A former Chairman, House of Representatives
Committee on Appropriation, Mr. Abdulmumin Jibrin, opened up on Thursday on why
the Speaker, Mr. Yakubu Dogara, sacked him on Wednesday.
Jibrin, an All Progressives Congress lawmaker
from Kano State, claimed in a statement that he was being victimised by the
Speaker because he objected to a request Dogara made that he (Jibrin) should
allocate projects worth N40bn to him in the 2016 budget.
He alleged that the projects would have been
shared among four principal officers, namely, Dogara; the Deputy Speaker, Mr.
Yussuff Lasun; the Whip, Mr. Alhassan Ado-Doguwa; and the Minority Leader, Mr.
Leo Ogor.
Jibrin, who demanded the immediate resignation of
Dogara and the three other principal officers, added that the four met and took
the “unilateral” decision to request the inclusion of the N40bn projects in the
budget.
According to Jibrin, when he was approached by
the four with the information, he declined to oblige them in a bid to assert
the independence of his committee.
He said the N40bn was to have come from the
N100bn earmarked for the constituency projects of all lawmakers.
Jibrin said, “These members of the body of
principal officers were not comfortable with my independent disposition and my
refusal to cover up their unilateral decision to allocate to themselves N40bn
out of the N100bn allocated to the entire National Assembly.
“The four of them met and took that decision, in
addition to billions of wasteful projects running to over 20bn, they allocated
to their constituencies. They must come out clean. My inability to admit into
the budget almost 30bn personal requests from Mr. Speaker and the three other
principal officers, also became an issue.
However, in a response, the leadership of the
House described Jibrin’s allegations as an “afterthought” just to express his
anger over his sacking.
It also said there was no connection between his
sacking and his opposition to the immunity clause for presiding officers
proposed by the House.
The Chairman, House Committee on Media and Public
Affairs, Mr. Abdulrazak Namdas, who made the reaction, noted that Jibrin was
removed because the leadership reserved the prerogative of appointing and
removing committee chairmen whenever they were seen to no longer be able to
perform their duties.
Namdas stated further, “Most of the allegations
on the 2016 budget process and his opposition to immunity of presiding
officers are non-issues and (but) mere afterthought manufactured simply
because the House relieved him of his position.
“If he had all these ‘facts’ before, why didn’t
he make them public? Why is he doing that now?
“Jibrin, like any other member of the House,
knows that there are conventions and precedents as they relate to budgets and
projects for principal officers of the National Assembly. Why is he making it
an issue now?
“In any case, he is entitled to his opinion as a
Nigerian and as a legislator, while acting within the laws of Nigeria and rules
of the House.”
But Jibrin added that his offence was that he
dared to tell members the whole truth when the heat was turned on him by
colleagues, who felt that they were short-changed in the allocation of
projects.
The lawmaker did not comment on the N4bn projects
he too was accused to have allocated to himself in his Bebeji Federal
Constituency in Kano State.
However, he added that his removal was timed to
coincide with the annual recess of the House to weaken his power to fight back.
But, he assured the Speaker and the three other
principal officers that the issue would remain alive and must be addressed when
members would have resumed in September.
Jibrin stated that rather than tell the truth,
the leadership created the impression that he was sacked because he padded the
2016 budget.
He described the reason given for his removal as
“complete misrepresentation, false, mischievous, unfair and a calculated
attempt to bring my name to disrepute, blackmail, silence and use me as a
scapegoat.”
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