The House of Representatives has accused former president Olusegun Obansanjo of trying to blackmail every government that he is not part of, even when it is obvious that he introduced corruption into the National Assembly during his time as president in 1999.

Spokesman of the House, Abdulrazak Namadas, said recent criticism of the present administration by Obasanjo was aimed at distabilising and bringing down the government of President Muhammadu Buhari.

Recall that Obasanjo had at a lecture in Lagos on Wednesday said that the National Assembly was a den of corruption, accusing the lawmakers of threatening the life Abdulmumin Jibrin, who exposed the corruption perpetrated in the 2016 budget.

Addressing a press conference on Thursday, Namdas accused Obasanjo of being a mischief maker and a life time opposition leader.

Namdas also said that as far as the House was concerned, Obasanjo introduced corruption in the House the first day he assumed office as president in 1999 and that the former president is the grandfather of corruption in Nigeria.

The House spokesman said: “It is unfortunate that he (Obasanjo) has started his very familiar method of bringing down governments.

“He did it to Alhaji Shehu Shagari, he did it to Gen. Buhari, he did same to Gen. Babangida, he attempted to bring down Gen. Abacha before he imprisoned him for treason; he made frantic efforts to derail the government of President Ya’ardua when he couldn’t use him.

“He supported President Goodluck Jonathan but when he refused to take dictation, he turned against him. He supported President Buhari, but since he has sensed that Nigeria is having economic difficulties under him, he has pounced to derail his government.

“What did he do about the issues he raised in his 8 years as President?” Namadas queried.

The spokesman reiterated that there was no case of “padding” in the 2016 budget, saying that it was unfortunate that a person of Obasanjo’s caliber allowed himself to be deceived by “a renegade member of the House, who embarked on massive propaganda and lies just because he was removed from office.”

“We have repeatedly maintained that there was no “padding” of the 2016 Appropriation Act, which is a legitimate document passed by the National Assembly, authenticated by the Clerk to the National Assembly as provided in the Acts Authentication Act and assented to by Mr. President,” he maintained.

Namdas, described all the allegations raised by the former president at the said lecture as “outright lies” and “misrepresentation of facts.”