A Tale of Two Maces
As soon as I sat down to write about the Maces, my attention was drawn to this article published by a Nigerian newspaper. If you want a background on how the mace has been adapted for different purposes in Nigerian politics, please read here.
What is the Mace? It is the symbol of parliamentary authority. When the Mace is removed, Parliament can’t pass laws. Therefore, when members of parliament want to delay parliamentary procedures, they resort to capturing the Mace.
On the 10th of December, when MPs realised that the Brexit Vote would be delayed, they became angry. One of the frustrated souls, decided to capture the Mace. You can watch the event by clicking on link below:
It was a rather comical and tame affair, a classical British rage, a storm in a tea cup. The MP matched to the Mace, his movement reminded me of a priest officiating at a Church of England or a Catholic service. He carried the mace and matched back. Somebody shouted “Take it back”. Very quickly, the mace was retrieved and he was expelled from the commons for the rest of the day. Maybe he wanted to leave early anyway.
When I saw this clip, I remembered the Rivers State Assembly in 2013, when the Mace was deployed in a much more sinister way. As on the 10th of December, the Mace was captured. It then became what the Nigerian newspaper, Pulse, called a weapon of head destruction. To see the episode, please watch this:
A man ended in hospital, critical ill. You can see a man that appeared to be wearing a military uniform was present and busy kicking one of the people. As far as I know, nobody was apprehended for this lawlessness perpetrated.
Nigeria and the United Kingdom both practice Democracy, a system of government that is underpinned by the rule of law. Yet, the Tale of Two Maces showed that Democracy is just a label and to understand what is truly happening in a Democracy, you need to take a deep dive.
Deploying the Mace as tool of wanton violence is not new in Nigeria. If you read the pulse article, you will see what I mean. Our nation was only independent for a couple years before a parliamentarian received the insight to use the Mace as a weapon of violence.
Please follow this link to find more about my book: “A Jar of Clay, Part 1: Made in Nigeria”.
