Jubrin visits EFCC, says Dogara, others must be probed

7 years ago

Jubrin visits EFCC, says Dogara, others must be probed

A former Chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Appropriation, Mr. Abdulmumin Jibrin, on Monday visited the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, and other anti-corruption agencies to submit a fraud-related petition against the Speaker, Yakubu Dogara and other principal officers of the House.

In his tweeter handle Jubrin stated, “What a day! I submitted petition against …Speaker Dogara and 12 others. Now it’s over to the security and anti-corruption agencies. I added one new name to my petition, Hon Abonta Abonta. The member who spoke after me on Channels TV and denied corruption exists in the House.”

Explaining his petition, Jubrin stated, said his allegations against Dogara and others included corrupt enrichment, abuse of office and public trust, living above means, and massive movement of funds in the budget.

Meanwhile, the secretariat of the House of Representatives Committee on Appropriation remained shut on Monday, the third day running after operatives of the Department of State Security took over the place on Saturday.

Investigations by Waploaded Media showed that three operatives kept watch over the secretariat.

As the secretariat remained shut, the House on Monday released a request by Jibrin, to other committee chairmen.

In the request sent through an SMS, he justified his insertions into the budget and pleaded for the support of the committee chairmen.

At the appropriation committee office, a security officer said the DSS operatives did not allow anybody to enter the place.

Two male operatives had arrived at the National Assembly on Saturday last week, a day after Jibrin, submitted a petition to the EFCC, the DSS and the Independent Corrupt Practices and other Related Offences Commission on his “budget padding” allegations against the Speaker, Mr. Yakubu Dogara, and three other principal officers.

The others are the Deputy Speaker, Mr. Yussuf Lasun; the Chief Whip, Mr. Alhassan Ado-Doguwa; and the Minority Leader, Mr. Leo Ogor.

“The operatives passed the night (Saturday) at the National Assembly. They remained there on Sunday.

“They are still on guard over the office; nobody has entered the office since they arrived at the secretariat,” the security official informed The PUNCH on Monday.

When one of our correspondents visited the secretariat on Monday, it remained shut.

One male operative had been withdrawn, leaving one, while two females were deployed.

When one of our correspondents made inquiries about the members of staff of the secretariat, the male operative replied, “We are security personnel here, please!”

Jibrin specifically alleged that the four officials requested the inclusion of projects worth N40bn in the 2016 budget, besides sundry projects ranging from N20bn to N30bn.

On Monday, the Chairman of the committee, Mr. Mustapha Bala-Dawaki, did not answer several calls made to him.

Bala-Dawaki also did not respond to the text messages sent to his mobile phone.

The Chairman, House Committee on Media and Public Affairs, Mr. Abdulrazak Namdas, told one of our correspondents that he was not within Abuja and could not speak immediately on the situation at the secretariat.

But, the Minority Leader of the House, Mr. Leo Ogor, stated that the DSS operatives were at the secretariat because they were not abreast of the happening within the House.

The House on Monday released a request Jibrin sent to committee chairmen to accept all insertions made into the budget.

He begged them to accept the insertions just as he too was prepared to defend them, particularly before the media.