It was the legendary Afrobeat maestro, Fela Anikulapo-Kuti, who, in one of his smash hits Beasts of No Nation told us about “animal talk.” The song was the first Fela wrote to critical acclaim after serving 20 months of a five-year prison sentence on dubious foreign currency smuggling charges during the military regime of Muhammadu Buhari, then a major general.
Though he regained his freedom in 1986 after Buhari had been overthrown in a palace coup on August 27, 1985, Fela did not release the album until 1989. It was a major work of art.
The music virtuoso referenced Buhari’s comment in 1984 that Nigerians lacked discipline, hence the imposition of ‘War Against Indiscipline’ (WAI).
Fela took very strong exception to what he perceived to be the central message of WAI – “My people are useless, my people are senseless, my people are indiscipline” – and concluded in pidgin English thus: “Na Nigerian government, ee-oh. Dem dey talk ee-oh. My people are us-e-less, My people are sens-i-less, My people lack discipline. Na animal talk be dat ee-oh.”
Simply put, Fela was lamenting, in his iconic way, the penchant of Nigerian leaders to make comments that induce head scratching.
Last week, Smart Adeyemi, an All Progressives Congress (APC) senator representing Kogi West proved that lawmakers can also hold their own when it comes to animal talk.
If Fela were alive, even as inscrutable as he usually was, Adeyemi’s outburst on the floor of the hallowed Chamber would have flummoxed him.
More bizarre was the reason he gave for his infantile outburst. He was paying his colleague, Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe, in kind for an alleged disparaging remark the Senate Minority Leader who represents Abia South made on social media against Bello, an allegation a flabbergasted Abaribe promptly denied.
Rather than upbraiding Adeyemi for wilfully abusing parliamentary privilege by resorting to “animal talk,” and insisting that he apologises to Abians whom he disparaged by his reckless comment, Senate President Ahmad Lawan simply noted that Abaribe’s denial meant that the “air has now been cleared.”
Had Adeyemi taken the simple step of asking Abaribe if, indeed, he made the comment, he would have avoided that embarrassing gaffe.
Without holding brief for Ikpeazu who can speak for himself, and has indeed responded to Adeyemi, I am worried about the quality of discourse in the Ninth National Assembly.
Not only was Adeyemi’s language un-parliamentary, insulting and impertinent, the fact that a senator would rather settle a petty political quarrel on the floor of the Senate than proffer solution to the existential threat we all face in the bourgeoning insecurity that envelops the land speaks volumes.
Ironically, Adeyemi may be happy that he has further ingratiated himself with his political benefactor, Bello, by this ungracious act of transferred aggression, but it takes a different level of inebriation to be so reckless in parliamentary conduct. He owes both Ikpeazu and the entire Abia people an unreserved public apology.
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