Budget Padding: Speaker Dogara Hailed Over Jibrin’s Sack

The UK chapter of the Nigerians In the Diaspora Monitoring Group have accused Abdulmumin Jibrin, the former chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Appropriation, of engaging in a media war with Hon. Yakubu Dogara, the speaker of the House of Representatives, as a ploy to gain sympathy of Nigerians after he was sacked for his role in the manipulation of the budget.

In an electronic message to journalists, the UK Representative of the group, Adeka Onyila said Speaker Dogara deserves commendation for sacking the former chairman, saying that singular action is in line with the anti corruption war of the current administration.

He accused Jibrin of attacking the leadership of the House as a form of defence, but warned that such antics has failed as Nigerians are now wiser.

Onyila said, "Instead of showing remorse as one would expect in 2016 Nigeria, he (Jibrin) went on denial – first he claimed he resigned and not sacked only for him to turn around and start making spurious accusations against others.

"We hereby call on Members of the House of Representatives, the disgruntled ones, to stop giving Nigeria a bad name abroad. We say this because we have observed with alarm that some of them are lining up behind Jibrin to back him against the house leadership when he should be censured. Such ridiculous support could only be driven by a desire to make political gains out of the lies cooked up by Jibrin to save his hide.

"We rather demand that the Speaker of the House, Honorable Yakubu Dogara should be commended for triggering the anti-corruption fight in the National Assembly and having the political will to challenge the status quo by relieving the former Appropriation Chairman of his post. Hon. Dogara deserves an award for sacking Jibrin since it is now clear that the action he took against his colleague saved the parliament and the ailing Nigerian economy from total collapse that would have been caused by global reaction to a country that would appear not to be interested in tackling graft."

He said, "All his gimmick of claiming he resigned as opposed to being sacked, his inglorious petitions to anticorruption agencies and the barrage of media propaganda are merely his own idea of acting fast to gain the sympathy of constituents and to avoid possible arrest with the consequent prosecution."

The group wondered why Jibrin will be the one petitioning the anti corruption agencies.

He said Jibrin must withdraw his so called petitions to the EFCC and the DSS so that neutral NGOs or lawmakers without vested interests should be the one to initiate the demand for investigation.

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