– Prominent Yoruba leader, Senator Femi Okurounmu backs Obasanjo’s letter

– He accused lawmakers of stealing taxpayers’ money through the controversial constituency allowance

– He said the National Assembly had succeeded at operating in secrecy

Senator Femi Okurounmu, a prominent Yoruba leader has supported former president, Olusegun Obasanjo’s claims that members of the National Assembly were corrupt and insensitive.

Okurounmu, who represented Ogun-Central senatorial district between 1999 and 2003, said members of the National Assembly were aware that everything that Obasanjo said in his letter was true.

He said: “I have been saying the same thing for years. For once, Obasanjo and I agree on something. I agree with him completely because he is saying the truth. He knows everything because he has been in the system.”

Speaking during a telephone interview with The Punch, Okurounmu, who had been critical of Obasanjo in the past said the lawmakers were milking Nigeria dry and killing the nation’s economy.

Obasanjo had in an open letter dated January 13 to the leadership of the National Assembly claimed that the lawmakers allocated to themselves salaries and allowances above the template approved by the Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission.

Supporting Obasanjo’s claim, the elder statesman said the federal legislators steal taxpayers’ money through the controversial constituency allowance.

Okurounmu, who was the chairman of the presidential committee on the National Conference of 2014, said: “The constituency allowance is just a way of getting money. They are all thieves. The constituency allowance was introduced when we were in the Senate and it was not allowance. It was for projects that the Federal Government ministries would prosecute.

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“As a senator, you would identify a project in your constituency which you want the government to execute. If it is a road, you would list it under the Federal Ministry of Works. If it is water, you would put it under the Ogun-Oshun River Basin Development Authority and then you begin to lobby for the execution of the projects. It is not that cash is given to you.

“They are not supposed to do so. But today, they get the money and get so many other allowances.”

Okurounmu noted that the National Assembly had succeeded at operating in secrecy.

He, therefore, called on members of the press and the masses to do more in demanding accountability from members of the National Assembly.

Obasanjo’s letter the the leadership of the National Assembly has triggered many reactions. In response to the letter, the Senate president, Bukola Saraki said Obasanjo’s issues will be addressed accordingly and treated with priority as a past leader of the nation.