Chinua Achebe is one great writer, whose works are littered with some profound cautionary tales. Many of such cautionary tales contained in Achebe’s four novels and some of his essays are still relevant to our present circumstances. They can be applied by all cadres of leaders in our government. Achebe is known for holding strong and profound political views. In the same vein, African proverbs contain cautionary tales that guide people to overcome many obstacles in life. Let me regale you with one of Achebe’s famous quotes in Things Fall Apart: “Among the Igbo the art of conversation is regarded very highly, and proverbs are the palm-oil with which words are eaten.”
In Arrow of God, Achebe also serenaded us with one of his intriguing cautionary tales worth quoting fully here. “Once there was a great wrestler whose back had never known the ground. He wrestled from village to village until he had thrown every man in the world. Then he decided that he must go and wrestle in the land of the spirits, and became a champion there as well. He went, and beat every spirit that came forward. Some had seven heads, some ten; but he beat them all. His companion who sang his praise on the flute begged him to come away, but he would not. He pleaded with him but his ear was nailed up. Rather than go home he gave a challenge to the spirits to bring out their best and strongest wrestler. So they sent him his personal god, a little wiry spirit who seized him with one hand and smashed him on the stony earth.”
This tale calls for moderation in all that we do, whether we are politicians or their supporters. There is always a need for restraint in all that we do whether we are rich or poor, from the North or South, East or West, leaders or servants.
The Bible contains plenty cautionary tales that can make anyone to navigate through the complexities of life and temptations, be they moral or material. The story of the rich man and Lazarus, the ten virgins, the prodigal son and the rich man and the poor man, contained in the gospels, are didactic and cautionary tales for all people, including our politicians. Even the story of the forbidden fruit in the Bible, which God instructed Adam and Eve not to eat, is still relevant to all men and women. It is also more relevant to our political class, including our federal lawmakers.
Although the Bible was silent on what the forbidden fruit is, or looks like, we really don’t know if it is apple or banana or exotic fruit of the biblical world. Obviously, the tree was at the centre of the Garden of Eden. But God told our fore parents that the day they ate the forbidden fruit, they would die. But Satan deceived Eve and told her that eating the forbidden fruit would not make them die. But when they ate it, they died spiritually and were separated from God until the second Adam, Jesus Christ, came and reconciled man to God.
The story of the forbidden fruit illustrates the fall of man through the sin of disobedience. Perhaps the forbidden fruit has slippery peels like banana that makes whoever eats it to stumble and fall. Nigerians should remember the late former Senate President, Senator Chuba Okadigbo, for warning his successor to beware of banana peels probably put in the floor of the NASS that made its leaders to stumble and fall.
Recall that during President Olusegun Obasanjo civilian leadership, the Senate President was zoned to the South-East region. Before we could spell South, the seat had rotated among the five states of the region in quick succession. Their fall in the Senate may be traced to the slippery banana peels which they were unable to evade cleverly. Although Okadigbo’s admonition was also a cautionary tale to his compatriots; it is still relevant to the leadership of the present 10th Senate and even the leadership of the 10th National Assembly.
The Senate is the highest legislative body in Nigeria. It is quickly followed by the House of the Representatives. Both of them, the Red Chamber and the Green Chamber formed the National Assembly, the highest lawmaking body in the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Apart from making good laws that will ensure good governance and improve the welfare and security of Nigerians, the NASS should oversee the functions of the executive and the judiciary and go through the national budget or appropriation bill before it is passed into law and the president assenting to it. The execution of projects, whether constituency or otherwise is not one of their functions.
From 1999 when the nascent democratic experiment commenced after many years of military dictatorship, one sore point of our political existence has to do with reviewing the budget and what has become known as budget padding. Former President Muhammadu Buhari was so bitter about budget padding that he complained that what was sent to the NASS and what the latter returned as passed budget was poles apart. Between his government’s version and the NASS version, there were so many insertions amounting to billions or trillions of naira or whatever into the budget. He said that putting such insertions without clearly stating what the money was meant for would hamper the full implementation of the budget.
Since 1999 our annual budgets have been good on paper but very poor in implementation. It is doubtful if any Nigerian government has achieved up to 50 percent or 60 percent of budget implementation. The same argument can be made of the sub-national governments. When Senator Abdul Ahmed Ningi (PDP, Bauchi Central) raised dust over the padding of the 2024 budget, it was a familiar story. What made his claim hug the headlines was the allegation that the version of the 2024 budget President Bola Tinubu is implementing was different from the one passed by the National Assembly. As if that was not enough, he further claimed that the allocation of projects in the budget was skewed against the North to favour the South.
However, the last straw that broke the camel’s back was Ningi’s claim that the budget of N25 trillion was padded with N3 trillion to make it N28 trillion. It was this last claim that reverberated nationwide and trended so much in the internet. When the import of the weighty allegation dawned on him, Ningi said he was misquoted. Whether he was misquoted or not, the damage has been done already. He was slammed with 90 days suspension by the Senate for alleging what he could not prove. There was allegation of sharing N500 million among ranking senators by a certain senator from Cross River State, who said he didn’t receive any.
One issue arising from Ningi’s outburst is that the implementation of constituency projects is not transparent. Another revelation is that the process of passing the budget is not thorough. Perhaps, there is need for a further review of the 2024 budget to ensure that it is not heavily padded to favour some folks in the hallowed chambers. The works of the English bard, William Shakespeare also contains many cautionary tales in verses. In Julius Caesar, the Soothsayer warned Caesar to “Beware the Ides of March.” Then Cassius uttered the famous prophetic quote that “Men at some time are masters of their fates; The fault dear Brutus, is not in our stars. But in ourselves, that we are underlings.”
Too much of everything they say is bad. The senators should sit up and put their house in order. A house divided against itself shall not stand. The way Nigeria is today does not need the distraction from the NASS. Therefore, the Senate President should also beware of the banana peels. Let Akpabio consult David Mark, Ahmad Lawan and Bukola Saraki and take tutorials on how to survive the banana peels in the Senate. However, those throwing banana peels at Akpabio to make him stumble and fall should desist from such unpatriotic act and allow him be. If Senate Presidents from the North are allowed to enjoy a peaceful reign, their counterparts from the South should be given the same treatment.
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