He said in place of the luxuries and affluence, which usually characterized political offices in Nigeria, sacrifice and had become the lot of ministers, special advisers and chief executive officers of government agencies and parastatals.
Speaking in an exclusive interview with Vanguard in Abuja during the Sallah break, Ojudu likened the current situation of the political appointees to that of the ordinary Nigerian in the face of the economic crisis in the country.
Ojudu, who noted that he had not been able to renew his rent which expired in May, also revealed that most ministers, except for those who had served as governors, were squatting with family friends in Abuja.
He said: “Here is my office. People tell me what this office was like when I was not here. The air conditioners you are seeing, I had to buy them myself. This bulbs you are seeing, I bought them myself. The TV inside, I bought it myself. The government couldn’t even do it for me. I have no personal staff, no official car.”
Why BBOG is barred from protesting at Villa
While pleading with Nigerians for patience, Ojudu also gave reasons the #BringBackOurGirls#, BBOG, campaigners would never be allowed into the presidential villa again to protest.
He said: “Since the President came to power, he has met with them thrice. And it is looking like look, you are making this thing appear as if I am the one detaining those girls. I am not detaining them. You are only going to protest to me if I am the one detaining them.
“If you allow the BBOG to go into the villa everyday to carry out their campaign, what time would the President have to do his work?
“Will that not be calling for disorder? In UK, anyone who has something to say goes to Trafalgar Square. The media will meet you there. They don’t enter into 10, Downing Street.
“So, if the BBOG can restrict its campaign to the Unity Square, no body will stop them. But to say that everyday you want to go to the bedroom in the office of the President, that for me is bad.”
On why it is taking the present government to reduce the number of aircraft in the Presidential fleet, Senator Ojudu said: “Again, you should know the workings of government. Sometimes, it could be very slow to take such decision. You, first, want to know how many you have. How serviceable they are, what use would you want to put the ones available, all of that decision.
“The President has said I want to provide free food for students, it’s taking six months to do procurement, to go through all of the steps in the civil service. If you don’t do them, in future when you are not there, they can come and pounce on you and say you contravened government processes.
‘’So, some of these things you cannot blame on the President or the vice president. There are laid down procedures for doing this. What you cannot say is that since he got there, he has made approval for the purchase of new aircraft.
‘’He cannot use more than one, neither could the vice president use more than one but he has insisted that something must be done but the system is still there.’’
Asked whether the aircraft would be sold eventually, Ojudu said: ‘’Of course, he has said it many times over that look, get buyers for those that are not of use to me. Those ones that will be of use to the Airforce, give it to the airforce. But as I said, government processes move so slow and that’s why, for example, we are requesting for some powers to enable him take decisions quickly.
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