BUDGET PADDING PALAVA : SEARCH YOUR CONSCIENCE ; JIBRIN TELLS DOGARA

As the budget padding scandal continues to
rock the House of Representatives, sacked
Chairman of the House committee on
Appropriation, Abdulmumin Jibrin, has written a
letter to the Speaker, Yakubu Dogara, asking
him to search his conscience and step down
from office for investigation before he destroys
the House of Representatives. Read the letter
below...
MY EXPLOSIVE LETTER TO SPEAKER DOGARA
September 22, 2016
Hon Yakubu Dogara
The Speaker,
House of Representatives,
National Assembly,
Abuja.
Dear Mr. Speaker,
SEARCH YOUR CONSCIENCE BEFORE YOU
DESTROY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
I write you this letter to express the deep agony
and pains that overwhelmed me when I watched
a person with soiled reputation preside over the
House sitting on Wednesday.
It was another bout of mental torment when I
watched you taking advantage of the office of
the Speaker and publicity inherent to vomit all
sort of lies in a desperate bid to attract public
sympathy, paint me in bad light and use the
institution of the House to cover the fraud you
perpetrated in the 2016 budget and other
monumental corrupt practices.
It is therefore no surprise that rather than
address the allegations of budget fraud and
corruption I specifically leveled against you, 3
Principal officers and a few other members (not
the entire House), and open it up for discussion
if you have nothing to hide, you embarked on a
wild goose chase.
Every right-thinking person knows that you were
acting a shameful script by referring the matter
to the Ethics Committee so that you can
conveniently be a judge in your own case. You
didn't even refer the allegations against you to
the Ethics Committee but rather chose to refer
a so-called "breach of privilege of members" in
a clear attempt to force members to carry your
cross through a well-orchestrated blackmail.
To hide a lie, a saying goes, a thousand more
lies are needed. Contrary to what you said in
your speech, where you recklessly quoted TS
Elliot, your so called maturity and silence during
the last two months were simply because you
are guilty as charged. And you know too well
you are!
In any case, you are aware the privilege of a
member does not accord him or her immunity
to being exposed if involved in corrupt
practices. And if exposing budget fraud and
corruption amounts to misconduct, then prepare
for even the worst misconduct in the next few
days.
You have successfully dragged 360 members
into an offense committed by you and a few
others. In the next few days, members will have
to decide whether they are with you or with
millions of conscientious Nigerians. No action
that symbolizes corruption than standing with
an embodiment of corruption.
Mr Speaker, I was taken aback when I heard on
good authority that you were boasting that
Nigerians will soon forget, and I will be left
alone. Smiling sheepishly, my mind made an
instant flashback, reflecting the struggle and
sacrifice we made to make you what you are
today. I then wondered how you forget the stuff
I am made of and the courage of my conviction
so easily. I conclude you underestimated how
resolute I could be to champion a cause I
believe in or stay on the side of the truth. My
conscience is the guiding torch of behavior, you
need to be reminded.
Mr Speaker, it was a shameless act to behold
seeing you hitting the gavel and asking that
investigation of such weighty allegations be
conducted and report submitted back to you
within one week. Just imagine that after the
petitions I submitted against you, Mr President
directed the anti graft agencies to conduct
investigation and submit report within one
week. You would have been shouting foul play
all over. Even with the civilized approach of the
anti-graft agencies you still went on air to say
they cannot investigate or prosecute you. You
have refused to appear before the anti-graft
agencies despite pressure from the general
public for you to go and clear your name.
Mr. Speaker, it is dismaying to note that the
House is already sitting on a keg of gunpowder.
Let's see if history will repeat itself or history
will be made. In any case, if we look at the
history of the House, where are the accused
and where are the accusers today? Who
laughed last? Once you stick to the truth, God
will be with you! You might force your illegal
suspension on me, but I care less because I
have optimism that most of you will go to jail.
In your speech, you called on the Government
to take responsibility for the recession. It is
leaders like you who steal public money front,
back and center and abuse their offices that
destroyed our economy and brought us down to
ground zero that should take responsibility.
Your call on Mr President to address a joint
sitting is a desperate bid to use the
unblemished reputation of Mr President to
shore up your battered reputation and
credibility. I cannot make decision for the
President, but If I were the President, I will
simply relate with you with a long spoon
because of the irritating and stinking reputation
you have earned.
