Former Secretary of the National Democratic
Coalition and Convener of the Coalition of
Democrats for Electoral Reforms, Chief Ayo
Opadokun, tells LEKE BAIYEWU that former
President Olusegun Obasanjo is not eligible to say
the National Assembly is corrupt
H ow do you feel about former President
Olusegun Obasanjo’s letter to the leadership of
the National Assembly, accusing the legislature of
corruption?
I don’t throw out the baby with birthwater. In
journalism, there is a theory that teaches that
the medium is the message; that is, if you have
a good product you want to sell, if you use an
improper or incredible medium, it will have a
counter-effect. As much as I do not believe that
Obasanjo is the right person to make such a
claim, it is equally important that some of the
issues he has raised are major matters of
national concern. Part of what the Obasanjo-led
government did was the monetisation of salary
and statutory of office. I believe that Obasanjo is
saying the right thing. It is unfortunate that at
this tight period when we have economic
downturn; when there is so much poverty in
town, the National Assembly, as the media have
reported, is going to purchase a very long list of
vehicles for each committee, which they have
said is for the sole purpose of oversight
functions. I think it is very unfortunate and they
are not doing themselves any good. I know that
there are some good elements – just some –
very responsible and credible elements in the
place (Assembly). But the larger majority are the
types that live on money and power, and they
don’t feel the pinch of the Nigerian man and
their constituents.
Senator Dino Melaye has alleged that Obasanjo
exposed the National Assembly to corruption when
he was the President. Is this correct?
That is a statement of fact that he cannot deny;
Obasanjo cannot deny that. There were several
instances where money changed hands (between
the Presidency and the National Assembly); they
even brought some into the open at the
Assembly about three times when he was to be
impeached. Then, the money some people
received were sent through his liaison officers;
some of them were brought to the open sittings
of the House of Representatives and the Senate.
That is why I said it does not lie in his mouth to
make such allegations.
Obasanjo enjoys hearing himself; imagining
himself to be the Solomon of Nigeria. It is
unfortunate that he ought to be silent now. It
does not lie in his mouth any longer. If we are
talking about wasteful spending, President
Obasanjo ought to be recognised as the first
person, the biggest and the guiltiest of that. Ask
him about all the (the late Gen. Sani) Abacha
loot recovered: where were they recorded? The
monies from oil licenses sign-off, which one of
them did they receive and kept in the Federation
Account? There were too many things he did
during his time that are mind-boggling. He was
the Minister for Petroleum Resources for eight
years and the Nigerian National Petroleum
Corporation, throughout his eight-year period,
was not audited. What is he talking about now?
There are some of the statements he has made
that are valid, which should concern all of us
too. It is not that he is a credible person to say
it. All that the National Assembly men and
women ought to have had been monetised. The
idea of buying cars for committees again is really
insensitive.
How about that allegation that the National
Assembly was induced to approve a third term for
the ex-president?
I got sufficient credible information about that.
The amount offered to senators was more than
that offered to the House of Representatives –
mint notes. When he saw that so many other
forces were against him, he started to talk to
himself that he didn’t want a third term; that if
he wanted it, God could have given it to him.
Tracing the root of corruption in the National
Assembly, is it true that the Obasanjo-led
administration exposed the legislature to graft?
It did but the National Assembly itself was made
up of majority of corrupt men and women. The
two of them were in tandem. We did some
analysis of the membership of the National
Assembly – the 1st, 2nd, 3rd and the 4th – when
he was there in particular, we found out that
one-third of them were ex-convicts. A former
Assistant Inspector General of Police had raised
the matter in the Senate that the people he had
interrogated were sitting down together with him.
The significant majority of the Representatives
were fellow military collaborators, military
confederates, military loyalists and military
sympathisers. They were not together with us
(the masses) in the barricade fighting for the
restoration of democracy to Nigeria.
Nigerian legislators have yet to accept the truth
that they are the highest paid; we are not talking
of the combination of allowances, just salary.
They know what they organised for themselves.
It had been expressed in frontline journals and
informed media commentaries, comparing their
take-home pay with that of (their colleagues in)
Britain and America. Considering that state of
our economy, if they are real agents; if they are
