“Unarmed Robbery devised by lawmakers “in their hunger for illegitimate money.” How, where and why Nigeria’s ex-president served the national Assembly members the full length of his tongue
Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has launched fresh attacks on the Nigerian lawmakers, describing them as “much worse” than all those who have gone in the First, Second and Third Republics.
He labelled constituency projects by legislators either at the national or state level as daylight “unarmed robbery” and one devised by lawmakers “in their hunger for illegitimate money.”
Obasanjo said this in one of his recently released books titled “Nigeria Past and Future: Contemplations on Nigeria’s History and Vision For Tomorrow.”
In the chapter seven of the book “Lawmakers at Federal and State Levels”, Obasanjo recalled that twice he had to directly deal with Nigerian lawmakers at national level, as a military leader and democratically-elected president – and he saw “no redeeming feature in them to build a Nigeria of our dream as projected in our constitution.”
The farmer said the bill which birthed the current leading anti-graft agency in the country, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), took a year and half to scale through the National Assembly as it was “somewhat watered down in the form that it was passed.”
According to him, some of the lawmakers said that if they passed the bill as originally sent to them, most of them would go to jail after their term as lawmakers.
Obasanjo said he had to assent the bill as he was hinted that any attempt to return it to the parliament, the legal framework would never have seen the light of the day.
He said “As a result of my uncompromising stand on the issue of corruption and because of the rigour of the first bill I sent to them. the EFCC bill, and possibly putting their threat into action, it took them a year and half to pass the bill and it was somewhat watered down in the form that it was passed.
“Some of them said that if they passed the bill as I had sent it to them, most of them would go to Jail after their term as lawmakers. I had to assent to the bill as they passed it because it was hinted to me that some of them were expecting me to veto the bill as passed and send it back to them and it would never have seen the light of the day after.
“There were other bills they mangled up either to suit their interests or to satisfy those who paid them. A typical example was the Niger Delta Development Commission (NNDC) bill which was designed for oil companies, the Federal Government and the affected States to contribute and the total fund to be used for regional development of the Delta and oil-producing states and in some way to mitigate some adverse effects of oil production in the area. The states, may not be all of them, went to bribe the national lawmakers and they excised states from making contributions to the fund.”
Obasanjo equally said the worst action of the current lawmakers “is their insatiable appetite for corruption and breach of the Constitution.”
“In our Constitution, no group is allowed to determine its salary and emoluments. For elected officers and officials, it is the Revenue
Mobilisation, Allocation and Fiscal Commission RMAFC).
“The lawmakers set aside the provision of the Constitution and granted themselves obscene salaries and allowances that make them the highest paid among the developing countries and even higher than some developed countries.
“When I was president, I refused to release funds budgeted that I found unacceptable to release. On occasions, I was threatened with impeachment which did not move me. If they had the power to abuse their authority and breach the law and the Constitution, I had the power to hold the purse and reduce profligacy and area boys’ conduct or misconduct of lawmakers,” he said.
The former president said “In their hunger for illegitimate money, the lawmakers devised what they called constituency projects which they unilaterally inserted into the budget without consultation or agreement with the executive and which very badly distorted the national budget and made it unbalanced. Invariably, once such misconduct and illegitimate action is allowed, the budget would go into deficit. Then, budget making exercise becomes a joke or a caricature.
“Constituency projects by lawmakers at national or state levels are daylight unarmed robbery. All involved must be treated as criminals. In my time, it was not as brazen and audacious as it is now and particularly from the time of Buhari. They used to go through the ministries and departments. Normally, they went into collusion with the ministries and any minister or head of parastatal caught by me would be in for a high jump. That was the case with a female Minister of Education of mine. But now, there is no disguise or pretence; it is openly done with impunity and the president calls nobody to order and he thereby becomes an accomplice in the crime.”
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He added that “The last point in this voracious attitude of the lawmakers to satisfy themselves at the expense of the nation and the common
people is what they call oversight visits. They have a committee for each ministry or parastatal and commission. They visit the projects of these ministries and parastatals purely only to collect money from them. It is shockingly bad!”
(Daily Trust)
