ABUJA – THE Senate Thursday said that the
allegation by the former President Olusegun
Obasanjo that the National Assembly was using
constituency projects to siphon the public funds
was a total lie meant to denigrate the sanctity of
the parliament.
The Senate also claimed that it was the
Obasanjo’s administration that approved the
constituency projects to be built in the national
budget which was executed by the executive.
Speaking through its chairman on Information,
Media and Public Affairs, Senator Enyinnaya
Abaribe, the Senate described the allegation of
corruption against it by the former president as
unfortunate and an attempt to tarnish the image
of the National Assembly.
According to the statement, the Red Chamber
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.
Describing the allegation as spurious, Abaribe in
the statement said the former President’s
comment was distant from the truth and
nowhere near reality, adding that if it were so, the
former President would not have tolerated such
for the period he was the President of the
country.
According him, “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.
“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?
“Such allegation stands logic on its head, as it
amounts to an indictment of the Presidency for
wilfully contravening the budget laws by ceding its
power to execute to the National Assembly, if it
was the case.”
The Senate according to Abaribe therefore,
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.
He said, “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.”
The Senate spokesman 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 point