By Polycarp Onwubiko
The embattled Senator Ningi in the interview in Sunday Vanguard March 17, 2024 page 11 granted by Senator Abba Moro, contains 'wonderful' (preposterous and ludicrous reasons why humongous public funds are frittered away by the National Assembly in the name of "Constituency Projects". The harebrained initiative was credited to one of the Nigeria presidents that had scoffing disregard for Rule of Law, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo.
Hear Senator Abba Moro the
justification for constituency projects allowances:
"The essence of constituency projects is that we are from diverse communities. My constituency expects that I should do certain things for them; others expect something else; therefore to cushion the effects on the barrage of lawmakers, let's allocate funds for lawmakers. It is a noble idea as far as I am concerned, but if it is abused, we need to address it ourselves".
My comments:
In the first place,
Constituency Projects allowance should not have been found in the 1999
Constitution (a contraption imposed by the military oligarchy without input
from the ethnic nationalities as done in Federations like Nigeria before the
Independence constitution was enacted). Former president Obasanjo (but his
throwing his weight about to live the preposterous gimmickry of being the most
powerful president Nigeria ever had) had no Constitutional mandate to introduce
Constituency Projects allowance for the both the National and State Assembly
legislators.
It was a monstrous
Constitutional aberration but Nigerians were like tongue-tied marrionete who
didn't talk to object to such grossly irresponsible practice. In democracy,
more importantly the Federal system type, the Three Arms of government namely:
Executive, Legislature, and Judiciary are "independent but coordinate) in
their functions to ensure checks and balances, calling each other to respect
the provisions of the Constitution. But unfortunately Nigeria has proved that
it is a shamelessly lawless “Zoo Republic" where anything could be done by
people in power.
Head or tail, it has been
sufficiently proved that the Constituency Projects allowance is a nest of
MIND-BOGGLING flagrant avenue for humongous financial malfeasance aka bogus
corruption. Needless to reel out the brazen bastardization of the harebrained
initiative and concept cum the laughable reasons Senator Abba Moro gave to
justify the clearly undemocratic concept of Constituency Projects allowance.
To brazenly showcase the repulsive
corruptive practice in the allocation of allowance for Constituency Projects,
the socalled "Ranking Senators get whooping and humongous allowance while
the Senate president (oh my goodness) gets only God knows the indescribable
amount of public funds made available to them by the fundamentally fraudulent
and fundamentally flawed contraption referred to as the 1999 Constitution
laughably referred to as "as amended" to suit the preferences and
venality of the "Fulani Feudal Oligarchy" that purportedly decide
what happens in the"already expired Nigeria".
Thanks to the likes of the
former Commonwealth stalwart, Chief Emeka Anyaoku, Pa Ayo Adebanjo, etc who
recently warned that the country is painfully moving on the road to GOLGOTHA if
there is no plans to have a NEW CONSTITUTION. Of course the new Constitution
must follow the pattern for the heterogeneous society like the Independence
Constitution based on the Constitutional Conference of the ethnic nationalities
to brainstorm on how Nigerians can still live together going by the
monstrosities going on in the country courtesy of the "Fulani Feudal
Oligarchy" who created a "sense of entitlement" to be superior
to the rest of other ethnic nationalities in matters affecting the country. This
arrant nonsense has to stop if Nigeria will still be a place for all the ethnic
nationalities in terms of justice, equity, fairness and respect for the Rule of
Law.
Polycarp Onwubiko, media commentator
writes from Awka, Anambra State.
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