A former Chairman, House Committee on Appropriation, Mr. Abdulmumin Jibrin, made a fresh allegation on Thursday that the bank accounts of some principal officers of the House of Representatives had been frozen.
Jibrin, who is serving a 180-day suspension from the House, mentioned the Minority Leader, Mr. Leo Ogor, as one of the principal officers, whose accounts had been frozen.
Jibrin made the allegation while reacting to the decision of the House to admit a petition from his Bebeji Constituency in Kano State, accusing him of absenteeism and inadequate representation.
A second petition by the National Youth Council of Nigeria alleged that the former Appropriation Committee Chairman operated five foreign bank accounts in violation of the Code of Conduct Bureau and Tribunal Act.
However, Jibrin failed to mention which particular security or anti-graft agency froze the accounts of the principal officers.
He also claimed that large sums were found in the accounts but he did not give a figure.
Jibrin stated, “This latest assault is coming because the security and anti-graft agencies have made progress on investigation, which has led to the freezing of the accounts of some principal officers, including the Minority Leader, Leo Ogor, where large sums of illicit funds were found.”
Jibrin called those who wrote the petition against him as “nonentities” sponsored by the Speaker, Mr. Yakubu Dogara, to dent his image.
He wondered why the same House and its Committee on Ethics and Privileges would not investigate 18 pending petitions against the principal officers.
Ogor could not be reached for comments last night as his mobile telephone line was not accessible.
However, the Chief Whip, Mr. Alhassan Ado-Doguwa, who has featured in all of Jibrin’s allegations, laughed when The PUNCH sought his reactions.
Ado-Doguwa, who hails from Kano State as Jibrin, said Nigerians should ignore the “lies told” by the suspended lawmaker.
He noted, “Jibrin should be ignored. He is running away from prosecution. Why can’t he stay in Nigeria? He ran away.
“I don’t have an account that is frozen. As a matter of fact, I don’t have any money like Jibrin that will require my account to be frozen.
“Only Jibrin can explain the source of his wealth. That is why he believes everyone is like him.
“After running around the world, he will return to Nigeria and still face prosecution.”
The development came as another faction of the NYC issued a statement disowning the petition earlier submitted by the group to the House.
The petition was signed by the Coordinator of the Anti-corruption Unit of the group, Mr. Ifeanyi Okonkwo.
But, in its reaction, the second group stated that Okonkwo was not known to the body.
The statement was jointly signed by Mr. Murtala Garba (President) and Mr. Gbenga Adedamola (Secretary General).
The House had granted leave to Jibrin earlier on Wednesday to appear before the ethics committee to respond to the petitions in spite of being on suspension.
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