Skip to main content

Budget Padding Scandal: Jibrin gives lawmakers 3 days to return illegal allowances


Suspended lawmaker, Abdulmumin Jibrin, on Thursday gave his colleagues in the House of Representatives three days to return all questionable allowances they paid themselves.

Mr. Jibrin said any lawmaker who fails to heed his call should be prepared for the backlash that would follow when he publishes details of how such official perpetrated the fraud.

Mr. Jibrin’s statement came a day after he was suspended by the House for 180 legislative days —approximately a full calendar year as the House sits three times a week— after being found guilty of violating House ethics and lawmakers’ privileges.

It also came a month after Mr. Jibrin accused his colleagues of raking in millions in illegal allowances, and after he indicted himself as having received N650 million illegally.

To return their loot, Mr. Jibrin advised his colleagues to individually approach the appropriate authority and make arrangement on how to pay everything back into the federal purse.

“I have written to the Clerk of the National Assembly to stand by in anticipation,” Mr. Jibrin said.

“In the face of the revenue challenges and biting hardship the country is currently facing, there is no better time the country needs such money than now.”

Mr. Jibrin said he resolved to take this action after receiving numerous enquiries from different corners on the need for him to back his allegations against the House leadership and other lawmakers with evidence.

“I have come under intense public scrutiny and pressure to prove that there exists systemic corruption in the House,” Mr. Jibrin said.
Jibrin (l), Dogara


Mr. Jibrin said he was specifically demanding the return of a N10 million illegal allowances his colleagues allocated to themselves while the poor were struggling to make ends meet.

House spokesman, Abdulrazak Namdas, did not respond to the press request for comment Thursday night.

Mr. Jibrin had frequently threatened to release “shocking” details about fraud in the House since he first accused Speaker Yakubu Dogara of budget fraud over two months ago.

On August 27, Mr. Jibrin said he had identified two governors working to shield Mr. Dogara from prosecution and vowed to reveal their identities. He has yet to do so.

Similarly, Mr. Jibrin said on September 19 that he was releasing some revelations “that will send shock down the spines of Nigerians”. He hasn’t done that, either.

Mr. Jibrin said the process that led to his suspension was flawed and vowed to reverse it in the court of law.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Omagbemi frees Angels, Queens for Fed Cup final

Super Falcons’ Head Coach, Florence Omagbemi, has elected to release players of Rivers Angels and Bayelsa Queens in the Senior Women National Team camp for Sunday’s potentially explosive women Federation Cup final between both teams in Lagos. Omagbemi The member of FIFA Technical Study said the ladies would be allowed to leave the team’s camp in Abuja to travel to Lagos for the big clash, which starts at 1pm at the Teslim Balogun Stadium on Sunday. That decision has freed Angels’ half dozen of goalkeeper Ibubeleye Whyte, defenders Osinachi Ohale, Ugo Njoku and Gladys Akpa and midfielders Chioma Wogu and Glory Iroka to be part of the glamour event, to be attended by the Governors of Lagos, Anambra, Nasarawa, Bayelsa and Rivers States. Bayelsa Queens’ duo of goalkeeper Alaba Jonathan and playmaker Osarenoma Igbinovia will also be on duty. The involvement of the Super Falcons’ stars will certainly boost the quality of the final match, and ensure the two teams do not miss their Falco...
Post a Comment
Read more

Supreme Court doesn’t need 21 justices – CJN

The acting Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Walter Onnoghen, has said appointing more judges or increasing the number of courtrooms are not the solutions to the problem of delayed justice dispensation in the country. The acting CJN said the Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court would  remain congested so long as the number of appeals proceeding there from the high courts was not regulated. Justice Onnoghen also argued that it was erroneous to believe that delay at the Supreme Court was as a result of not having up to 21 Justices prescribed by the constitution. He noted hat even the United States of America, with a higher population, had only nine Supreme Court Justices. He argued that the current 17 Justices on the Supreme Court bench were just enough for the country, if the number of appeals proceeding to the appellate and apex courts was regulated. Justice Onnoghen made this argument on Monday in Lagos while inaugurating the newly refurbished building of the Lagos Division o...
Post a Comment
Read more

Trump ex-aide Paul Manafort 'offered to help Putin'

US President Donald Trump's one-time campaign chairman secretly worked for a Russian billionaire to assist President Vladimir Putin, the Associated Press (AP) news agency reports. Paul Manafort is said to have proposed a strategy to nullify anti-Russian opposition across former Soviet republics a decade ago. AP says documents and interviews support its claims about Mr Manafort. Mr Manafort has insisted that he never worked for Russian interests. He worked as Mr Trump's unpaid campaign chairman from March until August last year, including the period during which the flamboyant New York billionaire clinched the Republican nomination. He resigned after AP revealed that he had co-ordinated a secret Washington lobbying operation on behalf of Ukraine's ruling pro-Russian political party until 2014. Newly obtained business records link Mr Manafort more directly to Mr Putin's interests in the region, AP says. Donald Trump unpaid Campaign Chairman It ...
Post a Comment
Read more