Budget Padding Scandal: IMPEACHMENT? 102 Reps Members Gather Signatures Against Dogara, Call For Probe, Prosecution

The Transparency Group, a collection of members of the House of Representatives, has called for the probe and prosecution of Speaker, Yakubu Dogara and three other principal officers of the House.

They called on the agencies to probe the officers over the allegations of budget padding leveled against them.

Claiming to have secured the signatures of about 102 members of the House, the group dissociated itself from the media briefing by the chairman, House Committee on Media and Public Affairs, Abdulrazak Namdas, saying the allegations had nothing to do with the entire House.

They however insisted that the Speaker, his deputy, Lasun Yusuf, Chief Whip, Ado Doguwa, and Minority Leader, Leo Ogor, should all be prosecuted.

Aside Dogara and the three principal officers, the group also called on relevant security and anti-corruption agencies to probe all the parties mentioned in the scandal, including staff of Appropriations Committee and Ministries, Departments and Agencies, MDAs, involved in the budgetary process, with a view to unraveling their criminal tendencies.

Speaking on Wednesday, the spokesman of the Transparency Group, Muhammad Musa Soba, APC-Kaduna and five other lawmakers, who said they are members of the publicity committee of the group, frowned at Speaker Dogara’s alleged lackadaisical attitude towards the earlier demand to sack Jibrin, who they accused of having overriding interest on the budget.

The group’s statement, read by Musa Soba, said in part: “We are a group of concerned members of the House of Representatives whose membership cuts across the six geopolitical zones, irrespective of party affiliation under the name “Transparency Group” that is worried about the recent media allegations and counter-allegations between Abdulmumin Jibrin and some principal officers of the House over padding of the 2016 budget.

“While we do not hold brief for Jibrin and we do not claim to be speaking for the entire House, we are of the view that Abdulrazak Namdas has no mandate of the Honourable House to speak on its behalf on the allegations made by Jibrin against some principal and presiding officers of the House (speaker and deputy speaker).

“The allegations against the officers mentioned were not allegations against the entire House but against the mentioned officers of the House in their individual capacity and as such, they can only speak for themselves through their respective spokespersons not through the spokesman of the entire House.

“Accordingly, we, hereby, dissociate ourselves from all statements made by Namdas in respect of the budget padding controversy”.

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Like Buhari, 3 Ministers Also Sick

Prayer Session Today At FEC For Quick Recovery of
President Buhari and the 3 Sick Ministers

Report from Federal Executive Meeting held earlier today has revealed that three ministers are also sick apart from President Muhammadu Buhari who is currently on medical vacation in London, News Punch understands

Vanguard News' account of today's FEC meeting chaired by the acting President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo reported that the Minister of Women Affairs, Aisha Alhassan popularly known as “Mama Taraba”, The Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu and the Minister of State for Environment, Ibrahim Jubril were said to be sick too.

According to our source, Wednesday’s meeting of the Federal Executive Council, FEC started on a sober note with supplication to God to heal President Muhammadu Buhari and 3 other members of his cabinet.

Recall that President Buhari had on Monday departed Abuja for London, United Kingdom to seek medical treatment for an ear infection. The FEC meeting which was slated for 12 noon started at 12:10pm when the Acting President, Yemi Osinbajo entered the already filled Council Chambers, venue of the meeting. 

Without much ado, Osinbajo called on the members to recit the national anthem. With the recitation over, he called on the Minister of Information, Alhaji Lai Mohammad and the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, SGF, Babachir David Lawal for the opening prayers. 

While Alhaji Mohammed took the generic approach, asking for God’s guidance and wisdom through out the deliberations, the SGF went specific. 

First, he handed over President  Buhari, whom he said was on “medical vacation” abroad to God. The SGF then zeroed in on the Minister of Women Affairs, Aisha Alhassan popularly known as “Mama Taraba”, saying she had been down but now “recuperating from surgery in the US”. 

The Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu was the next on the list. While revealing that the Minister was also down with “back pain”, the SGF also prayed God to heal him. Lawal was to later handed over  the Acting President to God for guidance. 

But as soon as the members chorused “amen” and took their respective seats which prompted the departure of journalists from Chambers for the closed door meeting, an unidentified voice was heard saying to the SGF that he forgot to include the Minister of State for Environment, Ibrahim Jubril.

Impulsively, the SGF reacted “yes, let’s pray for him too.” But if that happened, it was behind the journalists who had left the meeting.

Credit: Vanguard