I do not post this comment or share this picture because it's trending or because I derive pleasure from sharing it or calculated to ridicule or impugn the integrity of the Senate President or members of the national assembly. I do so after a sober reflection on the abject reality of poverty ravaging most households in Nigeria and to highlight the absurd disconnect between Abuja and the Millions of struggling Nigerians.
There is a difference between acting ignorantly of the reality on the ground vis-à-vis acting willfully in complete disregard of the reality on the ground, especially when you are conscious of the unconscionable degree of your actions. Senator Akpabio is a jolly good fellow who, unfortunately, is not living in our world. However, his colleagues knew the disclosure has the potential to ignite moral indignation. And they went into action.
Psychologically, when the squandering of riches is normalized or decriminalized in a given society, pronouncements centered around frivolities or spending on frivolous escapades hardly prick the conscience of those who ought to be the custodians of everything noble, frugal, honorable, and chaste. That's what you're witnessing here.
The Senate President was, however, prevailed upon by his colleagues on the floor of the Senate to change "a Token" that was sent into their respective bank accounts (thanks to the benevolent spirit of the Clerk of the Senate) to "a Prayer" going into their mailboxes (thanks to the spiritual benevolence of the Senate President himself). And that's the Nigerian tragedy - the morbid appetite for largesse and spoils of office they really don't need.
What makes this episode, so sickening is that 99.9% of the members of the Senate are Billionaires. In other words, they have no need for the Holiday Token from the Clerk of the Senate nor the gratuitous Prayer from the Senate President. Above all, they knew it wasn't the right thing to do. But they accepted the token anyway, because that's the culture in the national assembly. It's about moral probity, and their action ran afoul of it.
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