Former chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Appropriation, Abdulmumuni Jibrin, has asked the Federal Government to stop further payments to the House of Representatives and its members for running costs on the ground that such funds find their way to private pockets.
In a statement Thursday, Jibrin who was last week suspended from the House for 180 sitting days also accused lawmakers of blackmailing the Executive by conducting probes of Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) and thereby prevent inquest into their alleged corrupt activities.
He said: “I am also demanding the Minister of Finance, Accountant General of the Federation, Attorney General of the Federation and Clerk of National Assembly in exercising my right as a citizen of Nigeria to stop with immediate effect further payments of running cost allowances to Members of the House of Representatives because as an insider, I know that most of such money have been and are diverted into private pockets. There is no law in our country that is intended to protect corruption. So the continuous payment of such money negates the spirit and genuine intention of establishing such laws in the first place.
“I am also calling on Nigerians, companies, ministries, departments and agencies to shun invitations from the House of Representatives until the House allows for a transparent investigation of individual and systemic corruption allegations in collaboration with ongoing external investigations by the police and anti-graft agencies and commence a wide ranging reforms to restore the battered image of the House and strengthen it to effectively discharge its constitutional mandate. As a Nigerian, you have enough reason to shun them. I assure you that they can do nothing.
“Why did you think the House could not do anything to the former Petroleum Minister, Diezani Allison-Madueke towards the end of the 7th Assembly when she shunned and dared the House? Think? I will come to that latter and narrate to you the story of how she met a senior member of the body of Principal Officers of the 7th Assembly in the Aso drive residence of a Lebanese business man, the deal that was struck and what followed after in devastating consequences to the House and its image. A complete shame!
“As I promised and gave a 72-hours ultimatum to the Principal Officers and one week to other members, I have forwarded to the Anti-graft agencies the first batch of names of 50 members of the House that are involved in running cost allowances fraud in their entire stay in the House. I have broken the list into batches to make the work easier for the anti-graft agencies. I will be sending the names in batches of 50 until the list is exhausted. The first batch include Speaker Yakubu Dogara, Deputy Speaker Yusuf Lasun, Whip Alhassan Doguwa, Minority Leader Leo Ogor, Hon Herma Hembe, Hon Jagaba Adams, Hon Timothy Golu, Hon Yunusa Ahmad Abubakar, Hon Mukaila Olayiwola Kazzim, Hon Lynda Chuba Ikpeazu, Hon Abdulrazak Namdas, Hon Osai Nicolas Osai, among others.
“I deliberately included the name of Hon Osai Chairman Ethics Commiittee who wrote the report that suspended me from the House on the grounds that I lied over my allegations that there exists monumental systemic corruption in the House. After the anti-graft agencies investigate his running cost, the world will know whether I lied or told the truth.
“Nigerians must be very vigilant because as an insider, I know how the House usually responds during period like this. As you have started noticing, many investigative hearings and ad hoc committees are springing up like mushrooms. The investigative hearings are intended to blackmail the executive arm and coax them not to act on the allegations and the ad hoc committees are used to settle aggrieved members as it provides avenues to collect bribes. You will also notice irrational grandstanding over approval of MTEF/FSP and the budget or correspondence from the President. All these are legislative antics employed by the House to use the institution of the House to shield corrupt members. This is exactly what Speaker Yakubu Dogara and his corrupt cabal are executing presently in the House. The EFCC and the Police has severally been victims of this kind of evil tactics by the House in the past.
“I am therefore urging Nigerians and the Executive Arm of government to stand up against any blackmail from the Speaker Yakubu Dogara-led House of Representatives as they are all antics to evade investigation and prosecution. I have said repeatedly that the Senate and executive arm of government can rely on doctrine of necessity to bypass the House in the face of such allegations of monumental corruption, which has been described as the biggest corruption scandal in the history of the parliaments around the world.
“Finally, I wish to call on the Federal Government to make me face the harshest punishment prescribed by our laws if my allegations are found to be false.”
