Obasanjo’s refusal to inflate National Assembly contract caused friction with lawmakers- Ezekwesili

The South West PDP threw a party to celebrate Obasanjo

One of the reasons former President Olusegun Obasanjo had a running battle with the National Assembly during his tenure as president was because he refused to inflate a contract for the construction of a part of the National Assembly complex.

This was stated by Oby Ezekwesili, a former Minister of Education and head of the Due Process Office under Mr. Obasanjo, at a party thrown by the South-West Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, to celebrate the former president.

The relationship between Mr. Obasanjo and the legislators during his administration was not rosy, with the legislators persistently threatening to impeach him over one matter after another.

Ms. Ezekwesili who later rose to the position of Vice-President of the World Bank, said Mr. Obasanjo ran into problems with the lawmakers when they brought a proposed bill of N25 billion for the construction of the complex.

She said that after proper findings, it was discovered that the complex would gulp N17 billion, contrary to the inflated N25 billion proposed and forwarded by the National Assembly.

The then President Obasanjo refused to approve the bill.

Ms. Ezekwesili, who once headed the Due Process Office and was referred to as Madam Due Process, said it was at that point the lawmakers rose up against Mr. Obasanjo for refusing to approve the bill.

She described the former president as an embodiment of courage and a leader with vision.

EDITOR’S NOTE: The third paragraph of this story has been edited to reflect the fact that the events had nothing to do with Mr. Obasanjo’s third term agenda. The events happened three years before the third term campaign.