The New Speaker

Princess and I generated quite a bit of sms traffic during the Etteh saga. The fact that Etteh is from Ikire, Osun State (Princess is from Osun State and has worked in Ikire) made our exchanges more interesting ... at least for me, I took great pleasure in needling her ('you poeple should hold town meeting o and 'call' this woman back home', 'is this the custom in Osun state, eating with all 20 digits?') I guess she was far more chuffed at her ability to decipher my shorthand (l8r, IDK, OMG, LMAO (we are not amused!)) then impressed with my cheekiness. Anyhow on the morning after Etteh resigned I received the following txt message from her 'Etteh-kete has resigned, we thank God 4 His mercy!'. The next day on the phone she gushed about the new speaker, 'He is single and good looking, he has eji-oke (gap between the upper central incisors) like your father, he is Oxford educated (not like my father) ... ' I like to think the apple didn't fall from the tree, in terms of my politics anyway, so I can only assume she is listing the irrelevant (with respect to the Nigerian leadership model) as a result of the fact that she has a single daughter in her 30's in no immediate danger of coming home with a BF/Fiance. I waited patiently while she waxed poetic about the new speaker (whats his name again?) as soon as she stopped for air I quickly jumped in 'Princess you do know that we had to do away with Etteh not because she was a hairdresser therefore 'uneducated' (inspite of her diploma in Law from the University of Abuja) but because she had to stick all her 20 digits in the national cake with such reckless abandon?' 'Of course' she replied, 'I am just glad that such a well educated young man is in politics and has actually made his way to a position where he might be able to effect some change' hmmm ... I am not knocking a good education but really Nigeria is not where it is today for want of oxford/Harvard/Princton/University of Ibadan (hehe) educated nationals. What we have a dearth of in public office obviously are people who realise they are in office to serve first and then reap the benefits of office not vice versa. 'Eni ba she ni idi pepe, a je ni idi pepe, ko kin sebi ti pe ko wa je pepe run o' (He who serves at the altar will eat at the altar, this is not to say one should eat the whole altar) We can only hope that the new speaker will with all his education and paper qualification will be able to decipher his real mandate and get on with the job he along with his fellow law makers were mandated by their constituencies to carry out. And now that he has presented a copy of his NYSC certificate I am 100% sure nothing else stands in his way.