Budget Padding: Jibrin Releases Apology Statement.

The embattled sacked Chairman, House of Representatives Committee on Appropriation, Abdulmumin Jibrin, has officially written to the All Progressives Congress, APC, through its National Chairman, John Oyegun, detailing all the allegations of budget padding he leveled against the Speaker, Yakubu Dogara, and other Members of the House.

In the letter dated August 12, 2016 and made available to journalists on Sunday night, Jibrin said; “I write the letter for four very important reasons:

“To apologise and seek forgiveness of the party, for the role I played in the election of the extremely corrupt Speaker, Yakubu Dogara.

“To give a background of the current crisis, as a result of the allegations I raised against the Speaker and the 12 other corrupt members.

“To furnish you with the details of the allegations against Mr Speaker and the 12 others.

“To provide urgent recommendation on the way forward, before this crisis causes irreparable damage of our great party.

“In a nutshell, it will be dangerous and potentially disastrous for the party to keep Speaker Yakubu Dogara on that seat. I wish to state that I deeply regret the role I played in the emergence of Yakubu Dogara as Speaker.

“I seek the understanding and forgiveness from you, our leaders and every member of the APC family that was hurt by my action”.

He accused Deputy Speaker, Yusuff Lasun, of having “fantastically” inserted items in the budget for himself and other principal officers, including the Speaker.

He added: “When Mr Speaker and his cohorts realised that I was out for a real show, haven submitted my petition and documents to the anti-graft agencies, which clearly shows my innocence and them as the culprits in the whole budget issues, he made a disgraceful about turn.

“He announced to the whole world that padding is not an offense. Few days later, he boasted that the anti-graft agencies have no power to investigate or prosecute him, that is why he has shunned all their invitations.”

  

 “To direct Speaker Yakubu Dogara, to reconvene the House and step down, with other accused Principal Officers immediately, to allow for internal and external investigation without interference, so that sanity will return.

“To nominate a Speaker Pro Tempo and mobilise our members to support him to take over and adjourn the House, until when we are due for resumption in September. This will give room for consultations on the election of a new Speaker when we resume.

“To insist on internal reforms of the activities of the House, and ensure that the new Speaker implements it fully.

“To discuss on the possibility of returning the N100 billion constituency component of the budget under any of our laws, so that all stolen money can be returned, particularly the N40 billion and equitably distributed to all constituencies’’.