By Dr. Tonye Clinton Jaja

It has just been reported that:

“The House of Representatives has given Arise News and former President Adviser, Reuben Abati 24 hours to apologise for comments about its activities.

The House threatened to take any action it deemed fit if they fail to apologise for their alleged derogatory words

Coming under matters of privilege, a member of the House, Donald Ojogo, said his privilege and that of other members of the House have been breached and brought to ridicule by the comment of Dr. Abati regarding the proposal for state creation.”

It comes as a shock that Dr. Reuben Abati, who himself is a media practitioner appears not to be aware of the recent clampdown on Nigerians who verbally and publicly insult either government officials or institutions!!!

How he not be aware that there is a renewed vigorous utilisation of the recently amended Cybercrimes (Prohibition) Act, 2024 to prosecute such Nigerian citizens!!!

Is he not aware of the recent prosecution of Yele Sowore whose OFFENSE was to use the sobriquet “illegal IGP”?

Is Dr. Reuben not aware that in January 2025, “The Federal High Court in Abuja, on Monday, granted bail to Olamide Thomas, the nurse and activist remanded on charges of cyberbullying for her social media comments about President Bola Tinubu, his son Seyi Tinubu, and two top police officers’ children.”

There are many more activists, tik-tokers that are either currently in jail or undergoing prosecution because of insulting either government officials or institutions.

So in view of the prevalence of arrests and prosecutions, it appears that there is now an unwritten rule book that is entitled: “How not to Insult Government Officials or Institutions in Nigeria”.

Inside this unwritten rule book, there are many”do’s” and “don’ts”.

It appears that Dr. Reuben Abati has managed to commit a double jeopardy in this instance!!!

He used two adjectives to describe the House of Representatives, he could have been forgiven if he had used just one of the two.

According to the report, Dr. Reuben Abati used the two words: “idiotic” and “stupid”!!!

Merriam Webster Dictionary defines “idiotic” as:

“1. showing complete lack of thought or common sense…

2. characterized by extreme intellectual disability”.

In other words, “imbecile” is another word for someone or group of persons “characterised by extreme mental disability”.

The dictionary defines”stupid” as “having or showing a great lack of intelligence or common sense.”

It would have been forgivable if Dr. Reuben Abati had restricted his “twin adjectives” to the legislators who were the sponsors of the 31 Bills for creation of 31 additional States in Nigeria!!

In my ten years of full-time staff of the National Assembly’s Institute for Legislative Studies, Abuja,I have come to learn the nuances of the legislators for whom I my responsibilities include drafting of Bills, writing legal opinions and analysis of proposed Bills etc.

One thing that was drilled into us is that when writing for legislators, do not over-burden them with too many words, they are not in the habit of reading lengthy documents.

So keep it simple and brief, Dr. Reuben Abati should have known that there was no need for using the two adjectives, when one would have sufficed!!!!