A former member of the National Assembly, Senator Femi Okurounmu, has described members of the National Assembly as the most corrupt people in Nigeria, according to a report by Nigerian Tribune.
The former lawmaker who represented Ogun Central Senatorial District, in the upper legislative arm from 1999 to 2013, stated this while fielding questions from newsmen in Abeokuta, on Thursday.
The former Chairman of the Presidential Advisory Committee on National Conference submitted that the legislators are fraudulent, not only because of budget padding but because they introduced extra-illegal amount to meet their illegal allowances.
Okurounmu said, “They are fraudulent; not only do they do a lot of budget padding, they introduce a lot of extra-legal amounts just to meet all those illegal allowances that they are getting. To now accommodate their own demands, they inflate the budget.
“The President doesn’t know how to deal with the National Assembly; so there is always a stalemate between the National Assembly and the Presidency and the president is always going along with them because every budget the National Assembly inflates must accommodate their own demands or needs and these are the things that people cry about; about the horrible, extraneous allowances of legislators – Senators and House of Reps. This is where it comes from.
“If he wants to fight corruption, there is a lot of corruption to be fought in the National Assembly. They are the legislators.
“In fact, it is immoral for those who are corrupt to be making laws for the nation. They are among the most corrupt people in Nigeria.”
Asked why President Muhammadu Buhari signed the budget despite the anomalies discovered in it, Okurounmu, said both the Presidency and the Nation Assembly are two sets of robbers.
“He has no choice because as I have said, there’s a stalemate. The National Assembly blackmailed him; he cannot dismiss all of them and he doesn’t have the courage to fight them.
“If he has the courage to fight them he can fight them but he doesn’t have the courage because he’s surrounded by corrupt people himself.
” So, just as the National Assembly can blackmail him, he too can blackmail the National Assembly. So, it’s a game of mutual blackmail. They are two sets of robbers, the National Assembly and the Presidency,” he added.
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