true representatives of the people, they ought to
be sensitive to the status of the economy and
the rate of poverty in the country currently.
Nobody needed to tell them about that.
With Obasanjo’s experience as the longest-serving
president to date and being an elder statesman, is
he not eligible to caution any public institution
against going astray?
I don’t exercise judgment for sentiments. The
truth of the matter is that Obasanjo has been a
negative influence in totality to our land. Quote
me: he has been a disaster. God gave him the
best opportunity in the world. Being the military
Head of State and civilian President (for two
terms of eight years), he was in the position to
turn around the misfortune of Nigeria totally. But
he wasted all the opportunity. Do I need to
remind anyone that this man was reported to
have spent about $16bn on power? How many
megawatts of power did he add to what he met
when he came (became President) in 1999. The
money for the Independent Power Projects, what
happened to it?
But will you agree that the Economic and Financial
Crimes Commission and the Independent Corrupt
Practices and Other Related Offences Commission
established by Obasanjo are still being used to
fight graft in the country to date?
I believe that he only wanted to be in the good
books of the Western countries who urged him
and to show them that he wanted to fight
corruption. But he was not serious about it. From
all the media reports and those who had
presided over the agencies, they needed fiat
before they could take on the politically exposed
people. Do you know how many ex-governors
have been taken to court and whose cases have
been abandoned for about 10 years? If you are in
his good books, nothing adverse will happen to
you; if you are not, the EFCC will run after you.
He used the agency to do a lot of damage. For
example, I feel pained when I listen to some of
our people abusing (former Governor of Bayelsa
State, Diepreye) Alamieyeseigha. I react to such
people that President Obasanjo illegally,
unreasonably and wickedly wanted to punish
Amamieyeseigha for agitating for resource
control, which others (governors) were not
willing to do.
In our constitution, no national government has
any right to go and impeach a governor of a
state. The governor was elected like he was
elected by his people. Obasanjo could not get
the House of Assembly in Bayelsa to help him
impeach Alamieyeseigha. They were able to
blackmail some of the lawmakers and give them
a lot of money, took them out of Yenagoa to Port
Harcourt and later Abuja. An arrangement was
made, a new Speaker was elected and within few
days Alamieyeseigha was impeached. As soon as
that was declared, the policemen came to arrest
him (the ex-governor). Tell me, what is the
justice in that? Where is the legitimacy of what
they have done? Where is the rule of law in that?
Let Obasanjo tell Nigerians how he acquired all
that he now possesses. Go and see his farms in
every part of Nigeria. See what the old man has
accumulated as if he is going to live for the next
two centuries. With the money he allocated to
the Ministries of Work and Housing, how many
roads did Obasanjo build throughout his terms.
The road between Lagos and Ota – his base –
that was awarded when he was the Head of
State, which were not completed then, remained
uncompleted after another eight years (as
president). What pride does he have to be
making toxic remarks against other people?
Obasanjo has never walked his talk. He has this
attitude of overrating himself. He said
somewhere last year that he was afraid that
there would be a major disaster due to
unemployment. Let us ask him, how many
people did he employ? Did his policies enable
investors to bring their money to Nigeria so that
the economy would expand? It does not lie in his
mouth.
http://www.punchng.com/obasanjo-not-fit-say-nassembly-corrupt-opadokun/

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ok

Anybody is fit to say the right thing, Obj has not said he himself is not corrupt. if we go by this "Only Saint Can Talk" attitude, there will be no judge, no police, etc, you cant even correct children for offense you have committed in past. IMO, as long as what is being said is the truth, anyone can say it.

Why we he say so

Remii:
Anybody is fit to say the right thing, Obj has not said he himself is not corrupt. if we go by this "Only Saint Can Talk" attitude, there will be no judge, no police, etc, you cant even correct children for offense you have committed in past. IMO, as long as what is being said is the truth, anyone can say it.

Flesh and blood did not reveal dt revelation to u.

Isokay.......no cause for alarm

OBJ is smart nao....

You wouldn't expect him to accuse others of being corrupt when he knows that many people will raise eyebrows......

PMB claims that he's not corrupt... If only SaharaReporters/channelsTV weren't Tinubu's talking machine... I'm sure by now, his secrets would've been exposed.

But truth be told, the NA, esp the upper house remains a fortress for past corrupt leaders in this country. Just take a look around starting from the top.

See sense in the that