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The Day Ben Murray-Bruce Failed to Make ‘Common Sense’
By Eric Elezuo
All through his legislative career which may come to an abrupt end on May 29 or June 8, 2019 or paused as the case may be, the senator representing Bayelsa central senatorial zone in the upper legislative chamber, Mr. Ben Murray-Bruce, may not have seen as much disappointment and let down as he suffered during the plenary of Wednesday, April 17, 2019 in the Senate.
Under his very eyes, his two proposed bills were roundly defeated on the floor of the House by his colleagues, most of whom unfortunately were members of his party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), who gave infallible and impeccable reasons why it must not see the light of day.
The business tycoon senator couldn’t do much but emotionally asked his colleagues to ‘close your eyes, and imagine you are in the 21st century’. A request which was greeted with disdainful laughter and haughty looks.
The bills sponsored by Senator Murray-Bruce was read for the first time on the 10th of April, and within seven days was thrown to the dustbin. They centred on phasing out petrol vehicles by 2035, and replacing them with electric cars, and granting Nigerian citizenship to privileged Africans.
Highlighting the reason for the bill, Murray-Bruce had said: “Combustion engine cars have continued to cause deaths through uncontrolled pollution.” He noted that car pollution is one of the major causes of global warming and warned that passing the bill will nigerians escape pollution linked deaths.
He continued: “Secondly, we have been spending over N1 trillion annually subsidising fuel in this country. By introducing electric cars, fuel subsidy will automatically be gone and those funds will be used for infrastructure and education.” To an onlooker, Ben Bruce, as he is popularly called, was making sense.
Further in his argument, the senator known as Mr. Common Sense because of his regular mono-talk show on STV with the same name, said: “To charge your electric cars, all the filling stations will be replaced with solar charging stations. Thankfully, this country is blessed with sunlight 365 days in a year.
“Electric cars are outselling petrol cars as witnessed in Norway a few weeks ago. It makes more sense to build Nigeria’s biggest power plant than refineries.”
Ben’s common sense reasoning immediately came under a barrage of attacks from his colleagues. Leading the onslaught was Senator Barau Jibrin, though who thinks the proposition is environment-friendly believes that “it is not doable.”
He further patronised Senator Murray-Bruce saying “I sympathise with the mover although it has good intendments, the fact is the economic perspective, let us put this on hold and allow time.”
Towing the line of Senator Jibrin, the Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, noted that there is no need for legislation for Nigerians to make use of such cars if need be.
In his explanation, he called out Senator Murray-Bruce, using his common sense logic: “What is not common in the sense of looking at the lead debate for a legislation to introduce electric cars. Before now, we were using donkeys for transportation then we started using cars. We did not require any law.
“Secondly, section 41 on freedom of movement covers it.”
Ekweremadu also stated that the bill should be discouraged because Nigeria is an oil producing country, “we must do everything to frustrate electric cars.”
Senator Andrew Uchendu remarked that the bill failed to meet requirements of order 77 of the Senate standing order in failing to state “financial implications.” The lawmakers saw everything wrong with the bill.
“In a few years time, combustive fuel cars will not be manufactured. It doesn’t cost much to maintain. You (Senators) do not belong to the 21st century. I understand,” an obviously disappointed Murray-Bruce submitted.
In his second bill, which also met waterloo, Murray-Bruce sought to amend the 1999 constitution in a bid to give Nigerian citizenship to African origins.
Considering the vehemence with which Senator Dino Melaye, representing Kogi West, rubbished the bill, it would look like no one wants to have anything to do with the Bayelsa senator who will definitely not be returning to the 9th Senate.
“Does it mean we will leave our borders open and porous for every African citizen, and in the next few years, our population will hit 500 million,” Senator Melaye reasoned.
If there were bad days in the four years for Murray-Bruce, that day was not just one of them, it was certainly the worst. He could only shook his head, retract the bills and sat back dejectedly. It was one day Mr. Common Sense failed to make common sense!
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has expelled Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Nyesom Wike, its suspended National Secretary, Samuel Anyanwu, and former Governor of Ekiti State, Ayo Fayose.
Their expulsion was announced on Saturday at the party’s National Convention in Ibadan, Oyo State.
The Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria (PFN) has insisted that there is Christian genocide ongoing in Nigeria, hence demanding end to the alleged Christian killings.
Speaking on Thursday after an emergency executive meeting of the Fellowship held at its national headquarters in Lagos, PFN President, Bishop Francis Wale Oke, said the body would no longer remain silent while Christians are “targeted, killed, raped, and displaced” across the country.
He said: “There is Christian genocide going on in Nigeria. If we call it by any other name, it will bring Nigeria down. We are crying out to our international friends, beginning with America and Donald Trump. Whatever you can do to help our government put an end to it, come quickly and get it done. When on Christmas Day, Christmas Day was turned a bloody day in Benue State, and hundreds were massacred. And we are to be conducting mass funerals when we are not in open conflict. What do you call that? And this is different from individual cases.
“Let us call a spade a spade. There is Christian genocide ongoing in Nigeria,”Bishop Oke declared.
