Sunday 18092016

SUNDAY VANGUARD, SEPTEMBER 18, 2016, PAGE 37
VOICE FROM SECOND REPUBLIC SENATE
In politics, women are
less corrupt than men
– Franca Afegbua
•’Unlike during our time, disunity is
undermining N/Assembly’
•Says she took no salary as lawmaker
BY CHIOMA GABRIEL,
EDITOR, SPECIAL FEATURES
Second republic lawmaker
and first female senator,
Franca Afegbua, in this
interview, talks about the conduct of the
current National Assembly.
She also blames Nigeria’s woes on
politicians and dishonest Nigerians
who, according to her, wasted the nation’s
resources over the years, thereby creating
economic recession, hunger and hardship
in the country.
Excerpts:
You disappeared from the political
scene for a long time. Where have you
been?
I’ve been around. I’m in Abuja serving
my God. I gave my life to Christ and
quit politics.
You have seen where Nigeria is
heading to. Where did we go wrong?
One thing you must appreciate first is
the fact that God loves Nigeria. So
much has been happening but because
God loves Nigeria so much, He has
preserved this country. Nigerians
behave like spoilt children, they are true
prodigals who wasted the wealth of the
nation but God has been merciful to us.
Largely, politicians and a host of
dishonest people who didn’t have the
fear of God in their hearts are the cause
of Nigeria’s problems. These people go
all the way to grab what they cannot
finish even before they die. Those at the
leadership and other dishonest
Nigerians embarked on a grabbing
mission of our national resources and,
due to their greed, they emptied the
national treasury and left the country
desolate. They have no fear of God and
have no qualms about the repercussion
of what they have done to the country.
They have no conscience and those are
the people who brought Nigeria to
where it is today.
You were in the Senate in the second
republic. Can you compare your time
with today’s National Assembly?
One major thing we had in our days
which the current National Assembly
does not have is respect and decorum.
The current National Assembly is not
respected. What is happening in the
parliament at the present time didn’t
happen in our time or after us. The tiers
of government were well demarcated
and each respected the other but now,
the other tiers of government have put
the National Assembly under their
armpit. And this is largely due to how
the lawmakers treat and regard each
other. Although, there were political and
•Franca Afegbua
party differences and opinions, we didn’t
wash our dirty linen in the public like it
happened between Senator Remi
Tinubu and Senator Dino Melaye. That
altercation went too far. Current
lawmakers are sabotaging the Assembly
and bringing themselves low. It is
appalling that such verbal assault
between them happened in the National
Assembly. That put the red chamber and
the entire legislative arm of government
in disdain.
From the outset, the Senate, which is
expected to provide a robust check and
balance on the executive arm of
government, is undermined. This Senate
has not done its job. In-house acrimony
has hindered the National Assembly
from performing its role of checks and
balances on the executive. Rather than
doing what is expected of them, the
leaders of the National Assembly,
especially the Senate, are battling to
keep their positions. The executive and
the judiciary have been toying with the
National Assembly. This distraction is
also making Nigeria a laughing stock .
And the call for immunity by the
principal officers in the legislative is
another thing. It is not necessary so as to
avoid misuse of power. Look at what
happened between Tinubu and Melaye,
they don’t have immunity and they have
started misusing their power against
I went into politics to
represent my people and
attract federal presence
to them. I wanted basic
amenities for my people
each other.
I think the Senate members should
tread with caution because their
actions are being closely watched and
judged by Nigerians and the world at
large. Imagine the scenario where
Melaye said unprintable things to
Senator Tinubu. That was wrong. Male
senators should protect their female
counterparts to encourage female
participation in politics. If threats on
their female counterparts continue,
many husbands will not allow their
wives to join politics. When I was in the
Senate, I had an experience which
made me to call a press conference the
next day. The then Deputy Speaker said
a woman could not chair a committee
and I asked him to apologise to
women. He didn’t start calling me
names because there was respect and
decorum. We didn’t start firing arrow
of words at each other.
Money has dominated today’s
politics. All you read and hear is what
senators and representatives are
earning. When I was in the Senate, I
didn’t earn salary. Not even one kobo
was paid into my account, I didn’t
even know how much was my salary.
We were asked to open bank accounts
and I did alongside others but nothing
was paid into my account.
Are you saying that others were
paid and you were not?
I don’t know. I was more concerned
with the job and, when I checked later,
I realised that I was not paid.
Why didn’t you follow-up on the
matter?
I kept hoping they would pay but
they didn’t before the coup that ousted
the second republic. I could have sued
the government then, but I didn’t know.
I was not paid even sitting allowance
and I was working from 8 am till 1
am. I didn’t have time to go to the
bank because we were screening
ministers. I had my own staff and two
of them were paid. I cannot go asking
for it now because it has taken so long.
It is rather unfortunate because the
Bible says ‘ I will not labour in vain’.
God will send it one way or the other.
In your time from our conversation,
the Senate President was like a god
even till the last regime, but now, for
the first time, the Senate President
is being brought very low, being
taken to court and the executive
undermining him...
Things have really changed. People
are in politics for different reasons. I
went into politics to represent my
people and attract federal presence
to them. I wanted basic amenities for
my people. I met somebody who said
she wanted to go into politics and I
asked her why and she said she wants
money. That was a wrong premise for
wanting to go into politics. I was
shocked, I told her that was wrong.
You don’t go into politics for money
but for service to the people. Some
people don’t have power, water,
schools, hospitals and then somebody
who is representing them is doing so
for the money, that’s bad and that is
wrong.
Were you able to achieve your
purpose of going into politics?
No. I couldn’t before the coup took
place. Unfortunately, things are no
longer the same, but like I said, God
has been good to Nigeria despite our
behaving like spoilt brats. We have
wasted so much resources in this
country. We took things for granted
and carried on without care, and now,
for the first time, what we didn’t expect
has happened. Before, people were
hiding money in all manner of places,
inside toilet, in the bush, inside septic
tank but, today, where is the money?
People are hungry and money is in the
hands of a few people. Starvation and
poverty are spreading but before this
time, there was so much waste. We
wasted Nigeria’s resources and now
we have nothing.
How do we recover?
We have to go back to the basics. Oil
boom caused our problems and now,
we are in oil doom, and we have to go
back to how we survived before we
discovered oil. When I was growing
up in Kano as a little girl, I used to
stop to look at the groundnut pyramid.
Before oil, there was groundnut
pyramid in the North; the South-West
had cocoa and Eastern Nigeria had
palm-oil and we were exporting, but
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