The House of Representatives have responded to former President Olusegun Obasanjo, who called constituency projects "corruption", calling the ex leader the "grandfather of corruption".
It noted that its response had already been “fully captured” in a position the House took in 2016.
It can be recalled that Obasanjo made his latest attacks in Minna, the Niger State capital, on Monday where he addressed the opening of a two-day investment forum organised by the Niger State Government.
The forum with the theme, “Impact of Investing for Advancing Agricultural Economy and Innovation,” had several notable personalities in attendance, including a former Head of State, Gen. Abdulsalami Abubakar (retd.) and the Sultan of Sokoto, Muhammadu Sa’ad-Abubakar III.
Speaking, the Ogun state-born retired Army General said,"The Sultan talked about roads; I hope our lawmakers will use their position and act positively so that when they put in road projects in the budget, they will not turn them into what they now term as constituency projects?
“You and I know what constituency projects mean. It is simply corruption.”
However, reacting through its Chairman, Committee on Media and Public Affairs, Mr. Abdulrazak Namdas, the House said attacking the National Assembly was Obasanjo’s pastime, a reason it took a position in 2016 to reply him “comprehensively and close the chapter.”
Namdas stated, “We won’t respond to any corruption allegations by Obasanjo against us anymore.
“We have replied him enough and our position remains what we said earlier. It has not changed.
“I refer you to our comprehensive position on Obasanjo in 2016. That is still our position.”
Since he finished his second tenure in 2007, the ex president have always been on loggerheads with the lawmakers.
In January 2016, he wrote separate letters to the Senate President, Bukola Saraki, and the Speaker of the House, Mr. Yakubu Dogara, accusing lawmakers of being extravagant and corrupt in the face of economic challenges in the country.
In November of the same year, he called senators and House of Representatives’ members “unarmed robbers” on the heels of the suspension of a former Chairman, House Committee on Appropriation, Mr. Abdulmumin Jibrin, over his budget padding allegations.
The former President had stated, “Once you are a member, you are co-opted and your mouth is stuffed with rottenness and corruption that you cannot opt out, as you go home with not less than N15m in a month for a senator and N10m a month for a member of the House of Representatives. The National Assembly is a den of corruption by a gang of unarmed robbers.
“If the judiciary is being cleaned, what of the National Assembly, which stinks much more than the judiciary? Budget padding must not go unpunished.
“It is a reality, which is a regular and systemic practice. Nobody should pull the wool over the eyes of Nigerians.”