Nigerian lawmakers are a restless bunch. They cannot survive for any length of time without one controversy of one type or the other. And when none pops up on its own, they have ways and means of generating excitement. This time around, it will be about fraudulent lawmakers. And the guilty are already afraid. Not only are they running scared but, they are issuing death threats to the Niger State Senator.

We understand their fears, poor thieves but hasn’t anybody told them that Nuhus don’t scare easily? They don’t also die easily, not in this. part of the world. Perhaps, these evil cowboys have not noticed that their current nemesis’ name is Nuhu. Ah ah. And too bad they can’t shoot off this one to Kuru. In the light of what may come to light in the course of this exciting ‘419gate’, I recommend that any lawmaker whose skeletons are likely to crawl out into the open should squeeze his dirty laundry in a bag and hightail fast out of town while he still has the opportunity.

However, the Inspector-General of Police must be put on notice. This Nuhu must not die on Mr Mike Okiro’s watch. Armed robbers must not gain access to his bedroom through the roof and kill him. In fact, he must not even suffer any strange cardiac arrest. We do not need any phony press statements on how the police will leave no stone unturned in tracking down the ever elusive murderers of good people in this country.

Considering that those fraudsters at the National Assembly are smart guys who know how to remove stumbling blocks in their way, my suggestion is that security be beefed up around Senator Nuhu Aliyu. Or are there people who want to tell us this is a legislative matter? This is a security matter. Both the Speaker, Dimeji Bankole and President of the Senate, David Mark must ensure the safety of Nuhu Aliyu. Both of them have the necessary security training to read the subtext in this matter, especially now that Senator Aliyu has decided that he would reveal the names of the alleged fraudsters to only the two of them.

Now, ordinarily, this new controversy should warm the heart of any editor but I have this gut feeling that those lawbreaking fraudsters have ways of protecting themselves while hiding behind one little finger of protecting something they call ‘the institution.’ What if Mark and Bankole refuse to tell us whatever Aliyu tells them? Nigerians have no reason to doubt their integrity yet but what if they keep mum? In the days ahead, I foresee the stories dying unless we do something about the protectors of ‘the institution’.

Already, one of the members of the House has pointed out that Senator Nuhu Aliyu’s statement was directed at the ‘institution of the National Assembly’. I’m worried about those who will turn this matter on its head and try to stop the disrobing of the fraudsters at the National Assembly.
If we protect them again for fear of what the world would think of what we call hallowed chambers, the altar will remain dirty. People who want to grant interviews and organize press conferences on corruption in high places should know that he who comes to equity must do so with clean hands. Those who have been mouthing integrity and transparency in governance now have the opportunity to do something positive about it. There is no better time than now to bring those who have been grandstanding and claiming sainthood to their knees and to book. I know if the anti-corruption agencies were to beam their searchlight on Nigeria’s public office holders and the sources of their incomes, they would relocate their headquarters to the Three Arms Zone. Too many of them can’t truly, in all honesty tell their pastors what they do for a living.

But that is not reason enough to let thieves make laws on how to catch armed robbers. As Speaker Dimeji Bankole and Senate President, David Mark have promised, let heads roll. Some heads are too rotten to continue to be on certain necks.
This private pain of Senator Nuhu Aliyu has remained too private for too long. I bet when he got up last week to substantiate his claim that some of the ‘criminals’ he had once had behind bars as a top cop are now Senators of the Federal Republic, some of the lawmakers thought he was blowing hot air until he jumped up waving a piece of paper apparently containing his list of sinners. I don’t want also imagine how many of those sinners were close to heart seizures. But who cares? I am only sorry for the retired Deputy Inspector of Police who has found himself breathing the same air as the former criminals.

In all of these, let nobody underrate the fraudsters. They didn’t get this far by being anybody’s fool. They know the rules of the game. They will come up with all kinds of reasons why we should let them be. They will get ‘Civil Society’ to tell us that keeping their past in their past is their fundamental human right. They will get Student Groups to tell us that probing legislators will infringe on the rights of the people who elected them.

They will get certain ‘royal fathers’ and elders to caution members of the National Assembly not to allow enemies of democracy distract them from the job they were elected to do. To further frighten us, they will get people to tell us opening legislators’ can of worms will derail our democracy or encourage ‘fellow Nigerians’ to come out of the barracks. All of that are even child ’s play from the tons of technicalities lawyers will dump on us in the name of rule of law. But we need to know these rotten men. And I think we should not stop at what lawmakers did before they went to make laws, we should also proceed to audit what evils have been done with public funds since 1999. And when we are done with the fraudsters, we need to fish out the ritual killers and armed robbers.