Etteh’s Death Knell

Comfort Obi

I know it is a big deal to be the Speaker of the House of Representatives.
Politically, you are the number four citizen in the country. If the Speaker is a woman, as in the case of Patricia Etteh, she is the number one woman in the country, it doesn’t matter who answers the First Lady of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. And there are many more perks, known and unknown. In the Speaker's zone, she is the number one politician. At occasions, the Speaker is recongnised even before Senators and state governors. Which explains why I never understand it when former Speakers of the House of Representatives, as was the case in Ghali Na’Abba’s case, aspire to be governor. Everything does not end with money and power. For, I assume that must be the only reasons a former Speaker would want to become a governor. And please, don’t tell me about wanting to “render service to my state." It is a lie. But I digress. So, there are many perks attached to being the Speaker of the House of Representatives.
Yet, for all those perks, influence and power, I don’t pray to be in the shoes of Speaker Etteh. Forget her seemingly courageous (?) stand. Forget about the expressionless face she puts up in the face of the shame that has become her fate and that of the House of Representatives, she must be a very worried woman. She must be going through pains, and asking herself how come all the joy of being the first female Speaker of the House of Representatives has now turned into sorrow and regrets.She has lost control of the House. The House she presides over is now being called the House of Death. No thanks to the rowdiness she presides over, a member has died.
Just imagine, a couple of months ago, Etteh was the star. She was being celebrated in the media. She became an instant friend to many, an instant celebrity. Even her mother became a celebrity. Not any longer. The Etteh that was a friend has become an enemy. If an opinion poll is taken today, she would rank as the most hated woman in Nigeria. In a shop on Opebi Road, Ikeja, Lagos last Thursday, the day the sudden death of Honourable (Dr.) Aminu Safana hit the front page of all the national newspapers, three women recognised me as I walked in. “Please, what can you write to make this heartless woman, Patricia Etteh, resign as the Speaker?”, they asked me. One of them pointed out her (Etteh’s) salon on Opebi to me. “That was her shop,” she told me, as if that would help strengthen the point she was making.
This may sound unbelievable, but Etteh suddenly has my sympathy. Or, let me put it this way, my feeling for Etteh swings from anger to sympathy. When Safana's death was confirmed, my heart went out to her. How will she manage it? I asked no one in particular.
Etteh got me angry when the story of the contract scam broke. How could anybody use N628 million for the renovation of official houses belonging to two people and the purchase of jeeps. I felt it was insensitive of her. My question then was: If that amount of money was Etteh’s, would she have spent it so carelessly? When she explained that it was only the sum of N236 million that was approved, my anger boiled over. And I asked again, would Etteh have spent even that in building her own personal house, not to talk of renovation?
When the Idoko panel was set up, I didn’t expect her to go there and defend herself. I expected her to apologise to the House and Nigerians and ask for forgiveness. But I guess she felt that the cup would go away. That she would even soon start garnering sympathy. Perhaps. For, inspite of my anger, I began to sympathise with her. I guess it was just a “sisterly” feeling. I found myself defending her each time any man wrote, or said anything to the effect that “she is a hairdresser, a beautician,” and so, not intelligent enough for the position she is occupying. I was like: What is wrong with being a beautician or a hairdresser? Both are respectable professions. And I was getting quite irritated with those who would say: “Etteh has disgraced womanhood. She has soiled the way for other women who would want to aspire to other positions". My response: What has Etteh’s behaviour got to do with women? What about all the men who had stolen us clean? Has that stopped men from occupying every high position available?
But having said all that, let me add that Etteh’s behaviour is stupid. What is it in the office of the Speaker that would make Etteh behave so disgracefully? What is it that would make her behave as heartlessly as she has behaved? What would make her so unpatriotic. What would make Etteh want to go into history as the worst Speaker of the House? Why does she want to sit in judgement over her own case? Why has she reduced the honourable house to a dishonourable gathering? All we see are members who are behaving so dishonourably that the question has become: Where did we get these people from? They have so desecrated the House that it actually needs cleansing. Now, Etteh has death on her hands. The story out there is that but for Etteh’s intransigence, Honourable Safana would not have died. Debatable as that is, the fact remains that he collapsed and died in the heat of the rowdiness that engulfed Etteh's House. Ever since her tenure, the House has achieved nothing. All the members have been doing is to fight over salaries and allowances. Or behave and fight like thugs.
But back to Etteh, aside from the fact that it is immoral for her to sit as judge over her own case, she should, if she still has any honour left in her, quit as the Speaker of the House. Her tenure has brought nothing but disgrace and death to the House. Safana’s death puts a final death knell to Etteh’s tenure.
She should take the hint.