By ISAIAH BENJAMIN
Former Speaker of the Federal House of Representatives, Rt.
Honourable Ghali Na’Abba yesterday took a swipe on the former President,
Olusegun Obasanjo when he described the elder statesman as the most
corrupt Nigerian.
It would be recalled that only recently, former
President Obasanjo was reported to have described members of the
National Assembly (NASS) as corrupt people who lacks integrity.
But
Honourable Ghali who was speaker during former President Obasanjo’s
first tenure as President disclosed that the former President who he
described as having nothing before he became President engaged in
questionable and undefendable expenditures while in office which he
severally took him on as the then speaker.
The former speaker who
stated this while fielding questions from Journalists, also bared his
mind on the current padding saga at the NASS affirming that it is the
constitutional responsibility of the NASS to look into the budget
brought before her by the Executive and act upon it appropraitely.
On
the corruption allegation against the NASS, he said, “well, I don’t
think there is anybody more corrupt in this country like the former
President. I believe you are talking about the former President Olusegun
Obasanjo.
“As the Speaker, I took Obasanjo on several issues of expenditure offences which he committed and could not show remorse. So, I don’t think he has the integrity to call anybody in the NASS corrupt. This is the man who became President with nothing and today he is one of the richest Nigerians, let him explain to Nigerians how he acquired the money.
“As the Speaker, I took Obasanjo on several issues of expenditure offences which he committed and could not show remorse. So, I don’t think he has the integrity to call anybody in the NASS corrupt. This is the man who became President with nothing and today he is one of the richest Nigerians, let him explain to Nigerians how he acquired the money.
“On his planned elongation, am aware that some monies was
given to the national assembly members both the House of
Representatives and the Senate. It was alleged that the Senators got 50
million each while 40 million was given to the house of representative
members, some collected and some did not collect. But am aware that
money was distributed by Obasanjo” he stated.
On the padding or
no padding, he said, “I expect that for 16 years of return to democracy,
Nigerians would have understood the responsibilities of the National
Assembly.
“For some weeks now, there has been controversy over what is called padding. As far as I am concerned, the National Assembly has the responsibility to pass the budget, approve it and allow the executive arm to execute it.
“For some weeks now, there has been controversy over what is called padding. As far as I am concerned, the National Assembly has the responsibility to pass the budget, approve it and allow the executive arm to execute it.
“According to my understanding, where
the issue being referred to as padding comes into play is a situation
where some members go behind and add items of expenditure to what has
already been agreed upon, for either stealing the funds or doing
whatever they feel like doing with it.
“But, this stealing of fund cannot be possible without the active connivance with some members of the executive arm.
“So
far, accusations are being traded amongst members of the houses. No
investigation has been conducted. On the call for the resignation of the
Speaker, the question is, what has the Speaker done to warrant his
resignation?”
When asked whether padding was an offence, he said,
“It all depends from what angle you look at it, I just told you that
the responsibility of appropriation belongs to the national assembly.
If padding is seen as an offence, then it is when some members of the
national assembly decide to add items of expenditure through the back
door after the budget has been passed by both houses. It therefore
behoves on Nigerians to decide who represent them in the national
assembly” he stressed.
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