By Bayo Oluwasanmi
We have timidly put up with so many nightmares from the band of predator senators.
But no more. Anything that sets off your bull shit detector is an affront to common sense. From the latest indications, there is no hope for the hollow chamber to retrieve and restore its common sense.
The futility and failure of the predator senators were further exemplified and amplified by the summons sent to Justice Danladi Umar of the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT) where Bukola Abiku Mesujamba Saraki is on trial for false declaration of assets. The anticipatory sadness of their misrepresentation as law makers is grossly exhibited in their delusional recklessness to turn Nigerians into pawns and preys.
Monday, Justice Danladi Umar ruled that the corruption trial of Bukola Abiku Mesujamba would be conducted daily 10am-6pm until concluded. He warned he would no longer entertain delays, postponements, and adjournments. He said the circus of senators which daily accompanies Saraki to court was no more welcome. It’s time to end the tomfoolery!
Obviously, the senators were irked by the unpalatable ruling from Judge Umar. In a senseless and thoughtless response to the ruling, the so called Ethics Committee of the predator senate summoned Judge Umar to appear tomorrow to testify in respect of a petition alleging corrupt practices against him. Indeed, Judge Umar has no case to answer in reference to the summons from the Ethics Committee. Femi Falana (SAN) human rights lawyer, sets the record straight:
“It is pertinent to point out that the Ethics Committee of the Senate lacks the power to summon the Tribunal Chairman to testify in respect of a criminal investigation. More so that the allegation being examined by the Ethics Committee of the Senate is the subject matter of a pending criminal case at the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory sitting in Abuja. Following the allegation that the Personal Assistant to the Tribunal Chairman allegedly received a bribe from a suspect on behalf of his master the matter was investigated by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission. At the end of the investigation, the Tribunal Chairman was exonerated while his Personal Assistant was indicted. Consequently, the suspect has since been charged to court. Since the case has not been concluded or terminated it is the height of contempt on the part of the Senate or any of its Committee to decide to conduct another trial on the same subject matter.”
The senate as the eyes of the public has failed to police itself. As the Ethics Committee vowed to investigate Umar, it has failed to hold itself to the highest ethical standards. These ravenous predators on top of their criminally huge allowances, earn the highest salaries paid to any law makers in the world. Nigerian people did not elect them and pay them to legitimize corruption and stone wall the fight against corruption. We elect them and pay them to enact laws for the good of all the people of Nigeria.
If our memory is good and our information accurate and adequate, the senators have proved to be the greatest political predators of all times. It is a strange vision to be governed by these gang of robbers. In a predatory senate, nothing is done for the public reasons. These predators do not recognize that “public purposes” exist. They take care of their families, friends, and concubines, and as far as for the rest of us – we’re the prey. According to Daily Trust, 108 Toyota Land Cruiser Sports Utility Vehicle (SUV) ordered for the senators at the cost of N3.8 billion were purchased at double price. They bought each for N35.1 million but investigation indicates that a Toyota land Cruiser SUV V6 2016 model is sold at N17 million.
In the world of predator senators, they are all connected. As a predatory senate, it is a protection racket. Which is why they’re doing everything possible to scuttle the trial of Saraki. And a good reason why he enjoys blind following. As predators, they do not follow rules but break them. For example, only last week, in a bizarre haste, two amendments that will change Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB) and Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT) as we know it, were rushed through two readings within 48 hours. They have never been so efficient, so dedicated, and so determined to legislate any purposeful bill that will bring socioeconomic relief to our people. These predators do not enjoy a broad political base. They are neither loved nor respected by majority of Nigerians.
The predatory senate is criminogenic. It fosters and rewards criminal behavior. Reason why Saraki still remains the senate president. We all know that the profiles of the members of the Ethics Committee led by the Kogi corrupt bastard Dino Melaye reads like indictment charges. Apart from the illegality of their action, what moral right do they have to summon Umar to appear before such a corruption tainted and tarnished Ethics Committee? How can thieves summon an innocent judge or any law abiding Nigerian for that matter, to appear before the Ethics Committee of Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves? The predator senators brilliantly depicts what William K. Black in his book “The Best Way to Rob a Bank Is to Own One” Black writes that the “leader of an organization uses his company as a weapon of fraud and a shield against prosecution – a situation with which law and economics cannot cope.” It is no surprise that a senate run by people rooted in the culture of predation should behave otherwise.
The actions of the senate predators have proven over and over and over again that they are the real enemies of our nation. Three Bills – Whistle Blowers Bill, the Proceeds of Crime Bill, and the Witness Protection Bill – are gathering dust in the senate closet. The three Bills were passed by the 7th National Assembly but were not signed into law by former President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan.
When will these miscreants do the business of Nigerians for which they were elected and for which they are being paid unexplained huge salaries and outrageous allowances? When will these cold and cruel senators stop treating us as slaves in a plantation? When will Nigerians take the invitation and throw these bums out and replace them with human beings with human face and human heart? When? When? When?
Justice Umar should call off the bluff of these misanthropes: Tell these predator senators to go to hell!