Obasanjo’s Graft Allegation: Politicians Call For Prosecution Of ‘Bad’ Legislators

Some politicians yesterday in Lagos urged President Goodluck Jonathan to initiate prosecution of all corrupt public office holders to protect his administration’s integrity.

In separate interviews with newsmen, the politicians said in Lagos, that such prosecution would also save Nigeria’s image.

They spoke against the backdrop of the reported allegation on Tuesday by former President Olusegun Obasanjo that Nigerian legislators were corrupt.

Obasanjo made the allegation in Lagos at the Fourth Conference of the Academy for Entrepreneurial Studies, Nigeria.

He said that many lawmakers at the national and state levels were “rogues and armed robbers”.

The National Publicity Secretary of the Advanced Congress of Democrats, Chief Abraham Braithforth, told newsmen that the allegation should not be ignored.

He said that prosecution of corrupt leaders was a challenge to Jonathan.

“Corruption has eaten deep into the fabrics of the National Assembly both the upper and the lower chambers.

“This is the right time for Jonathan to act and bring corrupt public officers to book,’’ he urged.

The National Public Relations Officer of the KOWA Party, Prof. Oluremi Sonaiya, expressed sadness that some legislators embezzled public funds in spite of their jumbo monthly salaries and allowances.

She said that the legislators earned such salaries and allowances to the detriment of the Nigerian masses.

“It is even criminal that they are earning such money while we keep hearing that more than 70 per cent of Nigerians live on less than two dollars per day,’’ she said.

Sonaiya claimed that Nigerian legislators were the highest paid in the world and would be wicked for them to embezzle public funds.

Commenting, the South-West Secretary-General of the Conference of Nigeria Political Parties, Chief Gboyega Adeniyi, urged that the allegation be properly investigated and indicted leaders be prosecuted and adequately punished.

“Obasanjo, as a former Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the PDP, knows these people very well.

“So, I trust his words; Jonathan should take this as a challenge and go after corrupt public officers,’’ he said.