Amidst the bickering rocking the Federal House of Representatives, over the alleged secret padding of the 2016 budget, the camp of the National leader of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Bola Tinubu, has called for the immediate resignation of the Speaker, Yakubu Dogara and the Sacked Chairman of the House Appropriation Committee, Honourable Abdulmumin Jibrin.
The Editorial Chairman of the Nation Newspaper, and an Ally of the APC National Leader, Sam Omatseye, in his weekly column titled, ‘’Tenants in Chief’’, published on Monday, July 25, maintained that Dogara lacks the moral right to still remain as Speaker of the House of Representatives.
This is coming, at a time when the budget padding allegations are getting messier, as the embattled former Chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Appropriation, has given further insight into how Dogara, used 10 Committee Chairmen to insert 2,000 projects worth over N280 billion, into the 2016 budget.
Although, Dogara and the principal officers indicted in the allegations have denied the report.
While calling for Dogara’s resignation, Omatseye said: “… Dogara has no moral right to retain his seat as Speaker, until a thorough investigation into Jibrin’s allegation is done. Jibrin, also ought to step aside as a Lawmaker, until his matter is resolved. That is the proper thing to do. But Nigeria is not proper, and both men will continue to tug at each other’s sleeves in the course of their tour of duty, that ends in three years.
“Ironically, Jibrin and Dogara were in the same camp in the battle for Speaker.
“They were apparently strange bedfellows”.
While lashing out at the hypocritical disposition of the embattled Speaker, coupled with the dramatic twist that played out in the green chamber, Omatseye added; “Yakuba Dogara seemed to have transcended the low script. Once his triumph as Speaker was complete, he draped himself with a sort of parliamentary dignity. He spoke the right things, had the right airs, and sported the right suit.
“He sounded not only patriotic, but also pious. He revved up his homage to Oyedepo’s church. He gave the impression of a big tent leader. He also shielded his chamber from the turbulence of the Senate.
“He did not have a spectacular first year, but a quiescent one.
“Until last week, it seems. First he fired Abdulmumin Jibrin, the Kano Legislator who headed the Appropriation Committee. The charge? He padded his budget proposal with a princely N4 billion. The man had some pride. He preempted his firing by resigning. He was replaced, for fairness, with another Kano man. As Nigerians say, nothing spoils. But not for long, Jibrin boiled over later.
“He charged back. If he was ‘fired’ over N4 billion, we should go back to our math lessons in school. Four times 10? Yeah, that is his reply. Dogara and his team had padded their constituency projects 10 times over his puny proposal, if it was true.
“Here we go. Where was the Dogara of the pious air? The Dogara of baby face. The Dogara of the calm waters, of impregnable dignity. The Dogara who took on the anti-corruption frock, when he shocked us with the news of a man who domiciled over a billion naira in the belly of a farm”.
He concluded: “He has to face charges. He said he was innocent. He charged back that Jibrin, had no moral fibre to attack him over attempts to introduce an immunity clause for Lawmakers’’.
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