Senate dares Obasanjo over corruption claim

The Senate yesterday challenged former President Olusegun Obasanjo to prove the allegation that members of the National Assembly are corrupt.The upper legislative chamber consequently described Obasanjo’s allegation as unfortunate and a deliberate attempt at denigrating the parliament.

Speaking through its Chairman on Information, Media and Public Affairs, Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe, the Senate said it was unfortunate that the former President would distort the issue of constituency projects to mean a direct monetary advancement to lawmakers, amounting to the, “promotion of corruption” by the National Assembly.

“The allegation as spurious as it were is very distant from the truth and is nowhere near reality,” Abaribe said.

The spokesman said if the allegation by Obasanjo were true, “the former President would not have tolerated such for the period he was the President of the country.”

Abaribe said: “President Obasanjo for the avoidance of doubt was the initiator of the constituency project in the year 2000 as a means of ensuring that projects were fairly spread across the country using the Senatorial zones as the spring board.

“To ensure execution of the projects, President Obasanjo again factored the constituency projects into the annual budgets to be implemented by the executive depending on availability of funds. That is to say that no lawmaker ever comes close to the funds or even determines the contractor for the said projects or when the said contract would be awarded.

“So, it looks curious and surprising that President Obasanjo would turn around after over 10 years of initiating such a project to allege that the National Assembly is performing the function of both the executive and the parliament.

“Is it not preposterous for anybody to believe that members of the National Assembly would against the provisions of the constitution with regards to application of separation of powers, award contracts to their agents to execute and expect the Presidency under a President Obasanjo or any other President for that matter to pay for what they are not part of?

“Such allegation stands logic on its head, as it amounts to an indictment of the Presidency for willfully contravening the budget laws by ceding its power to execute to the National Assembly, if it was the case.”

Abaribe challenged the former President to go a step further to furnish Nigerians with details of how the National Assembly members became executors of national budget rather than being lawmakers.

“It will also help to clear the allegation once and for all, if any Presidency official, not only from the time past but currently, could come forward and explain the true position of the so called constituency projects.  Doing so would at least set the records straight,” Abaribe said

He cautioned political leaders to be wary of the consequences of dragging the revered institution of lawmaking to public odium just to score some political points.

Meanwhile, members of the House of Representatives said that they are not interested in picking up quarrel with the former president.

The spokesman of the House, Hon. Zakari Muhammed, reacting to Obasanjo’s accusation on behalf of the House said the Reps would rather exercise caution as a measure of respect to the status of the elder statesman and as a former president of the country.

“Baba (Obasanjo) is our father. We are his children, so it’s very unfortunate that he said what he said.

“But we will not join issues with him. He is our father. In African society, you don’t join issues with an elderly person,” he said