By Abdullahi O Haruna Haruspice
The Confluence State is always in the news—a very good gesture. It presents us as a people who cannot be pushed aside or shoved off. We are locally ingrained with the DNA of stoicism, a “we no dey carry last” kind of built-up.
Sadly, we keep getting things mixed up. We are too hasty, doing things above board—a development that presents us as impulsive. We have seen how our young people behave on social media; for this reason, we come across as highly confrontational.
While these traits may come with certain strengths, they always put us at a disadvantage. Being too quick to talk and too fast to allege does not put us in a position of strength. Rather, it presents us as emotionally erratic. We had seen Dino Melaye exhibit this as a member of the Federal House of Representatives—how he went dangerously violent in his uproar with former Speaker Dimeji Bankole. Guess what? He was suspended from the House for a long time. As a senator, he wasn’t different; he publicly led a mob onslaught against former President Muhammadu Buhari when he came to the National Assembly to present the budget for that year.
Now, we have Senator Natasha Akpoti in a similar position. Whether she is right or wrong is no longer the issue but how she sits in history in this infamous scenario. Very intelligent, highly cosmopolitan, and influential, she failed to navigate the political terrain differently. As a first-time senator, she came in highly influential and powerful. She could be anywhere and get anything she wanted in the Senate. How she slipped from this circle of influence is a tragedy of time.
She recklessly mismanaged her chance, power, and influence. She was destined to reign perpetually in reverence if she had acted more wisely. So revered was she that the Senate President called her “Princess of the Senate”—a title no woman had ever enjoyed since the beginning of democratic experience in Nigeria. She had the Senate in her grip, she could travel locally and internationally on Senate functions. Natasha luxuriated in influence and privilege, and her colleagues, all 108 of them, respected and adored her. She was gifted with all the glitz that comes with power. Her destination to greatness was on course—then came the hubris of life. She missed the steps, and her fall came needlessly too early—a self-inflicted fall!
To be a Senator of Nigeria is a huge privilege. To sit among 108 distinguished personalities who have accomplished greatness in their pursuit of happiness is no small feat. Therefore, a mere change of seat wasn’t enough reason to allow her beautiful strides to be halted so early. She fell into the elites’ trap and, as it stands, she is badly bruised. She will lose more than she will gain; she will deny her people her quality representation—all these caused by unrestrained emotions!
She had the opportunity to halt this avoidable fall. She had many senior colleagues to run to for cover, but obstinately, she towed the emotional lane. You don’t fight the system from the outside; you win the system from the inside. Six months out of four years is a huge loss to her legislative expedition.
And to our Kogi elders, why are you always distant when things like this happen? A powerful peace-seeking delegation could have averted this. When your ward is embroiled in such a conundrum, it is your duty to provide a landing platform. We all watched in muted silence as the rains of naivety drenched Senator Natasha.
For Natasha and other young Kogi greats, it is not too late to look back at our trajectories and make amends where we seem to be emotionally deficient. Life is a learning curve, a continuous conundrum. We can always relearn the game that others are playing, which has sustained their strides.
Unfortunately musing