To speak of a political revolution where power is given back to the people seemed illusionary. That was until the just concluded elections where an incumbent government was toppled in a peaceful civilian to civilian transition. For the fist time in the consciousness of several generations of Nigerians, the people's use of their power through the ballot box was respected and the clamour and push for 'change' became Nigeria's reality.

But just as Nigerians were getting used to this 'new normal', that hydra-headed monster of political greed, selfishness and irrationality has already started popping its monstrous head back into our society; just as if it had never left. This time it comes by way of absurd news that our newly sworn-in legislators are about to receive a whopping N8.64 billion as "Wardrobe Allowance." If this despicable piece of news turns out to be true, then one has to wonder whether there was some misunderstanding on the mantra of 'change' upon which most of the legislators used to come onto power. While most Nigerians understood the 'change' to signify a departure of the pilfering and any negativity, which may have signified the former administration, perhaps the vast majority of the legislators understood 'change' to mean variation between the $1,000 Armani suit they wore yesterday to the $2,500 Givenchy tie they would wear tomorrow.

With the preposterous claim that legislators are about to receive a whopping N8.64 billion as "Wardrobe Allowance , to speak of a political revolution where power is given back to the people would seem illusionary were it not for the number of times the possibility has been raised, in precisely those terms, by our politicians who continue to nurse the outlandish fantasy that everyone that came onto power through APC truly represents the much needed change. If this wardrobe allowance claim is true, I daresay, one could possibly be forgiven in thinking that the bubble in the legislators' corridors of Abuja must have a very strange reverse refractive effect where the world is viewed from the inside out. Otherwise, how could any fat-cat, insatiable legislator justify N8.64 billion as "Wardrobe Allowance despite the swelling insecurity our nation faces as a result of poverty, long unemployment lines, social and infrastructure decay and general despondency?

If anyone had any doubt that a good number of our political class that speak of change is an absolute joke, then this allegation of bungo spending by the legislature is enough to stand them corrected, of that there can be no question. Since 1999, the impediments that have ensured the rearward development of this democracy have been fast and furious. And now that we thought that there would be some reprieve, suddenly, we are confronted with this alleged incongruity of our distinguished lawmakers and their abundant sense of outrageous fashion sense. If this account of legislature wardrobe allowance is true and allowed to stand, it would amount to a sum of N21.5 million each for the country's 109 Senators and N17.5 million each for the 360 members of the House of Representatives. Presumably, this amount is separate from other allowances such as; furniture, housing and transportation, which the lawmakers are expected to receive. Apparently, with regards housing allowance, each of the 107-senators besides the Senate President and his deputy, will be paid N4,052,800, while each member of the House of Representatives will be paid N3,970,425 upon assumption of office. Furthermore, it is assumed that the Senate President, Deputy Senate President and the Speaker, Deputy Speaker will be provided accommodation by the federal government. Can all this truly be happening while Nigerians continue to suffer from unpaid salaries, dwindling oil revenues, the precarious state of our economy, endemic corruption, insecurity, high poverty rates, infrastructural underdevelopment and decay... the list goes on.

Based on the approval of the Revenue Mobilization Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC), the housing allowance for political office holders is usually 200 per cent of their annual salaries, the furniture allowance is 300 per cent of annual salaries, while a motor vehicle loan is pegged at 400 per cent of their annual salaries. This is preposterous and downright absurd. Where is the Change we voted for? This is definitely not the "change" teeming Nigerians clamoured and voted for during the last general elections. We voted for the status-quo to be changed not for it to continue like "the business as usua" mantra of previous administrations. The 8th National Assembly members should indeed reflect the change we desperately want in Nigeria and the change under which they were voted into office.

Notoriously tagged as the most expensive parliament in the world, there is a widely held public conception that a significant part of the nation's commonwealth is wastefully exhausted in taking care of our federal legislators. Since 2010, Nigerians have learnt of the federal legislatures' consumption of one-quarter of the nation's budget. However, despite the stupendous sum the lawmakers appropriate unto themselves, their output has serially, dolefully and exasperatingly failed to measure up. Since the former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and current Emir of Kano, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi's allegation in 2010 that 25% of the overhead of the Federal Government budget goes to the National Assembly, the money channeled into funding the legislative arm of government has continued to undoubtedly widen the gap between the legislators and the people they are supposed to represent.

With huge sums accrued to the out-going National Assembly in the course of its tenure stretching from June 2011 to June 2015, is overbloated against the backdrop of their productivity level. Sometime last month, it was reported that the outgoing 7th National Assembly passed a total of 108 bills into law, out of the 1,068 bills sponsored and brought to its legislative attention. Yet a good number of the bills passed were mainly executive-sponsored bills, made up of appropriation (budgetary) and supplementary appropriation bills as well as bills authorising the Presidency to borrow loans. Hence, expert bills and public interest bills did not feature much. The outgoing 7th upper chamber succeeded in passing 67 bills (i.e. around 0.0925 bills per sitting), while the lower chamber passed the remaining 41 bills. Essentially, all the previous National Assembly members bequeathed the nation is 108 bills; leaving hundreds of other bills still pending, especially the very important and long-awaited Petroleum Industry Bill, PIB, which was re-presented to the legislative arm of government by former President Goodluck Jonathan in June 2012.

