Why My Colleagues And I Will Continue To Pad The Budget - House Leader, Gbajabiamila

Honourable Femi Gbajabiamila, the leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC) caucus in the House of Representatives, has said that irrespective of the nomenclature given to the act of budget-padding, the National Assembly will continue to pad the budget for certain reasons.

Gbajabiamila, who initially claimed not to understand what budget-padding means, explained that lawmakers, even in the most advanced democracies of the world, pad the budget to be able to generate extra money for providing democracy dividends to their respective constituencies especially when their constituencies are not captured in the national budget.

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The lawmaker disclosed this during an interview on Channels TV that was anchored by Seun Okinbaloye

He said that it was legislative malpractice for a lawmaker to sit back and do nothing when a national budget that does not make provisions for his constituency is been appropriated.

The Majority Leader said that in some advanced countries, budget- padding is not only practiced but called ‘earmarking’ or ‘pump-up legislation.’

He said that since the National Assembly holds the power to the national treasury, it will continue to scrutinize the level of budget-padding from the executive, stressing that it’s not a rubber stamp.

Gbajabiamila said that since suspended Rep. Abdulmumuni Jibrin decided to take the issue of legislative budget padding to the law enforcement agencies, it was proper for the House to sit back and let them do whatever they want to do, adding that there was no regret over suspension of Jibrin, if indeed he was a true whistle-blower like he claimed to be.

He said: “Abdulmumuni Jibrin did what he needed to do. He took the matter to the law enforcement agencies – the EFCC, the police and the rest of them. He has done his. The National Assembly does not agree with it. He put the ball in the court of the law enforcement agents. It is up to them to do whatever they want to do. I’m not aware of any padding. I don’t understand what that means.

“When it comes to money and I represent a particular constituency but I look at the budget and I don’t see my constituency represented in that budget and I know that throughout the year people of my constituency have needs – they want this; they want that. It is only me they can talk to. They are not going to talk to the President.

“I actually consider it as malpractice not padding, if during the budget circle I have opportunity to attract something to my constituency and I sit back and do nothing and go back in four years to seek for their mandate again when I promised them all these years that I will do this and do that. What do I go back and tell them? ‘Oh, I am not allowed to pad the budget.’

“If for instance, I represent a constituency and a budget is sent to National Assembly. It is one of the most important pieces of legislation to come out of the National Assembly. By my representation, I should attract federal presence to my constituency.

“Even in the most advanced of democracies, you have heard of earmarks, you have heard of pumped-up legislation. It is the same thing. It is done everywhere in the world otherwise you are not worth the sit you seat on.

“Let me explain something to you about padding. That’s what Nigerians need to understand. It doesn’t mean that if you hear anything thing negative about the National Assembly and you are not objective. You will not understand what is going on.

“In terms of padding from the executive, there are checks and balances. That’s why we have always argued that the National Assembly is not a rubber stamp. It is trite that the legislature holds the power of the purse. We will go through this budget and look at it item for item; item by item. Whatever padding means, I don’t know.”

Jibrin's SUSPENSION Unconstitutional - Gbajabiamila

The last may not have been heard of the current imbroglio ravaging the House of Representatives over the suspension of the ousted chairman of Appropriation, Hon. Abdulmumin Jibrin as  Honaurable Femi Gbajabiamila, the Majority Leader of Nigerian House of Representatives has described the suspension  as unconstitutional.

The Reps member representing Lagos State in the lower chamber made the avow in a recent interview with ThisDay Newspaper.

below is an excerpt from the interview:

