Jibrin Abdulmumin, former chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Appropriations, formally Monday submitted petition to the Independent Corrupt Practices and allied matters Commission, (ICPC) to kickstart investigation from the anti-graft agency.
Jibrin had alleged that the speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara and three other principal officers, padded the 2016 budget.
In the same vein, the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, monday called for a investigation into the allegations to clean up the budgetary process.
Jibrin who was accompanied by about seven lawyers to the commission noted that “I am here to submit a formal petition and give further clarification and insight on the allegation of corruption, abuse of trust of office by Mr Speaker, Yakubu Dogara; his deputy, Yusuf Lasun; the Whip of the House, Alhassan Dogwa; Minority Leader of the House, Leo Ogor, and nine other members of the House who are also chairmen of different committees.
“We have submitted the petition, the chairman of the commission received us in person. We exchanged a couple of ideas on how to move forward. I hope to see a very quick commencement of investigations so that these corrupt set of Nigerians can be prosecuted in earnest and if found guilty, sent to jail immediately so that it will send a very powerful signal of the anti-corruption fight of this government.”
PDP in a statement signed by its Director, New Media, Deji Adeyanju, said the entire “budget process has been a fiasco.”
“It is imperative to point out that at the onset President Buhari proposed a N6.08tr budget. This is the same figure as the budget passed by NASS.
The party pointed out that though the facts look innocuous on the surface, it is however the foundation of the entire sham.
Adeyanju recalled the controversy that trailed the budget and which which caused the delay of its assent by the president.
He noted that the whole sham begs many questions and wondered whether Jibrin allegation was about the cleaned up version.
“Why is Hon. Jibrin only just speaking now after being relieved of his post as Chairman of the Appropriations Committee? Would he have spoken up if he had not been relieved? “Was Mr. President aware of that the budget he presented to NASS was “padded” by his ministers & presidential aides as Hon. Jibrin alleged in his interviews? How did the Presidency miss these “insertions” at NASS despite engaging in a clean up? Or did the Presidency allow them remain? noted Adeyanju in the statement.
The statement continues, “Are “insertions” into the budget by members of NASS illegal or do they constitute part of the oversight powers granted to legislators by the Constitution? Should members of NASS be allowed to make “insertions” into the budget?”
He noted that these questions require answers as he lamented that “It is more than a little depressing that as at today, we are still debating the integrity of Budget 2016 and not the percentages of performance”.
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