Nigerian parliamentary Speaker Ghali Umar Na'Abba called for the resignation of President Olusegun Obasanjo as a row over mutual corruption charges intensified, press reports said Friday.
Deepening an already serious rift between the president and parliament, Na'Abba was quoted as saying on Thursday: "Whoever is not ready to work with the legislature should pack his load and go."
The speaker of the House of Representatives was speaking to a delegation of parliamentarians from northern Katsina state, the Guardian and Vanguard newspapers reported.
"The House will continue to be law-abiding and will continue to defend itself against anybody with dictatorial tendencies. ... The executive arm has failed this nation. They have lost focus on how to go about their primary duties," Na'Abba said, accusing the entire executive of incompetence.
The lower house has repeatedly accused Obasanjo of seeking to destabilize it, and by extension, the nation.
On Wednesday, a sum of 3.5 million naira (30,000 dollars) was displayed in the parliament and described as bribe money allegedly given to seven legislators by the executive to support a bid to remove Na'Abba.
The presidency has denied the allegation, and a legislative panel is investigating the scandal.
Obasanjo's government, in turn, has called on the legislators to submit themselves to a corruption probe.
A probe committee in early August indicted several top officials in the National Assembly, including Na'Abba, on corruption charges.
Police recently invited those charged to submit to an investigation to clear themselves, but all have refused -- LAGOS (AFP)
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