Senator Femi Okurounmu, a chieftain of Yoruba social-political organization, Afenifere, has reacted to the reduction of budgetary allocations for development of the country by the National Assembly.
Okurounmu described the action of the National Assembly as fraudulent.
The former lawmaker spoke to reporters in Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital on Thursday.
He pointed out that the lawmakers usually hid their allowances and other expenses.
Okurounmu said, “They are fraudulent; not only do they do a lot of budget padding, they introduce a lot of extra-legal amount just to meet all those illegal allowances that they are getting.
“To now accommodate their own demands, they inflate the budget. The President doesn’t know how to deal with the National Assembly; so there is always a stalemate between the National Assembly and the Presidency and the President is always going along with them because every budget the National Assembly inflates must accommodate their own demands or needs.
“These are the things that people cry about; about the horrible, extraneous allowances of legislators – senators and members of the House of Representatives. This is where it comes from.”
He further alleged that “there is a lot of corruption to be fought in the National Assembly, it is immoral for those who were corrupt to be making laws for the nation.”
He, however, said the President had no choice but to sign the budget because there was a stalemate.
He said, “The National Assembly blackmailed him; he cannot dismiss all of them and he doesn’t have the courage to fight them. If he has the courage to fight them he can fight them but he doesn’t have the courage because he’s surrounded by corrupt people himself.
“So, just as the National Assembly can blackmail him, he too can blackmail the National Assembly. So, it’s a game of mutual blackmail.”