Politics
Missing Billions In Hallowed Chambers

Recently, the six-year old anti-corruption posture of the President Muhammadu Buhari-led federal government took a severe bashing asTransparency International’s (TI) Corruption Perception Index (CPI) report for the 2020 appeared in the public domain.
According to the report, which was published by Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC) and circulated to newsmen, Nigeria ranked 149 out of 183 countries on the Corruption Perception Index for the year 2020 and was the second most corrupt country in the West Africa Sub region, scoring only 25 out of 100 points behind Guinea Bissau with 19 points.
The document which was jointly signed by CISLAC/TI Nigeria, Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD), and BudgIT, read in part: “The 2020 Corruption Perception Index (CPI) released globally by Transparency International (TI) today shows that Nigeria, yet again, records a decline in the CPI in 2020.
“Published exclusively in Nigeria by the Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC), the National Chapter of TI, the index reveals that Nigeria scored 25 out of 100 points in the 2020 CPI, falling back by one point compared to last year. In the country comparison of this year, Nigeria ranks 149 out of 183 countries, three places down compared to 2019 results,” the report said, adding that “while the index does not show specific incidences of corruption, it is an indication of the perception of the Nigerian public about the state of corruption in the country.”
As if this was not disturbing enough, the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) went to town with an open letter, calling on Senate President, Ahmad Lawan and House of Representatives Speaker, Femi Gbajabiamila to “use their good offices to urgently probe and refer to appropriate anti-corruption agencies allegations that N4.4 billion of public money budgeted for the National Assembly is missing, misappropriated, diverted or stolen, as documented in three audited reports by the office of the Auditor-General of the Federation.”
In the letter dated January 30, 2021, and signed by Kolawole Oluwadare, Deputy Director, SERAP urged the NASS Leadership to exercise strong and effective leadership in the matter in order to “show Nigerians that the legislative body is a proper and accountable watchdog that represents and protects the public interest, and is able to hold both itself and the government of President Muhammadu Buhari to account in the management of public resources”.
According to SERAP, “The Auditor-General noted in his 2015 report that the National Assembly account spent N8,800,000.00 as unauthorized overdraft, contrary to Financial Regulations 710. The National Assembly also reportedly spent N115,947,016.00 without any documents. Another N158,193,006.00 spent as cash advances to 17 staff between January and June, 2015, is yet to be retired”.
The vocal civil society body expressed concern that “these allegations of corruption, mismanagement and misappropriation of public funds amount to fundamental breaches of the Nigerian Constitution of 1999 (as amended) and the country’s international obligations, including under the UN Convention Against Corruption and the African Union Convention on Preventing and Combating Corruption.”
Consequently, SERAP warned that “Any failure to promptly, thoroughly and independently investigate these serious allegations, prosecute suspected perpetrators, and recover missing public funds and assets would undermine public trust in the ability of the leadership of the National Assembly to ensure probity, transparency and accountability in management of public funds.”
Describing SERAP’s call for a probe into the alleged missing money at the National Assembly as a welcome development, a Port Harcourt-based legal practitioner and public affairs analyst, Barr Arochukwu Paul Ogbonna urged the civil society group to press forward with their demand until the desired result is achieved.
Barr Ogbonna also urged the leadership of the National Assembly to resist the temptation of sweeping the allegation under the carpet as others in the past but rise to the occasion of being the people’s parliament and beam the searchlight on itself with the intent to clearing itself of complicity and taking up the position to lead, oversight and sanction other arms of government and institutions in the fight against corruption.
“If the Auditor-General which a state institution and the office that looks into government accounts has discovered that there’s a leakage somewhere, and that leakage is traced to the National Assembly, the National Assembly, as the people’s parliament, should look inwards and clear itself and come up with facts and figures accounting for the said amount of money,” he said, warning that “it must not be swept under the carpet.”
Barr Ogbonna who is also the National Coordinator, Civil Rights Council, insisted that the National Assembly which is vested with constitutional powers to probe into corruption allegations, sanction corrupt practices and oversight the activities of other institutions, ministerial departments and agencies of government cannot afford to be enmeshed in corruption itself, if it must continue to enjoy the confidence of the people as their true representatives with the mandate to project and promote their interest, welfare and well being.
