The Transparent Group members of the House of the Representative has expressed shock and appalled at the claim by the embattled Speaker of the House of the Representative, Yakubu Dogara that the padding of the budget is not a crime, News Punch has learnt
The Transparency Group, which boasts of members across all political parties in the House, said on Saturday, according to Daily Trist said that if the speaker do not see a crime in padding the 2016 budget the surreptitious insertions he (Dogara) made into the 2016 budget is a big crime and hence, face trial.
They said they were “appalled and deeply shocked” to hear the Speaker exonerate himself from the budget-padding scandal raging in the House.
“For a person of Speaker’s standing to ... come out publicly in defence of an action that is clear negation of federal character principles and a breach of trust is both disappointing and dishonourable.
The Transparency Group and the Integrity Group, whose goals are almost similar, were billed to meet yesterday but the party asked them to suspend the gathering and come for today’s meeting.
While the Transparency Group is demanding an external probe into the matter, the Integrity Group wants such probe to be expanded to include all the 10 principal officers of the House.
Both groups are asking the speaker to step down to allow for a thorough investigation into the matter.
the party will try to get the speaker and his estranged members to agree not to escalate the crisis more than it already is, as it tries to find a way to end the squabbles, Daily Trust Says
It was further learnt that the party still feels embarrassed about the happenings and wants to act fast to avoid further embarrassment.
The House crises began on July 20 when the Speaker sacked Jibrin as chairman appropriation committee for illegally allocating N4 billion projects for his constituency.
Jibrin in turn said the Speaker, his deputy together with chief whip, Alhassan Ado Doguwa and the minority leader, Leo Ogor, have illegally pork-barrelled projects worth over N40 billion into the 2016 national budget.
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