Ex-lawmaker tags National Assembly rubber stamp, department of APC

– PDP wants INEC to conduct Ogun LG poll, says Ogundele

Former House of Representatives member, Ladi Adebutu, has criticised the leadership of the National Assembly for budgeting N37 billion for the renovation of the Assembly complex.

He described the Senate led by Ahmed Lawan and the House of Representatives under the speakership of Femi Gbajabiamila as not only a “department” of the All Progressives Congress (APC) but also a “rubber stamp” in the hands of the president.

Adebutu, who represented Remo Federal Constituency of Ogun State at the 8th Assembly, was fielding questions from journalists at the end-of-year party he organised for members of the state chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Abeokuta yesterday.

He said it was regrettable that the National Assembly that was “brilliantly constituted” had become an appendage of the presidency.

“As a former member of the National Assembly, I find it difficult to malign the institution. But I must say, very sadly, that the National Assembly as brilliantly constituted is now an appendage of the inept government of President Muhammadu Buhari.

“It is a department of APC, a rubber stamp Assembly. It has started failing,” he said.

Describing Nigeria’s debt profile as “unbearable and painful”, he argued that Nigeria, in the last five years, owed more than what it had owed throughout history.

Meanwhile, factional state chairman of the PDP, Sikirulai Ogundele, expressed worry over the coming council election in the state, stressing that the party had no confidence in the Ogun State Independent Electoral Commission (OGSIEC) in conducting a credible election.

He disclosed that the party might boycott the election, insisting that “OGISEC is an extension of the APC-led administration in the state.”

According to Ogundele, the party will only participate in the election if it is conducted by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).