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“My concern on the suspension is the same that I always had, even when Dino Melaye and others, were suspended in the 6th Assembly. More so, as this was a one-year suspension. Now what is this concern? I find it difficult as a Constitutional Lawyer, to accept that our rules can actually pass constitutional muster if put to test.
“If you suspend a member for a year, you are effectively suspending his constituency and the people he represents, from participation in participatory democracy. This, in my own personal opinion, violates the constitution which delineates the country into Federal Constituencies for effective representation, at the centre.
“For every constituency, it is a right to be represented in the national assembly, not a privilege that can be taken away. The constitution says clearly that, all Federal Constituencies must be represented for 4 years, and lists, I believe, only 1 or 2 circumstances under which such a constituency can be unrepresented. e.g. by process of recall etc. Even at that, the vacancy is to be filled immediately.
“Our constitution does not envisage a situation where a Federal Constituency is unrepresented or underrepresented. If, for instance, an issue comes up in a member’s constituency, that requires federal attention or legislative address, who do they go to? We cannot take away a mandate, given by the people or short change a constituency. In law, the seat of a representative is held in trust for the constituency. It is an in rem matter, not a personam matter. This is why when a member gets up to speak, he goes through the formality of announcing his name and the constituency he represents. In fact, in other democracies and Legislatures, when a Speaker wants to recognise a Representative to speak, he addresses him or her not even by name, but as for instance, “the gentleman from so so constituency”. That is the pre-eminence given to a constituency in a democratic setting. So it is not about Honourable Jibrin, it is about Beweji Constituency.
“I do not stand in the gap for Jibrin, or is this in any way a defence on his behalf. You may not know this, but Jibrin and I stopped relating as friends and colleagues, since March or thereabout. However, I am not one to shy away from the truth and the rule of law. I believe that there are other ways that would be constitutional, if the House wants to discipline any member.
“On whether this was contempt of court, I believe that you are speaking about the Federal High Court decision in the Melaye case, when the Court said that the House lacked the powers to suspend the members. I do not remember the basis upon which the Court made its decision, but I will definitely look at it again. I suspect it was on the basis of fair hearing, as provided in the Constitution.”

“Personally, I would have preferred that the matter be dealt with, in a more transparent manner, or for that matter, not even dealt with at all. I made this clear when we had our last principal officer’s meeting, and gave my reasons for this. Sometimes silence is golden, and you can take the moral high ground and just leave this alone,”

Jibrin had since vowed to go to court over the alleged unllawful suspension

Jibrin EXPOSES 10 Reps Principal Officers Who Receives N10b As Allowances, See Full List And How Much Each Got

The former chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Appropriation, Abdulmumin Jibrin, has alleged that the 10 principal officers of the House have so far received about N10 billion since they were first elected into the House at various times. He said in a statement last night that his latest revelation was part of his efforts expose shady deals in the House.

“Today, I will start with the 10 Principal Officers of the House of Representatives. If just these 10 are named and shamed it will force reform in the House. 

"I will therefore provide what each one of them had collected as ‘office running cost’ in their entire stay in the House."

“If any one of them disputes my figure, he or she should not make drama out of it but just simply tell the country how much he or she has collected."

“From computation of various sub-heads of allowances of the House, 

1. Speaker Yakubu Dogara has been in the House from 2007 to date. He has received about N1.5 billion. 
2. Deputy Speaker Yusuf Lasun has been in the house from 2011 to date. He has received about N800 million. 
3. House Leader Femi Gbajabiamila has been in the House from 2003 to date. He has received about N1.2 billion. 
4. Deputy House Leader Buba has been in the House from 2007 to date. He received about N1.2 billion.
5. Whip Alhassan Doguwa has been in the House from 2003 to date. He has received about N1.2 billion. 
6. Deputy Whip Pally Iriase has been in the House from 2011 to date. He has received N700 million. 
7. Minority Leader Leo Ogor has been in the House from 2007 to date. He has received N1.2 billion.
8. Deputy Minority Leader Barde has been in the House from 2011 to date. He has received N700 million. 
9. Minority Whip Chuma has been in the House from 2007 to date. He had received N800 million. 
10. Deputy Minority Whip Binta has been in the House from 2011 to date. She has received N700 million.

“So in between these 10 Principal Officers, the country has pumped about N10 billion - and still counting. As I have mentioned earlier, in most cases with few exceptions, these funds are diverted for personal use. I will provide further break-down of these figures in due course. I will also provide 50 additional names of members with worst cases of diversion of such funds in due course,” he said.

The House leadership had last week said it would not join issues with Jibrin in the media.

Daily Trust

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Budget Padding: Reps Group Indicts Dogara, Jibrin, Gbajabiamila, 8 Others, Calls EFCC, ICPC's Investigate

The Speaker, House of Representative, Yakubu Dogara, Majority Leader, Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila and the whistleblower and former Chairman on appropriation, Abdulmumin among other principal officers have been indicted by the members of the Transparency Group, TG, in the House of Representatives.