You know very well that while you presided over
the House on Wednesday, most Nigerians and
those of us that didn't put on
the #iStandWithCorruption mufflers didn't see a
Speaker in you. We saw a fraudster, a rogue
and a criminal who has become a disgrace to
the institution of the House. Why are you afraid
to open up the matter for discussion? Why do
you find it too much a sacrifice for the country
to step down and allow for a free and fair
investigation to save the image of the House?
It is clear you will do anything to hold on to
power even on the alter of blackmailing your
colleagues. It will be tragic if the House
condones a situation where some few corrupt
members will commit offense, and then use the
institution of the House as a shield to evade
justice. This is the script you are trying to
implement. I assure you we will do everything
within the precinct of our powers so that the
corrupt members like you will be fished out and
dealt with to preserve the sanctity of the
institution.
On a final note, I have the following posers for
you: Did you consult your colleagues when you
and the 3 other principal officers stole our 40
billion? Or when you diverted federal
governments projects to your farm? Who did
you consult when you inserted fraudulent
projects worth about 20billion naira into the
budget? Didn't you and members of your cabal
go solo when you inserted about 2000 projects
worth 284 billion naira into the budget, or when
you manipulated the house rules and inserted
draconian clauses, a House rule you continue to
use despite the fact that it is a subject of
litigation? What about the way you abused trust
in the 2015 SDG? Or how you tried to force me
to fraudulently insert projects worth about 30
billion naira in the budget? Can you explain how
you absconded with 20% of inputs meant for
the House after the harmonization? How about
cutting a chunk off members' emoluments for
rent of houses and guest houses? Why did you
refuse to circulate copies of the internal budget
of the House? How about mismanaging finances
of the House through questionable
procurements? How about trying to use running
cost of members for a fraudulent mortgage and
many more?
Mr Speaker these are the allegations against
you. All members of the House are aware that I
have raised these allegations, and whether they
act on it or not Nigerians are watching. But
what remains clear is that you have become a
lameduck Speaker who is vulnerable and cannot
walk with his head high. Do you expect all
these allegations to be swept under the carpet?
You have neither attempted nor addressed
these allegations but you move around freely
and try to keep a bold face. Do you really love
this country? Do you really love the House or
care about its image? Search your conscience,
make a soul-searching and do the right thing by
stepping down with the 3 others to allow for a
free, fair and unbiased investigation in
collaboration with the ongoing external
investigation.
The House is an institution that always stand
for justice, equity and fairness. How damaging
will it be when the House can not deal with
issues of internal corruption in a transparent
manner? With a situation like this and moreso
with a rotten head, who do you expect to take
the House serious? How do you oversight or
investigate others? You have made the House a
laughing stock. You think Nigerians are fools?
Try for once to look beyond the muffler-
adorning members and listen to the voices of
200 million Nigerians. If you succeed in
blackmailing your colleagues, you cannot
blackmail Nigerians. Let's not take the patience
of Nigerians for granted.
When Francis Fukuyama wrote the book The
End of History and the Last Man in 1992, he
was not saying the world has come to an end
but simply indicating the emergence of the last
and final world order. What happened yesterday
on the floor of the House was just the end of
another beginning. The emergence of a struggle
to establish a new order in the House of
Representatives that will expose and deal with
all forms of corruption both systemic and
individual.
Mr Speaker, this struggle is like the rising sun, it
is unstoppable. There is nothing you can do on
earth to stop it. No amount of lobbying,
legislative antics or blackmail of members of
the House, Senate, Executive arm or individuals
outside the House can help you and your cabal
of few corrupt members. The day of reckoning
is so close.
We all know you blackmailed members to get
support and wear mufflers in a show of shame
to celebrate you due to the abundance of
systemic corruption (which people like you
instituted) in the House that makes many
members vulnerable and dependent. To you it
was a "smart" move. You just want the entire
House to go down with you because you know I
will pull the trigger. It is gladdening that some
courageous members defied your blackmail and
rose to the occasion. History will be kind to
them.
History will remember you as the Speaker who
brought down and endanger the reputation of
the House through budget fraud and
monumental corruption. The House must
embrace reforms. It is a reform you have lost
the moral ground to superintend. How on earth
a person like you who committed the biggest
budget fraud in the history of the House will
supervise budget reforms? It is time you woke
up from your dream and embrace reality. The
time has come, Whether you like it or not,
justice will be served on you, Lasun, Doguwa
and Ogor.
God bless Nigeria.
Yours in service to the nation,
Hon Abdulmumin Jibrin PhD MBA
APC-Kano
Kiru-Bebeji Federal Constituency
Kano
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Source :LIB
Edited by DANIEL IKECHUKWU EKWUNIFE