For the period what is now commonly referred to as Ettehgate scandal festered, I had kept a studied silence, allowing the entire facts of the issue to unfurl. I had refrained from commenting on this certain predilection of what amuses itself as our political class to dip their hands in the public till so as to assure themselves of a padded life in the midst of mass privation they pursue as primary business of governance. I have read tons of materials from both sides of the spectrum. I have watched the melodrama that plays out in the House of Representatives where the accused seems to preside over her case. I have equally seen the way the panel set up to look into the misdemeanor of the Speaker went about its business, weaving through the suspicion of those that believed it won’t do an objective job of the issue, to return a damning verdict on the perpetrators of that heinous heist. In keeping silent, I wanted to draw some comparison between the handling of the Etteh scandal and the cases of the late Senator Chuba Okadigbo and Senator Adolf Wabara, who were accused of making an anticipatory N57 National Assembly street lighting project and sharing N55million bribe with some senators respectively. My finding exposes the duplicity inherent in the Nigerian state but this is certainly a story for another day.    

With the winding up of the David Idoko panel, the battle has entered another stage. The Speaker, her rented charioteers and her handlers say she was not guilty because nowhere was the name of Patricia Etteh mentioned in the panel report. Funny, you might say but it is certain they are drinking from the very well from which the Etteh nuisance sprouted in the first instance. I mean the man that headed the regime that flagrantly played games with court judgments on his own disoriented and flippant reasoning. There is little doubt that Etteh’s present intransigence is from that warped bastion of dishonor but it worked for the last regime because it had the instrument of force to see through countless illegalities but it would not certainly work for Etteh. I believe the Etteh camp should have benefited from the case of one of its present patron, Andy Uba in Anambra State who certainly would have been in power today were Obasanjo the president, Bayo Ojo, the attorney general and Sunday Ehindero the inspector general of police when that pretender and ranking Obasanjo poseur thrown out of the seat he dubiously coveted. Sadly, Etteh and her camp have not noticed that much has departed from those days of outlawry and that such dim wit that prompts her present obstinacy has been put behind us. 

Sometime, you wonder the reasoning that informs certain actions. Patricia Etteh was accused by her colleagues of appropriating a hefty sum of N628million to furnish her house and that of her deputy and buy a fleet of cars for herself. She said these allegations were false and that she did neither of those things. She said that she does not have a house but a ‘cluster’ of houses, that she did not renovate but ‘upgrade’ her cluster of houses, that she did not appropriate N628million but N240million, that she wanted to upgrade her house to accommodate new religious worship centers; with a church and mosque and so on. The clerk of the house was to rush to her aide with his own side of the story and he did this in grandiloquent style you would think that nothing really was amiss. He said that the N628million renovation story was concocted from the pit of hell as only a little more than N500 million was involved. Honestly, I thought he would have said that only N500 was involved going by the elaborate and flamboyant prose he employed to shoot down the scandal. These were  the varied defences that came out from the Etteh issue. One Dino Melaye has his own story while Eziuche Ubani, you can’t believe it, has his own version. Etteh’s aides had their own and one fact that was prominent in all these is that they all have different versions of the same story. Reminds one of the fable of the elephant seen by seven blind men. That was when I feared the allegations, like the many that have become second clothes to our so-called leaders, was true. 

After shuffling through these layers of allegations and defences, Etteh, as the Speaker was forced to set up a panel that was prominent by the sheer number of the members that were likely to be sympathetic to her cause because they share the same political persuasion. She told them to investigate the issue and come out with their findings, mind you, not to make recommendations and they obliged her, after listening to her and her traducers. On all the points raised for the committee, they retuned a verdict of guilt. With that, it was obvious that Etteh was gone but she would have neither of this. She said that the panel investigated Etteh, found out that the allegations against her were all right but did not indict Etteh. Wonderful. That it is the house, presumably to be presided over by her that can decide her fate and you wonder what other fate since the panel indicted an unknown honourable member and not Etteh and that she was as spotless as the day she was born. She went further to accuse her real and imaginary foes of masterminding her travails. She and her supporters have accused the press, the men folk, the AC and so many other groups of masterminding her indictment, although she believe that she is still not indicted. 

