The Parliament is an amalgam of different persons, coming from different and diverse backgrounds, warts and all. It is indeed an interesting place.
In my very brief period as a Member and former Senior Staff , I have had the rare privilege of meeting the different colours of the rainbow of parliamentarians from the simple to the haughty, the deep to the banal, I have met all manner of persons.
The interesting thing is that everyone leaves you with an impression, some easily forgotten , some never to be forgotten.
Among the former Parliamentarians that I cannot forget easily are Papa Sidi Ali and then shockingly Distinguished Senator Ayogu Eze.
I met Papa Sidi Ali in Kano, when my Oga, former leader of the House of Representatives [9th Assembly] ,one of the oldest serving members of the present 10th National Assembly, in person of the maverick enigma, Rt.Hon. Alhassan Ado Doguwa, presently Chairman House Committee on Upstream, was to be turbanned the Sardauna Rano.
When I got introduced to him as a former Member of the House of Representatives, his peering eyes lightened and i could see the Nostalgia and recollections in his eyes.
He was a foremost Parliamentarian back then coming from the steep Progressives ideology of those days from the stock of the People’s Redemption Party headed by the late Aminu Kano .
We had a long engagement session on a number of issues , we agreed on most that bordered on the role of the legislators in National Rebirth and Enduring Transformation and a few we did not.
Even at that age, his thoughts were clear and position on issues unambiguous.
One of the things he told me was that if only Nigerians would realise the possibilities inherent in the parliament, and elect people who are truly people centric, he said Nigeria will be five times better than the way we are today[ that was about 4 years ago].
Papa Sidi said the issue of vehicles for legislators did not start today , as they were given Chevrolet as official vehicles during his term in the parliament, he said what is important is to get a Corp of legislators who truly and really care and committed to the improved quality of the standard of living of their constituents and infrastructural development their Constituencies, because he said he believes over 90% of Nigerians reside in Constituencies far flung from the capitals and they deserve to live well. I can never forget this parting words as I walked him and his son to his car that late night in Kano.
Second is Senator Ayogu Eze, a prolific debater, with profound intellectual insight in his submissions, he could be brutally frank and convincing, I first took a conscious notice of this man of imposing body frame when he was the Chairman Senate Committee on Information, his defence of the Senate was near perfect and difficult to fault, he would try to justify actions of the Senate and Senators with a facial expression that is impregnable and difficult to doubt.
Much later, he was the Chairman Senate Committee Chairman on Works at the Seventh Assembly. I was a member of the House Committee on Works.
What brought us together was my submission on the extent of the bad roads particularly around the South East, our Committee had gone on oversight and we saw hundreds of kilometres of impassable roads all over the South East , everywhere was littered with broken down trucks and trailers ferrying goods either from Lagos or from the North to the South East all of them Stuck all over the place.
I literally broke down seeing people’s livelihoods going to waste, particularly those trailers transporting perishable goods worth millions stuck in those clay laden roads , and owners lamenting in frustration , I could not hold being emotional.
So I took personal pictures and videos and I did a short documentary on the state of these roads and socio economic implications, and I added that, if the South Easterners refuse to optimise the rare privilege of the vantage positioning of their Sons in the then power structure of Nigeria, well enough to get their roads fixed, they should blame themselves and nobody else.
The power structure I was referring to at the time was , Senator Pius Ayim as SGF, His Excellency Ike Ekweremadu as Deputy Senate President, His Excellency, Rt.Hon Emeka Ihedioha as Deputy Speaker House of Representatives, Senator Ayogu Eze, as Chairman Senate Committee on Works, and Rt.Hon Ozumgbachi as the House Committee Chairman on Works..! No region could have it better .
Initially he did not like my comment but much later when I explained what I meant and that I was moved by concern to speak so emotionally like that, was enough to let him know that my comment was not to indict or cause disaffection for them with the people, but to get them to act quickly and leverage on the opportunities that that moment presented.
He commended me for that show of solidarity, as a non Igbo, told me what they were doing and the frustrations in the system, we became closer, he titled me “Ekwueme” and we hung out couple of times .
He was such a jolly good man, a detribalised Nigerian patriot, pleasant to be with and has deep repository knowledge of the Nigerian polity and particularly the National Assembly.
In a nation where the national archives is not well resourced with vintage materials and contributions of nationalists who have bestrode our landscape, it hurts so much to know that the the death of these icons will further deplete the essential parts of history. I have shouted myself hoarse on this , seems I am crying in the rain.
I will not be surprised if we do not have the hansards that chronicles the contributions of these great men, in years to come, the memories of the contributions of these legislators of repute will exist in the fringes of our nation’s political history.
The coming generation will surely snigger at our abdication of responsibility better said repudiate our irresponsibility for leaving them in the dark about where we are coming from.
I hope someday we will realise that the greatness of nations is not only defined by nuclear weapons, armaments, vibrant economies , size , population etc but indeed in the ability to capture their history and the place of men and women who have shaped the history of those nations particularly through their service and contributions..to connect the future to the past, while the present is the passage route.
Unfortunately, as an African proverb says, the death of an elder is equal to the death of a vital part of history if not captured. Our veritable history may even be left to the contorted imagination of latter day revisionists or figment of imagination of neo- historians.
May the gentle souls of these primus intrepares legislators find rest in the bossom of their creator.
Congressman Bimbo Daramola
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