“Now, if the parliament that legislates for the Federal Republic of Nigeria is discovered to have misappropriated, diverted or whatever, a whooping sum of N4.4 billion, then the leadership of the National Assembly should come forth to clear its name and should probe itself and make sure that money is accounted for or else SERAP should take every legitimate means to ensure that such developments are curbed, and elements or individuals responsible for the diversion of the money; for the loss of the money; or the misappropriation of the money should be exposed and, very importantly, punished,” he said.
To do otherwise, according to Barr Ogbonna, is to further increase the uncomplimentary image of the federal government as one that has failed or unable to adequately deliver on its lofty promises on anti-corruption.
“The National Assembly is a foremost state institution; it is the people’s parliament; it is the first of the three arms of government”, Barr Ogbonna pointed out, adding that for the federal legislature to appear to condone corruption is to show “that the anti-corruption posturing of the government is nothing but sloganeering of the ruling class; it shows that it is just a mantra-something that is repeated over and over again for its own sake.
“If any house (institution or agency of government) ought to be honourable, just as they are referred to as honourables, it should be the National Assembly. The parliament should be the one to probe the executive and the judiciary should they misappropriate or divert funds.
“So if a whooping sum of N4.4 billion is said to have been lost, misappropriated or stolen from the National Assembly, then the anti-corruption posturing of the government is absolutely nonsense, its’ rubbish and it doesn’t make sense”, he said.
In his own response, a veteran journalist and public affairs analyst, Dr Obidinma Obidinma, told The Tide in Port Harcourt that it was still the responsibility of the Auditor-General’s office to trace the said missing money and come out with the details of when, who and how the monies got missing.
Dr Obidinma said rather than ask the National Assembly to probe itself, all the anti-raft agencies in the country should be directed to move into the National Assembly to investigate the sordid allegation.
“I don’t believe that the National Assembly can probe itself and come out with something reasonable. There is the ICPC (Independent Corrupt Practices and related offences Commission); there is the EFCC (Economic and Financial Crimes Commission) they should be directed to go into this matter,” he said and urged the presidency to swing into action without further delay.
Dr Obidinma urged the Federal Government to seize the opportunity presented by this revelation to demonstrate its commitment to the fight against corruption and redeem itself, especially, in the face of its latest abysmal ranking in the Corruption Perception Index 2020 recently published by Transparency International.
As the National Assembly resumed plenary this week, Nigerians expect that one of the issues that should be on the front desk of the legislators is how to trace and locate the said missing amount of money within its fold, money that ought to be there to provide education, water, electricity, security and sundry social amenities that would make life more meaningful for the people. Such an exercise will also help the image of the country within the global community.
By: Opaka Dokubo
Politics
Reps Constitution Review Committee Holds Zonal Hearing For Rivers, C’River, Akwa Ibom In Calabar

A press statement issued by the Chief Press Secretary to the Cross River State Governor, Mr Linus Obogo, disclosed that the Calabar Centre — designated as Centre B — will host representatives and stakeholders from Cross River, Rivers, and Akwa Ibom States.
The public hearing is scheduled to take place on Saturday, July 19, 2025, at 10:00 a.m. at the Transcorp (Metropolitan) Hotel, Calabar.
The initiative, according to the statement, is designed to promote inclusive dialogue and capture the aspirations of Nigerians from all regions.
It aims to serve as a platform for citizens to contribute meaningfully to the ongoing national efforts to refine and strengthen the country’s legal and institutional frameworks.
“Citizens, civil society groups, professional bodies, traditional rulers, and other interest blocs are invited to participate in this landmark engagement aimed at advancing a more just, equitable, and responsive Nigerian Constitution,” the statement read.
The hearing forms part of the broader review process of the 1999 Constitution (as amended), and is seen as a strategic move toward fostering national unity and addressing structural legal issues within the federation.
Politics
Tinubu’s Contribution To Buhari’s Presidency Marginal – Ex-SGF

For the first time since 2022, when then-presidential aspirant Alhaji Bola Tinubu declared he made former President Buhari Nigeria’s President in 2015, Mr Mustapha dismissed the claims, stressing that the merger only contributed about three million votes in addition to Buhari’s existing 12 million votes in the North.
He insisted that former President Buhari’s integrity, national stature, and disciplined messaging were central to the breakthrough, not the three million votes from the merging parties, which he described as insignificant.
Speaking on the role of the merging parties, particularly President Tinubu, the leader of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), Mr Mustapha, who was the keynote speaker at the launch of the book ‘According to the President: Lessons from a Presidential Spokesman’s Experience’ authored by Mallam Garba Shehu, described the impact of the votes from other merging parties as very insignificant.
