A chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Ekiti State, Olusegun Osinkolu, has described the 8th National Assembly as the worst in the nation’s history since the return of democratic rule in 1999.
Speaking with reporters on Monday in Ado Ekiti on the crisis rocking the National Assembly, Osinkolu expressed regrets that the federal lawmakers have disappointed the electorate by their alleged involvement in forgery and budget padding.
Ahead of the 2019 general elections, Osinkolu urged Nigerians to be more vigilant and careful on the personality of candidates seeking their votes for National Assembly seats advocating for election of people of integrity.
He expressed fear that winning the anti-corruption war would be very difficult if the National Assembly still parades personalities like Senate President Bukola Saraki, Deputy Senate President Ike Ekweremadu and Speaker Yakubu Dogara still holding top posts.
The duo of Saraki and Ekweremadu are currently answering forgery charges in a Federal High Court in Abuja over alleged alteration of the standing rules that brought them into office.
While Dogara and former Chairman, House Committee on Appropriation, Abdulmumin Jubrin are exchanging verbal abuses over alleged budget padding running into billions of Naira.
Osinkolu said: “President Muhammadu Buhari alone cannot win the war against graft. He needed good institutions like the Senate and House of Representatives to win the war.
“We need men of integrity, those with strong characters and incorruptible nature to lead that pivotal arm to help the executive raise the bar of governance beyond this pedestrian level.
“The silence of the members of both chambers in the midst of these raging controversies lent credence to the fact that they are also complicit. They have not comported themselves in the most honourable way and this portends grave danger to us as a nation.
“The silence of the members of both chambers in the midst of these raging controversies lent credence to the fact that they are also complicit. They have not comported themselves in the most honourable way and this portends grave danger to us as a nation.
“President Buhari was elected by the popular notion that he has integrity and the political will to tackle corruption in any form. He shouldn’t disappoint Nigerians in this regard because sparing these big men might cast a thick doubt on the integrity of the APC-led federal government.
“Making laws need not be a full time job where Governors finish serving as executives in a state for 8 yrs will run to the Senate to remain relevant and to seek refuge against prosecution.”
The APC chieftain called on the federal government and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) not to spare anybody indicted of complicity in the official malfeasance going on in both chambers of the national assembly.
Particularly, Osinkolu appealed to the Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami not to bow to pressure and harassment coming from the senators on the alleged forgery case, saying his ability to prosecute such high profile case would send a signal that President Buhari is committed to ridding the country of criminality.
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