The battle for survival and the soul of the leadership of Nigeria's lower legislative chamber will continue on Tuesday as there were strong indications on Saturday that supporters of the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, and those who are opposed to him will clash when the House resumes on Tuesday.
It was gathered that members, who were opposed to the Speaker, would raise the allegations of budget padding on the floor of the House, Punch Newspaper reports
It was learnt that anti-speaker forces, including Jibrin and the Transparency Group would insist that Dogara and his deputy, Yusuf Lanus, should step down.
Jibrin had, last month, sent a petition to the police, the Department of State Services, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission as well as the Independent Corrupt Practices and other related offences Commission.
In the letter, he alleged that the principal officers padded the budget by N280bn, an allegation that the principal officers had denied.
When our source asked the Transparency Group what would happen in the House on Tuesday, the Chairman of the TG, Mohammed Soba, said, “All we are saying is that those accused by Jibrin should come out clean and before then, they must step aside and submit themselves for investigations.
“At this stage, nobody is saying they are guilty or not, but at least a case has been established against them. They have to come out clean before they continue if they are not found guilty.”
But a member of the House, Golu Timothy, said on Tuesday, that the attention of the House would be on the economic challenges facing Nigeria and preparations for the 2017 budget.
Timothy said, “Our attention is on the 2017 budget. If you waste time on that (Jibrin’s allegation) we will not have time to monitor the implementation of the 2016 budget and work on the 2017 budget.”
Speaking in a similar vein, another member of the House, Adamu Kamale, said, “Jibrin has been speaking out of the blue. I don’t think what he has been saying is what has happened in the National Assembly. The House leaders have not done anything wrong. What they (leadership) did was in line with the rules of the House and the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
“The person that we suspect to have illegally tampered with the budget is Jibrin himself. As far as we are concerned, Jibrin’s issue is not an issue at all.”
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