• President a dictator, destroying democracy
• National Assembly, an assembly of thieves
Former President Olusegun Obasanjo yesterday launched broadsides against President Goodluck Jonathan and members of the National Assembly for their handling of the affairs of the country. Obasanjo, at the launch of two books in honour of former Chairman, Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), retired Justice Mustapha Akanbi, in Abuja, accused the president of intimidating the opposition. The two books are: The story of my two worlds: Challenges, experiences and achievements, which is an autobiography of Justice Akanbi and A life of service and grace (Perspective shared).
The former president, who also described senators and members of the House of Representatives as corrupt, said the president, by his action, was endangering democracy. He urged Jonathan to stop promoting “verbal violence which may not physically hurt, but has ways of degenerating into physical violence”.Obasanjo, who spoke against the backdrop of the police raid on the data centre of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and police invasion of the National Assembly, said: “Management of democracy without resorting to brute force and dictatorial tendencies must be cultivated. “As a leader, you must not deliberately do evil or condone evil.
You should know that you will one day give account to God, you may cover up here, but before God, there is no cover up.” Yesterday’s attack on the president by Obasanjo is the second within one week as he had, last weekend in Abeokuta, scored the Jonathan administration below average. The former president also accused the president of mismanaging the economy and the Boko Haram insurgency. He decried the growing corruption in the economy, with its attendant toll on the wellbeing of the people. He said: “What the public know or see of the economy is not what the economy truly is. “For quite some time, the covered and the hushed up corruption has had its toll on the economy.
The non-investment and disinvestment in the oil and gas sector by the major international oil companies has added its own deleterious impact. “Our continued heavy dependence on one commodity has not adequately prepared us against any shock in that one commodity on the international plane. “With the figure of $78 per barrel as benchmark, we will be in a bind if oil price falls to $75 per barrel. I am made to understand that Saudi Arabia used $68 per barrel as benchmark for its 2015 budget. “Our inadequate protection of almost all local industries with heavy cost of energy has dealt a hard blow on most indigenous industries.
The economy is in doldrums if not in reverse. “The often-quoted GDP growth neither reflects on the living condition of most of our people nor on most of the indigenous industries and services where capacity utilisation is about 50 per cent.”
He also decried the poor understanding and handling of the insurgency in the North-East region Jonathan. He described Boko Haram as not a menace based on religion or one directed to frustrate anybody’s political ambition, but essentially a socio-economic problem that is tainted with religion. “It is a gargantuan danger to the nation and to all Nigerians. President Jonathan’s understanding of Boko Haram phenomenon suffered from wrong reading and wrong imputation. That is what led us to where we are today,” he added.
In his attack on National Assembly members, Obasanjo accused them of extorting money from government officials and contractors. He described the legislature as a haven of corruption and regretted that the executive arm of govern-ment was also complicit in bribing lawmakers. He said: “Apart from shrouding the remunerations of the National Assembly in opaqueness and without transparency, they indulge in extorting money from departments, contractors and ministries in two ways.
“They do so during visits to their projects and programmes and in the process of budget approval when they build up budgets for ministries and departments, which agree to give it back to them in contracts that they do not execute.
They do similar things during their inquiries. “Corruption in the National Assembly also includes what they call constituency projects which they give to their agents to execute but invariably, full payment is made with little or no job done. “In all this, if the executive is not absolutely above board, the offending members of the National Assembly resort to subtle or open threat, intimidation and blackmail. When the executive pay the huge money, normally in millions of dollars, all is quiet in form of whitewashed reports that fail to deal effectively with the issues investigated.”
At the book launch, the Oba of Lagos, Rilwan Akiolu, said before the inauguration of Obasanjo as president, the former president had pledged to ensure transparency in the Nigerian oil sector but he later reneged on his pledge as the oil sector became a cesspool of corruption. “Obasanjo failed to address the problems with the number of crude oil per barrel produced daily, how many barrels are exported for sale as well as the use of the proceeds,” he stated.
However, the former president differed from the royal father, stating that it was during his tenure that allocation to states became transparent with the publication of monthly revenue to the three tiers of government.
According to him, his government also worked out modalities to enthrone accountability and transparency in the oil sector. Although, presidential spokesman, Dr. Reuben Abati promised yesterday to issue a statement in reaction to Obasanjo’s attack, he had not done so as at press time. Also, Senior Special Assistant to the President on Public Affairs, Dr. Doyin Okupe, could not be reached as calls to his telephone line did not go through.