“Even while we speak, killings are still taking place in Borno, Plateau, and Benue states. When 501 Christians were massacred in Dogon Noma in Plateau, what do we call that? When Christmas Day turned into a bloody day in Benue, with hundreds massacred, what name should we give it?
While noting that the United States President Donald Trump spoke the truth, the PRN President cited the case of Leah Sharibu who was abducted alongside other Chibok girls and has since remained in captivity.
“Like the case of Leah Sharibu. Where is Leah Sharibu? Like the case of Deborah that was lynched and burned alive in Sokoto? What about that? And several of our girls were kidnapped and forced, given out as wives by force without the consent of their parents and their Christian parents. And the Christian parents would not see them for years.And this has been going on. We have been talking and we are not taking it seriously. And it has been going on again and again, until Donald Trump now spoke. And Donald Trump spoke the truth. There is Christian genocide going on in Nigeria.
“Like you will have picked in the news, even since this narrative began, killing was still going on in Borno, in Plateau, in Benue, up until yesterday. What are we saying? When 501 Christians were massacred in Dogonaya in Plateau State, what do we call that? And for no offense other than they are Christians.”
Oke recalled that the Christian community had repeatedly called the attention of the government to the alleged genocide with no decisive action from the authority.
The cleric expressed his backing for President Trump’s intervention, adding that Trump only echoed what Nigerian Christians had been saying for year
“I was part of the team that went to see the immediate past President, Muhammadu Buhari. We spoke very strongly about this and the President listened to us, but he completely ignored the main issue we came for, If we came and spoke with such vehemence, with such passion, and then you pick the peripheral matter and left this matter alone, I knew that day that his government was complicit in what was going on,” he added.
Oke alleged that the killings across parts of Nigeria were systematic and targeted on Christians, lamenting that the killings had continued unchecked despite repeated appeals from the Church.
“The evidence is all over the place. There is nothing anybody can say that can whitewash it. It is evil, it is blood shedding, it is mass murder and it is genocide. The time to stop it is now. That is what the church in Nigeria is saying with one voice.
“Christians in this nation must be free to practice their faith in any part of Nigeria as bona fide citizens of Nigeria.
“These armed bandits, Fulani herdsmen, Boko Haram, ISWAP, all of them using Islam as a cover. We have been living in peace with our Muslim brothers for a long, until this violent Islamic sect came up with an intent to make sure they impose Sharia on all Nigerians,” Oke said.
Bishop Oke called on President Bola Tinubu to decisively overhaul the nation’s security architecture, and ensure justice for victims of religious violence. He questioned why those responsible for notorious attacks—such as the killing of Deborah Samuel in Sokoto and the abduction of Leah Sharibu and the Chibok schoolgirls—remain unpunished.
“The government should prove by action, not words, that it is not complicit,” he said. “When hundreds are buried in mass graves and the whole world sees it, who can deny it? Why should we play politics with the blood of Nigerians?”
The PFN urged President Tinubu’s administration to rebuild trust by ensuring that the security architecture of the country is not infiltrated by those sympathetic to extremist ideologies.
Oke further condemned the government’s rehabilitation of so-called “repentant terrorists,” describing the move as a grave security.
He assured Christians that the PFN would continue to speak out until the killings stop. “We are not going to keep quiet. We will keep raising our voices until justice is done and every Nigerian, regardless of faith, can live in peace. The truth may be suppressed for a time, but it cannot be buried forever,” he said.
The meeting, which drew PFN leaders from across the country, reaffirmed the body’s commitment to national unity, peace, and the protection of fundamental human rights, while urging the media to “side with the oppressed” and report the truth without fear or bias.
US President Donald Trump has signed a federal spending bill, officially ending the longest government shutdown in American history.
The legislation, passed by the House of Representatives in a 222–209 vote, followed narrow approval in the Senate just two days earlier. The bill restores funding to federal agencies after 43 days of closure, bringing relief to millions of government employees and citizens affected by halted services.
Speaking after signing the measure on Wednesday night, Trump described the deal as a political victory, asserting that Democrats unnecessarily prolonged the shutdown.
“They didn’t want to do it the easy way. They had to do it the hard way, and they look very bad,” he said.
The temporary funding bill maintains government operations only through 30 January, creating a new deadline for lawmakers to negotiate a long-term budget solution.
As part of the agreement, Senate leaders committed to an early December vote on Obamacare subsidies, a key priority for Democrats during the shutdown standoff.
In addition to reopening federal offices, the bill provides full-year funding for the Department of Agriculture, military construction projects, and several legislative branch offices.
It also ensures retroactive pay for federal workers affected by the shutdown and allocates funding to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, SNAP, which helps about one in eight Americans access food.
The shutdown, which began in October, forced the suspension of many government services, leaving an estimated 1.4 million federal employees either furloughed or working without pay. It also disrupted food assistance programmes and caused widespread delays in domestic air travel.
With federal operations now resumed, attention in Washington has turned to whether Congress and the White House can reach a longer-term funding agreement before the new deadline at the end of January.