The group yesterday said all 10 principal officers that disowned the former Chairman, Committee on Appropriation, Mr. Abdulmumin Jibrin, over the budget padding scandal were guilty.

The ex-appropriation chairman had alleged that the Speaker, Mr. Yakubu Dogara, and three other principal officers ‘padded’ the 2016 budget.

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

All the 10 principal officers had in a joint statement on Thursday last week, admitted that the sacking of Jibrin was a “collective decision”.

They are Dogara; Deputy Speaker, Yussuff Lasun; Majority Leader, Mr. Femi Gbajabiamila; Chief Whip, Alhassan Ado-Doguwa; Deputy Leader, Buba Jibril; Deputy Whip, Pally Iriase; Minority Leader, Leo Ogor; Deputy Minority Leader, Chukwuka Onyeama; Deputy Minority Leader, Yakubu Barde; and Deputy Minority Whip, Binta Bello-Maigeri.

In its reaction, TG said despite the position taken by the 10 principal officers, the police, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission and the Independent Corrupt Practices and other related Offences Commission should proceed with the investigation into the allegations.

A member of the TG, Mr. Bashir Baballe, told The Punch Newspaper that it was Lasun that chaired the committee set up by the National Assembly to review the first budget, which President Muhammadu Buhari refused to sign.

Baballe added that the President had rejected Jibrin’s version of the budget for lacking details and was returned to the National Assembly.

He added, “Mr. President returned the first budget, which both Senator Danjuma Goje and Jibrin worked on as the joint chairmen of the Senate and House Committees on Appropriation.”

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Budget Padding: Gbajabiamila Voluntarily Surrenders Self To Police

The Majority leader of the House of Representatives, Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila today surrendered himself to the police authority to be drilled over the purported padding of the 2016 budget bedevilling the national assembly.

Gbajabiamila in a facebook post on his page a few hours ago disclosed that he had to surrender himself to the police to clear his name, which filtered in the budget padding scandalised by the ousted former appropriation committee chairman, Abdulmumin Jibrin.

The Majority leader also affirmed that the decision to relief Jibrin following the budget padding scandal was a collective one by all the principal House Leaders.

His words;

"I returned from the United States just yesterday after a three week break. I called the Speaker a day before my return to urgently fix a Principal Officers meeting so we could address the several allegations made by Hon Jibrin."

"At the meeting Speaker Dogara, Deputy Speaker Lasun , Chief Whip, Hon Ado Dogwa and Minority Leader, Hon Leo Ogor passionately and vigorously clearly stated their innocence. A prepared text was read and we all agreed to sign."

"For me as the Leader of the House I felt it was important to give them the benefit of doubt which in any case is what our constitution says. The decision to relieve Hon Jibrin was indeed a collective decision of which I was a part of."

"However, I gave a caveat before the press release was signed, I made it clear to my colleagues in the leadership that because somehow my name had been sullied in all of this and fake documents and publications had been put out there in traditional and social media which stated I was also involved in the so-called padding of the budget, that I would need to clear my name and that even though no petition was filed against me by Hon Jibrin and no invitation was extended to me by the police, I would be submitting myself on my own volition to the police for investigation."

"This is important to me as insinuations have been made from many quarters that I along with others were sponsoring Hon Jibrin. I have just this afternoon met with the police authorities for a proper and thorough investigation of my role if any in this whole bizzare episode," he concluded.

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Reps Budget Imbroglio : Twist As Gbajabiamila Joins Force With Dogara To Fall Jibrin

Expected to be the main beneficiary of the budget imbroglio currently bedeviling the lower national legislative chamber of Nigeria, the House Majority Leader, Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila has reportedly joined force with the embattled Speaker to ensure the ouster of the former appropriation committee chairman, Abdulmumin Jibrin, Premium Times' report suggests

Principal Officers in the House of Representatives on Thursday said the removal of a former chairman of House Committee on Appropriation, Abdulmumin Jibrin, was done in the best interest of Nigeria.

The lawmakers, which include Speaker Yakubu Dogara and Minority Leader Femi Gbajabiamila, took “full responsibility” for the dismissal of Mr. Jibrin from his post.

