By the time you read this, I expect Mrs. Patricia Olubunmi Etteh, Speaker of the House of Representatives, to have either resigned or stepped aside to allow a cleaner and untainted person supervise deliberations on the David Idoko Panel’s report. But if she hasn’t, then I will join Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, former president of the Nigerian Labour Congress, NLC, in urging Nigerians to resist the filth that brought our nation to a tragic juncture on Wednesday.
The tragedy in the House was not totally unexpected. Drawing from the reps’ antecedents, analysts had predicted a rowdy session at the resumption of the lower chamber of the National Assembly on Tuesday. Events and pronouncements by the gladiators since the house renovation scam broke out had given a clear indication of the gathering storm.

Etteh’s intransigence, the blind support of her godfathers that art in Ota and Wadata Plaza, Abuja, as well as the warped PDP apparatus that is hell-bent on maintaining the status quo ante despite the weight of evidence underscoring her culpability, became the fuel to stoke the fire.

Every action, every pronouncement from both sides of the divide in that House of war, these past weeks, clearly pointed to an impending conflagration. They all paved the way for an imminent perdition, to a path strewn with ‘mines’ and blood. Although the David Idoko report heavily indicted the Speaker (without mentioning the word), the woman’s camp had continually boasted that she would not vacate her seat. The Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, which gave them solid support, buoyed their confidence.

But the Speaker’s unreasonable refusal to quit honourably dangerously spiked the political temperature of the House. The resulting cataclysm claimed the precious life of Dr. Aminu Safana, a 46-year-old member representing the Batsari/Danmusa/Safana Federal Constituency in Katsina, on Wednesday. Safana, who reportedly suffered from diabetes and hypertension, and another House member, had collapsed, apparently as a result of the serial punches they had received during the shameless boxing and wrestling bouts that set the lower chamber on fire for three solid hours on Wednesday. Although dying rep and his friend were promptly rushed to the National Hospital, sadly, Safana bit the dust 30 minutes after he was admitted into intensive care.

The death of Safana, a father of 9, and former secretary to Katsina State Government under the then Governor Umaru Musa Yar’Adua Administration, would have been avoided but for the failure in human wisdom which, as our elders say, makes a king step down from his exalted position to revel with swine. Otherwise, how else would you explain the lawlessness that eventually led to the lawmaker’s sudden demise? The death is as despicable as it is unwarranted. It is unprecedented in the country’s political annals. The shameless fisticuffs and the unnecessary shedding of the rep’s blood have desecrated the sacred ambience of the House. The tragedy has further diminished us and accentuated our notoriety before the global community as an unserious nation. To borrow the words of Odia Ofeimum, Nigeria’s veins now seethe with the epithets being hurled at her from the pit of darkness and evil that some retrogressive forces have turned the House into.

Yet, the solution to the bloody impasse is very simple. It lies in acceding to the simple request of the Integrity Group, and, by extension, Nigerians, that Madam Speaker should step aside temporarily and let an impartial party or person preside. Simple. This is perfectly in sync with the principle of natural justice that no man is permitted to be a judge in his own case.

True Etteh’s camp may be justified in pleading House Rule as the basis for their insistence on their principal sticking to her seat during the debate on the report. But if the Speaker’s friends truly knew that she was blameless in this whole mess, as they have tried to convince the world since the can of worms flipped open, she should have borrowed a leaf from Senator David Mark, president of the senate. As the hushed grumblings over a report that Senator Mark, like Etteh, had approved a N400 million contract for his official quarters grew louder on Tuesday, the senate president offered to step down so the matter could be properly deliberated and, perhaps, investigated.

Since Mark and George Akume, former governor of Mark’s home state, Benue, now a senator, have been locked in a show of strength since the inauguration of the current session of the National Assembly, Akume became the automatic suspect as the sponsor of the embarrassing report. But notwithstanding the veracity or otherwise of the allegation, senators rubbished the report and insisted that Mark continue with his job. Now, isn’t that decent? Is that not worth copying by Madam Speaker? Shouldn’t she have dropped the do-or-die toga and toe the path of honour?

Sadly, Madam and her acolytes would have none of that. They would rather Nigeria burn than do what is right in the circumstance. Perhaps, in their estimation, if Etteh seizes being Speaker, Nigeria would disintegrate and dissolve into oblivion. Even if we concede to them that Madam Speaker is now the state, should she strut in her kingdom over broken bones and skulls? Should we have sacrificed Safana’s precious life to resolve this unnecessary malfeasance?
Apart from the unfortunate death of the lawmaker, the logjam in the House may cause a delay for President Yar’Adua in implementing next year’s budget. He has had to postpone his presentation at the joint session of both chambers because of the imbroglio in the House. Had he been able to present the budget proposals, that would have been the first major assignment the House under Etteh’s watch, would have performed in five months of its existence. The House has not done any serious business in five months. At the end of the day, it is the poor masses of this great country that bear the brunt.

This is why President Yar’Adua, as PDP leader, should act speedily and ensure that the party does not pervert the cause of justice in this case. The party, for once, must vote for our nation’s honour and the dignity of its peoples by doing what is right in this matter. It must insist that the woman leaves.
However, whether she tumbles like humpty-dumpty from her Olympian height, or continues to clutch at whatever straw to maintain power, Etteh has gone done in history as the Speaker, even the first female Speaker in the country’s existence as a sovereign state, under whose leadership a member died trying to keep her in power. What an achievement!

Madam Speaker, resign and let peace return to the House. Senator Ahmadu Ali, vote for peace and dignity of our country and let the reps do whatever they have to do to restore the sanctity of the House. Your recalcitrance and rebellion against the people has turned the House of Representatives to the House of Evil. It has turned Nigeria, yet again, to a laughing stock in the comity of nations. Save us from shame and disgrace. Let Etteh go. Evil must go. Power must change hands in the House.