Suspended member of the House of Representatives, Mr. Abdulmumin Jibrin, who is currently in the United Kingdom on self-exile, may have now made it impossible for President Muhammadu Buhari to continue to keep mum over the alleged monumental budget-padding fraud in the lower house of Nigeria’s legislature.
The sacked Chairman, House Committee on Appropriation has written the president, urging the prosecution of the Speaker, Mr. Yakubu Dogara and other principal officers, who acted in concert with him in padding the budget. They include, Deputy Speaker, Mr. Yussuff Lasun, Chief Whip, Mr. Alhassan Ado-Doguwa and Minority Leader, Mr. Leo Ogor.
Jibrin had claimed in July that the four officers padded the budget to the tune of over N40bn, excluding other alleged infractions.
Instead of investigating the matter, a majority faction in the House, loyal to the speaker, brought the House to suspend Jibrin for “bringing the image of the House to disrepute and public ridicule.” Ethics seemed more important to them than looking into the grievous allegations levelled against the leadership of the House of Representatives.
Besides, righting thinking Nigerians failed to see, even if we concede it to the House members, how infringement on the rules of ethics could operate as a bar against a formal probe of those fingered in the fraud.
The view is widespread across the country that the House members hurriedly sacrificed Jibrin so as to save their heads. But unfortunately for them, the suspended member is making sure that the issue is not going away.
The All Progressives Congress (APC) lawmaker, from Kano State, has now written to the commander-in-chief, who has all the while refused to say a word over the allegations at a time he says he is fighting corruption.
In the letter made available to CHECKPOINTCHARLEY titled, “Open letter to Mr. President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Muhammadu Buhari, GCFR, on budget fraud and corruption in the House of Representatives,” Jibrin informed Buhari that he wrote him a few weeks earlier, seeking audience so as to brief him on the development in the House, but that he received no response or invitation from the Presidency.
Jibrin stated that though Buhari’s busy schedules might have hindered him from seeing him, he also believed that certain “forces” were working to ensure he never meets with the President.
He wrote, “I crave the indulgence of your Excellency to pardon me for resorting to an open letter to draw your attention to this matter.
“The need to deal with the matter decisively and the urgency involved necessitated opting for this channel. Besides, I am aware of some powerful forces working behind the scenes in cohort with some members of leadership of the House to ensure that I never get access to you and the matter never sees the light of the day.”
The lawmaker confessed that he had been part of the actions and decisions taken in the House, but said he became frustrated and fed up with the corrupt system by opting to speak out.
He said he spoke out because he did not understand how a legislature that was supposed to be fighting corruption was involved with internal corruption.
He informed Buhari how he had petitioned anti-graft agencies and the Department of State Services, but to his surprise none of the principal officers had been questioned.
The letter read further, “Sir, this is an institution that is supposed to support you in fighting corruption.
“You have taken on corruption and corrupt people decisively; the crusade will be incomplete if corrupt elements are allowed to infest the legislative arm, especially the House of Representatives.
“You should by now know that you will never get the required support to fight corruption with Dogara as Speaker of the House and most importantly if reforms are not implemented in the House.
“Your Excellency, let me use this opportunity to inform you that I have challenged my suspension in court because it is unconstitutional and the seat belongs to my constituents, who are proud of my anti-corruption crusade in the House.
“My constituents have also filed a case in court to challenge the suspension. I have also stated clearly that I will never apologise to any member in the House or the House itself, as I did not commit any offence and I will continue to stand by all the allegations I raised.”
Apart from the prosecution of the principal officers invloved, Jibrin called for an end to the allowances regime in the House – “publish all entitlements of members, stop budget fraud; disclose internal budget of the House; open up finances of the House for external audit; implement e-parliament; activate electronic voting and attendance system; introduce individual members’ and standing committees’ performance template…”
The suspended lawmaker wants the N40bn padded to the budget to be returned to the N100bn sub-head for zonal intervention projects in the budget. He also called for the non-implementation of the projects listed against the principal officers implicated in the budget-padding fraud.
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