Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has condemned the attempt made by Federal lawmakers to determine their emoluments, describing it as “immoral and unconstitutional,” criticising them for not upholding the constitution.
The former president voiced his dissatisfaction on Monday when delivering a speech to mark the 60th anniversary celebration of legal luminary Aare Afe Babalola’s call to the Bar held in Ado Ekiti, the Ekiti State capital.
Obasanjo said that the federal legislators do not have the constitutional powers to determine their emoluments and that only the Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC) has the power to carry out any change in their take-home.
“The point in Nigeria which I have seen and which I can attest to is most of the people who are supposed to be operationalising or managing and seeing the constitution and democracy move forward, they are actually the ones who undermine the constitution,” Obasanjo said.
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“All elected people, by our constitution, their emolument is supposed to be fixed by the revenue mobilisation commission, but our lawmakers set that aside and they make laws and put any emoluments for themselves.
“Even if that is constitutional, it is not moral, and, of course, it is neither constitutional nor moral.”
He not only rebuked the lawmakers for jettisoning the RMAFC in determining their salaries and other emoluments but described their action as being mischievous, especially after they refused to exhaust the provisions of the constitution that required that they engage the services of the Federal Character Commission in determining their salaries.
The former President said that when the constitution is “continually breached like that”, the country’s democracy becomes one where anything goes.
Obasanjo also commended Aare Babalola for not only his contributions to the legal profession and the country in general but also for improving the living standard of his family and that of the members of his community.
“You have met this world at a point; you have met your community at a point; you have met your family at a point; and what you have done is that what you have met, you have made it better than what you have found,” Obasanjo said.
