HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY OR HOUSE OF DISSEMBLERS

The vast majority of Nigerians suffer under the burden of unfulfilled promises that democracy entails, the yoke of hopelessness and the curse of helplessness. It is not entirely unexpected because, right from the inception of this experiment (some might say calamity, which is wholly unchallengeable), the crop of politicians that have been coming to the fore have been for the self, not the country. Some might argue that this is not so, it would be their right to believe so. Mind, this is not about personalities, but the collective. Unfortunately, the preponderance of dissemblers in all the State Houses Of Assembly nullifies the relevance of the whole.

What has been the experience of Nigerians since democracy landed on these shores? Political assassinations, unrivalled corruption, blatant election rigging, great injustice, mass unemployment and unemployability, hunger, religious, ethnic and tribal unrest, infrastructural decay, kidnapping, armed robbery, beggary, the list goes on and on. If these were meant to be the so-called 'dividends of democracy', woe betide those who introduced it to Nigeria!

I've often raged against these so-called lawmakers at each stratum of our political structure, but my ire in this piece is against the State Houses Of Assembly up and down the land. I don't know what justification there is for assigning them such a grandiose title when, for all intents and purposes, they ought to be named 'State House Of Dissemblers'. What exactly is their real purpose? Or isn't it fair to ask? I couldn't possibly be the only irate soul pondering this irrationality in our polity. Look, it isn't fair to compare our own idea and practice of democracy with much more advanced and integrated ones; after all, they've been at it for eon. However, it's fair to say if they began on this kind of footing, they wouldn't be where they are today. At this rate, the realisation of true democracy in Nigeria would take close to a thousand years, and I'm an incurable optimist!

Many would argue that our Constitution is the root of all evil, and only the unenlightened and dissemblers would counter that with their self-serving narrative. Look behind the veil of the 'evil' Constitution and one would safely conclude it is a Constitution that birthed the government of the few, by the few, and for the few (our own version of 'the government of the people, by the people and for the people'); and upon that, our democracy was structured. What a perversion of reason and purpose! Is it then a wonder why our politics is out of sync with normalcy? Isn't our 'democracy' only a phantasm of the real McCoy?

Now, back on the utility of the 'State House Of Assembly'. How often do these dissemblers make and pass legislations that would be of material benefit to the people who supposedly elected them? They are only there mainly to ratify anything that comes from the State governor, or in times of conflict, rage against the governor and one another at the behest of some 'godfather'. What an absurdity!! See how deep and dark the hole is? When would Nigerians be able to proclaim seeing the light at the end of the tunnel, when the tunnel is so convoluted and endless? You couldn't make the farce up!

Here in Nigeria one will find politicians providing borehole drinking water facilities and they consider that the dividend of democracy. Having the presence of mind to provide a more meaningful and permanent solution to the lack of potable water is way beyond their extremely limited intellect. Haven't we seen, or at least heard of, politicians inviting the press and their communities to their launching of boreholes or some cranky project just to show their constituents how much they labour for them? Aren't there even those that distribute bags of nonsense and tins of crap to entice people to vote for them at elections? Yes, that is Nigeria's democracy!!

The good old Vaclav Havel (1936-2011), the First President of the Czech Republic, said ".....politics should be an expression of a desire to contribute to the happiness of the community rather than of a need to cheat or rape the community." How are these political truants contributing to their communities? They are ready and prepared to commit the most atrocious acts of crime just to get in there, with not even a wee pretension of their real aim. We call this democracy? Yes, the true cause of our political malady and malaise may be our Constitution, but not entirely. Is there such a thing as a perfect Constitution? The imperfections in the Constitution are being exploited to the max, no matter the debilitating impact on the country and the people and their welfare.

This is clearly not sustainable and sooner, rather than later, this powder keg situation will detonate unless this untenable state of the polity is carefully considered and speedily addressed. The Acts that established the State Houses Of Assembly need to be revisited and reformed to reflect the current realities. No Constitution is stagnant and it's continually evolving.

I concur that there's no perfect democracy anywhere in the world, but in advanced economies, its imperfections are constantly revised and polished. After all, that is one of the main responsibilities of any legislative body worth its salt. Yes, corruption is not unique to Nigeria, but in more serious democracies it is swiftly punished wherever it rears its ugly head, regardless of the status of the perpetrator. Here in my own country, it is overlooked, condoned and oftentimes even encouraged because the perpetrators know there's no consequence.

The noises of the malfeasants drown out the voice of reason urged by the extremely few conscientious members of the House. These people know the right things to do, but the system is so entrenched in debauchery, self-importance and greed that they think it easier to keep schtum and enjoy the gravy train ride while it lasts.

The only and surest way open to Nigerians is to demonstrate our unwillingness to keep toeing this path that has brought us nothing but sweat, tears and blood. The Constitution in its current form is simply an avenue to keep Nigerians in the bondage of hopelessness, manacled by poverty and chained to the fence of want.

Nigerians are in a state of funk and there can be no doubt about that.

This Constitution must go!!!

Thank you for indulging me your time and patience.

May the good Lord bless the Federal Republic of Nigeria.