Atiku Introduced Corruption to National Assembly-Obasanjo

Atiku Introduced Corruption to National Assembly- Obasanjo

Atiku and Obasanjo

Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has said that it was his deputy, Atiku Abubakar who set the stage for bribery in the National Assembly under his watch.
Both Obasanjo and his estranged deputy have been at each other's throat since they parted ways in his second term when he wanted Turaki Adamawa quit his government in vain.
But for the Judiciary, Obasanjo would have succeeded in thrown the vice president out of power and denied him from participating in the presidential poll that brought the late President, Umaru Yar 'Adua to power.
Writing in his latest memoir, MY WATCH, Obasanjo spared no word in taking Atiku to the cleaners in his bid to paint him as a corrupt and disloyal politician.
One of the instances cited in his controversial book was the emergence of the late politician, Chuba Okadigbo as the senate president where Obasanjo alleged that the Anambra-born politician would not have lost out but for the Atiku  who "distributed US$5,000 each to some senators".
His words: "I had to inaugurate or prorogue  the National Assembly on June4, 1999. The most important officer in the National Assembly is the Senate President and that office had been zoned to the South-East. And here was where Atiku Abubakar, my Vice-President, first showed his hand and his character. Without seeking my view or approval, he started planning the installation of Chuba Okadigbo as the Senate President. I did a background check on Chuba including his past as a student and made enquiries about him in the National Party of Nigeria (NPN) under Shagari and no one would recommend him for the post of the Senate President. I left Atiku to go on his chase while I carried out a meticulous and detailed investigation and background check on each Senator from the South-East. The one that appeared most appointable was Evan Enwerrem. I canvassed the Senate across the board for his election and he was elected.
"Atiku did not expect it and he felt sore. He began to strategise for Enwerem to be removed and Chuba Okadigbo to be installed. His strategy worked because I was at Abuja airport to receive a visiting Head of State when the news reached me that the Senate had impeached Enwerem and elected Okadigbo. I as not perturbed. I came to understand from some Senators including Florence Ita-Giwa, who later became my Special Adviser/Liaison Officer to the National Assembly that Atiku distributed US$5,000 each to some Senators to carry out the 'coup'. That was the beginning of bribing the legislature to carry out a particular line of action to suit or satisfy the purpose or desire of an individual or a group."

According to Obasanjo, "The National Assembly has tasted blood and they would continue to want more. From the day I nominated Atiku to be my Vice; he set his mind not for any good, benefit or service of the country, but on furiously planning to upstage, supplant or remove me at all costs and to take my place. that was what I brought him for, but he was impatient and over-ambitious. He was not ready to learn and to wait.Pity!"