House of Reps Attack Chief Obasanjo, Say He Is The Source Of Corruption In Nigeria
Members of the House of Representatives have
blasted former President Olusegun Obasanjo for
referring to them as corrupt officials. Obasanjo
at a function in Lagos yesterday, said the
National Assembly stinks to high heavens and
members of the National Assembly were very
corrupt.
In a swift reaction, the House of Representatives
members today said the former President is the
grandfather of corruption in Nigeria and that his
main reason for speaking negatively of the
house was because his third term agenda was
opposed by the house during his administration.
The position of the lawmakers was made known
today at a press conference by the Chairman,
House committee on Media and Publicity,
Abdulrazak Namdas. His press statement
reads...
“Our attention has been drawn to a statement
credited to former President Olusegun Obasanjo
at a lecture he delivered recently, wherein, in his
characteristic manner accused everybody but
himself of corruption. He ventured to accuse the
National Assembly of Budget padding, accused
the House of criminal activities of threatening
the life of a “whistleblower”, lampooned
constituency projects which he approved as
President, ventured to discuss the budget of
National Assembly which is highly underfunded?
In the speech Namdas said the House would
ordinarily not join issues with the former
President as he has held an office that deserves
respect and reverence. However, because of the
material misstatement of facts, outright lies and
falsehoods, and mischievous innuendo
introduced in his statement, we are left with no
option but to correct him. We have repeatedly
maintained that there was no “padding” of the
2016 Appropriation Act, which is a legitimate
document passed by the National Assembly,
authenticated by the Clerk to the National
Assembly as provided in the Acts Authentication
Act and assented to by Mr. President. It is most
unfortunate that a former President of Chief
Obasanjo’s stature would allow himself to be
hoodwinked and procured by a renegade member
of the House, who embarked on massive
propaganda and lies just because he was
removed from office. For the avoidance of doubt,
there is no crime that was committed by the
National Assembly by exercising its
constitutional function of appropriation. If Chief
Obasanjo has an issue with the execution of the
2016 Budget or indeed other Appropriation Acts,
he should direct his anger elsewhere. He claimed
that the National Assembly Budget is very high,
when by all standards, the National Assembly is
grossly underfunded and is hampered from
effectively and legitimately carrying out its
constitutionally assigned functions. The National
Assembly Budget funds a bureaucracy of about
5,000 civil servants. It has some other agencies
under its preview such as the National Assembly
Service Commission with its own staff of about
500; even the Public Complaints Commission is
now a parastatal of the National
Assembly. National Assembly Budget also funds
the National Institute for Legislative Studies,
which is a legislative think-tank and highly rated
academic institution that serves both National
and State Houses of Assembly and even
international legislators. All these agencies also
have their capital budget including development
of their headquarters, procurement of office
equipment, procurement of regular items for
running their offices; the National Assembly
maintain legislative aides of about 3,000 in
number, that aid the work of the Assembly; it
also conducts regular public hearings involving
the media and stakeholders and oversight
activities, involving huge sums of money. The
cost implication of running the National
Assembly is high because of the nature of our
Presidential democracy. Then of course, there
are 109 Senators and 360 members of the
House of Representatives that require proper
equipment to function effectively. They require
adequate travel and transport support to carry
out legislative functions. The National Assembly
also has buildings and offices to build and
maintain. National Assembly staff and members
attend conferences, trainings, seminars to keep
abreast of legislative developments worldwide.
The activities are very encompassing and
expensive. It is also unbecoming of a former
President to quote figures of sums of money that
are factually incorrect. No member of the House
of Representatives receives N10m every month.
The salaries and allowances of members of the
House are as determined by the Revenue
Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission
(RMAFC). Of course further sums of money are
spent as running costs, that is, the cost of
running the office of a member. If a Minister,
Chief Executive or Director in a Ministry travels
on official duties, for instance, do you include the
cost of his ticket and accommodation as part of
his salary or allowances? Does the cost of
stationeries and maintenance of equipment like
computers used in their offices, form part of their
salaries and allowances? These are some of the
costs that must be taken care of by the National
Assembly and the media calls these costs
“jumbo pay”. For goodness sake, the National
Assembly is an arm of government, not just an
ordinary agency of government. Examples
abound, CBN, NNPC, NCC etc. Allowances paid
to even junior staff of some of these government
agencies cannot be compared to what members
of National Assembly enjoy. Undoubtedly, the
former President Obasanjo is understandably
angry with the National Assembly as an
institution having foiled his ambition for a third-
term in office even after trying to corrupt the
members with a bribe of at least N50m each.