When juxtaposed with American legislators, the 108 bills passed by the two Nigerian chambers is one of the lowest for any session of the United States' Congress, as its two chambers passed 604 in just 1999 and 460 bills between 2007 and 2008. It is indeed a far cry to the busy hub of the American Congress. Between the last two years (2013 and 2014), the American Congress were able to pass 297 bills. Yet, the referenced number of the bills has been considered to be one of the lowest in the country's legislative session's history. Nonetheless, while the United States pays its lawmakers an average annual salary of about $174,000 with Britain paying its parliamentarians about $105,000, their Nigerian counterparts receive salaries and several allowances amounting to about $1.050,000 per annum.

Since news of this alleged wardrobe allowance leaked, alarm has been stirred by an upsurge in public anger over venality that seems to have run like a virus through the legislative house. This reported revelation about the unhealthy spending at the national assembly has galvanised the outpouring of scorn and venom from a disappointed general public. At this juncture, with the way Nigerians are feeling, the members of the national assembly should be grateful that there have been no angry mobs storming their hallowed chambers, nor much of anything in the way of organised protest. But in all honesty, the mood of anger is growing from a people who united, fought and won a revolution together and had such high hopes of 'change' for Nigeria. This piece of news has touched grievances, which had been built against the last administration about the growth of a self-serving political class, arrogant habits of rule and an inward-looking cadre of legislators, for all of which the most appropriate adjective seems to be high-handed. If this was in the olden days, the lynch mob would have been the opposition long before a public revolt.

This business as usual attitude of our government representatives has got to become a thing of the past if we want this country not to go back to the almost fatal coma it was in during the last administration and this change should start with the law makers. They need to be reminded that they are in direct violation of section 70 of the 1999 constitution and they have violated their oath of office by appropriating to themselves public funds which they have no business appropriating.

In a nation where ordinary people are desperate to find 1,000 that will buy them a week's worth of malaria tablets, it is appalling that an average senator in Nigeria is allegedly earning 15 million naira every month, while a member of the house of reps earn 10-Millon naira in a month, as reported. These figures are very frightening to the average Nigerian. There have been several phenomenally important moments within this fourth republic where the public has looked to its representatives to act according to their consciences or upon the views of their constituents, and completely failed.

Every single one of us in this country deserves an independent inquiry into the issue of the finances of the national assembly, including this allegation of jumbo wardrobe allowance. The members of the national assembly should disabuse their minds that they are members of a fraternity or a secret cult. They have a definite duty to come out and lay bare in the public domain any money they may be unlawfully offered. They are also reminded that, whether they like it or not, sooner or later, they will have to regurgitate all they have taken unlawfully. Nigerians should demand to be given a detailed publication and analysis of how much each and every one of the legislatures will be paid throughout their tenure. It is the right of Nigerians to have these figures almost immediately and it is a compelling duty on the part of the legislatures to lay bare the income being allocated to them as their salary just as the president and vice president have. Also, any amount of money offered to any of them and all of them over and above their legitimate entitlement should be exposed to the public and paid back to the treasury with immediate effect. The legislators shouldn't allow their Ivory Towers to crack and strain under the weight of wholly unacceptable selfish personal advancement. Now after the test that Nigeria has just survived. The members of the national assembly are hereby reminded that the issue of an expensive designer wardrobe and overblown salary is a matter between them and the Nigerian people not just an issue that they can hide under the pile of their new, expensive clothing attire.

We are all anxiously waiting to know the truth behind the wardrobe allowance and any overblown income that might be flashed their way; and the legislative members are rightfully warned that after what just transpired in Nigeria, people will have no problem marching into the national assembly and demanding to know the truth about wardrobe allowance or any other allowance that sounds and looks outrageous. We can no longer afford to be complacent to the odium that pervaded the political and social environment in Nigeria in the past administrations. It may just be time Nigerians #OccupyNASS if they refuse to stop the alleged, almost 9billion wardrobe allowance at a time like this in Nigeria, when the top echelons of the Executive arm of government are canvassing for austerity measures from Nigerians. It may just be time we begin to say "NO" to such allowances by our elected office holders. Our voices were heard loud and clear via the ballot boxes, our voices can also be heard again if we collectively initiate and sustain a public outcry against such an allowance. N8.64-Billion wardrobe allowance is definitely against the change Nigerians opted for. The National Assembly shouldn't maintain the status quo of elected legislatures, who are there for themselves first, then their friends, then the people. The NASS members should be vibrant, up and doing, and above all, be compassionate to the plight of Nigerians. The NASS members need to show some sense of patriotism especially at this critical time and juncture of our history. They must initiate across the board, cut on their salaries and allowances to provide worthy example for others to emulate.

It is now the turn of the national assembly members to have the same courage that was displayed by the Nigerian masses when they moved for change. This is no time for grand standing and it is no time for fat cats that take free rides out of the blood and sweat of innocent taxpaying Nigerians. We all know that desperate times calls for desperate measures, but little did we know that it would be taken literally and our legislature would begin to resemble a hallowed chambers of overdressed and desperate house-guys.