Former President Olusegun Obasanjo on Monday said the ongoing revelation by a former Chairman of the House of Representatives’ Committee on Appropriation, Abdulmumin Jibrin, on budget padding in the National Assembly, had proved him right.
The former President spoke with State House correspondents shortly after meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari behind closed doors at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
Obasanjo, who had earlier described the lawmakers as “armed robbers and rogues,” said the best way out of the current mess was to ensure that only men of integrity were elected into the National Assembly.
Decked in a blue agbada and cap to match, the former President arrived at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, for the meeting at about 12.54pm.
He was driven to the forecourt of the President’s office in a black Sports Utility Vehicle marked ABJ 425 PY, accompanied by one of his daughters.
Jibrin, who was removed as the Chairman of the House Committee on Appropriation last week, had accused the Speaker of the House, Mr. Yakubu Dogara, and three other principal officers of being accomplices in the alleged padding of the 2016 budget by the House.
He had alleged that chairmen of 10 committees injected 2,000 fictitious projects worth N248bn into the budget, while the lawmaker himself had been accused of allocating 20 projects worth N4.3bn to his constituency, while projects worth N40bn were allocated to the appropriation committee under Jibrin’s leadership.
“Well, if there 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, I can say that what I said in the past is what I will say now,” Obasanjo added.
When asked if he would want an investigation into the revelations, the former President said the way out was to elect only men of integrity while the President himself should be vigilant in dealing with the lawmakers.
“It is not a question of investigation. We should get men and women of integrity into the place and the President should be very vigilant; whatever should not pass should not pass,” he said.
He had said, “Today, rogues, armed robbers are in the state Houses of Assembly and the National Assembly. What sort of laws will they make?”
On the judiciary, the former President said, “The judiciary is also corrupt. During my tenure, many of the corrupt judges were removed, some are still there.
“If the judiciary becomes corrupt, where is the hope for Nigeria?”
Also in November 2014, Obasanjo described the National Assembly as largely an assemblage of looters and thieves.
The former President said the National Assembly, which he alleged shrouded its corruption in the opaque nature of its budget, had damaged its capacity to perform an effective oversight of the executive.
“Apart from shrouding the remunerations of the National Assembly in opaqueness and without transparency, they indulge in extorting money from departments, contractors and ministries in two ways.
“They do so during visits to their projects and programmes and in the process of budget approval, when they build up budgets for ministries and departments, who agree to give it back to them in contracts that they do not execute. They do similar things during their inquiries,” he had alleged.
One Monday, Obasanjo stated that he decided to visit Buhari this time because he had some messages for him.
He added that he travelled to Liberia and The Gambia not too long ago and there were messages for the President from the two countries.
The ex-President added that he returned to the country on Sunday from Seychelles Island, where he attended this year’s Annual General Meeting of African Export Development Bank. He noted the Buhari needed to be updated on certain developments at the forum.
When asked if he was enjoying the travels, Obasanjo said, “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 books.”
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