Source: New Telegraph
• National Assembly, an assembly of thieves
Former President Olusegun Obasanjo yesterday launched broadsides against President Goodluck Jonathan and members of the National Assembly for their handling of the affairs of the country. Obasanjo, at the launch of two books in honour of former Chairman, Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), retired Justice Mustapha Akanbi, in Abuja, accused the president of intimidating the opposition. The two books are: The story of my two worlds: Challenges, experiences and achievements, which is an autobiography of Justice Akanbi and A life of service and grace (Perspective shared).
The former president, who also described senators and members of the House of Representatives as corrupt, said the president, by his action, was endangering democracy. He urged Jonathan to stop promoting “verbal violence which may not physically hurt, but has ways of degenerating into physical violence”.Obasanjo, who spoke against the backdrop of the police raid on the data centre of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and police invasion of the National Assembly, said: “Management of democracy without resorting to brute force and dictatorial tendencies must be cultivated. “As a leader, you must not deliberately do evil or condone evil.
You should know that you will one day give account to God, you may cover up here, but before God, there is no cover up.” Yesterday’s attack on the president by Obasanjo is the second within one week as he had, last weekend in Abeokuta, scored the Jonathan administration below average. The former president also accused the president of mismanaging the economy and the Boko Haram insurgency. He decried the growing corruption in the economy, with its attendant toll on the wellbeing of the people. He said: “What the public know or see of the economy is not what the economy truly is. “For quite some time, the covered and the hushed up corruption has had its toll on the economy.
The non-investment and disinvestment in the oil and gas sector by the major international oil companies has added its own deleterious impact. “Our continued heavy dependence on one commodity has not adequately prepared us against any shock in that one commodity on the international plane. “With the figure of $78 per barrel as benchmark, we will be in a bind if oil price falls to $75 per barrel. I am made to understand that Saudi Arabia used $68 per barrel as benchmark for its 2015 budget. “Our inadequate protection of almost all local industries with heavy cost of energy has dealt a hard blow on most indigenous industries.
The economy is in doldrums if not in reverse. “The often-quoted GDP growth neither reflects on the living condition of most of our people nor on most of the indigenous industries and services where capacity utilisation is about 50 per cent.”
He also decried the poor understanding and handling of the insurgency in the North-East region Jonathan. He described Boko Haram as not a menace based on religion or one directed to frustrate anybody’s political ambition, but essentially a socio-economic problem that is tainted with religion. “It is a gargantuan danger to the nation and to all Nigerians. President Jonathan’s understanding of Boko Haram phenomenon suffered from wrong reading and wrong imputation. That is what led us to where we are today,” he added.
In his attack on National Assembly members, Obasanjo accused them of extorting money from government officials and contractors. He described the legislature as a haven of corruption and regretted that the executive arm of govern-ment was also complicit in bribing lawmakers. He said: “Apart from shrouding the remunerations of the National Assembly in opaqueness and without transparency, they indulge in extorting money from departments, contractors and ministries in two ways.
“They do so during visits to their projects and programmes and in the process of budget approval when they build up budgets for ministries and departments, which agree to give it back to them in contracts that they do not execute.
They do similar things during their inquiries. “Corruption in the National Assembly also includes what they call constituency projects which they give to their agents to execute but invariably, full payment is made with little or no job done. “In all this, if the executive is not absolutely above board, the offending members of the National Assembly resort to subtle or open threat, intimidation and blackmail. When the executive pay the huge money, normally in millions of dollars, all is quiet in form of whitewashed reports that fail to deal effectively with the issues investigated.”
At the book launch, the Oba of Lagos, Rilwan Akiolu, said before the inauguration of Obasanjo as president, the former president had pledged to ensure transparency in the Nigerian oil sector but he later reneged on his pledge as the oil sector became a cesspool of corruption. “Obasanjo failed to address the problems with the number of crude oil per barrel produced daily, how many barrels are exported for sale as well as the use of the proceeds,” he stated.
However, the former president differed from the royal father, stating that it was during his tenure that allocation to states became transparent with the publication of monthly revenue to the three tiers of government.
According to him, his government also worked out modalities to enthrone accountability and transparency in the oil sector. Although, presidential spokesman, Dr. Reuben Abati promised yesterday to issue a statement in reaction to Obasanjo’s attack, he had not done so as at press time. Also, Senior Special Assistant to the President on Public Affairs, Dr. Doyin Okupe, could not be reached as calls to his telephone line did not go through.
Source: New Telegraph
No comments:
Post a Comment