“The decision to relieve the erstwhile Appropriation Chairman of his position was a collective decision of the leadership in response to unrelenting pressures from the overwhelming majority of Honorable Members who were irked by the former Chairman’s gross abuse of the budget process,” the lawmakers said.

The 10 lawmakers who signed the statement included, Mr. Dogara, his deputy, Lasun Yusuf, Mr. Gbajabiamila, Deputy Majority Leader, Buba Jibril, House Whip, Ado Doguwa and Deputy Chief Whip, Pally Iriase.

Others included: Minority Leader, Leo Ogor, Minority Whip, Yakubu Barde, Deputy Minority Leader, Chukwuma Onyem and Fatima Maigari.

Mr. Jibrin left his post on July 20. The House accused him of breach of trust.

Mr. Jibrin pushed back against the allegation, saying his effort to assert his authority against alleged fraudulent attempt by the speaker and others to manipulate the budget, earned him sanction.

Mr. Jibrin also refused to let the matter die in the House, taking the fight to the public by releasing internal House documents that he said illustrated how the budget was severely padded by Mr. Dogara and other lawmakers.

He also visited law enforcement agencies, including the EFCC, SSS and the police, where he said he personally submitted petitions that contained evidence of fraudulent manipulation of budget by Mr. Dogara and 12 others.

In their statement tonight, the principal officers, numbering 10, said Mr. Jibrin’s “allegations are wild, baseless and unfounded”.

The lawmakers said the House joined forces with the Senate to take over scrutiny of the 2016 budget from Mr. Jibrin when they discovered that he had bungled the process.

“The Leadership of the House of Representatives wishes to reaffirm that it took collective action, in conjunction with the Senate and a team from the Executive, to rescue the 2016 Budget when it became obvious that the former appropriation Chairman had placed both the document and the process in jeopardy resulting in a spate of agitations from Ministries, Departments and Agencies,” the lawmakers said.

The principal officers said they would take careful measures in dealing with the attacks from Mr. Jibrin “upon the resumption of the House” in September.

Mr. Jibrin could not be reached for comment for this story.

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Panic In 'Corruption' House of Reps Over Move To IMPEACH Dogara; Gbajabiamila Steps In

Following a palpable tension in the corruption ridden House of Representatives on Monday over an alleged plot to remove the Speaker, Mr. Yakubu Dogara,  the Majority Leader, Mr. Femi Gbajabiamila, reportedly stepped in and doused the tension among factions by urging members to have faith in the leadership of the House under Dogara.

The tension was heightened over the budget padding allegations made by a former Chairman of the Committee on Appropriation, Mr. Abdulmumin Jibrin, News Punch understands

Many members according to Punch Newspaper were ruffled, forcing a large number of them to rush from their vacation spots to meetings in Abuja where the alleged plot was discussed.

Hon. Gbajabiamila from Lagos State has kept sealed lips over the budget crisis since it started on July 21.

Gbajabiamila had refused to speak openly in support of Jibrin or Dogara, and the three other principal officers whom Jibrin had accused of padding the 2016 Budget.

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

It was learnt that some persons in the House in a text message that members of the House received on Monday accused Gbajabiamila of siding with Jibrin to remove Dogara because of his silence.

“This group circulated a text message among members, giving the impression that there would be a leadership change in the House.

“They attempted to re-open the old Dogara-Gbajabiamila rivalry and create mayhem,” a senior legislative official told our source on Monday

The source of the text message was unknown as of the time of filing this report.

It read, “Plot to destabilise the leadership of the House of Reps has taken a new dimension as the Attorney-General of the Federation, working with Gbajabiamila, Jibrin and the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, has drafted charges to arraign and detain principal officers of the House so that the Transparency Group, who recently met with Tinubu’s wife, will effect a leadership change with Gbajabiamila as Speaker and Jibrin as the Deputy.

“This is why Jibrin did not mention Femi (Gbajabiamila) in his allegations. The 8th House won’t be anybody’s rubber stamp. We will resist them like the Senate resisted them.”

Alarmed by the message, it was gathered that Gbajabiamila wrote members to calm them, urging them to disregard the text.

He also explained that he had kept silent to avoid his comments being mistaken for taking sides.

