John Webster could have been thinking about Nigerian politicians when he wrote, “A politician imitates the devil, as the devil imitates cannon: Wheresoever he comes to do mischief, he comes with his backside towards you,” in The White Devil.
About 10 years ago, some politicians were in Benin to discuss ways that could strengthen the nation’s political climate. They were hosted with some female teens selected from some tertiary institutions, after a thorough ‘screening.’ Despite the criticism which trailed the incident, it was clear that Nigerian politicians did not learn any lesson. What happened during the national convention of the Peoples Democratic Party left a bitter taste in the mouth.
The celebration has ended but the echoes of the convention are still heard. There were so much segxwal activities in the Federal Capital Territory during the period. Many of the hotels were overbooked and there was boom in business for the young women of easy virtue. In Abuja, prostitutes have become sex toys used to warm the beds of top politicians and senior civil servants.
The sad tale of two undergraduates is still fresh in a politician’s encyclopaedia of shame. It was said that a member of the National Assembly had invited the three girls to his hotel room for a sex bout. As Camara Laye narrated in Radiance of the King, the young girls were linked to him by a notorious pimp who would get 10 per cent ‘commission’ in return. But the ladies were disappointed that despite ‘working’ on Mr. Senator for about three hours, the man remained flaccid. However, he had to pay the agreed N600,000 to the three ‘business’ ladies. Today, his chances of returning to the National Assembly stand at zero, having failed in the PDP primary in his home state. The story now is that despite desperate plans to recall him, many people feel he has sacrificed his constituency allowances on the altar of segxwal and personal frivolities.
Our correspondent was in contact with one of the beneficiaries of the largesse from the convention. Halima, as she introduced herself the day after the PDP election, said she was smiling to the banks, having made a good fortune from the exercise. “I came from Kano five days earlier, to receive the blessing from politicians. Call it what you want, but what matters now in the society is not how you make money. I am only interested in banishing poverty from my lineage,” she confessed.
Halima is not far from the truth: Abuja has now assumed notoriety as a place flowing with milk and honey in form of local and foreign currencies. It is generally believed that ‘raw cash’ flow ceaselessly from the wallets of federal legislators, ministers, special aides, highly placed civil servants and their wealthy private sector bureaucrats.
In Abuja, prostitution goes through complete metamorphosis: from the conventional sedentary practice in local brothels, through prominent red light districts into a sophisticated network which has spread to satellite towns in Kuje, Lugbe, Dutse, Karimo, Karu, Mararaba, Nyanya and Kubwa. It was learnt that some young ladies from these suburbs migrated to the city in search of greener pastures.
The likes of Halima make fortunes using all instruments available, including charms. In one of the five star hotels, a prominent politician and delegate from Delta State was said to have escaped being stolen blind by one of them. After some bouts of sex, the ‘respectable honourable’ dozed off, spent. The lady was said to have searched the nook and cranny of the room, aiming to steal. She was unlucky as the smart Alec had kept his money in the custody of an aide. But his counterpart from Kogi State was, however, unlucky as he lost $10, 000 to his august guest.
It is like sex is the most lucrative business in the Federal Capital Territory. What may have been responsible for this trend? A human rights activist, Mr. Nelson Onwudiegwu, attributed this to the jumbo pay of the National Assembly members. He argued that if there should be a slash in the allowances of Senators and members of the House of Representatives, reckless spending of what he described as awoof money would be minimised drastically. According to him, the salaries and allowances of elected public servants and politicians should be reduced to curtail their excesses.
The PUNCH had exclusively reported the incredible earnings which federal legislators take home monthly and annually, despite widespread hunger in the land. Also, at the top hierarchy of the civil service, corruption is thriving.
Findings reveal that top politicians and public office holders are the biggest patrons of prostitutes in Abuja. Opinions are, however, divided on happening during the last PDP convention. While some exonerated politicians and argued that patronage of prostitutes was not the exclusive pastime of politicians, others say such unrepentant womanisers should be crucified.
Expectedly, the echoes from the PDP conventions have started eliciting global criticism. An analyst and Chief Executive Officer, Alliedvision Group LLC in Texas, United States, Mr. Smart Ajaja, said the social disorder in Nigeria today is the dividend of an organised chaos created by “a visionless, inept, corrupt, and morally bankrupt leadership at all levels of government and in every aspect of our very existence.”
Ajaja said, “When people are hungry, they do anything and everything their oppressors want them to do, including selling sex for cash as in this case, killing their brothers in order to get some food and defending the failed system against the oppressed and the suffering masses. The unfortunate thing is that the youths, elderly, women and children are the targets of this serial destruction.
“It is most unfortunate that the Nigerian masses have been so mentally emasculated that they think that this is a new culture and as such, nothing can be done about it. Nigerians are in a dire need of mental re-engineering as a first step towards self rediscovery. Maybe the Tunisian phenomenon will become a viable option. Nigeria has lost its moral compass and it will take someone or a group of people with liberated minds to bring it back from the whirlwind.”
The minister of the FCT, Senator Bala Mohammed appears to be one of the liberated minds suggested by Ajaja because he recently gave prostitutes 48 hours ultimatum to quit the city.
But an organisation, Human Rights Writers Association, had protested against what it called an affront on their fundamental human rights. Its national coordinator, Mr. Emmanuel Onwubiko, in a letter to the FCT minister said, “We have been duly informed by some innocent victims of the various harassment by police operatives who said they are acting on your instruction to arrest any prostitute seen on the road.”
HURIWA also urged the minister to re-direct or instruct the police operatives to desist from “this constant evening harassment of female citizens in the city since they could not differentiate a prostitute from a decent female citizen.”
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