Former President
Olusegun Obasanjo has been called “the grandfather of corruption” by
lawmakers in Nigeria’s lower legislative chamber.
At the maiden edition of
the Akintola Williams Annual Lecture which held in Lagos on Wednesday,
Obasanjo criticized President Muhammadu Buhari and the National Assembly
Obasanjo called the National Assembly the “den of corruption”run “by a gang of unarmed robbers.’’
According
to Obasanjo, “Once you are a member (of the National Assembly), you are
co-opted and your mouth is stuffed with rottenness and corruption that
you cannot opt out as you go home with not less than N15m a month for a
senator and N10m a month for a member of the House of Representatives.
“If the
judiciary is being cleaned, what of the National Assembly which stinks
much worse than the judiciary? Budget padding must not go unpunished. It
is a reality, which is a regular and systemic practice. Nobody should
pull wool over the eyes of Nigerians. Ganging up to intimidate and
threaten the life of a whistle-blower is deplorable and undemocratic,’’
he said, referencing Hon Abdulmumin Jibrin who was banned from
parliamentary duties for 180 days for accusing his colleagues of
corruption.
Obasanjo also alleged that lawmakers steal from Nigerians in the name of constituency projects.
“These
constituency projects are spread over the budget for members of the
National Assembly for which they are the initiators and the contractors
directly or by proxy and money would be fully drawn with the project
only partially executed or not executed at all. The National Assembly
cabal of today is worse than any cabal that anybody may find anywhere in
our national governance system at any time,” Obasanjo added.
But his comments stirred an angry response from the House of Representatives.
Chairman
of the House Committee on Media and Publicity Hon. Abdulrazak Namdas,
in a statement made available to Pulse, said Obasanjo introduced
corruption to the National Assembly.
”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 Olusegun 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 House also called the former President the most corrupt person to ever hold office in Nigeria.
“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,” the lawmakers said.
From pulseng