Ibrahim Rugu
As the allegations of budget padding being thrown at each other by the former Chairman of the Appropriation Committee in the House of Representatives, Hon. Abdulmumin Jibrin and the camp of Speaker Yakubu Dogara continues unabated, an alleged plot to drag the National Leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu into the feud has been uncovered.
Hon. Dogara and Hon. Jibrin had been at loggerhead since the latter was removed as the appropriation committee chairman. While Jibrin accused the speaker among other things of padding the 2016 budget with N30billion and diverting some Federal Government projects to his constituency or personal use, the speaker’s camp in return accused Jibrin of padding the budget with N250bn and acting without other members of the appropriation committee.
Both camps have since been battling to outdo each other with Jibrin reeling out accusations upon accusations on a daily basis.
However, a new twist was added to the battle on Saturday following the leakage of a whatsapp message said to have been circulated by a member of the lower legislative chamber.
It is not clear what the true intent of the message is, but a clear indication is that Tinubu is being dragged into the feud.
“Plot to destabilize the leadership of the House of Reps has taken a new dimension as the AGF working with Gbajabiamila, Jibrin and SGF has drafted charges to arraign and detain principal officers of the House so that the transparency group which recently met with Tinubu’s wife will effect a leadership change with Gbajabiamila as Speaker and Jibrin as Deputy. This is why Jibrin did not mention Femi in his allegations. The 8th House won’t be anybody’s rubber stamp. We will resist them like the senate resisted them…,” the message which has been circulated to some members of the House of Representatives reads.
A source close to the sacked appropriation committee chairman who represents Kiru-Bebeji Federal Constituency of Kano said they are not aware of the allegation in the message, describing it as a plot to divert attention from the real issue.
“Jibrin has not spoken to Jagaba for several months, especially because of the role he played in ensuring that Femi Gbajabiamila (APC, Surulere) did not emerge the emerge the speaker of the House, a move allegedly not down with Tinubu.” the source said.
Recall that Femi Gbajabiamila who happens to be the choice of the All Progressives Congress (APC), narrowly lost the bid to emerge House Speaker, to Dogara.
The source further added that the same way they have bandied the name of Tinubu in the case involving Senate President Bukola Saraki is the same way they want to rope in Tinubu even when he has nothing to do with it.
Asked if Jibrin is is fighting this battle on personal vendetta, the source said “what does it matter? The speaker and his gang have been accused of tampering with the budget and as you may be aware, Jibrin has submitted his petition to the appropriate security agency. If they have nothing to hide, they should go and defend themselves instead of engaging in blackmail.”
Updated
A member of the House of Representative loyal to the camp of Speaker Yakubu Dogara has also denied knowledge of the whatsapp message allegedly circulated to members of the House.
According to the lawmaker, who does not want to be named, no message of such was sent to him. Although, he said he was not sure if others received such message, he said: “It could just be part of the ploy to nail the speaker at all cost.”
“You can see that Jibrin has been making all sorts of allegations in the past few days. This may just be one of them so as to be in the good books of people that matters”
Source: abusidiqu.com