Gbajabiamila told members that he chose to break his silence because the text message gave the wrong signal.

Gbajabiamila’s communication to members, which was sent via text message reads in part:

“Since the budget controversy that engulfed the House about a week ago, I have pointedly maintained a dignified silence. I did this for the sake of the institution that I represent and which I have laboured hard to grow and protect, knowing that whatever I say could be impactful both within the House and outside it.

“I was determined to keep in place the glue that holds an otherwise fragmented House, protect its integrity and at same time avoid eroding the little confidence and vestiges of hope Nigerians have in us.

“Unfortunately, the controversy has now taken a different turn following the rather strange text making the rounds among members about my complicity in this rather sordid matter. I am being dragged into an arena I tried very hard to stay out of for the good of the House.

“The speakership election has come and gone. The election was divisive and acrimonious, but I have worked hard to heal the wounds, some of which still fester among members on both sides. It is my responsibility to bring together all tendencies in the House and I have worked well with the Speaker and all other principal officers in the interest of the institution and the country.

“The text message, which desperately seeks to finger me in some macabre plot to destabilise the House, is a throwback and echoes our dark post-speakership election history. The resurfacing of the faceless text messengers will not help us as a House, and let me quickly add that it will fail.

 “My strongest critics and biggest political adversaries in the House cannot deny the fact that my commitment has always been to strengthen the legislature and its processes and our democracy as a whole.

 “I consider everyone a friend and colleague and urge that as we collectively work towards a stronger legislature and strive to deepen our democracy, we do not pull back the hands of the clock or lose sight of the enormous responsibility placed upon us by providence as members of a critical arm of government.”

On Jibrin’s budget padding allegations, Gbajabiamila noted that judgment could not be passed on any official based on mere allegations.

 He stressed that before the law, an accused remained innocent until proven guilty.

 “It is clear that our budget process needs radical reform. Allegations have been made, but I strongly believe that judgment should not be passed based on allegations.

“We operate a constitutional democracy and we must at all times submit to its dictates and ethos. All parties are innocent until otherwise proven.

“This should be our guide. I plead with all members; the mudslinging must stop,” Gbajabiamila added.

When contacted, the Minority Leader of the House, Mr. Leo Ogor, stated that the alleged plot against Dogara should be discarded.

Ogor said people were taking Jibrin’s allegations too seriously and forgot to ask him basic questions.

 He expressed shock that Jibrin, who was sacked for allegedly “mutilating” the budget could be taken seriously when he “cooked up lies just to cause confusion everywhere.”

He said, “Ask Jibrin, why did President Muhammadu Buhari first refuse to sign the budget when he (Jibrin) produced it without the details?

“Are zonal intervention projects part of the budget process since 1999? Why has it become a crime today that the National Assembly passed zonal intervention projects in the budget?

“The N4bn he put for himself; how did he get it?”

Ogor stated that nobody should “dream of the idea” of removing Dogara because the House was not thinking in the direction.

“There is fair hearing. Someone made allegations that have no basis, then the next day, you say remove Dogara.

“Any smokescreen to remove Dogara is a failed project even before it starts; a completely failed project.

“Disregard that text; it has no basis”, he said.

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Budget Scandal: FG Orders Withdrawal Of Speaker Dogara Security Details

Barring last minute changes, indications emerged Sunday that security details of the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara may be withdrawn on the orders of the Federal Government over the controversy surrounding the 2016 budget, Vanguard News reports

It was also gathered that a document linking the Majority leader of the House, Femi Gbajabimila with constituency projects worth over N4 billion which is domiciled in Osun and Niger States against the initial N1.8 billion constituency projects allocated to him was in circulation. 

This is just as the secretariat of the House Appropriation Committee was on Sunday still under the watch of about four security operatives. 

Security sources hinted that the withdrawal of security aides to the principal officers allegedly fingered in the budget brouhaha was ensure that there was no obstruction on the course of investigations. 

Investigations revealed that the security personnel that were guiding the appropriation committee secretariat were not the regular operatives from the National Assembly. 

Meanwhile about 27 civil society organisations have raised the alarm of alleged conspiracy with external forces against the leadership of the House of Representatives, saying that if nothing was done to apply caution, it would threaten the democracy in the country. 

