|
The crucifixion of the Rt. (Honorable) Patricia Olubunmi
Etteh
Christopher Odetunde,
Ph.D.
 The day I met one of the
most powerful women in the world was on September 29th, 2007 during
the 37th annual legislative conference of the Congressional Black
Caucus in Washington, DC.
Nancy Pelosi was simple, and exposed her unadulterated brilliance. She was gracious as well as dignified. I was insignificantly exposed to what
politics is all about – service to one’s nation and advocacy for human
species. For a moment, I stopped to
think of our embattled speaker of the house.
These two women are lucky speakers of the house representative of their
respective countries. I was humbled in
the presence of Ms. Pelosi but have never met Mrs. Patricia Olubunmi Etteh in
person.
It
was just a few months ago that Nigerians rejoiced over the (s)election of
Patricia Olubunmi Etteh as the first female speaker of the house of
Assembly. History was made even if the election
was imperfect and not unanimous. Undoubtedly,
Mrs. Patricia Etteh’s election as the speaker of the House was influenced by
OBJ and rightly or wrongly many would wish to rubbish OBJ by crucifying Mrs.
Etteh. The bible says that the sins of
the father shall be visited unto the sons up to the seventh generation. Mrs. Etteh ought to have treaded like a meek
cat, at least at the initial stage of her speakership and ought to have
vociferously defended herself of the malfeasance she was accused of. But that was not to be the case. Mrs. Etteh ought to have been a good student
of history that those before her were impeached or attempted to be impeached.
Definitely,
many men wanted to claim the coveted position of speaker of the House and may
not be happy with the outcome. These
interested politicians may just be trigger happy to get rid of the speaker and
secure the position for themselves. Of
course, these are pure speculations. It
has been written all over Nigerian news papers and on the Internet that there
are damning evidences collated by Mrs. Etteh’s peers. Because of the premature conclusions and the
evidences, thereof, there are tails wagging as to her guilt in the N628
million contract scandals as such, the call for her resignation has since thickened
beyond any measure of human imagination.
Is this because she is a female in the man’s world? Is this because the foul stench of corruption
in her perceived misconduct is spreading like wide fire and may be exposing
those surrounding her? Is it because the
same people that wanted the position are crafting a latent coup to get rid of
the only female speaker of the house in the history of our nation? Was she set up for a failure by men and women
of unconscionable character? Are these
legislators convinced that she committed the infraction she is accused of?
Whatever the issues at hand are, the rule of laws and due process must
be followed to their conclusive end before we decide to nail her to the cross
of corruption. In law, there are always
two sides to a story. We’ve heard so far
is from the side that claimed she is guilty and the sided that would like to
see her out at all cost. What are the
benchmarks that we are basing the impeachment on? We have even heard his Excellency, Alex
Ekweme stated that since Honorable Alfonso Wabara’s sins were pail compared to Mrs.
Etteh, she ought to be impeached. Sir,
this is not a simple ipso facto case. For
crying out loud, if there has been any parochial logic, this one is. For an honorable gentleman such as his
Excellency Ekweme, this type of conclusion stands logic on its head because the
full investigation is not concluded? In
the case of Wabara and other Senate presidents and speakers, the sitting
president wanted the leaders to be impeached for whatever reasons and he worked
tirelessly to see it come to fruition. If
the investigation is not concluded, why are we putting emotion into issue of
national importance? Are we proud to be
the impeachment capital of the world? If
so, many of these leaders are impeachable, so why not just throw all the
rascals out and start all over again.
This is the simplest way of taking a decision but not the most prudent
and thoughtful way for a nation.
Contrary to the report that is floating out there, the committee’s
report is yet to get to the President’s desk for action. President Yar ‘Adua has succinctly stated
that he would like the wheel of law take, though slow, to take its course and for
due process to be completed. This
president must at least stand by his people for a while and not just bail out
for every trying situation. Sign of a
strong leader is standing by those working with him until such a time that the
nation says she is tired. No matter how
agreeable or disagreeable one is with President Bush of the United States,
one thing we can say is that when he believes in something, he stubbornly
stands by his men and women. This is
one thing I’ll like President Yar ‘Adua to emulate.
Has the speaker been indicted and has the president accepted such
an indictment? Even if indicted, the
nation may need to hear from the Speaker to either declare a mea culpa or
declare her innocence. The president
stated that he wanted due process to be completed and decision made and that
is, dear citizens, the issue that we need to face now. In a case where there is inconclusive
evidence, the benefit of doubt must to be on the side of Madam Speaker, Mrs.
Patricia Olubunmi Etteh.
Should the speaker escape the hangman’s snooze this time around,
she ought to thread gently because she represents a leader of a nation that is
perceived to be corrupt. Being tagged as
corrupt is like pouring gasoline on a body to be burnt. If Mrs. Etteh is guilty, the law ought to
research into her past to see if she had committed such an infraction in the
past. If she had, then she would be noted
as having the propensity abuse her office.
If she hasn’t, maybe we ought to give her a second chance. If she has character to abuse office, she is
likely, sooner or later, commit such crime again before leaving office. The story of the demise of Mrs. Patricia
Olubunmi Etteh may be premature, it may just not be time to cry crucify her.
|
Authors 
Posted by Robot| 04.10.2007 07:22