Budget padding: House leader submits self to police for investigation

– The controversy surrounding the allegation of budget padding in the House of Representatives is still on

– The majority leader of the House, Femi Gbajabiamila has submitted himself to police authorities

– He has asked the police to investigate any role he was alleged to have played in padding the 2016 budget

The majority leader of the House, Femi Gbajabiamila has submitted himself to police authorities for investigation due to the controversy surrounding the allegations of 2016 budget padding.

In a statement released yesterday, August 19, Gbajabiamila informed Nigerians that he has submitted himself to the police authorities in Abuja for investigation.

House leader, Femi Gbajabiamila

He said he told the police authorities that his role in the saga should be thoroughly investigated.

According to him, he took the decision based on the insinuations flying around it is not possible that he is not involved in the padding, because of his role as a majority leader in the house.

The former chairman, house committee on appropriation, Abdulmumin Jibrin who brought the matter to public light, did not name Gbajabiamila as one of those involved in the scam prompting speculations that both men are working together.

Jibrin named those involved as the speaker, Yakubu Dogara; deputy speaker, Yussuff Lasun; chief whip, Alhassan Ado-Doguwa; and minority leader, Leo Ogor.

Gbajabiamila confirmed that the decision to sack Jibrin was collectively taken by the leadership of the House.

READ ALSO: Jibrin attacks Dogara, no amount of media blackmail can stop me

He also admitted that he attended a principal officers’ meeting where all the officers signed a joint statement to disown Jibrin.

He however said he gave a condition before signing the statement that he would want his alleged role in the budget padding to be investigated.

According to him, he took this position against the backdrop of reports that he was among those sponsoring Jibrin.

Part of the statement read: “A prepared text was read and we all agreed to sign. The decision to relieve Hon. Jibrin was indeed a collective decision, which I was a part of. I told them I would submit myself, on my own volition, to the police for investigation to clear my name.” 

Meanwhile, Jibrin has dismissed the decision of the leadership of the House to disown him.

In a statement released to the media on Friday, August 19, the Kano-born lawmaker Jibrin alleged that the six other principal officers he did not list in his allegations were coerced by the four to support them in order to cover up the allegations he raised.

“I heard on good authority that contrary to what was brandished in the media as resolution of the meeting, the whole session was an extension of the grand disgraceful plan by Speaker Dogara and the three other principal officers to coerce the other members of the body of Principal Officers to come out in their defense since the speaker and the three others know very well that they are on their way to jail.

“They just want to drag as many people as possible into the matter to use it as a shield or create a situation that will compel me to implicate the six other principal officers or other people both in National Assembly and the executive arm.

“They are obviously looking for co-travellers. You can see the pattern of systematic blackmail desperately trying to drag in the Executive and the Senate. I am just too strong for them. They need more forces to fight Hon. Jibrin,” part of the statement read.

READ ALSO: Abdulmumin Jibrin in fresh N17 billion money laundering mess

Meanwhile, Jibrin has written a letter of apology to his party – the All Progressives Congress, pleading for the role he played in the emergence of Dogara as speaker last year.

He described the embattled speaker as a green snake under the grass and a godson to Senator Iyiola Omisore of the Peoples Democratic Party.

In a related development, the Chief Whip of the House, Alhassan Ado-Doguwa said Jibrin would not escape punishment.

According to him, Jibrin’s allegation about budget padding were misrepresentation of facts to avenge his removal as a committee chairman. 

 

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