Well, Sen. Florence Ita-Giwa, Madam Bakassi, is surely a lady of distinction. She is quite elegant and cuts an image that undoubtedly reflects that. But that’s where flower is not involved.
The former senior lawmaker and Special Adviser to President Olusegun Obasanjo is a delegate to the sixth National Conference. She caused uproar when she pointedly accused the majority of the delegates for being responsible for Nigeria’s current woes and stagnation.
Of course, she was brutally frank. Her position was stoutly supported by subsequent speakers who insisted that as creators of the current mess they themselves should clear the mess that they had through bad administration and massive corruption subjected Nigeria to.
How apt that comment! Among the conferees are ex-governors, ministers, lawmakers of yore and several men of “timber and calibre” according to Ozumba Mbadiwe of blessed memory.
Now, that’s not Ita-Giwa’s concern or her issues with flowers.
The thing was on the table directly in front of the chairman, Justice Legbo Kutigi, was a garland decorated in green white green colours. And they were attractive to the eyes.
No, the beauty of the wreath wasn’t Madam Bakassi’s issues. She actually adore the serenity imposed on the table by the colourful flower, the fragrance therein and dignity that it portrays. Now, the issue was having eye to eye contact with the chairman.
“Chairman, you have to something about the flowers on the table directly in your front. But why? “We want to have eye to eye contact with you and the flowers have made that impossible,” She said smiling infectiously.
Did that engender some laughter? You bet it did and even more. It broke the growing palpable tension obvious in the voices and body language of the delegates.
