As the saying goes, good things come from bad things. In the same vein, every bad situation presents an opportunity for someone to emerge a hero. It could be by saying the right thing at the right time. It could be by being at the right place at the right time. It could be by unusual risks or heroics on behalf of the community or nation. But somehow, such people seize the moment and become the greatest beneficiaries of a bad event or challenging situation. It is the ability to seize such moments that often separate great men and women from mundane ones.
The September 11, 2011 gruesome terrorist attacks on the United States became a defining moment for the presidency of George W. Bush. He was at the World Trade Centre in the heat of the rescue efforts. Standing on the rubbles at Ground Zero, with a megaphone in hand, he spoke hope and strength into the heart of a downcast nation. “I want you all to know that America today is on bended knee, in prayer for the people whose lives were lost here, for the workers, who work here, for the families, who mourn…. I can hear you! The rest of the world hears you! And the people, who knocked these buildings down, will hear all of us soon”, he said on top of his voice.
On September 21, 2001, he also became the first President since President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s war declaration against the Japanese empire on December 8, 1941, to address an emergency joint session of the US Congress. It was here that he made that celebrated statement. “Whether we bring our enemies to justice or bring justice to our enemies, justice will be done”, he vowed to an earthshaking, thunderous applause, not just in the Congress, but across America and the world.
Meanwhile, ordinary persons also seize the moment to emerge heroes from disasters and bad situations. In the wake of the typhoon that submerged Manila, the Philippines, in 2009, an 18-year old construction worker, Muelmar, showed bravery. After moving his family to safety, he swam back through the flood to help 30 neighbours to safety. Although he had lost strength, he still went back to rescue a mother and her infant. He barely managed to help them to safety when he was swept away by the water. His body was recovered the following day and he was a hero even in death. To this selflessness, Menchie Penalosa, mother of the infant told told UK’s Daily Mail: “He gave his life for my baby. I will never forget his sacrifice”.
Now to Senator Ike Ekweremadu, Deputy Senate President. I have a confession to make: I have never really been his fan. It is nothing personal, just the same indifference I feel towards the political class. However, my attitude towards him and his fellow politicians notwithstanding, I will not deny the fact that this man appears like one, who possesses all the trappings of a man destined to benefit from bad and difficult moments. He seized the moment, once again during the Wednesday 18th April 2018 raiding of the upper chamber by hoodlums.
Political analysts and some lawmakers believe that the invasion of the Senate was a failed coup on its leadership, but would have succeeded if Ekweremadu had panicked or abandoned the presiding officer’s seat or adjourned the Senate plenary. The rife allegation is had the Senate adjourned and disperse as allegedly calculated by the masterminds, they (the masterminds) would have later sprang a surprise by reconvening with the mace to suspend the Senate leadership, elect new leadership, lift the suspension on Senator Ovie Omo-Agege and throw out the contentious Electoral Act (Amendment) Bill. Although about 15 Senators were by far in minority in a Senate of 109 members, they insisted that the unseen hands, which made it possible for hoodlums to beat all the security checks leading to the inner precincts of the National Assembly and escape with mace would still have made it possible for the minority to have their way.
Whether this be true or not, it serves our democracy better that things did not degenerate further for the nation to find out. Thanks to the right leadership provided by the presiding officer at the most crucial hour. At such times, the followers look up to the leader. He refused to flay up and the rest of the Senate took a cue such that there was no confrontation between them and the hoodlums. He also refused to adjourn plenary, but called for a spare mace. He showed courage, sagacity, firmness, and his words were measured and apt for the moment. He was simply unfazed- or so he appeared on the surface. After all, courage, according to Mark Twain, is not the absence of fear, but acting in spite of it.
“We will not be intimidated in these circumstances. We stand by our democracy. We will defend our democracy. We give the Inspector General of Police 24 hours to recover and return the mace. We have also decided to go through everything on our Order Paper today, even if it takes us till 6pm”, he said. True to the order, the mace was recovered in less than 12 hours. Even with the mace returned, he showed consistency by insisting that “there should be consequence for bad behaviour”. He held that “it will be a detour to the state of nature where life was lawless and brutish if what happened yesterday is allowed to go unpunished or to be swept under the carpet; it will never happen”. And no lover of democracy would disagree with this.
Senator Ovie Omo-Agege, the lawmaker whom the thugs accompanied into the chamber may be walking free. The invaders may never get arrested or punished for such heinous action. What some Nigerians have described as tales by moonlight story on how the mace was recovered from under a flyover may continue. But, the good thing is that things could have been worse and our democracy endangered. But one man, with the cooperation of his fellow Senators, rose to the occasion. This is what I call rising to the occasion.
Adegoke writes from Ibadan.
