GenBuhari:
[size=18pt]Your govt, most corrupt, CNPP tells Obasanjo[/size]

Posted on Friday, May 25th, 2012

Former President looking for relevance – Reps

By Rotimi Akinwumi (Abuja) and Akinwunmi King (Lagos)

Conference of Nigerian Political Parties (CNPP) has challenged former President Olusegun Obasanjo to render “account of his rogue regime” while he was at the helm of the nation’s affairs.

CNPP in a statement on Thursday by its National Publicity Secretary, Osita Okechukwu, explained, however, that it agreed with Obasanjo that “integrity is necessary for systems and institutions to be strong.”

The group was reacting to a statement credited to Obasanjo at the fourth Academy for Entrepreneurial Studies, Nigeria, Annual National Conference in Lagos on Tuesday where he described both the federal and state lawmakers as lacking in integrity.

He had remarked that, “Today, rogues, armed robbers are in the state Houses of Assembly and the National Assembly. What sort of laws will they make?”

Obasanjo did not spare the judiciary either, as he said the sector “is also corrupt.”

But CNPP said while it was not holding brief for either the National Assembly, the state Assemblies or the judiciary, “However, now that Chief Obasanjo has cast the first stone, we challenge him to render account of his rogue regime.

“A regime that harvested unprecedented oil revenue without commensurate project performance, a regime that bastardised our democracy and a regime which simulated the fault lines hence Boko Haram and other insurgencies.

“Those who live in glass house, the saying goes, should not throw stones, for we recall with pain how Chief Obasanjo, who came out of prison as poor as a church rat, paradoxically has become one of the richest Africans after eight years of looting in power.

“We recall with trepidation, how late Chief Gani Fawehnmi went to Federal High Court challenging the billions of naira which Chief Obasanjo extorted from government contractors to build his Presidential library, contrary to Code of Conduct and ICPC Acts.

“He pleaded immunity and when immunity elapsed he resorted to manipulation of the judiciary,” the statement said.

CNPP alleged that Obasanjo’s corrupt practices are monumental and legendary.

It added that “the stench and foul odour of corruption, which oozed out from the Presidency, when he was in power was one of the factors which made him to lose the MO Ibrahim Annual Award for Good Governance when he left office in 2007.”

CNPP added: “We cannot forget in a hurry how Chief Obasanjo doctored the 2002 Electoral Act, declared the 2007 election as do-or-die election and other uncountable breaches, which debased the integrity of the electoral process and produced 2003 and 2007 sham elections.

“It can be said factually that Obasanjo’s manipulation and subversion of the electoral process denied Nigerians the right to elect people of their choice, hence entry of rogues into the legislature.

“We challenge Chief Obasanjo to explain why all the probes and audit of his regime by the National Assembly, ranging from power to privatisation probes found him culpable.

“Or can it be said that he is antagonising the National Assembly for the probes? Or for stopping his third term inordinate ambition?

“Chief Obasanjo blatantly looted the treasury of the nation, withdrew billions from the treasury without appropriation, corrupted the privatisation process, and serially obstructed justice, which made CNPP to file a petition to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on December 24, 2007, when his immunity elapsed.

“Regrettably, it has become the trade mark of Chief Obasanjo to paint Nigeria black each time he is out of power, a deceptive strategy he designed long time ago to curry the favour and recognition of the international community,” CNPP stated.

Also reacting to Obasanjo’s remarks for the second day running, the House of Representatives on Thursday described him as a man who wants to be noticed at all cost, having lost relevance since he quit power in 2007.

Deputy spokesman of the House, Victor Ogene, at his weekly news briefing noted that the comment by Obasanjo did not surprise the House, as such had been his trademark.

According to Ogene, there is no regime in history of Nigeria that has attempted to stain the image of the legislature with corrupt overtures than that of Obasanjo.

Ogene made reference to how foreign currencies found their way into the hands of past lawmakers in a bid to buy them into Obasanjo’s third term agenda.

He said though there was no need to engage the ex-President in verbal jabs, it was appropriate to liken him (Obasanjo) to an elder who had out of ignorance decided to pee inside his own house thereby expressing concerns over his quality of “eldership”.

He also noted that Obasanjo may have made his statement following frustration he suffered after Aminu Waziri Tambuwal emerged Speaker of the House against his own favoured candidate on June 6, 2011.

“Ordinarily, we should not join issues with the man. We know where he is coming from. If he has issues with one or two people that does not mean he should attack all of us,” Ogene said.

http://dailyindependentnig.com/2012/05/your-govt-most-corrupt-cnpp-tells-obasanjo/