By Prof. Terhemba Shija

My problem is that I naturally find myself taking sides with all agitators against the status quo, regardless of whether they come as feminists, regional self determinists, Marxists or Postcolonialists.

I imagine that the system has been so unjust to the majority of our people that anybody with courage who publicly addresses it should be given the chance to have a say. Yet I still believe I’m not a nihilist.

So far nobody has advanced any reasons to convince me how Senator Natasha’s socalled offensive utterances either in Senate or in the media are grievous enough to warrant her suspension for six months from the Senate. Those who consistently mocked the poor or made condescending comments about allowing the poor to breathe, as if they controlled the air, are still looked upon as heroes.

Today, even the women have suddenly forgotten their campaign mantra of fighting against gender violence and are blaming their kind for her sacrilegious audacity to challenge the powers that be in a manner repugnant to patriarchal protocol.

It smacks of injustice to have the man she accuses of sexual harassment sit as presiding judge in a court that sentences her. The haste that propels her removal from senate without hearing her side of the story is surreal. No single dissenting voice in the entire Senate of over 100 members of great cultural, religious and gender diversity, comes to her rescue. Surely, no member of Senate in the past ever got this kind of sanction on account of allegations of a crime like corruption. Indeed, the Senate is deliberately shrouded in secrecy when they deal with financial corruption. At such times, the Senators remember that they were a big family.

The social media has also become Natasha’s slaughter slab. She’s being depicted as the worst aggressor against Nigeria’s cherished democratic institution. Our country moves like a mob. The individual in a mob is a barbarian, a xenophobe, a maniac and a coward. Our citizens lynch offenders of petty crimes and adore those of gargantuan heist.

Definitely someone’s wife, or mother or sister is being harangued for touching a raw nerve that unites all oppressors. The super rich are known for their seamless solidarity when their comfort is threatened. This could be an indication of unrest in paradise, but Natasha’s sonorous voice is still symbolic of the resistance of the women and the underprivileged who are in quest of courageous middle class voices to help challenge the system.

I insist that Senator Natasha should be given a chance in court to say something she intended to say in Senate but was unjustly suspended. I pray that the Judiciary should not yet again find a technical reason to dismiss the matter.