The former Chairman of the House of Representative Committee on Appropriation in Nigeria, Abdulmumin Jibrin, has asked the Speaker to reconvene the House and step aside for investigation.
Mr Jibrin had last month alleged that the leadership of the House padded the 2016 budget of the nation, insisting that the act was fraudulent.
In a statement on Sunday, exactly one month after he made the allegation, Mr Jibrin insisted that the Speaker of the House was corrupt.
“It was a month of startling revelations, 30 days of threats and intimidations and 720 hours of fervent struggle to exterminate corruption in the House.
“Although it is a trite that corruption has eaten deep into the nation’s fabric, but the systemic corruption in the House, especially under the corrupt leadership of Yakubu Dogara, is second to none.
“My resolve to champion this cause was borne out of patriotism and desire to complement the present administration’s anti-corruption war from the legislative front,” he said.
Mr Jibrin further insisted that the principal officers must be investigated for what he called ‘monumental fraud’.
He said: “The truth remains that Speaker Dogara, Lasun, Doguwa, Ogor and others committed monumental fraud in the 2016 budget which can be prosecuted under our laws. We will explore all legal avenues to ensure that justice is served.
“I have stated severally that Speaker Dogara and the other accused Principal Officers have completely lost the moral ground to continue in their various offices.
“They should, therefore, reconvene the House immediately and step aside to allow for investigation without interference. Speaker Dogara cannot be a judge in his own case, as the legal maxim, nemo judex in parte sua, provides.
“It will be the 10th wonder of the world if Speaker Dogara and the 3 other Principal Officers are allowed to continue in office. It will amount to having a corrupt man and fraudster as Speaker, as no 4 citizen under this dispensation which has zero tolerance for corruption”.
The former Appropriation Committee Chairman insisted that corruption under the leadership of Mr Dogara had gone nuclear.
“Obviously Speaker Dogara lacks the integrity to superintend over such reforms. That is why I keep emphasizing that this whole issue is beyond Speaker Dogara.
“Under Speaker Dogara, corruption in the House has gone nuclear.
“It is a known fact that legislative investigation is used as avenue to extort money in an organised crime aided and abetted by Mr Speaker.
“This situation has gone so bad that members named such investigations “commercial motions”.
“The fact is corruption has become the biggest business in the House under Speaker Dogara and his cohorts.
“I dare say corruption in the House of Representatives today is more than that of the Executive and Judiciary combined,” the statement read.
He further pledged to continue with the drive to expose corruption and corrupt persons in the House of Representatives, “even if I am alone”.
