Budget Padding: N’ Assembly clerk ‘fails’ to provide police with KEY evidence

– Mohammed Sani-Omolori, the Clerk to the National Assembly has failed to honour the request of the Nigerian police which is requesting the draft and final copies of the 2016 budget

– The detectives needed the two budget versions to identify the grey areas that were allegedly padded

– The secretariat of the House committee on appropriation was shut, operatives of the Department of State Services still guard the office

Mohammed Sani-Omolori

Mohammed Sani-Omolori, the Clerk to the National Assembly has failed to honour the request of the Nigerian police which is requesting the draft and final copies of the 2016 budget, Punch is reporting.

According to the report, Sani-Omolori’s failure to provide the documents to the retired Assistant Inspector-General of Police Ali Amodu-led investigation panel had stalled the probe into the allegations of budget padding against the leadership of the House of Representatives

“The delay in responding to the police’ request by the Clerk is holding up the investigation. The letter requesting the draft copy of the budget and the final copy that was passed and returned to the President was sent about three weeks ago and up till now, the Clerk has not responded. We learnt he has travelled, but the question is: did he travel with the documents?

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“We expected the clerk to have sent us the budget copies or delegate another official to furnish us with the copies, but this has not been done. However, we will not be deterred by any moves to frustrate the investigation,” a source was quoted.

It was added that the detectives needed the two budget versions to identify the grey areas that were allegedly padded.

A source cited explained that after subjecting the documents to rigorous forensic analysis, collating evidence and arriving at irrefutable conclusion, the panel would then invite the House of Representatives’ leadership for interrogation.

“None of the House leadership will escape interrogation; they would be invited to see the evidence and to defend themselves. The police investigation will be deep and thorough with every angle covered,” the source stated.

Meanwhile, 31 days after the secretariat of the House committee on appropriation was shut, operatives of the Department of State Services still guard the office.

The operatives continue to bar workers from gaining access into the office.

Sources close to the police panel investigating the alleged ‘padding’ of the 2016 budget had hinted that detectives would visit the office this week to study some documents.

“We are making necessary arrangement anytime in the new week to request the DSS to reopen the secretariat so that we could have access to data and other evidence that were being protected by its operatives,” one police chief had stated.

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A National Assembly official said, “The secretariat remains locked; workers are still not allowed to enter the place. It is possible that the police and the DSS are working out the issue regarding how to reopen the office. So far, that has not happened to the best of our knowledge.”

The DSS operatives sealed off the secretariat on July 30, a day after Jibrin visited the DSS’ headquarters in Abuja to lodge his ‘budget-padding’ allegations.

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