Lest we forget, the person who introduced
corruption to the National Assembly is Chief
Olesugn Obasanjo. He birthed the 4th Republic
National Assembly with corrupt practices from
day one; indeed the first day of the Republic. He
bribed both PDP, ANPP and AD legislators on
their inauguration in 1999 to vote against the
majority candidate of PDP, Dr. Chuba Okadigbo.
That was how Senator Evan Enwerem became
Senate President. Have we forgotten the sacks
of money displayed on the floor of the House of
Representatives being bribe money paid by Chief
Olusegun Obasanjo to some Honourable
members to impeach Speaker, Rt. Hon. Ghali
N’abba? Have we forgotten that Chief Olusegun
Obasanjo used his position as President to
extort money from businessmen and contractors
with his government to build his presidential
library? The list of his corrupt acts while in office
is endless. Unquestionably, he is the greatest
corrupt person ever to hold office in Nigeria. He
remains the grandfather of corruption in Nigeria
and lacks the moral authority to discuss
corruption or indeed abuse of office in Nigeria as
he remains the most corrupt Nigerian on
record. It is unfortunate that he has started his
very familiar method of bringing down
governments. He did it to Alhaji Shehu Shagari,
he did it to Gen. Buhari, he did same to Gen.
Babangida, he attempted to bring down Gen.
Abacha before he imprisoned him for treason; he
made frantic efforts to derail the government of
President Ya’ardua when he couldn’t use
him. He supported President Goodluck Jonathan
but when he refused to take dictation, he turned
against him. He supported President Buhari, but
since he has sensed that Nigeria is having
economic difficulties under him, he has pounced
to derail his government. The way Chief
Obasanjo talks gives the impression that he is a
lifetime opposition leader who has never held
any office. What did he do about the issues he
raised in his 8 years as President? This is a man
with unlimited access to President Buhari. Or is
it because he has not appointed all his cronies
as requested? We may never know. His stuck in
trade is blackmail, subversion and treachery. We
wish him well".
blasted former President Olusegun Obasanjo for
referring to them as corrupt officials. Obasanjo
at a function in Lagos yesterday, said the
National Assembly stinks to high heavens and
members of the National Assembly were very
corrupt.
In a swift reaction, the House of Representatives
members today said the former President is the
grandfather of corruption in Nigeria and that his
main reason for speaking negatively of the
house was because his third term agenda was
opposed by the house during his administration.
The position of the lawmakers was made known
today at a press conference by the Chairman,
House committee on Media and Publicity,
Abdulrazak Namdas. His press statement
reads...
“Our attention has been drawn to a statement
credited to former President Olusegun Obasanjo
at a lecture he delivered recently, wherein, in his
characteristic manner accused everybody but
himself of corruption. He ventured to accuse the
National Assembly of Budget padding, accused
the House of criminal activities of threatening
the life of a “whistleblower”, lampooned
constituency projects which he approved as
President, ventured to discuss the budget of
National Assembly which is highly underfunded?
