WE HAVE SENATOR YERIMA TO THANK!

I have followed the debate about the Yerima-instigated endorsement of child responsibility with the keenest of interest and concern. Of course, people are genuinely upset and justifiably so but I feel that we really would be missing the point if we do not grasp the greater evil. The Senate, the whole Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, sat by and let this happen. No, they did not sit by; they actively participated in endorsing the very inappropriate motion of one of their ilk.

We should not focus on Yerima and miss the fact that our topmost leaders have endorsed his odious reasoning. Yerima is an unwitting agent provocateur. Unfortunately, it seems that we agreed with his views. The uproar that should have been occasioned did not occur. There was no reaction. Amazing! We are the Senators in that chamber. They are supposed elder statesmen and women that have been elected from our midst and should represent the wise amongst us, so you see that we are in trouble. Senator, thank you for bringing this to our attention.

The fact that custodians of our laws do not grasp the social construct powering our country is frightening.  Democracy remains the government of the people, by the people and for the people, or doesn’t it?  So it follows that the onus is on us to look in the mirror each morning and ask ourselves an honest question of who we are. The assemblymen are our representatives; they are we, and so we cannot point fingers. It must be understood that we are trying to practice a system of government that is alien to us. We need to make it our own. It is clear that we have not given the constitution, which is so central to our wellbeing the attention, the debate that it deserves. We must accommodate our local laws and customs, religions and ways, bring them up to date and deliver a paper that is agreeable to all of us.

The choice of people that we choose to do this for us is critical to the success of our society. What this sorry saga has brought to light is the clear picture that we must be involved in who we elect to represent us and hold them accountable. It is time to take a stance against imposition of candidates at all levels. The public reactions to the Senate’s ghastly act shows they are out of touch and do not represent we "the people". If we fail to enforce the doctrine of democracy which has "the people" at the heart of it, then we must continue to accept these sorts of decisions from our so called "elected representatives". Fellow Nigerian, we deserve better.

This is about us. It is about feeling good about us. It is about having a healthy self-image. We do not need to make excuses to anyone about who we are, whether we are Muslim, Christian or whatever we choose to be. It is only a trick of fate that the Arabs came by land and brought us Islam in the north and the Europeans came by sea and brought us Christianity in the south. It could just as easily have been the other way round and both religions teach the same doctrines of love and a duty of care to our neighbor.

We need to love ourselves to love others.  We cannot be good leaders without first being good people; a good father, mother, sister, brother, uncle or aunt. It simply shows how important it is for us to choose leaders carefully.

That one senator could coax the senate into doing his selfish bidding is what truly frightens me. It is staggering that he was not shouted down, I would have expected the women in the chamber to stage a walk out.  It is sad that there was no senator who could tutor Yerima on how the law is here to protect all of us but especially here for minors who are not yet socially responsible. Section 29 (4) (b) of the 1999 Constitution retains an oversight blunder. What a shame, that in amending it, our senators voted against a clause that would consider girls under the age of 18 who are married, to be of full age. In other words, tacitly accepting the legitimacy of child marriage and all the side effects that come with it.

I feel that the need for “us” to come together to amend “our” laws becomes even more urgent. Many of us have expressed outrage in the print media and on the social network but it is not enough. We must take the bull by the horns and wake up to our responsibility as citizens of this country. We must take our country back. So please do not get angry. Anger really is the wrong emotion. We need to wake up to the realities that face us and put our energies into getting involved and taking ownership. This is the lesson that we should learn from this.