She had gone several notches higher by forming and recruiting some dozens of non-governmental individuals, political contractors, amala and gbegiri practitioners, women groups and unattached persuaders to chorus her song and that song is that the panel investigated Patricia Etteh but indicted an unknown person for fleecing the country of N628million through spurious means, using phantom contracting firms. As they say, the Speaker is a beautician and couldn’t have known which one is due process or not although they insisted that all the contracts passed due process test set by the beautician before the panel indictment. They are working on the feelings that when the house has resumed from its long vacation artificially induced by the Etteh scandal, her imperial majesty would have done enough ground work to get the members and of course the PDP, to see the need to ‘move the country forward’ by ensuring that Etteh retains her seat and business goes on as usual.  This grand plan would be executed with Etteh still in the saddle as the Speaker. Of course the women flavor would be added to the effect that Nigerian men are persecuting women by going after their best specimen in power while on another front would be those who would remind the house members that the persecuted speaker is a favorite escort of the owner and manager of modern PDP and should be accommodated as one of the modern saints that would lead our march towards being the greatest economic power on planet earth by 2020. With his conspiratorial silence on the entire issue, I would not be surprised if Malam Nuhu Ribadu would not come out tomorrow to tell us he is still pursuing some bigger thieves like Wabara and should not be bothered with petty issues of a mere N628million, which is the Speaker’s personal money and that the Speaker is not liable because she is a part-time Speaker and does not know how contracts are awarded in the house. 

But then, is the issue for Etteh, her patrons and campaigners as they are for Nigerians that suffer the decrementing effects of moths like Etteh and her sponsors in government? Is the issue for a hand-picked house membership than they are for the long-suffering Nigerians sentenced to a permanent life of deprivation by the gluttony of the Ettehs and the people that forced them on us and those ilk that are flying her damned banner presently? Are the issues for the porous minds of thieving and patently corrupt Speaker and her cheerleaders than they are for the hapless citizenry that die daily from preventable causes while their so-called leaders perfect the arts of pubic stealing with each passing day? Is the issue for a parasitic cultic ring called PDP as they are for Nigerians that have been made to bear the effect of their wild gluttony since 1999? Is the issue for the moral cretins that humor themselves as our leaders as they are for the famished Nigerians that are slaving to have a decent meal in a day?  

Etteh is certainly a poster child of the regime of graft that hobbled this country in the last eight years. She has been proved to be morally bankrupt as she is intellectually deficient. Ironically, it is for people like Etteh that the former president, Olusegun Obasanjo and his hatchet men like Ribadu, Bayo Ojo, Sunday Ehindero and Maurice Iwu visited this land with the most profound act of witch hunting before the scandalous elections of 2007. Working under the devious and duplicitous pose of hewing for Nigerians a corrupt-free class of politicians, they visited the landscape with all manners of manipulation and hand-picked for us the David Marks, the Ettehs as leaders of the legislature and the first art Etteh, so well-beloved of her sponsor did was to appropriate a hefty N628million to her self through dubious means in the guise of renovating her house. I heard that such hefty plundering also took place in the senate, perhaps, that one is still brewing. 

As it has become absolutely clear that nothing has changed from the licentious profligacy of 1999 to 2007, Nigerians have to take their lots in their wearied hands and decide what they want of their thieving leaders. If the house decides to play games with the report of the Idoko panel, as Etteh and her hirelings are suggesting, then the best option is for Nigerians to break up the senate till Caesar’s wife meet with better dreams. This we can do through the organized actions of the civil society groups and the sustained pressure of all, including the press and the critical mass. The kind of pressure we used to get the Vice President to declare his well-doctored assets is required here. Nigerians can decide to make this country ungovernable until Etteh and her corrupt cahoots are forced up and brought before the portals of justice. Let us not play the present Etteh game, which must have been on the mischievous prompting of the amala and ewedu politicians and from the Otta school of Vice. Let all Nigerians ensure that no house with Etteh as the head exists. Perhaps honour and shame hold no candle for Etteh and that is why she is indulging on this kind of repulsive play-acting when she had been roundly indicted for her misdemeanors but we should not leave it at that. 

In any sane country, Etteh would have resigned as soon as the scandal broke open. In less sane countries, she would have tendered her letter of resignation the day the panel summarily indicted her but in Nigeria, with the entire negative inductions Etteh’s godfather has perpetrated in this country, a soiled and sullied Speaker still entertains the belief that one way or the other, her monumental corrupt acts would be shoveled under and we would be forced to live with her smelly visage for a long time to come. Nigerians should wake up from their long reverie and see that the Ettehs and their culled likes would forever take us this country for such gravy ride if we allow them to get away with this grand larceny. 
 

Peter Claver Oparah

Ikeja, Lagos. 

Robot  Villager

# 1 For the period what is now commonly referred to as Ettehgate scandal festered, I had kept a studi...Read the full article. Posted by Robot| 10.10.2007 15:45

