NASS full of rogues Obasanjo reaffirms

Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has urged President Muhammadu Buhari to be vigilant in his dealings with the National Assembly, reiterating that they are corrupt.

Obasanjo said it was not just about investigation but putting men and women of integrity in the right place.

“Well, if you said that I have said it in the past and if they are people who didn’t believe what I said in the past, then you now say that what has come out confirms what I said in the past, then you can say what I said in the past is what I will say now.

“It is not a question of investigation, we should get men and women of integrity in the place and the President should be very vigilant, whatever should not pass should not pass,” Obasanjo said, while fielding questions from journalists at the Presidential Villa, after a closed-door meeting with President Buhari.

Obasanjo was reacting to the ongoing budget-padding impasse between the leadership of the House of Representatives and the ousted chairman of the House of Reps Appropriation Committee, Abdulmumin Jibrin.

Jibrin, who was replaced as chairman of the committee last week, had alleged that the padding of the 2016 budget with N40 billion was done at a secret location with the backing of the speaker of the House, Yakubu Dogara, the deputy speaker, Yusuff Lasun, and three other principal officers.

Recall that Obasanjo had in 2012 and 2014, at the fourth annual conference of the Academy for Entrepreneurial Studies and the public presentation of  an autobiography, respectively, declared that the National Assembly and state Houses of Assembly were institutions filled with “rogues and armed robbers.”

“Integrity is necessary for all systems and institutions to be strong. Today, rogues, armed robbers are in the state houses of assembly and the National Assembly. What sort of laws will they make?” he had asked, while speaking at the conference in 2012.

In January this year, the former president listed corruption in the National Assembly as including “what they call constituency projects, which they give to their agents to execute but invariably, full payment is made with little or no job done.”  He added that the National Assembly had never singled out any corrupt lawmaker, except where the executive led in the indictment of another member.

Responding to questions on his visit to President Buhari, he said he had come to deliver some very important messages to the President, saying, “Not too long ago, I was in Liberia and Gambia, and I have messages these two countries will want me to deliver to the President. Also, only yesterday I came back from Seychelles

Island where I attended this year’s annual general meeting of  the Africa Export Development Bank. And there are aspects of the proceedings that I think I should update the President on,” Obasanjo said.

Asked if he was enjoying his numerous trips, he retorted that, “travelling is a good education, what you will learn about a country by visiting that country for two or three days you won’t learn by reading through books.”

Do you intend to slow down? he was asked by the media, considering his age, he replied “May God not allow you to slow down.”

Elizabeth Archibong