By The former Chairman of House Committee on Appropriation, Hon Abdulmumin Jibrin (Kano State, APC) was interviewed on Africa Independent Televison, AIT, where he gave more insightful details into the alleged scandal currently rocking the House of Representatives. He said the whole saga is against the Speaker, Hon Yakubu Dogara.
He said he is not under any pressure due to his recent publication of the massive fraud that ravished the last budget passed into law. He said he only made request for additional security due to the threats he received from Hon Leo Ogor (Delta State).
He said he fell on the wrong side of Hon Ogor when he kicked against how he managed the budget of Federal Ministry of Niger Delta, a situation which caused disagreement between him and the Niger Delta Minister, even though they were from same region.
He said the Speaker began locking him out of executive sessions after he revealed to the members how N40bn was added to the constituency budget. He said the figure was initially N60bn, but he was surprised to see it jacked up to N100bn, a situation which have arisen different reactions from the members. He said he told the members the truth to clear his name from the scandal.
He also accused the Speaker of mandating the house members of deducting money meant for running of their offices to build houses in Abuja. He said even at that, he said some members were keeping multiple guest houses in Abuja, which is bills is been settled by the National Assembly.
He further disclosed that the House spokesperson Hon Namdas has given up about the whole issue and currently out of the country because he can not respond to the questions anymore.
On the question about his involvement in fraudulent allegations leveled against him by some agencies. He said he was never investigated, so he is not aware of where the Speaker got his report from. He said as a citizen, he had right to know when he was been investigated, he concluded that since he was never called upon for questions, he was never investigated. He even referred to the recent US sexual scandal where the Speaker said the three lawmakers where not given fair hearing before accusing them of sexual scandal, he said if the same Speaker is now saying he (Jibrin) was investigated for corrupt charges without his knowledge, it is a shame on the speaker’s path.
When asked if he was alone in the fight against the Speaker and twelve others on corruption charges, he said there exist a Transparency Group. He said the group had been formulated before the last recess. He said the group members have now risen to two hundred and fifty and they are securing signatures to reconvene the House and ask for the resignation of the Speaker and the three others for the allegations leveled against them.
