The 6th Assembly, of which many
members of the newly inaugurated 7th Assembly were a part of and major players
in (either as Senators or House of Reps members), is generally acknowledged as
the worst in performance, highest in wastefulness and the most incompetent and
inept!
A lot of Nigerians, the politicians most of all, see a call to service as an
avenue to quick and easy lucre! It is sad and disheartening that despite the
many challenges facing this most-blessed of nations, of which poverty,
preventable diseases and deaths, educational backwardness, collapsed health
sector annd all but totally decayed infrastructure, are major issues and
challenges facing us, our elites have, by their actions, kept us firmly chained
to a life of hopelessness and desperation!
The Almighty Allah has by so many signs and events shown to you politicians,
especially, and all of us, generally, that He gives life, power, position and
wealth to whom He pleases, not because such as have it has a right to it, but as
a mere privilege, and that He can take same away at will: remember Abacha,
Abiola, Yar'adua, Tawar Wada et al? Life and all in it is finite and transient;
an illusion, here now, and gone the next second! Yet, haven't such lessons gone
largely unnoticed or ignored?
The blood that Nigerians shed in the fight for democracy and the trust that has
been bestowed on the few of you opportuned to have walked the hallowed chambers
of law-making since the inception of the current democratic experiment in the
country, has left Nigerians worse off than we were during military autocracy and
dictatorship. The only beneficiaries have been yourselves, family, favored
friends and cronies.
As you are given another chance by both God and man to right all the obvious
wrongs, we pray that this opportunity would not be flushed down the drain, as
the past eleven years has.
As you settle down to the business of making laws towards the building of a new
Nigeria, and as you undertake the inevitable foreign trips, I encourage you, our
distinguished and honoured Senators and Members, to take a cue from your
overseas partners and colleagues, especially those in the American and Briitish
Congresses, and learn what law-making and public service should mean.
May God give you, our almost 500 wise men, the wisdom, strength and courage to
be our flag and torch-bearers on our match to our Canaanland.
God bless Nigeria.
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