To have ones costly robe dragged through the mud at home is one thing. To have it dragged through the mud abroad is another thing entirely. And the difference is that while the ignominy at home may be easier to contain even with the ubiquity of digital technologies, what begins beyond ones borders is often more difficult to contain because it usually gets reinvented all over again.
A titan`s travail.
Few politicians in Nigeria exude the warmth of Ike Ekweremadu, the 60-year-old five-term senator representing Enugu West in the National Assembly and thrice Deputy Senate President. Few politicians come with the curriculum vitae of the professor of law, or his clout as one of the more recognizable politicians from the Southeast.
So, when sometime last week, news filtered in, first on the social media, that himself and his wife had been arrested by the London Metropolitan Police over allegations of trafficking a fifteen-year-
old- boy, David Ukpo Nwanmini, to London for organ harvesting, many were quick to put the stunning news down to the sensational work of mischief makers who seem to be everywhere on social media these days.
But as time went by, the news refused to go away until it finally slipped from credible sources that the former Chief of Staff and Secretary to the Government of Enugu State was actually arrested with his wife.
A bilious background
When the news first broke across social media, it was with a lot of glee that it was received in some quarters. In fact, many openly rejoiced at Ekweremadus plight. While many were triumphant at the fact that the downsides of medical tourism had finally caught up with a Nigerian public officer, many others said that Ekweremadus travail was some sort of karma for his recent outburst against the rave of the moment, Mr. Peter Obi, where he said that a vote for the frontline presidential candidate of the Labour Party in the general elections next year would be a waste of votes.
A mountain of mud.
Mr. Ekweremadu and his wife have since been charged to court, denied bail and remanded while investigations continue over what really transpired.
Back home, the age of the alleged victim of the trafficking-for-organ-harvesting scandal has continued to generate controversy with many claiming that he is way above the fifteen years of age ascribed to him by authorities in London.
However, the case turns out, Mr. Ekweremadu would have been forced to sit at the very top of a mountain of mud. In a country and a world where the oft aggrieved public is hungry for some misfortune to befall those they blame for many of their problems, it goes without saying that Mr. Ekweremadu`s predicament is fodder for many.
A father`s heartbreak.
None of this would have happened, or come to light was Ekweremadu`s daughter not said to be gravely ill and in need of a kidney transplant. It would appear that all along, the scandal that now threatens everything Mr. Ekweremadu has built over the years has sprung from actions borne of paternal love.
Nigerian lawmakers as lawbreakers.
It is with barely concealed suspicion and even spite that the everyday Nigerian looks at the National Assembly and the men who occupy its Red and Green Chambers. It is also with no little envy. In a country where about 91 million out of over 200 million citizens languish below the international poverty line, the legislators are said to take home millions of naira monthly for performing far below the way they should be performing.
In a country where the only thing that functions well is dysfunction, it appears that those who should shape the law to bring succor to long-suffering Nigerians prefer to break it from time to time, with little consequence, much to chagrin of the public who are always left seething at just how obsequiously those elected to represent them as legislators treat those they should be holding to account.
The bad publicity Mr. Ekweremadu has copped does not augur well for him or for the much-maligned image of the country abroad.
However, if some crucial lessons can be learnt from the whole episode, not just by the legislator, but by his colleagues at the National Assembly, and all those who currently constitute Nigerias leadership at all levels, then perhaps, some gain may yet be squeezed out of a fathers pain.
Kene Obiezu,
keneobiezu@gmail.com
