Former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s description of members of the National Assembly as corrupt has received support from the former House of Representatives Chairman, Committee on Appropriation, Abdulmumin Jibrin. Obasanjo's statement didn't go down well with the National Assembly. The chairman of the House of Representatives committee on media and publicity, Abdulrasak Namdas, in reaction, addressed reporters at the National Assembly in Abuja and described the former as the grandfather and architect of corruption in the National Assembly when he was Nigeria's president. However, in a statement yesterday, Jibrin challenged the leadership of the House to make public the financial statement of the House as well as the controversial running cost allowances of lawmakers. According to him, former President Obasanjo’s statement was based on facts, saying, “I wish to state categorically that all what former President Obasanjo said is true”. Jibrin faulted the official response of the House, saying House spokesman, Abdulrazaq Namdas’ statement was not reflective of the opinion of the House members. He said: “I have released to the public instances of budget fraud. I have provided sufficient evidence to the security and anti- graft agencies and I have indicated my readiness to stand as witness in case of prosecution. “All they are trying to do in their usual style is to blackmail the executive arm to take responsibility for what is an obvious offence. “All the anti- graft agencies need to do is to go and investigate only the 2015 SDG projects where about 10 billion naira was budgeted and see where that will lead them. It has remained a huge scandal in the House ,but nobody will talk because it is a system of ‘chop clean mouth’”. “The problem is not that the money is insufficient to run the entire activities of the NASS . The truth of the matter is that about half the money is stolen in the name of running costs. “The NASS has received about 1 trillion naira since 2006 and about 500 billion naira has gone directly into private pockets through the fraud called running costs... “No member has access to copies of the internal budget of the House to see how the remaining money is spent after deducting the fraudulent running costs. “The House should be ashamed of itself that it knows details of budget of the executive arm, including wage bill, but it cannot simply let the world know the details of its own budget. “Nobody is saying the members do not need running costs for their offices; what we are saying is that the money is diverted directly into private pockets.” Jibrin was suspended for one legislative year over allegations of bringing the House into disrepute with his revelation on corruption in the House.
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