Former President Olusegun Obasanjo on Monday said the feud in the House of Representatives over the padding of the 2016 Budget has confirmed his earlier position that Nigerian lawmakers are “armed robbers and rogues”.
Obasanjo, who spoke with State House correspondents after a closed-door meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari at Aso Rock on Monday, said those criticising him over his past comment on the National Assembly can now see the justification.
He said the Nigeria can only get out of the mess of budget padding and other criminalities perpetrated by the National Assembly by ensuring that only men of integrity are elected into the National Assembly.
“Well, if you said that I have said it in the past and if they are people who didn’t believe what I said in the past, then you now say that what has come out confirms what I said in the past.
“Then you can say what I said in the past is what I will say now. It is not question of investigation. We should get men and women of integrity in the place and the president should be very vigilant. Whatever should not pass should not pass.”
On why he visited Buhari, Obasanjo said he was in the Presidential Villa to deliver messages from Liberia, Gambia and Seychilles to the President.
“I am visiting this time because I have some messages for the President. Not too long ago, I was in Liberia and Gambia and I have messages these two countries will want me to deliver to the President.
“Also, only yesterday I came back from Seychelles Island where I attended this year’s Annual General meeting of Africa Export Development Bank. And there are aspects of the proceedings that I think I should update the President.”
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