Senate responds to corruption allegations by Fmr Pres. Obasanjo

The senate has reacted to the corruption allegations leveled
against it by the former Pres. Olusegun Obasanjo while at a
book launch yesterday in Abuja. In a statement released and
signed by its spokesman, Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe today,
the senate frowned at the allegations that they used their
oversight function to extort money, stating that the oversight
functions of the senate was the initiative of the former
president. The statement reads in part;
"Ex- 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, 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 former President Obasanjo would turn
around after over 10 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.”

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