THE Dome; a sprawling working place for senators and House of Representatives members, is deserted.

Since the past two weeks, legislative enterprise has wound down almost to level zero. Committee assignments hardly hold. Even media briefings by different committees, which usually hold once in a blue moon, have dropped dramatically. The legislators are on holiday, a kind of end of legislative year’s break long enough to afford each of them the luxury of time to bring their wishful thinking to manifest reality.

Each time a period of break falls in, many a legislator usually scampers abroad with an uncanny desire to display wealth. The legislators, not too long ago, had collected their quarterly allocations in million bales to justify whatever extravagance they were to indulge in. United States and European countries hold the hugest attraction for lawmakers in this category.

It is intriguing that most legislators are shying away, this time, from scurrying to Europe and America.

Some attribute the mood swing to the season of Azimi (fasting), which is already having a gripping effect on Muslim members. It is perhaps the reason a good number of lawmakers are considering a trip to Saudi Arabia a good option at the moment.

Since the past few days, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has been playing host to Nigerian legislators who are beseeching the place ostensibly for the Lesser Hajj (Umra). There are reports that as at the close of last week, close to 120 lawmakers had hit Mecca for the annual minor pilgrimage, while more are still on the verge of leaving to join the train.

For those already in Saudi Arabia, the need to engage in special prayers on sundry political matters is very germane and compelling. The reason is simple. The more the days of elections draw near, the more each of them is reminded of the time of recompense, and the period when public office holders are to give account of their stewardship.

In Nigeria, politics has started evolving a new face, given the desire of the electorate for a transparent conduct of the next elections. There have been clamours for one man, one vote, just as the government of the day keeps honking about the necessity to ensure a transparent conduct of the elections. It presupposes that all public office holders should henceforth learn to face the coming elections with some sense of hardwork and self fulfilment if the level of investment they had made in the electorate is anything to count on.

Regrettably, legislators who can stand shoulder high to face the electorate in the quest for re-election chances can be counted on one’s finger tips. In 2007 when they got elected into Federal Parliament, it least occurred to many that their four -year tenure would count by the hands of the clock like the twinkle of an eye. So, if the time of reckoning now arrives, those to be caught unawares are the most haughty, most constituency-shy, most inconsiderate and the most planless. For those in this category, a trip to Saudi Arabia at this point in time for spiritual redemption and assistance could not in any way have been less compelling.

Since 1999 up till 2007, the rate of return of members in both the Senate and the House of Representatives  has been nothing to write home about. In 2005 for instance, not up to 40 percent of legislators in both Houses made it back to the Dome. It was worst in 2007 when majority of Senators and Representatives dropped-by during the elections, such that only one third of them got re-elected in the process. The poor showing of many of those affected at their respective constituencies was a chief factor.

Indications are rife, too, that many of the present set of lawmakers will also not make it back to the Dome, a good number having been marked for poor performances and unparliamentarily conducts. Reasons are many.

In this era, there are legislators who have been guests of both the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the Independent Corrupt Practices and other related offences Commission (ICPC) on alleged fraudulent conduct. Some had been marked for recall and substitution by their respective state governors, while many more were are yet to gain the confidence of those who elected them into power, having veered off the track by failing the test of integrity before their people.

There are legislators who had all along acted as moneymongers, just as they cut the picture of extremely parsimonious individuals in the eyes of those who elected them, while many had proved to be misfits over the period of time they have been  addressed as legislators.