Budget Padding: Why I exposed Dogara – Jibrin
– Abdulmumini Jibrin, the former chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Appropriations, has admitted that his revelations over the alleged padding of the 2016 budget were late
– Jibrin says he was never part of the 2016 padding which he described as insertion
– He expressed readiness to help fight corruption in the National Assembly
Abdulmumin Jibrin accused Dogara and other principal officers of massive corruption
Abdulmumini Jibrin, the ousted chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Appropriations, on Sunday, July 31, admitted that his revelations over the alleged padding of the 2016 budget were late.
Jibrin, while speaking on the controversial insertions into the 2016 budget, on a Channels Television weekly programme, ‘Sunday Politics’ said although this revelations were coming late, but as the chairman of the committee, he was made to believe that certain information were not to be disclosed.
READ ALSO: How Dogara bribed Reps with $20,000 each – Jibrin
He said: “Well, I wasn’t part of the insertions but I think I also didn’t help myself because I started speaking quite late. The event that pushed me to start talking doesn’t look too attractive to people because they are saying why am I talking now that I have left the position”.
He explained that he could not expose the budget padding in good time, as it was difficult for him to stand against the institutionalised corruption in the House of Representatives.
The former chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Appropriations, also said that allegation of corruption levied against the National Assembly by former president Olusegun Obasanjo wasn’t completely wrong.
He added that: “I am a product of the establishment, and now my mentors will now realize that I have gone out of the cycle. I am so glad that I am breaking away from the cycle.”
He however explained that the insertions did not affect the size of the budget, noting that the harmonisations committee chaired by the deputy speaker Yusuf Lasun took advantage of the committee to insert more items for personal reasons.
“After collecting the reports of the various committees, we did the statistics and shockingly, I discovered that just about 10 standing committees out of the 96 standing committees of the House posted about 2000 projects, totaling about N284 billion,” he stated.
Although, he admitted that the insertions were constitutional that the insertions into the budget by the principal officers of the House were constitutional, and it is a usual practice in the national assembly, he maintained that the insertions were outrageous and above the limit.
“There is that unanimity in the national assembly, we all do not agree with the word padding, of course as I have explained that there are so many insertions from the angle of the National Assembly, even though the law allows it, internally, I raised an observation, of course, I discussed the matter with the speaker, that personally I believe that the insertions were too much. And it is also very important that the constitution gave us the power to appropriate, but the intention is what I question, those were the issues I fought until eventually I left,” he said.
READ ALSO: Dogara’s allies accuse external influence over House crisis
He stated further that; There have been insertions in past budgets; I saw the insertions in budgets of 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2015. The only difference is that in 2016, the insertions went completely above the board.”
“There is institutionalised corruption in the House, but we keep living in denial, it is my fifth year in the National Assembly, I have never been involved in corruption, I have never shared money.”
In another development, there are strong indications that President Muhammadu Buhari has shown interest in the budget padding saga rocking the House of Representatives and has ordered the Department of State Services (DSS) and the police to take action.
DSS received full backing from President Buhari to carry out a full investigation into the alleged the N480bn budget padding. Documents collected from Jibrin by security operatives are already being scrutinised as part of the investigations into the budget padding.
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