There is the opposition, there is fervour and there is Senator Ben Murray-Bruce. The Senator representing Bayelsa East district fancies himself as the defacto leader of the children of the opposition, the amalgam of a people that see righteous justification in being miffed at society for their own shortcomings in the hope that such wrongly channelled ire will palliate their souls.

Senator Bruce has perfected how to tap into this to rationalize his self-absorption with the loss of a chance to return to the National Assembly and continue enjoying access to the fat cat allowances that he will soon stop earning when the Eight National Assembly is shuttered. Had he been serious, he might have made his people see sense in rewarding good representation as opposed to a counterproductive zoning arrangement.

But he was busy rehearsing his ‘Common Sense’. Knowing that the last thing his people want is listening to his request to return to the Senate, he simply kept himself off the ballot to stave off the resounding defeat even on the platform of People’s Democratic Party (PDP), which is formidable in Bayelsa state.

He wrote recently on his Facebook wall, “Baga, allegedly taken by Boko Haram, Kekenou, reportedly fell this afternoon, now the reports we are reading is that the insurgents are marching on to Monguno. How does it seem if all this is happening and our entire leadership, led by President Muhammadu Buhari is celebrating in Uyo while our soldiers are dying in Borno?”

What followed by way of comments from his followers dishonours the Senate. The Facebook wall of a serving senator became the platform for promoting hate speech spewing. Of course there are the brash comments that censured the lawmakers for tolerating and clearly promoting these unpatriotic communications.

It is interesting to note that the Senator never thought it prudent to moderate his wall so that those that posted comments that are openly inciting or constitute hate speech are called to order. The slightest check would have pointed him to the assertion of the Nigerian Army that it was chasing after the terrorists that attacked Baga town. But he refused to acknowledge that he lied in his post.

If he can lie about Boko Haram “taking” certain towns then we wonder if anything that comes from his group or his contributions on the floor of the Senate should ever be taken seriously.

It is not that the Senator cannot check to verify the facts. The reality is that the correct version of the story conflicts with theirs. The senator as part of the people working for the PDP would therefore tell just any lie to make it appear like they finally found the failure they have been shopping for against Buhari.

But the foregoing is assuming that the Senator would use his wall to tell his followers what the true situation is in Borno state. The reality is that Boko Haram must have thought they can pull off another attack on a military base and get away with it but they were thwarted.

Secondly, a truly patriotic Senator should have interrogated what it is that is behind the latest wave of Boko Haram resurgence after they have been trounced by the Nigerian military. One would expect that a lawmaker of the Federal Republic of Nigeria would have investigated the relationship between the breaking of the Islamic State (ISIS) in Middle East and the desperation of Boko Haram to capture a territory for the fleeing ISIS commanders to find refuge.

Such thinking outside the box is alien to the senator. That is why “the reports” the senator was reading is that “the insurgents are marching on to Monguno” when no such publication was made, which implies that he was reading from a wrong source.

Even though his party, the PDP, has rejected the nationwide Operation Python Dance, it will be interesting to see how they will politicize a pressing national need.

The senator’s nostalgia is understandable. He continues to have visions of four years ago when elections had to be shifted in order to recover Nigerian territories back from terrorists that had hoisted their flags over towns and villages. That period was a cover to loot the country on an epic scale.

This is equated with desiring to return to Egypt, a reference to the children of Israel wanting to return into slavery instead of facing the difficult task of navigating hardship to arrive at the Promised Land. Egypt guarantees free food under slavery similar to the seemingly free money that was available under the PDP’s rule but under which Nigerians were slaves to corruption.

This return to Egypt is what Senator Ben Murray-Bruce is campaigning for. But even though he is desperately wishing to return the PDP,  it does not justify posting updates on social media. It does not justify his post that promoted hate speech and divisive comments.

By Philip Agbese

Agbese wrote from the United Kingdom.