House of Reps majority leader submits himself to police over his role in budget padding

HOUSE of Representatives majority leader Hon Femi Gbajabiamila has submitted himself to the police authorities in Abuja to investigate any role he was alleged to have played in the padding of the 2016 budget.

 

Earlier this year, the House was left embarrassed after the budget was passed on to it for deliberation but by the time it was handed over to President Muhammadu Buhari to sign, it had been padded. Apparently, members of the House had slipped in additional items of expenditure, prompting President Buhari to refuse to sign the budget into law until the anomalies were corrected.

 

Speaker Hon Yakubu Dogara has been invited for questioning by police over the matter and the former chairman of the House of Representatives appropriation committee Hon Abdulmumin Jibrin was sacked over the saga. Now, Hon Gbajabiamila has demanded that his role in the saga should be thoroughly investigated by the police.

 

Hon Gbajabiamila explained that he took the decision because there had been insinuations that although his name was not mentioned by Hon Jibrin in his budget-padding allegations against four principal officers, he could not have been exonerated. Principal officers accused by Hon Jibrin include Hon Dogara, deputy speaker Hon Yusuf Lasun, chief whip Hon Alhassan Ado-Doguwa and minority leader Hon Leo Ogor.

 

According to Hon Gbajabiamila, the decision to sack Hon Jibrin was collectively taken by the leadership of the House. He admitted that he attended a principal officers’ meeting on Thursday, where all the officers signed a joint statement to disown Hon Jibrin.

 

However, he said he gave a condition before signing the statement that he would want his alleged role in the budget padding to be investigated. Hon Gbajabiamila said going to the police was important to him against the backdrop of reports that he was among those sponsoring Hon Jibrin.

 

"The decision to relieve Hon Jibrin was indeed a collective decision, which I was a part of. I told them I would submit myself, on my own volition, to the police for investigation to clear my name,” Hon Gbajabiamila said.

 

Meanwhile, Hon Jibrin has dismissed the decision of the Body of Principal Officers of the House to disown him. He alleged that the six other principal officers he did not list in his allegations were coerced by the four to support them in order to cover up the alleged corrupt acts.