The farmer said the bill which birthed the current leading anti-graft agency in the country, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), took a year and half to scale through the National Assembly as it was “somewhat watered down in the form that it was passed.”
According to him, some of the lawmakers said that if they passed the bill as originally sent to them, most of them would go to jail after their term as lawmakers.
Obasanjo said he had to assent the bill as he was hinted that any attempt to return it to the parliament, the legal framework would never have seen the light of the day.
He said “As a result of my uncompromising stand on the issue of corruption and because of the rigour of the first bill I sent to them. the EFCC bill, and possibly putting their threat into action, it took them a year and half to pass the bill and it was somewhat watered down in the form that it was passed.
“Some of them said that if they passed the bill as I had sent it to them, most of them would go to Jail after their term as lawmakers. I had to assent to the bill as they passed it because it was hinted to me that some of them were expecting me to veto the bill as passed and send it back to them and it would never have seen the light of the day after.
“There were other bills they mangled up either to suit their interests or to satisfy those who paid them. A typical example was the Niger Delta Development Commission (NNDC) bill which was designed for oil companies, the Federal Government and the affected States to contribute and the total fund to be used for regional development of the Delta and oil-producing states and in some way to mitigate some adverse effects of oil production in the area. The states, may not be all of them, went to bribe the national lawmakers and they excised states from making contributions to the fund.”
Obasanjo equally said the worst action of the current lawmakers “is their insatiable appetite for corruption and breach of the Constitution.”