"What sorrow awaits you Pharisees!
For you are careful to tithe even the
tiniest income from your herb
gardens,but you ignore justice,and
the love of God. You should tithe
yes,but do not ignore the more
important things. -Luke 11.42, New
Living Translation of the Holy Bible
The Pharisees were the religious leaders of the day in the time of Jesus Christ. They interpreted the law,and where the word of God seemed to be silent on an issue,they "spoke God's mind"
In truth,they were nothing more than opportunists who used their exalted positions to grow rich,while pretending to serve the people. To the casual observer,they were hard working devout men, they loved to display their devotion to God through elaborate, and extravagant shows of piety. They also interpreted the law to entrench their gorgeous social status.
They lived in a polarized society,they were on one side,and the people were on the other. Does that sound like any particular group of people in present day Nigeria?
Correct! Our politicians,especially the ones in the national assembly! If you did not know it before,now you know,they are the modern day version of the Pharisees. The Pharisees were experts at inane,irrelevant,and silly interpretations of the law that bothered on splitting hairs.
They did this without impacting positively on the lives of common people. They derived their wealth from their skewed interpretation of the law designed to keep them in wealth,while pauperizing the people! They were actually meant to help the people by helping them serve God better,and thus improving their lot!
Is there any difference between them then,and the members of the National assembly today? They live in luxury,they regularly give themselves sumptuous pay rises while doing very little to represent,or serve, the people who sent them there.
The Pharisees were more like a political party,with economic interests,than a religious order.
When you consider the national assembly today,one would be forgiven to think that they comprise of different parties. But that is a lie! The parties are just vehicles,or platforms for actualizing their true mission,the accumulation of stupendous wealth! If party affiliations meant anything,we would not be seeing the ridiculous number of politicians waking up as members of one party,and sleeping as loyalists of another.
They cross carpet with such regularity,that you begin to wonder if they have any ideologies in the first place.
They actually do:money!
Their ideology is money,the making of it for themselves. When it is convenient,they make a show of opposing each other,but have you ever seen any of them come out to oppose,or reject the fantastic allowances they collect every month?
One would expect that there would be a symbolic show by one of them,some sort of conscientious objection,nothing! They are on one side,and we are on the other! In ten years,they have not passed the Freedom Of Information law,instead,the laws they pass,are laws that create jobs for the boys like the National Commission for Nigerians in the Diaspora! What is that supposed to achieve? And what is the Ministry of Foreign Affairs meant to be doing?
To show their seriousness,the house already has a committee on the diaspora,with a budget, and all the accoutrements for wasting money!
Now they are debating a bill on the national anthem.They want to make it a criminal offence to play it any other way apart from the prescribed solemn way,they want to make so many things a crime regarding the national anthem. If you ask any of our underemployed legislators how this new law would improve the lot of Nigerians,they would be hard pressed to tell you how. I hold the view,that these jobless lot just sit down on their over pampered, and well endowed, behinds at night, and dream up ways of taking us for a ride.
They know that as long as they huff,and puff, stutter and strut,and gyrate like some disreputable magician,we would not complain that they are not doing enough to earn their sinful salaries!
No one is offering real opposition to their rule! By default,we are operating a one party state,disguised as multi-party democracy.
That is why we need to be vigilant. A perfect crime has been committed against us,under our noses,and before our eyes,and we are totally unaware!
It must end today, it must end now!
The era of collusion to defraud must end.
We must demand value,and service,for what we are paying for.
Many of these individuals,when they first went to the house, went on commercial motorcycles. That was how rich they were! Today,however,they have become multimillionaires,oblivious of the cost of a bar of soap.
For people meant to represent us,this is the worst of tragedies; for if they do not feel what we feel,how can they even begin to solve our problems!
MAY GOD BLESS NIGERIA,OUR NIGERIA,FOREVER!
Law makers with no abilities to make laws. Imagine! The most important bill before the National Assembly today is a bill making it compulsory for legislators to be members of their party's National Executive. How that is a topic of national interest is beyond me. They don't even bother to pretend that they have our interest at heart. They say people deserve the government they get. The National Assembly makes me wonder about the kind of people we are.
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