Addressing journalists in Abuja, the national coordinator of Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria, HURIWA, Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko alongside other 26 CSOs, said “It is disingenuous for the sacked Appropriation committee chairman, Abdulmumin Jibrin to make any claims of exposing massive corruption in the House, accusing speaker Yakubu Dogara of moves to personally smuggle N30bn into 2016 budget.” 

He said that the understanding of the powers of the National Assembly seems to say that the legislature is constitutionally empowered to vet proposed budget since these elected officials were not rubber stamps of the president.

Source: Vanguard News

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Reps Budget Padding Scandal: Document 'IMPLICATES' Gbajabiamila , Fear Grips Heads of MDAs

The scandalous 2016 budget padding rattling Nigeria's lower legislative chamber is assuming a messy dimension as the embattled axed appropriation chairman, Abdulmumin Jibrin refused to cease talking, opening more can of worms that are shocking Nigerians to the marrow.

Though, Jibrin had dubbed those he is fighting “the quartet,” leaving out a very important personality in the House, Majority Leader, Femi Gbajabiamila, but he unwittingly or maybe even coyly dragged Gba­jabiamila into the scandal as ac­cording to certain documents which were released by him, the Majority Leader too was listed among prin­cipal officers who were given more projects, Daily Sun reported.

In the handwritten docu­ment sighted according to Daily Sun, the House Leader is first on the list that includes the Minority Leader, the Majority Whip, Deputy Whip, Dep­uty Minority Leader, Minority Whip and Deputy Minority Whip. On the piece of paper, ministries were writ­ten beside the title, ‘Leader’ such as the ministries of Education, Envi­ronment and Solid Minerals. Then there were the agencies, the Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC) and the Boarder Community Agency. Though no project was listed, a sum total of N321 million was linked to these MDAs. What is quite unsettling for some lawmakers is the House Leader’s choice not to say anything. So far, Gbajabiamila has kept mum, he hasn’t tried to clarify his position or defend the House. Even with this, there are talks that meetings are be­ing held by lawmakers. Suffice to say that if lawmakers are to approach Gbajabiamila for anything, Jibrin might not just be part of such moves as he left the Loyalist Group which backed the House Leader to support Dogara to emerge Speaker. Ironical­ly, many believe that it was the fail­ure to extract a promise from Gbaja­biamila that he would be appointed Appropriations Committee chairman that led to Jibrin ditching the House Leader for the Speaker.

Meanwhile, the decision of the Federal Government to launch a full-scale investigation into alle­gations of budget padding by some members of the House of Representatives is already creating tension in some Fed­eral Ministries, Departments and Agencies, MDAs. This has also led to panic among various heads of MDAs who might have connived with the lawmakers to pad their budget estimates.

One of the chief execu­tives who gave Saturday Sun an insight into what might be going on in the minds of his colleagues said “everyone is tensed and scared already be­cause I doubt if there is any ministry or agency where there is no adjustment by NASS in their budget estimates.” The source further said that “given that the culture of budget pad­ding in Nigeria is as old as the current democratic dispensa­tion, there has been a deep working relationship among the beaurocrats in the executive and legislative arms of govern­ment on the one hand and be­tween the beaurocrats and the lawmakers on the other hand. So, it is something that is deep and entrenched, and I doubt if any ministry or agency can es­cape a thorough and unbiased probe because if the head of an agency is not involved, his directors and other officials can work with their colleagues in NASS or the lawmakers them­selves to insert figures.”

A minister who also spoke with Saturday Sun on the de­velopment on the condition that he would not be quoted con­firmed that indeed, one of the chief executives of the agencies under his ministry may be one of those, preliminary investiga­tions have indicted. “I’m not going to speak on it because we warned them (Heads of Agen­cies) not to approach or con­nive with any lawmaker during the budget preparation but they seemed adamant”, the minister added.

A top official of one of the anti-graft agencies, which may be drafted in for further inves­tigation, and prosecution of lawmakers and other officials indicted in the ongoing probe told Saturday Sun that a num­ber of agencies had already been indicted in a covert in­vestigation already carried out. Some of the agencies are said to be those under the Ministries of Information and Culture, Agriculture, Health, Power, Works and Housing, as well as Transportation, among others.

