As controversy continues to trail the 2016 budget, with allegations and counter-allegations against the leadership of the House of Representatives, the Speaker of the House, Hon. Yakubu Dogara, yesterday threatened legal action against the former Chairman, House Committee on Appropriation, Hon. Abdulmumuni Jubrin.
The Speaker has, however, given Jubrin an ultimatum to tender an unreserved apology to him and retract all allegations made against him within seven days – or face legal action.
Dogara’s threat of legal action against Jubrin was contained in a statement by his Special Adviser on Media and Public Affairs, Mr. Turaki Hassan.
Dogara, in a letter written to Jubrin by his counsel, Professor Joash Ojo Amupitan, noted that the claims of the former Appropriation Chairman that the speaker is corrupt and abuses his office, is aimed at tarnishing his image at home and abroad and is a clear case of libel.
The letter read in part, “We act as solicitors to Rt Hon. Yakubu Dogara, Speaker of House of Representatives of Three Arm Zone National Assembly Complex, Abuja herein after referred to as our client and on whose instructions we write this letter to you.
“The attention of our client has been drawn to a libellous press statement you issued on Monday 25th July 2016 which was made available to members of the press (print and electronic media) titled “The corrupt Speaker Yakubu Dogara and his 3-man cabal’’.
The letter further said that “the personal references are obviously directed at our client, and amount to a very serious libel.
“By the said publication and without putting to the public any shred of evidence, our client is portrayed as a criminal, corrupt, dishonest, fraudulent, dishonourable and unfit to hold the position of Speaker of House of Representatives.
“Our client’s reputation has further been brought down in the estimation of right thinking members of the society and he has been thrown into public opprobrium, odium, scorn and ridicule.
“Consequently, we consider your publication on the matter as
not only libellous but made in bad faith; an act of vendetta owing to your recent removal as the Chairman of House Committee on Appropriation.
“The said publication is also aimed at causing disaffection between Nigerians and members of the House of Representatives.
In a swift reaction to Dogara’s threat, Jubrin, in his twitter handle, said that the Speaker’s threat was quite predictable, adding that Dogara failed to realize that the law is not intended to protect corrupt people.
He said: “I know he will rush to court in order to invoke the House rules, that a matter in court can not be heard on the floor.
“He failed to realize that the law is not intended to protect corrupt people. It is such a shame. I have responded to their allegations and rather than respond to mine, he is rushing to court. I stand by my allegations and will not withdraw them!
“I am happy to announce that my lawyers have officially approached the EFCC and the ICPC, towards working out a date for me to personally submit my petition against Speaker Yakubu Dogara, Deputy Speaker, Yusuf Lasun, Whip, Alhassan Doguwa and Minority Leader Leo Ogor.
“I believe once a date is agreed with the anti-corruption agencies we would have begun the process of making these characters pay for abusing their office.”
Meanwhile, a new twist was added to the budget crisis rocking the House of Representatives yesterday. A group of lawmakers, under the aegis of ‘Transparency Group’, demanded that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) should investigate the Speaker, Yakubu Dogara, Deputy Speaker, Yussuf Lasun and other principal officers over allegations of padding the 2016 budget.
Addressing newsmen on behalf of the group, Hon. Musa Soba (Kaduna-APC) insisted that Dogara, Lasun, the Majority Whip Alhassan Doguwa and Minority Leader, Leo Ogor and the former chairman, House Committee on Appropriations, Abdumumin Jibrin, should be investigated by relevant “external” government agencies.
The group of lawmakers disclosed that about 113 signatures had been collected from lawmakers from the six geopolitical zones and across party lines before the Sallah break with a view to compelling the Speaker to explain noticed discrepancies in the budget.
Jubrin had, at the weekend, alleged that Dogara, Lasun, Doguwa and Ogor padded the 2016 budget with N284 billion, using 10 of the 96 Standing Committees in the House.
This, the Chairman, House
Committee on Media, Abdulrazak Namdas, swiftly reacted to and explained that Jubrin had to be removed as chairman because he padded the budget with N250 billion even as he abused his office by regularly blackmailing heads of Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) for “pecuniary” reasons.
Briefing journalists, Soba said: “We call for an external investigation into the matter with the view to finding out if our principal officers are guilty or not. For this group, we say the budget was padded and as such, the budget being a document that belongs to all Nigerians, it is no longer an internal affair.”
He said that Namdas was not speaking on behalf members, adding that the Speaker should desist from making Jubrin’s allegations look like a problem of the House.
He maintained that henceforth, both the Speaker, the Deputy Speaker and the Whip and the Minority Leader should confront the allegations made against them as individuals.
He said: “We urge the leadership of the House of Representatives to stop presenting the 2016 budget padding allegations as the problem of the entire House. Let those at the center of the controversy answer to all the allegations made against them individually and collectively in line with legal practice and our criminal justice system.”
Also speaking at the briefing, Baballe Bashir (Kano-APC) decried the fact that Nigerians have called the House names owning to allegations of corruption, the most recent coming from former President Olusegun Obasanjo. He said lawmakers were concerned about clearing the reputation of the House.
According to him, lawmakers had tried but failed to get a proper explanation from the Speaker long before Jubrin went public with his allegations.
He said: “When we came back from Sallah break, we realised that the Speaker was not ready to give us necessary feedback and we started collecting signature under the heading of Members Against Budget Padding.
“We want everyone involved to be investigated, be it a messenger, a typist in the budget office. Be it a member of the Appropriations Committee, such individuals have to be identified for a holistic investigation into this, so that we don’t have the same problem with the 2017 Appropriation”.
The lawmakers at the briefing, who identified themselves as the publicity committee of the new group, included: Abubakar Chika (Niger-APC), Baballe Bashir (Kano-APC), Bala Ikora (Kaduna-APC) and Lawal Yahaha (Bauchi-APC).
Thursday, 28 July 2016
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Dogara, Jubrin in war of words over Budget Padding Allegations
Dogara, Jubrin in war of words over Budget Padding Allegations
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