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| Yakubu Dogara |
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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