Dogara and others tale

sadden, in Nigeria, upon the dawn of a fresh ‘scandal’, the goal is often to applaud the accuser and hasten to convict the accused in the court of public opinion. Just name and shame the fellow(s) concerned, until they are able to prove their innocence, in an inverse application of the standard law which presumes an accused as innocent, until proven otherwise. It does not matter if the pursued, most often in front of the chasing mob, is the one now chanting, ‘thief, thief, thief’ in order to secure a get-away.
Victor Afam Ogene
“I have accepted a seat in the House of Representatives, and thereby have consented to my ruin, to your ruin, and to the ruin of our children. I gave you this warning that you may prepare your mind for your fate.” – John Adams, 2nd President of the United states of America.
In penning those words to his wife, Abigail and their five children, Adams was obviously under the clear understanding that the legislature was the anvil upon which every hammer of public discontent descended. Aged only 39 at the time, Adams had just been elected to the USA’s first Continental Congress, as a delegate from Massachusetts, in 1774.
Although Adams, a top-notch federalist and deep-rooted political philosopher, went on to become the first vice president, and later second president of the USA, succeeding the immortal George Washington, the ‘burden’ which comes with serving in the legislature as against the executive branch was not lost on him throughout his distinguished career.
Back home in Nigeria, the fear which Adams nursed about public office, especially as it concerns the legislature, continues to titillate the public almost 200 years after the U.S congressman’s demise. Between the Senate and the House of Representatives, there is apparently no shortage of theatrics in-between sessions, with the state assemblies offering occasional side-shows to compliment the orchestra of spectacular comic relief. Remarkably, these brickbats, besides providing the citizenry the elixir needed to vent pent-up anger and frustration with life itself, invariably end up with a few useful lessons which, going forward, aid the institution of public service to imbibe new moral ethics – thus making living more tolerable.
Yet, to be able to synthesise the positives embedded in any public spat for the general good, society ought to be able to discern between fact and fiction, as well as decipher truth from propaganda. After all, as native wisdom counsels, it is from the black pot that cometh the white pap!