Over time, there have been countless arguments about the attainment of maturity not being tied to age. Nonetheless, “a man or a woman who is ‘fully grown’ is not expected to exhibit some childish attributes anymore.” “Childhood remains a wonderful stage of life, especially when you look back as an adult, but is that enough reason to revert to practices that characterised such time, as an adult?” These are just a few of the numerous comments we grasped from two Nigerians, discussing the disgraceful outing of two of Nigerian Senators at the floor of the Senate.
Last Tuesday, during the closed door session of the Upper Chamber of Nigeria’s National Assembly, a reportedly fierce altercation ensued between two lawmakers – Dino Melaye and Oluremi Tinubu – both members of the ruling political party, the All Progressives Congress (APC). Melaye represents Kogi West Senatorial district and Tinubu represents Lagos Central Senatorial district. According to reports, prior to the disgraceful show by the two lawmakers, the senators were discussing ways to help the embattled leadership of the Senate.
In an account of the incident by Dino Melaye, he admitted to using harsh words against the wife of the former Lagos governor, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, but he did not say he was going to ‘beat her and impregnate her,’ as reported by several local media.
“When I stood up and I made my submissions that day in the senate, all I did was to pacify my colleagues and ask that the case [forgery case against the Senate leadership] in court be withdrawn because, already, there is a resolution of the senate that the rules of the senate were not forged and since there was a resolution of the senate that the rules of the senate were not forged then I said all those who have gone to court should go and withdraw their names from court and that if at the end of the day those who refused to withdraw their names from court we should penalise them by suspending them, I said that.
“But I did not use any insolent, abusive, degrading or mannerless language. So there was no reaction from any of our colleagues as regards my presentation. After I spoke so many other senators spoke and I did not mention the name of any senators while I was making my presentation, unfortunately senator Oluremi Tinubu got up and was recognised to speak and immediately she started speaking she specifically mentioned my name even when, in my presentation, I did not mention anybody’s names.” Melaye told the press after the incident.
In any case, neither Melaye’s account nor Tinubu crying wolf makes things any better. Rather, it substantiates the rumoured embarrassing activities of Nigerian senators. Three Nigerian lawmakers, at the Lower chamber are currently being indicted by the United States over a sex scandal. Before now, we have seen how these lawmakers physically attack each other during sittings and still, things are not getting any better with them. How long will Nigerian senators continue to taint the country’s image with their characteristic ‘unholy’ attitude? Seriously, Nigerian lawmakers need to stop behaving like kids.
