President Bola Tinubu-led government on Tuesday upbraided former President Olusegun Obasanjo, calling him a corrupt leader who introduced bribery into Nigeria’s fourth Republic.

Spokesperson for the Tinubu-led government, Bayo Onanuga, in a tweet on Thursday, scolded the former president for accusing Mr Tinubu of bribing lawmakers to approve emergency rule declaration in Rivers State.

He said, “Former President Obasanjo, who yesterday recklessly accused the distinguished and honourable members of the National Assembly of bribe-taking to pass the Rivers State of emergency declaration, was the man who introduced bribery into our Fourth Republic,” Mr Onanuga, describing Mr Obasanjo as an “hypocrite.”

Sharing another aide to Mr Tinubu, Sunday Dare’s post on X (formerly Twitter); a collage of newspaper reports on bribery allegations against the former president over failed plot to elongate his tenure, a development famously remembered as “third term agenda,” Mr Onanuga said “We should not forget this. However, we should be alarmed by his brazen hypocrisy.”

The response followed Mr Obasanjo’s claim that Mr Tinubu bribed each lawmaker $200,000 to get them to ratify the state of emergency declared in Rivers State due to the feud between Governor Siminalayi Fubara and the lawmakers loyal to his estranged political godfather, Nyesom Wike.

 Mr Obasanjo did not provide any evidence to back his claims. However, Peoples Gazette earlier reported that lawmakers in the National Assembly collected bribes in U.S. dollars to ratify Mr Tinubu’s emergency proclamation in Rivers State.

Eleven lawmakers, comprising seven senators and four representatives, confirmed separately to The Gazette that they were offered up to $25,000 to support Mr Tinubu’s invocation of Section 305 of the Nigerian Constitution to dismantle democratic institutions in Rivers State, including suspending Mr Fubara, state legislators, and appointing a military administrator.