Tuesday, 29 May 2018

National Assembly Members Are Notorious For Bribe Seeking – Jega

 A former chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Attahiru Jega, has accused members of the National Assembly of seeking bribes to carry out their constitutional duties.

The professor of Political Science made this known on Monday while delivering the year’s Democracy Day lecture at the International Conference Centre, Abuja which had President Muhammadu Buhari, Senate President Bukola Saraki, Speaker Yakubu Dogara, Chief Justice of Nigeria, Walter Onnoghen and other top government personalities in attendance.

He revealed that he has “spoken to quite a number of chief executives who complained of high demand for bribes from members of the National Assembly in the name of so called oversight functions” declaring that that “some chairmen of committees at the National Assembly are notorious for seeking for bribes.”

Jega specifically charged President Buhari to beam his anti-corruption searchlight on National Assembly committee chairmen who asked for bribe to pass budgets of Ministries Departments and Agencies (MDAs) and when they go on oversight function.

Also calling for total reform of the public service, the ex-INEC chief urged the present administration to avoid the fire brigade approach in handling the herdsmen/farmers crises among other security challenges in the country.

He also  observed that INEC is presently facing challenges that could mar the 2019 general election.

He said one of the challenges is violence, stressing that inability of the political parties to peacefully carry out internal elections will rub off on the 2019 elections when parties need to contend with one another.


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