Following the controversies that trailed the 2024 Budget, an old video clip of former President Olusegun Obasanjo accusing the National Assembly members of corruption and budget padding has resurfaced online.
Recall that Senator Abdul Ningi (PDP-Bauchi Central) had alleged that the 2024 Budget was padded by N3 trillion.
Ningi had said in an interview with BBC (Hausa service) that the budget passed by the National Assembly for the 2024 fiscal year was N25 trillion, while the one being implemented by the Presidency was N28.7 trillion.
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The National Assembly had passed a budget of N28.7 trillion for the 2024 fiscal year.
President Bola Tinubu had proposed N27.5 trillion but the lawmakers jerked it up by N1.2 trillion.
Two former senators, George Sekibo, and Shehu Sani, in their immediate reactions, described what happened on the floor of the Senate as embarrassing, saying the matter ought to have been discussed behind closed doors, after which it should have been referred to the Ethics and Privileges Committee to save the Senate embarrassment.
However, several reactions have been made on the allegations of budget padding by the National Assembly, part of which generated the viral video of former President Obasanjo accusing National Assembly members for being corrupted.
In the viral video, Obasanjo was captured launching an attack on the National Assembly, describing it as a “den of corruption”, which is occupied by “unarmed robbers”.
He said: “The National Assembly cabal of today is worse than any cabal that anybody may find anywhere in our national governance system at any time. Members of the National Assembly pay themselves allowances for staff and offices they do not have or maintain.
“Once you are a member, you are co-opted and your mouth is stuffed with rottenness and corruption that you cannot opt out as you go home with not less than N15 million a month for a senator and N10 million a month for a member of the house of representatives. The National Assembly is a den of corruption by a gang of unarmed robbers.
“Most of them conduct themselves and believe that they are not answerable to anybody. They are blatant in their misbehaviour, cavalier in their misconduct and arrogant in the misuse of parliamentary immunity as a shield against reprisals for their irresponsible acts of malfeasance and/or outright banditry.”
Speaking on the allegations of budget padding by the National Assembly, Obasanjo said: “Budget padding must not go unpunished. It is a reality, which is a regular and systemic practice. Nobody should pull wool over the eyes of Nigerians.
“Ganging up to intimidate and threaten the life of whistleblowers is deplorable and undemocratic.
“What of the so-called constituency projects which is a veritable source of corruption? These constituency projects are spread over the budget for members of the national assembly for which they are the initiators and the contractors directly or by proxy and money would be fully drawn with the project only partially executed or not executed at all.
“The National Assembly budget process is not only carried out in an opaque and corruptive manner but also in a grossly unconstitutional manner. Hence, our lawmakers are lawbreakers.
“They are the accused, the prosecutor, the defenders and the judge in their own case.
“We should not continue to live with the impunity and corruption of the national assembly. Yes, I believe that something can and should be done.
“The president should ride on the crest of the popularity of what is happening in the judiciary to set up a highly technical team of incorruptible investigators to look into the so-called constituency projects of the past and the present and bring culprits to book.
“The president has overall responsibility and accountability for any fund appropriated under his watch.
“There would be many such projects and the national assembly would try to frustrate such necessary investigation. But the project sites are known and the magnitude of funds voted for them are known. The investigation will reveal the true situation.”
Obasanjo said when he was in office, he attempted to audit the account of the assembly but he was frustrated.
He wondered why the legislative arm of government had chosen not to be transparent with the nation’s budget.
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