Corruption: Senate Replies Obasanjo

The Senate yesterday described as spurious and unfortunate, allegations of corruption preferred against members of the National Assembly by Former President Olusegun Obasanjo.
The former president had alleged on Wednesday that the federal legislature had compromised in the alleged corrupt practices of the current administration by collecting money directly from the executive to execute phantom constituency projects.
But the Chairman, Senate Committee on Information, Media and Public Affairs, Senator EyinnayaAbaribe, in a statement in Abuja, said Obasanjo’s allegation was a deliberate attempt to denigrate the institution.
The senate said it was unfortunate that the former President would distort the issue of constituency projects as meaning a direct monetary advance to lawmakers and thus amounting to the “promotion of corruption” by the National Assembly.
It added that the most unfortunate in the deliberate diatribe against the National Assembly was President Obasanjo’s allegation that the lawmakers are “siphoning public funds through what they call ‘constituency projects’.”
The statement reads in part, “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 determine 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 ten years of initiating such a project to allege that the National Assembly is performing the function of both the executive and the parliament,” it noted.
“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?” the Senator queried.
The senate,  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 law makers.
“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,” it added.
The red chamber, cautioned political leaders “to be wary of the consequences to our democracy of dragging the revered institution of lawmaking to public odium just to score some political points. “

L-R: Rivers State Commissioner for Commerce and Industry, Hon. Chuma C. Chinye, President, PHCCIMA, Engr Emeka Unachukwu, Chairman, South-East & South-South Chamber of Commerce Forum, Honorary Life President, PHCCIMA, Eld Dr. Hyke E. Ochia and Chief Nabil Saleh, at the public presentation of of Port Harcourt Yellow Pages, in Port Harcourt, yesterday. Photo: Egberi A. Sampson