Meanwhile, the probe panel set up by the Attorney General of the Federation, AGF Abuba­kar Malami, SAN, to probe how N481 billion was added to the budget has already begun work. Confirming that the probe team headed by an Assistant Inspector General of Police, AIG, Malami said the Federal Government was doing that to stamp out corrupt tendencies in its budget process in order to achieve success, and to ensure that the masterminds were brought to book to serve as a deterrent to would-be corrupt officials in public office.

Malami said that the panel would determine the criminal roles played by those involved in the action and how much money was hidden and the agencies of government involved in the bud­get scam.

His words: “The Federal Gov­ernment is interested in fishing out and punishing those heads of parastatals who allowed them­selves to be used by influential persons in the executive and leg­islative arms of government by importing non-existing projects into successive budgets and al­legedly making away with large sums of money budgeted for them.

“You will recall that over time, there has been this criminal con­spiracy among some levels of government resulting in budget padding by many of the parastat­als and the money diverted and shared by some powerful indi­viduals to the detriment of major­ity of Nigerians, who have been denied vital services. The present administration has taken note of the painful antics of a few power­ful elements and we have decided to fish them out and punish them for others to see that corruption is not in the interest of anybody in Nigeria.”

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Fuel Hike: Reps In Rowdy Session, Blocks Kachikwu From Plenary

File Photo from Vanguard

House of representative members Monday, started its special plenary on fuel price hike on a rowdy note, Vanguard News says

The Nation Newspaper's, account has it that members of the opposition in the House of Representatives vehemently opposed the admittance of the Minister of State (Petroleum Resources), Ibe Kachikwu into the chamber Monday afternoon.

Kachikwu was scheduled to address the lawmakers Monday on the latest development over hike in the price of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS).

However, trouble started when plenary resumed and time for the Majority Leader, Femi Gbajabiamila to move for the admittance of the Minister into the Chamber.

After the motion was seconded, the Speaker put the question but the nays were more than the ayes.

The Speaker ruled in favour of the ayes before banging the gavel but before he could drop the gavel, “No, no, All we are saying, save Nigeria and APC shame” rent the air.

After about three minutes, the Majority Leader, Femi Gbajabiamila and Chief Whip, Ado Doguwa approached the Speaker for consultation.

The Deputy Speaker, Yussuff Lasun, who was seen placating his colleagues and the Minority Leader, Leo Ogor later joined the Speaker’s consultation group.

While some members, waving the national flag, started shouting ‘all we are saying save Nigeria,’ others were chanting ‘change’ with mainly PDP Reps shouting ‘shame,’ ‘shame.’ 

At this stage, the Minority Leader, Rep Leo Ogor, approached the Speaker and after a brief chat with him, joined his fellow lawmakers. 

Also, the Majority Leader and some of the lawmakers approached the Speaker, but the noise continued as all appeals by the Majority Whip, Ado Doguwa, to his colleagues fell on deaf ears. Suddenly, frayed tempers disappeared and the Speaker gave the Minority Leader the floor and he immediately moved for a closed-door meeting.

Credits: Vanguard, The Nation

Saraki Shuns APC NEC Meeting

Senate President, Bukola Saraki and some governors of APC controlled states, particularly from the southern part of the country as well as some national leaders of the party failed to attend the crucial meeting of the National Executive Council of the APC in Abuja.

There was heavy security around the national secretariat of the party ahead of the meeting with only a few journalists covering the party allowed into the secretariat to cover the meeting on Thursday.

The National Chairman of the party Chief John Odigie Oyegun who arrived the secretariat at exactly 9.10 was subjected to security checks by the Presidential guards before being allowed into the building.

Also absent at the meeting were Deputy Speaker, Suleiman Lasun,  House Leader, Femi Gbajabiamila, Deputy Whip of the Senator, Francis Alimikhena among others.

Those who attended the NEC meeting include Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Yakubu Dogara, Former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar, Senate Leader, Ali Ndume, Chief Whip of the House of Representatives, Ado Doguwa, Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr. Chris Ngige, former Zamfara state governor, Senator Ahmed Sani and labour leader, Hon. Peter Akpatason, Senators Dino Melaye and Binta Masi Garba.