Posted by By Jacob EDI, Abuja on
Embattled senate President, Chief Adolphus Wabara, has vowed not to go down alone. In fact, he has declared that the war against corruption will not consume him alone following the N55 million bribery scandal in the National Assembly in which he was allegedly involved.
Embattled senate President, Chief Adolphus Wabara, has vowed not to go down alone. In fact, he has declared that the war against corruption will not consume him alone following the N55 million bribery scandal in the National Assembly in which he was allegedly involved.
His position over the weekend, according to a very reliable source, was strenghtened by the resolve of the National Assembly last week to make sure that all culprits all culprits in both the legislative and executive arms of government must be brought to book and not only the legislative arm.
In fact, members of the House of Representatives and the Senate at various times last week had issued statements insisting they are not against the government's anti-corruption war but that it must follow due process.
Wabara, Daily Sun, reliably gathered, told a confidant: "If Obasanjo thinks he can use and dump me, he will get the surprise of his life. I can never be disgraced out of office. If I am corrupt, the president himself is no Pope."
Wabara's new-found courage is coming on the heels of stunning but yet unconfirmed allegations that since the inception of the Obasanjo administration, not less than N300 billion has been frittered away through the Nigeria National Petroleum Coporation [NNPC] to fund various projects not approved by the National Assembly and the monies cannot be said to have been judiciously utilised.
Some of the areas the Wabara team will be looking at include the money used to fund Obasanjo's re-election, some part of moneys spent during the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM), moneys spent to mobilise against Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) strikes and sundry other expenses and most recently the on-going National Political Reform Conference.
Wabara had reportedly resigned his position as President of the Senate last week, but his special adviser on media and publicity, Mr. Henry Ugbolue, dismissed news of the resignation as "unfounded rumour."
However the Peoples Democratic Party [PDP] and incidentally Wabara's party had asked him to resign. This was the party's position at the end of its weekly National Working Committee [NWC] meeting.
"The Senate President did not and will not resign. He is enjoying his Easter break like any senator of the federal republic and he has been receiving a lot of prominent Nigerians as well as senators," Mr. Ugbolue told reporters last week in Abuja. When the National Assembly returns to business after the Easter break, it will be clear which options Wabara will finally chose.