Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has come under heavy attack following his recent criticism of President Muhammadu Buhari’s alleged slow pace of administration, the Nigerian military and the National Assembly – which he dubbed more corrupt that the judiciary.

Responding on Thursday at a press conference held in Abuja, the House of Representatives described Obasanjo as lifetime opposition leader and a blackmailer who introduced corruption to the National Assembly way back in 1999.

Addressing the media, Hon. Abdulrazak Namdas, Chairman, House Committee on Media & Publicity, said: “It is unfortunate that Obasanjo has started his very familiar method of bringing down governments. He did it to Alhaji Shehu Shagari; he did it to Gen. Buhari’ he did same to Gen. Babangida. He attempted to bring down Gen. Abacha before he imprisoned him for treason. He made frantic efforts to derail the government of President Ya’Ardua when he couldn’t use him. He supported President Goodluck Jonathan but when he refused to take dictation, he turned against him. He supported President Buhari, but since he has sensed that Nigeria is having economic difficulties under him, he has pounced to derail his government.”

Namdas further said: “Our attention has been drawn to a statement credited to former President Olusegun Obasanjo at a lecture he delivered recently, wherein, in his characteristic manner accused everybody but himself of corruption.

“It is a pity that Obasanjo ventured to accuse the National Assembly of budget padding, accused the House of criminal activities of threatening the life of a “whistleblower”, lampooned constituency projects which he approved as President, ventured to discuss the budget of National Assembly which is highly underfunded.

“The House of Representatives would ordinarily not join issues with the former President as he has held an office that deserves respect and reverence. However, because of the material misstatement of facts, outright lies and falsehoods, and mischievous innuendo introduced in his statement, we are left with no option but to correct him.

“We have repeatedly maintained that there was no “padding” of the 2016 Appropriation Act, which is a legitimate document passed by the National Assembly, authenticated by the Clerk to the National Assembly as provided in the Acts Authentication Act and assented to by Mr. President. It is most unfortunate that a former President of Chief Obasanjo’s stature would allow himself to be hoodwinked and procured by a renegade member of the House, who embarked on massive propaganda and lies just because he was removed from office. For the avoidance of doubt, there is no crime that was committed by the National Assembly by exercising its constitutional function of appropriation.

“If Chief Obasanjo has an issue with the execution of the 2016 Budget, or indeed other Appropriation Acts, he should direct his anger elsewhere.”

Namdas dismissed the notion that the National Assembly Budget is very high when, insisting that the National Assembly is grossly underfunded and is hampered from effectively and legitimately carrying out its constitutionally assigned functions.

He added that the National Assembly Budget funds a bureaucracy of about 5,000 civil servants which has some other agencies under its preview such as the National Assembly Service Commission with its own staff of about 500, even the Public Complaints Commission, which is now a parastatal of the National Assembly.

He said: “National Assembly Budget also funds the National Institute for Legislative Studies, which is a legislative think-tank and highly rated academic institution that serves both National and State Houses of Assembly and even international legislators. All these agencies also have their capital budget, including development of their headquarters, procurement of office equipment, procurement of regular items for running their offices; the National Assembly maintain legislative aides of about 3,000 in number, that aid the work of the Assembly; it also conducts regular public hearings involving the media and stakeholders and oversight activities, involving huge sums of money. The cost implication of running the National Assembly is high because of the nature of our Presidential democracy.

“Then, of course, there are 109 Senators and 360 members of the House of Representatives that require proper equipment to function effectively. They require adequate travel and transport support to carry out legislative functions. The National Assembly also has buildings and offices to build and maintain. National Assembly staff and members attend conferences, trainings, seminars to keep abreast of legislative developments worldwide. The activities are very encompassing and expensive.”

Namdas frowned at the former President for quoting figures that are factually incorrect. “No member of the House of Representatives receives N10m every month. The salaries and allowances of members of the House are as determined by the Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC),” he said.

He noted that “the budgets of many agencies in the Executive Branch are indeed higher than the current Budget of the National Assembly that is an arm of government. Examples abound in CBN, NNPC, NCC, etc.”

Continuing, Namdas said: “Allowances paid to even junior staff of some of these government agencies cannot be compared to what members of National Assembly enjoy.

“Undoubtedly, the former President Obasanjo is understandably angry with the National Assembly as an institution having foiled his ambition for a third-term in office even after trying to corrupt the members with a bribe of at least N50m each.

“Lest we forget, the person who introduced corruption to the National Assembly is Chief Olusegun Obasanjo. He birthed the 4th Republic National Assembly with corrupt practices from day one; indeed the first day of the Republic. He bribed PDP, ANPP and AD legislators on their inauguration in 1999 to vote against the majority candidate of PDP, Dr. Chuba Okadigbo. That was how Senator Evan Enwerem became Senate President.

“Have we forgotten the sacks of money displayed on the floor of the House of Representatives being bribe money paid by Chief Olusegun Obasanjo to some Honourable members to impeach Speaker, Rt. Hon. Ghali N’abba?

“Have we forgotten that Chief Olusegun Obasanjo used his position as President to extort money from businessmen and contractors with his government to build his presidential library?

“The list of his corrupt acts while in office is endless. Unquestionably, he is the greatest corrupt person ever to hold office in Nigeria. He remains the grandfather of corruption in Nigeria and lacks the moral authority to discuss corruption or indeed abuse of office in Nigeria as he remains the most corrupt Nigerian on record.

“The way Chief Obasanjo talks gives the impression that he is a lifetime opposition leader who has never held any office. What did he do about the issues he raised in his 8 years as President?

“This is a man with unlimited access to President Buhari. Or is it because he has not appointed all his cronies as requested? We may never know. His stuck in trade is blackmail, subversion and treachery.”

•Photo shows Ex-President Obasanjo.

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