Hon Jibrin Accused of Allocating N4.8bn to Himself

Hon Jibrin Accused of Allocating N4.8bn to Himself

The budget padding scandal rocking the House of Representatives has taken a new twist after the member representing Michika and Madagali Federal Constituency of Adamawa State, Adamu Kamale, accused the former chairman of the Appropriation Committee, Abdulmumin Jibrin, of illegally allocated N4.8 billion to himself in the budget.

According to Kamale, this prompted members of the House to move for his dismissal as chairman of the committee as he placed his interest above national interest, Guardian writes.

He dismissed Hon Jibrin’s allegation that Speaker Yakubu Dogara and three principal officers of the House padded the budget, stating that the former Appropriation Chair was acting out of ignorance.

“Budget can only be said to be padded when the two chambers of the National Assembly budget office and other government agencies involved in budget preparation agree on a final copy to be presented to the President and in between, someone inserts strange figures after everything has been concluded.

“The National Assembly is not a clearing and forwarding agency, that whatever Mr. President brings, we say approve, go ahead. If that is the case, then there is no need to have National Assembly in place,” he said.

Kamale then berated Dogara for not ditching Jibrin as the chairman of the committee at the time the entire lawmakers wanted him to.

“But people should know it is not the Speaker who removed Jibrin, but the entire lawmakers, including lawmakers from Kano.

“If our Speaker had listened to us, Jibrin wouldn’t have reached December last year, because of his pedestrian and premature lifestyle. He has never carried any member of his committee along. There is no such rules in the House, no convention and no precedence that allows the chairman of Appropriation to have that quantum of project that he illegally allocated N4.8 billion.

“But there are precedence in the past that allowed past Speakers to have the same projects Dogara is having today. So, you can see who is actually dirty and supposed to be charged to court. The good thing about Jibrin is that he has exposed himself to the world.”

He, however, assured that the House would cause an investigation to be conducted into what transpired when it resumes plenary.

While calling on Nigerians to repose a measure of trust in the National Assembly, he said that Speaker Dogara’s position was not under any form of threat, as he’s more popular than ever.