Kaduna — It is always funny and at times annoying, to find respectable members of the society, especially those who out of incomprehensible desperation, feel nothing to wash their dirty linen in the public.

Needless to say, senators constitute the most influential elements of a nation's legislature. In fact, their President is by constitutional provision and interpretation the third in command in the country, after the President of the nation and vice president.

For this vantage position which they occupy, it's difficult to find them picking quarrel with the executive arm publicly since issues which make them do that are always too complex or recondite for the public to comprehend, let alone appreciate the implications.

To Nigerians who are not comfortable with such development, they often view it as unnecessary therefore curious. By implication, such Nigerians are left to their imagination as to why such a noise should be sounded instead of threshing out officially at the Presidency or Chamber of the legislature.

A closer look at this strange attitude has gradually unfolded a disturbing likelihood. That, every instance is at the end of the day exposing some financial scandal. In other words, our legislators, especially distinguished senators are now believed to be resorting to such unfortunate measures whenever they want to get some benefits from the money-bag-holding executive arm.

Critically, all the financial scams that bedeviled the Obasanjo eight-year administration were the brainchild of the Senate. No wonder then a spokesman of the Senate while commenting on the controversial budget presentation to the National Assembly, was quoted in The Nation newspaper of Saturday, November 21, 2009, as saying, "That's why most senators are saying that they are miss ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo because he would have called the party leadership to order and enforce adherence to the constitution."

The impression that statement has made to many Nigerians is that, the senators are missing Obasanjo not for his alluded earnest leadership but his infamous corruptive tendencies towards the legislature.

As a matter of fact, the crop of senators we have is nothing but a bunch of individual old elite who have all their lives been living on the sweat of the commoners, and who now are desperate to maintain the status quo.

This impression is what causes our minds to suspect that, it is too much a coincidence that, the same senators especially the ones from the Northern part of the country are publicly opposed to the Federal Government's proposed deregulation of the downstream of the oil sector. This is just hours after members of the House of Representatives had given expressed support to the government on the far-reaching policy.

It's even more worrisome, because the argument they advanced as that, the "deregulation would bring more suffering for northerners, most of whom are poor. We cannot be in power and still inflict pains on our people. Northerners have not been reaping the dividends of democracy, many parents cannot afford basic education for their wards; our roads are in terrible shapes; yet they want us to back deregulation." What a quintessential hypocrisy! Who are they referring as they who want to back deregulation? Are they referring to their fellow legislators in the lower house or the executive arm of government, or both?

If the education sector and our roads are suffering from some setback, what have they done about the situation all these years? Incidentally, recently a former Secretary General of the Commonwealth Chief Emeka Anyaoku described Nigerian democracy as exceptionally expensive with particular reference to the funds being spent on the senators. What have they been doing with such stupendous resources going to them from the public coffers meant to provide the infrastructure which they are shamelessly referring to?

Are they not the same senators whose children have been sent to private institutions of learning at home and abroad with the resources meant to take care of the sector they are so audaciously talking about? How many times should the senators be told that, the regulated downstream of the oil sector is being benefited more by the Nigerian elite than their poor fellow compatriots? Who are the senators think they are deceiving?

This brings us to the actual bone of contention between the senate and the executive arm.

As a matter of fact, the issue is that, 'Yar'adua is not the type of leader to allow public resources to be taken out corruptly, unless he is not aware of the move. He is a leader who believes in never overlapping in conducting his affairs. For this reason, the senators are now uncomfortable with his refusal to involve himself or office in legislative and judicial affairs, hence no way to draw him into any unnecessary squabble with these arms. This unprecedented independent stance of the President is a sure way to avoid all possibilities of blackmail, flattery and corruptive tendencies as his immediate predecessor did. It will be recalled that, he returned to the treasury up to N40 billion in the end of his year as president as his security vote. Such impressive traits of fiscal discipline of the President are what would continue to baffle and irritate the senators. From all indications, their counterparts, may be because they are members of his generation have come to terms with that situation, hence their greater sense of responsibility, focus and commitment to their role in running the nation.

My sincere advice to the Senate is that it should appreciate the significance of their chamber in improving the lot of Nigerians.

Khalid wrote from Kaduna.