The House of Representatives has described former President Olusegun Obasanjo as the most corrupt Nigerian to have held a public office, deploring his tactic of always seeing himself as the only clean human being.
It made a formal reaction on Thursday to the ex-President’s latest attacks on the National Assembly, saying that he churned out “outright lies and falsehoods, and mischievous innuendo.”
On Wednesday, Obasanjo had attacked the legislature on several fronts, including their salaries/allowances and the alleged diversion of constituency projects.
He had stated, “Once you are a member, 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 N15million in a month for a senator and N10m a month for a member of the House of Representatives. The National Assembly is a den of corruption by a gang of unarmed robbers.’’
The former President spoke further, “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.’’
But, speaking through its Chairman, Committee on Media and Public Affairs, Mr. Abdulrazak Namdas, the House said Obasanjo first introduced corruption to the legislature in 1999 when he felt he must bribe legislators to have his way on every issue.
It added that a reason he would never like members of the National Assembly was the fact that they foiled his third term ambition in 2007 after taking his money and displayed it publicly to put him to shame.
On corruption, Namdas noted, “Undoubtedly, 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, (the late) Dr. Chuba Okadigbo. That was how Senator Evans Enwerem became the 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 the 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?
(Punch)
