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Parliamentary squabbles are universal, a sign of a thriving
democracy. Anywhere in the world where the rule of law is monitored by a few
citizens instead of one dictator, the lawmakers can sometimes seem to behave
like a bunch of school children in a playground.

Words of disagreement can degenerate to fist fights, and when
blows are not enough chairs or the sacred mace come in handy to drive a point
home. Elsewhere in the democratic world, lawmakers’ points of disagreement are
usually in the interest of their citizens and country. Here in Nigeria, when
our lawmakers fight, the citizens’ welfare is usually far from the reason. It
is a fight by themselves, of themselves and for themselves.

Nigerians do not have a dog in the current imbroglio that has
engulfed the House of Representatives. The fight between the Speaker, Dimeji
Bankole, and a group that call themselves the “Progressive Minded Legislators”
is a public display of a house that is divided against itself, and if we are to
go by the news of ineffectiveness and corruption coming out of the House, it
has long fallen.

These newly minted progressives, about ten lawmakers from the six
geo-political zones, say the Speaker is corrupt, inept and high-handed. Really?
Did they just wake up to realise this or this is a case of when there is war,
any weapon is legitimate?

These so called progressives and the embattled Speaker of the
House do not appear to care about the people or the country, reserving their
passion for issues that concern their personal welfare. The laws that receive
prompt and undivided attention are those that fatten their already
budging-from-the-seams bank accounts.

All we have to do is lift the veil and peep behind closed doors
to see the true reason for this disagreement in the House. This ultimatum given
to the Speaker to resign or “be disgraced out of the office” reeks of
disgruntled elements. The row boils down to who is getting what and who is not.

The Progressive Minded Legislators claim to have incriminating
documents that will nail the Speaker and they are threatening to send these to
the EFCC. The ultimatum is clearly a bluff, and Mr. Bankole knows it too. It
will be interesting to see how the Speaker is the only corrupt lawmaker in a
House that has had numerous allegations of corruption leveled against it.

What we ordinary citizens would like, even after this rift is settled, is to
see the purported evidence against the Speaker sent to EFCC, ICPC, NSA and the
SSS, as threatened. Until then, from where we sit, they are all birds of the
same feather and what they have embarked on now is nothing short of a child’s
play.