JAGA-JAGA  Villager

# 2 As it has become absolutely clear that nothing has changed from the licentious profligacy of 1999 to 2007, Nigerians have to take their lots in their wearied hands and decide what they want of their thieving leaders. If the house decides to play games with the report of the Idoko panel, as Etteh and her hirelings are suggesting, then the best option is for Nigerians to break up the senate till Caesar’s wife meet with better dreams. This we can do through the organized actions of the civil society groups and the sustained pressure of all, including the press and the critical mass. The kind of pressure we used to get the Vice President to declare his well-doctored assets is required here. Nigerians can decide to make this country ungovernable until Etteh and her corrupt cahoots are forced up and brought before the portals of justice. Let us not play the present Etteh game, which must have been on the mischievous prompting of the amala and ewedu politicians and from the Otta school of Vice. Let all Nigerians ensure that no house with Etteh as the head exists. Perhaps honour and shame hold no candle for Etteh and that is why she is indulging on this kind of repulsive play-acting when she had been roundly indicted for her misdemeanors but we should not leave it at that. Peter, Good analysis, but remember we are in the era of Rule of law and due process. So Nigerians must never be encouraged to take the law into their own hands. Cheers! Posted by JAGA-JAGA| 10.10.2007 16:37

Papino  Villager

# 3 @Jaga Jaga,what then is rule of law if its application is selective?. In a PDP caucus meeting recently,OBJ and Dr Alex Ekwueme was reported to have cursed themselves out when the man believing to own PDP -OBJ-ordered that the party should rally around Etteh and see that she is not disgraced.Dr Ekwueme was said to have gotten up in an excellent speach to demand a refrain from towing the line of selective application of the rules to party members.He said that it is no secret that OBJ's government was known to have fought corruption and made "due process"a common language in Nigeria.Why then is the story now different if the same system indicted and exposed several senate presidents including Wabara for a mere 50million-that is,in comparism to 628million!OBJ could not take it any longer and left,dragging Ahmadu Ali with him.UMYA wanted to go and talk to OBJ but was accousted by Dr Ekwueme and others who,reminded him that as president,he is now the leader of the party,that the interest of Nigeria far supercedes any other and anybody who doesn't want due process in Ettehgate does not love Nigeria. Folks,truth be told,laws are made to be adhered to strictly no matter whose ox it grinds.There is no way anybody would take Nigeria serious if we continue with business as usual.If members of the house of representatives fails in their civic responsibility of ensuring that Etteh goes,Nigerians have a moral obligation to protest till she goes.It would deter others and lead us all to a better Nigeria.Ettehs greatest problem is that our awareness as Nigerians for good governance is awakened and we would not continue to siddon dey look. Posted by Papino| 10.10.2007 18:04

Fjord  Villager

# 4 There's a difference between surrender and 'due process' (which is fast becoming a misnomer in theis Olubunmi Etteh business): at some point, matters must be taken into the hands of the people; we may not have gotten there yet, but, you never can tell, knowing how small a matter it was that started WWI. . Posted by Fjord| 10.10.2007 19:38

JAGA-JAGA  Villager

# 5 =Papino;209177108>@Jaga Jaga,what then is rule of law if its application is selective?.In a PDP caucus meeting recently,OBJ and Dr Alex Ekwueme was reported to have cursed themselves out when the man believing to own PDP -OBJ-ordered that the party should rally around Etteh and see that she is not disgraced.Dr Ekwueme was said to have gotten up in an excellent speach to demand a refrain from towing the line of selective application of the rules to party members.He said that it is no secret that OBJ's government was known to have fought corruption and made "due process"a common language in Nigeria.Why then is the story now different if the same system indicted and exposed several senate presidents including Wabara for a mere 50million-that is,in comparism to 628million!OBJ could not take it any longer and left,dragging Ahmadu Ali with him.UMYA wanted to go and talk to OBJ but was accousted by Dr Ekwueme and others who,reminded him that as president,he is now the leader of the party,that the interest of Nigeria far supercedes any other and anybody who doesn't want due process in Ettehgate does not love Nigeria. Folks,truth be told,laws are made to be adhered to strictly no matter whose ox it grinds.There is no way anybody would take Nigeria serious if we continue with business as usual.If members of the house of representatives fails in their civic responsibility of ensuring that Etteh goes,Nigerians have a moral obligation to protest till she goes.It would deter others and lead us all to a better Nigeria.Ettehs greatest problem is that our awareness as Nigerians for good governance is awakened and we would not continue to siddon dey look. Papino, My brother, I know that we have a capable AGF who would not allow the miscarriage of justice nor selective application of rule of law. Posted by JAGA-JAGA| 10.10.2007 20:59

dele26  Villager

# 6 Sharp personality contrast: 1) Dr (Mrs.) Dora Nkem Akunyili (OFR), the Director General of the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) 2) Dishonourable (Mrs.) Patricia Olubunmi Etteh, The Speaker of Nigerian House of Representatives Posted by dele26| 11.10.2007 07:59

dem  Villager

# 7 Wonderful piece Peter. What Etteh is yet to realise is that even if she manages to buy herself some time, when people look at that fanta bottle face of hers they would not see just another woman. They would look at her and think there sits a morally bankrupt, unintelligent, no integrity, greedy, selfish, vacuous woman. Normally, this would be a difficult thing to live with; but perhaps she is used to, or prepared to live with that ... What a sad shame. Posted by dem| 11.10.2007 08:04