In the speech Namdas said the House would
ordinarily not join issues with the former
President as he has held an office that deserves
respect and reverence. However, because of the
material misstatement of facts, outright lies and
falsehoods, and mischievous innuendo
introduced in his statement, we are left with no
option but to correct him. We have repeatedly
maintained that there was no “padding” of the
2016 Appropriation Act, which is a legitimate
document passed by the National Assembly,
authenticated by the Clerk to the National
Assembly as provided in the Acts Authentication
Act and assented to by Mr. President. It is most
unfortunate that a former President of Chief
Obasanjo’s stature would allow himself to be
hoodwinked and procured by a renegade member
of the House, who embarked on massive
propaganda and lies just because he was
removed from office. For the avoidance of doubt,
there is no crime that was committed by the
National Assembly by exercising its
constitutional function of appropriation. If Chief
Obasanjo has an issue with the execution of the
2016 Budget or indeed other Appropriation Acts,
he should direct his anger elsewhere. He claimed
that the National Assembly Budget is very high,
when by all standards, the National Assembly is
grossly underfunded and is hampered from
effectively and legitimately carrying out its
constitutionally assigned functions. The National
Assembly Budget funds a bureaucracy of about
5,000 civil servants. It has some other agencies
under its preview such as the National Assembly
Service Commission with its own staff of about
500; even the Public Complaints Commission is
now a parastatal of the National
Assembly. National Assembly Budget also funds
the National Institute for Legislative Studies,
which is a legislative think-tank and highly rated
academic institution that serves both National
and State Houses of Assembly and even
international legislators. All these agencies also
have their capital budget including development
of their headquarters, procurement of office
equipment, procurement of regular items for
running their offices; the National Assembly
maintain legislative aides of about 3,000 in
number, that aid the work of the Assembly; it
also conducts regular public hearings involving
the media and stakeholders and oversight
activities, involving huge sums of money. The
cost implication of running the National
Assembly is high because of the nature of our
Presidential democracy. Then of course, there
are 109 Senators and 360 members of the
House of Representatives that require proper
equipment to function effectively. They require
adequate travel and transport support to carry
out legislative functions. The National Assembly
also has buildings and offices to build and
maintain. National Assembly staff and members
attend conferences, trainings, seminars to keep
abreast of legislative developments worldwide.
The activities are very encompassing and
expensive. It is also unbecoming of a former
President to quote figures of sums of money that
are factually incorrect. No member of the House
of Representatives receives N10m every month.
The salaries and allowances of members of the
House are as determined by the Revenue
Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission
(RMAFC). Of course further sums of money are
spent as running costs, that is, the cost of
running the office of a member. If a Minister,
Chief Executive or Director in a Ministry travels
on official duties, for instance, do you include the
cost of his ticket and accommodation as part of
his salary or allowances? Does the cost of
stationeries and maintenance of equipment like
computers used in their offices, form part of their
salaries and allowances? These are some of the
costs that must be taken care of by the National
Assembly and the media calls these costs
“jumbo pay”. For goodness sake, the National
Assembly is an arm of government, not just an
ordinary agency of government. Examples
abound, CBN, NNPC, NCC etc. Allowances paid
to even junior staff of some of these government
agencies cannot be compared to what members
of National Assembly enjoy. Undoubtedly, the
former President Obasanjo is understandably
angry with the National Assembly as an
institution having foiled his ambition for a third-
term in office even after trying to corrupt the
members with a bribe of at least N50m each.
Lest we forget, the person who introduced
corruption to the National Assembly is Chief
Olesugn Obasanjo. He birthed the 4th Republic
National Assembly with corrupt practices from
day one; indeed the first day of the Republic. He
bribed both PDP, ANPP and AD legislators on
their inauguration in 1999 to vote against the
majority candidate of PDP, Dr. Chuba Okadigbo.
That was how Senator Evan Enwerem became
Senate President. Have we forgotten the sacks
of money displayed on the floor of the House of
Representatives being bribe money paid by Chief
Olusegun Obasanjo to some Honourable
members to impeach Speaker, Rt. Hon. Ghali
N’abba? Have we forgotten that Chief Olusegun
Obasanjo used his position as President to
extort money from businessmen and contractors
with his government to build his presidential
library? The list of his corrupt acts while in office
is endless. Unquestionably, he is the greatest
corrupt person ever to hold office in Nigeria. He
remains the grandfather of corruption in Nigeria
and lacks the moral authority to discuss
corruption or indeed abuse of office in Nigeria as
he remains the most corrupt Nigerian on
record. It is unfortunate that he has started his
very familiar method of bringing down
governments. He did it to Alhaji Shehu Shagari,
he did it to Gen. Buhari, he did same to Gen.
Babangida, he attempted to bring down Gen.
Abacha before he imprisoned him for treason; he
made frantic efforts to derail the government of
President Ya’ardua when he couldn’t use
him. He supported President Goodluck Jonathan
but when he refused to take dictation, he turned
against him. He supported President Buhari, but
since he has sensed that Nigeria is having
economic difficulties under him, he has pounced
to derail his government. The way Chief
Obasanjo talks gives the impression that he is a
lifetime opposition leader who has never held
any office. What did he do about the issues he
raised in his 8 years as President? This is a man
with unlimited access to President Buhari. Or is
it because he has not appointed all his cronies
as requested? We may never know. His stuck in
trade is blackmail, subversion and treachery. We
wish him well".
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