The House of
Representatives has taken a ‘heavy’ swipe on former President Olusegun
Obasanjo, describing him as the most corrupt Nigerian in history.
Leadership reports
that the lower legislative chamber was clearly reacting to allegations of
corruption levelled against it by the former president while delivering a
keynote in Lagos on Wednesday.
Chairman of the
House Committee on Media and Publicity Hon. Abdulrazak Namdas, while briefing
media yesterday, stated that Obasanjo who has accused several Nigerian leaders
of corruption should not exonerate himself of any wrong doing.
Namdas further said
that the former President who orchestrated corruption in the National Assembly
from the inception of 4th Republic is yet to recover from the shock of his
aborted third term ambition which was foisted by the legislators.
He said:
”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 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.”
He added, “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.”
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