In attendance were former Head of State Yakubu Gowon, chair of the event; immediate past Vice President Yemi Osinbajo; SGF George Akume, who represented President Tinubu; PDP’s 2023 presidential candidate Atiku Abubakar; former Chief of Staff to Buhari Ibrahim Gambari; elder statesman Babagana Kingibe; former governors Nasir El-Rufai (Kaduna), Kayode Fayemi (Ekiti), Chris Ngige (Anambra), Rauf Aregbesola (Osun), Raji Babatunde Fashola (Lagos); former ministers Solomon Dalung and Sunday Dare; former Army Chief Tukur Buratai, and Bayo Onanuga, President Tinubu’s spokesman, among others.
According to Mr Mustapha, “I do not intend to stir up any controversy. The merger in 2013 was midwifed to create a Buhari presidency. Let us look at the statistics. In the 2003 election, it was the Obasanjo-Buhari presidential contest where Buhari recorded 12.7 million votes. In 2007, it came to 6.6 million, and it went back to 12.2 million in 2011.
“When we were conceptualising the merger, what would give us a headstart? Obviously, it was at the back of our consciousness that the merger with the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), though it had only one state, the ACN had six states, ANPP three states, and when you sum up the total votes that we had as the presidency in 2015, the aggregate of the total votes was 15.4 million.
“So, basically, what we brought to the table after the merger outside the Buhari 12.5 million votes was three million. Before turning to that presidency, it is important to recognise the former President’s role in reshaping Nigeria’s political trajectory.
“In early 2013, as the leader of the CPC, Buhari formally requested and supported the creation of a CPC merger committee, part of a broader coalition-building process that brought together the ACN, ANPP, APGA faction, and elements of the ruling party through the breakaway ‘new PDP’ group. His endorsement and participation, along with other party leaders such as President Tinubu and Senator Ali Modu Sheriff, lent credibility and direction to the merger, helping to unify disparate party factions under the banner of the APC. That coalition-building paved the way for the first democratic defeat of an incumbent ruling party in Nigeria’s history.
“President Buhari’s integrity, national stature, and disciplined messaging were central to that breakthrough. No account of President Buhari’s tenure would be complete without acknowledging the extended periods he spent on medical leave. These moments, while politically delicate, were also telling of his leadership philosophy and personality,” he said.
In his remarks, President Tinubu promised to build on the legacies of former President Buhari, stressing that “nation-building is a relay. The efforts of one administration lay the foundation for the next.
“In this regard, I acknowledge the efforts of my predecessor, President Buhari, and assure all Nigerians that the reform-oriented path he initiated will be consolidated and strengthened under this administration. Our Renewed Hope Agenda is inspired by the desire to build a resilient, just, and inclusive Nigeria—a nation that delivers dividends of democracy to all its citizens”.
Politics
Your Lies Chasing Investors From Nigeria, Omokri Slams Obi
Speaking during an appearance on live television on Wednesday, Mr Omokri alleged that Mr Obi’s statements were misleading and damaging to the country’s economic prospects.
Mr Omokri said some investors currently operating in Nigeria were considering exiting the market due to Mr Obi’s remarks.
“That is not true. He doesn’t rile me up. I rile him up. The reason why I came here is because I’m a patriot. Peter Obi lied. You know, foreign direct investors are watching your programme, who are making investment decisions not to come to Nigeria. There are foreign investors in Nigeria that are making investment decisions to leave Nigeria because of the lie he told.
“One of the lies he told is that President Tinubu has borrowed more than the administrations of Yar’Adua, Jonathan, Buhari. That is a blatant lie”, Mr Omokri said.
To buttress his claims, Mr Omokri referenced figures from the Debt Management Office (DMO), maintaining that President Tinubu had actually reduced Nigeria’s external debt burden since assuming office.
“I have here with me data from the Debt Management Office, and Nigerians who are watching can go to DMO.com and search Debt Management Office, Nigeria State of Indebtedness 2015.
“As of 2015, Nigeria was owing a total of $63 billion. When Buhari was leaving office, Nigeria was owing $113 billion. Today, from the DMO, our debt has gone from $113 billion to $97 billion, meaning that Tinubu has reduced our debt by over $14 billion.
“We should be appreciating this man. Yet Peter Obi came here and lied to the Nigerian people. He took the debts and translated them into naira to make it look like the debts have increased”, he said.
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