I won’t Resign As Speaker – Dogara

Yakubu Dogara, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, on Friday, speaking with State House Correspondent shortly after a meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari at the State House, Abuja, insisted that he would not resign from his position.

The Speaker described the current budget padding levelled against him as an offence, affirming that despite the many allegations against him and his office, he will remain in his position.

Recall that a member of the House, Jibrin had accused Dogara, his deputy, Yusuf Lasun; Chief Whip, Alhassan Ado Danguwa and Minority Leader, Leo Ogor of attempting to illegally insert over N40bn into the 2016 budget.

Since his initial allegation against the Speaker and other principal officers of the House, the lawmaker had continued to level more allegations on them.

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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Breaking News: APC Quizzes Jibrin Over Budget Padding Allegations

Dr Abdulmumuni Jibrin, sacked Chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Appropriations, and the leadership of the All Progressives Congress APC are currently meeting over his claims that Speaker Yakubu Dogara padded the 2016 national budget to the tune of N40 billion.

Decked in a white flowing African robe (Kaftan), Jibrin arrived the secretariat around 2:09pm in a black land cruiser numbered, Abuja, BWA 768 AM.

He went straight into the office of Sen. Lawal Shuaibu, the Deputy National Chairman, North.

Recall that the party had earlier (Monday) written Mr Jibrin to appear before it by 2pm today. Journalists are for now barred from the meeting.

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N40bn 2016 Budget Padding: Arrest Dogara, Others – Jibrin Urges EFCC, ICPC

Hon. Abdulmumin Jibrin, a former Chairman, House of Representatives Committee on Appropriations, speaking through his Twitter handle called on the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, and the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission, ICPC, to arrest the Speaker of the House, Yakubu Dogara and three other principal officers of the Green Chambers for attempting to pad the 2016 Budget.

The former Appropriations Committee Chairman urged the anti-graft agencies to arrest and prosecute all principal officers of the House and other members of the House.

He said: “This is 24 hours after my lawyers requested the EFCC and ICPC to grant me a date and time to personally deliver my petition on Mr. Speaker and three others.

“EFCC and ICPC are yet to revert to me. I decided to go personally so that in addition to the petition I can provide some further insight to them.

“EFCC and ICPC must arrest the Speaker, the three others and few others members in my petition immediately.

“They are running to high places, looking for cover.”

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Dogara Denies Sharing $20,000 Each To Appropriations C’ttee Members

Hon. Yakubu Dogara, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, have denied the allegation by Hon Abdulmumin Jibrin, the former Chairman of Appropriation Committee, that he (Dogara) gave out $20,000 each to members of the appropriation committee where they accused Jibrin of single-handedly doctoring the 2016 budget.

Speaking through his Deputy Chief of Staff, CID Maduabum, the Speaker said he did not at any time meet or hand over any money of any sort to any member of the appropriation committee.

He said, "my attention has been drawn to a statement issued by the disgraced and sacked former chairman of appropriation committee, Abdulmumin Jibrin wherein he falsely, recklessly and maliciously claimed that I distributed $20,000 to each member of the committee to address the media where they stated their grouse against him.

"I wish to state that I did not at any time meet or hand over any money of any sort to any member of the House Appropriation Committee. This accusation is not only a lie but pure fiction, a figment of his imagination which can only come from a man whose soul is deeply corrupted.

"It is really shocking that this kind of despicable character could slip through the political process and become an honourable member of the House of Representatives, a highly respected institution where we all passed through.

"This has confirmed that Hon. Abdulmumin Jibrin is a serial blackmailer, a man with the basest of motives whose sanity has become questionable."

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Reps Budget Padding Crisis Embarrassing To APC—Timi Frank

Comrade Timi Frank, the Deputy National Publicity Secretary of the All Progressives Congress APC, speaking with journalists Friday in Abuja described the ongoing budget-padding crisis in the House of Representatives as "highly embarrassing" to APC and the federal government.

Frank who regretted what he described as the inability of the Chief John Odigie-Oyegun led National Working Committee NWC of the party to stave off the wave of crisis afflicting the party called on the NWC to resign their position if they can no longer steer the ship of the party.

According to him, it is unfortunate that the crisis in the senate has not been resolved, saying in Kano, Kogi, Bayelsa and several other states, the situation is not any different.

"If the NWC of the party cannot do it, I call on the leaders of the party to wade in. By now, I expected that we would have summoned the parties involved in the dispute to hear their side and make the necessary interventions. That is when the party knows its job but as it is I do not know whether the party enjoys thriving in crisis. The situation in the House of Representatives is not just embarrassing to the house but to the party including the president, who ofcourse I want to succeed in his determination to make life worth living for Nigerians", he said.

He said the leadership of the party should resign if they cannot mitigate the series of crisis confronting the party. "I want to emphasize that this is not a personal attack on Oyegun or the leadership of the party but this is the reality", he stated.

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