LET US PUT THE pretenses aside and admit what is openly out there. The truth is that there is so much violence out there. In our interactions with one another; in our strife to get by; in our quest for righting perceived wrongs; in our law enforcement; sadly, in our political domain. Many a times, the chicken comes home to roost when we are faced with the inevitable but regrettable outcome of our tolerance for violence. Such obviously have been on display of recent.

Take the case of Ekiti where a political rally for the newly chosen candidate of All Progressives Congress, APC went terribly wrong as one of the party chieftains, Opeyemi Bamidele, and others were allegedly shot by a policeman who ‘escorted’ a politician to the rally. Why does a politician need an armed escort to a political rally? You might ask. But when you factor our political climate, you will understand why the politician thought of armed escort. A politician in a crowd is considered a sitting duck, an easy pick for any of his opponents. Our politics is played in such terrain. And rather allow a sober consideration, diligent and unbiased investigation; accusations of mistaken identity, assassination attempt, sabotage is rife; beclouding the real issues.

In most things, some good can be discerned. Peoples Democratic Party, PDP the party in power in Ekiti, was quite decent in its reaction to the unfortunate occurrence. That party’s leader in Ekiti – the controversial apostle of stomach infrastructure, suspended the party’s campaign for three days. Not only that, he expressed concern for the wounded while emphasizing that the life of any Ekitiman must be valued above any political consideration regardless of such person’s political party affiliation. On this score, those who really agree with the apostle and his approach to politics and governance must have seen something they agree with.

There is the case of the Senator from Kogi West, a man who like the ‘leader of the free world’ revels in publicity, be it positive or negative. For good or for ill, our senator hugs the limelight like no other person. If it were not for the violence involved in his recent antics, one would be compelled to giving him the non-attention he thoroughly deserves. This senator manufactures controversies all the time, but he has a major one every year it seems. Two years ago, he violently assaulted a female senator (verbally). Shunning all persuasion to apologize, our man walked the streets of Lagos as proof that he was untouchable even in the turf of his victim’s husband.

Last year in the midst of allegations questioning his acquisition of a degree of the university he claims, our senator showed up at plenary decked in ceremonial gown of that institution, as proof he thought that he was a true graduate. In his garrulous tendencies, he did not permit anyone to advise him that a ceremonial gown of an institution bears no relevance to its academic conferment; an academic gown may have made his case better. Even then?

This year’s version of his antics is more bizarre and of the really violent specie. The senator, our man named in an alleged confession by two murder suspects engaged law enforcement first in a publicity tango; and then it went violent. The man would not respond to a summon, was prevented from travelling to a Middle Eastern country, had his house under police siege, and eventually surrendered. If you think that it all ended there, you do not know our man. As he was being driven to Lokoja for arraignment, his supporters blocked the police van conveying him … and wait for this – our man, the senator jumped out of the van injuring himself in the process. His supporters spirited him away from the police and to a local hospital for treatment of his self -inflicted wounds. The man had his way, the police the last laugh; he was rearrested and taken to court in a stretcher. The story did not end there.

The day our man jumped out of a moving van was the day that Fulani Herdsmen murdered two priests of the Roman Catholic Church with 17 other worshippers during Morning Mass in Benue State. Our man’s colleagues abandoned the senate chambers in solidarity with their colleague; they trooped to the hospital where the man was being treated and detained. Their concerns were for him more than for the murdered priests and faithful; more than any number of Nigerians murdered daily all over the land. After all he is one of them, failed lawmakers in a fast-failing nation whose main preoccupation is self. it did not matter the circumstances, they felt compelled to protect their kind for they are hardly different from him.

Think of it, our man the brash lawmaker does not need to resort to self-help of such kinds. The system that he and his fellow lawmakers seek to protect at the cost of our lives, keep protecting him and his interest. He survived a recall, secured bail in the federal capital, was granted bail in his home state, and is back on the floor of the house, garrulous as ever. He is fine for nor, and for a long time to come under the protection of his fellow lawmakers and the laws they make and unmake for the benefits of no one other than their sacred selves. And of his godfather, captain of the gang currently embroiled in his own saga of the absurd.