker Aminu Tambuwal, whose effortless grace and determined independence have irked a section of the political class and the Presidency.

That is why I look at this crisis as a crisis of politics more than of integrity. Or, if you like, the crisis of political integrity. It is this sort of crisis that explains why we have not yet solved the lingering inferno of Boko Haram and the subliminal ache of the national question.

This is the time to build bridges and play low the ululations of divisions. A cancer is eating the nation deep, and this is not the time to let the lower moral of personal and partisan triumphs dwarf the exigencies of development. If the Presidency had built its bridges with the House of Representatives in the aftermath of Tambuwal’s election victory, perhaps we would not have these distractions. Tambuwal is turning out to be the best in this Republic in holding together the House, and that is a great gift of leadership. Unlike the Senate with its tepid demeanour, the House is feisty and can easily run into turbulent straits. Tambuwal holds his own commendably.

Building bridges is the greatest asset in times of distress like today’s Nigeria. Look at the power of rage and division along ethnic lines today. We sometimes wonder whether the nation is one, whether we want to work as one.

But we do, even if we don’t admit it to ourselves. We cannot wish away a Nigeria without profound consequences and we are not ready for the gory after-effects. Only that such efforts of cooperation are not taken as seriously. But good instances exist to cheer us. In Jos, residents still talk of the good old days of harmony. Today we have such examples. Look, for instance, at the effort of the Lagos State government to integrate other ethnic groups, both in terms of the players in its local politics and its appointments. But that is better known than what Governor Babangida Aliyu has done in Niger State. Given a history of alienation, he decided that other ethnic groups would be absorbed into the state. Hence, he abolished the contract appointments to non-indigenes that preceded him. I recalled when I was a Youth Corps member in one of the states in the North and many of my fellow corps members were turned off from staying behind because of that policy. How can you claim to belong when you cannot rise beyond a certain position? Any sense of belonging is instantly annulled.

The chief servant also has ensured that the policy came to fruition when he employed about 10,000 persons and 30 percent was allotted to non-indigenes. He has also paid NECO fees for students without ethnic discrimination. He has not done this bridge building along ethnic lines alone. In a predominantly Islamic State, he has built church and also a mosque. He has for the first time appointed several Christians as commissioners and special advisers and assistants.

He has an inter-ethnic committee to gauge and strengthen bonds. That is the spirit we should seek. In Borno State, the articulate and brilliant Governor Kashim Shetima has also appointed a southerner into his team.

So we should not look at the Lawan story as the perversity of a naïve lawmaker, but another tale of the unfolding alienation in our society. One story after another tells of the divide. Partisanship is integral to politics, even democracy, but we should abhor the sort that drags the nation down rather than engage our nobler spirits.

This is what the Presidency should embrace and not preside over a whirlpool of centrifugal dramatists.

http://www.thenationonlineng.net/2011/index.php/columnist/monday/sam-omatseye/50641-broken-bridges.html

politics!

smh.

Only clever people can understand what is the difference b/w leadership and politics. A good politician is not likely to be good in leadership but his advisers should be good in leadership

nelsoncameroon1: Only clever people can understand what is the difference b/w leadership and politics. A good politician is not likely to be good in leadership but his advisers should be good in leadership