Speaker Dogara shuns panel on budget padding saying letter was not signed by IG of police

HOUSE of Representatives speaker Hon Yakubu Dogara has shunned the invitation of the police special investigating panel over allegations of budget padding after he was asked to come and explain his role in the debacle.

 

Earlier this year, the House of Representatives was involved in a scandal after it emerged that the budget sent to it by President Muhammadu Buhari was padded, with the amounts inflated.  Hon Dogara has subsequently been invited by the police to explain his role in the debacle but the speaker did not honour the invitation because the letter was not signed by the inspector-general of police Ibrahim Idris.

 

In the letter, the police panel had asked Hon Dogara and others mentioned in the petition to appear before it last Friday. Hon Dogara, however, did not honour the invitation and on the day he chose to meet with President Buhari over the budget crisis.

 

One committee chairman close to Hon Dogara said: "The document was considered to be informal because it was signed by a low-ranking officer. The Speaker is the number four citizen of this country, so if you are sending a letter to him, there should be a signature of the inspector-general of police on it.”

 

While Hon Dogara’s accuser and a former House Appropriation Committee chairman, Hon Abdulmumin Jibrin, appeared before the panel last week Friday and on Tuesday, Hon Dogara and other principal officers shunned it. Hon Jibrin had accused the Speaker of padding the 2016 budget in collusion with some officers of the House.

 

He had submitted a petition against the accused to the police, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the Independent Corrupt Practices and other Related Offences Commission, urging the agencies to probe them. Hon Jibrin had also visited the police last Wednesday with documents to back up his claims.

 

However, one source close to the public panel said that Hon Dogara’s reason for not appearing before the panel was not tenable, adding that any member could sign the invitation. Some members of the House of Representatives took a position that neither the police nor the EFCC had the power to investigate legislative proceedings.