Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has decisvely launched scathing attacks on Nigerian lawmakers, claiming they are “much worse” than all those who have gone in the First, Second, and Third Republics.
As reported by Daily Trust, Obasanjo stated this in one of his recently released books titled “Nigeria Past and Future: Contemplations on Nigeria’s History and Vision For Tomorrow.”
The fresh Obasanjo’s attacks on the Nigerian lawmakers are found in chapter seven of the book “Lawmakers at Federal and State Levels.”
He said the lawmakers came up with the constituency projects “in their hunger for illegitimate money.”
“In their hunger for illegitimate money, the lawmakers devised what they called constituency projects, which they unilaterally inserted into the budget without consultation or agreement with the executive, and which very badly distorted the national budget and made it unbalanced.
“Invariably, once such misconduct and illegitimate action are allowed, the budget would go into deficit. Then, budget budget-making exercise becomes a joke or a caricature.
“Constituency projects by lawmakers at the national or state levels are daylight unarmed robbery. All involved must be treated as criminals. In my time, it was not as brazen and audacious as it is now and particularly from the time of Buhari. They used to go through the ministries and departments.
“Normally, they went into collusion with the ministries, and any minister or head of parastatal caught by me would be in for a high jump. That was the case with a female Minister of Education of mine. But now, there is no disguise or pretence; it is openly done with impunity, and the president calls nobody to order, and he thereby becomes an accomplice in the crime.”
