Budget Padding: Jubrin States Case Before APC

The former Chairman of the House of Representatives’ Committee on Appropriation, Abdulmumin Jibrin, has explained his position on the alleged budget padding by the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara.
Jubrin gave the explanation at a meeting with the leaders of the All Progressives Congress (APC) at the party’s National Headquarters in Abuja, yesterday.
The former chairman of the Appropriation Committee, who arrived at the APC headquarters around 2.09pm, was summoned by the national executive of the party after his allegation of budget padding against the leadership of the House of Representatives led to tension in the lower chamber of the National Assembly.
Decked in a white flowing African robe (Kaftan), Jibrin arrived the secretariat in a black land cruiser numbered, Abuja, BWA 768 AM.
He went straight into the office of the Deputy National Chairman, North, Senator Lawal Shuaibu.
The party had on Monday written Jibrin to appear before it by 2pm yesterday.
The leadership of the APC had summoned Jibrin over his claims that Speaker Yakubu Dogara padded the 2016 national budget to the tune of N40 billion.
Present at the meeting were the APC Deputy National Chairman, North, Lawal Shuaibu; and the National Vice-Chairman, North-West, Inuwa Abdulkadir.
All the stakeholders met to trash out thorny issues behind closed doors, and journalists were not informed of the outcome of the meeting, yesterday.
Jibrin, an APC representative from Kano State, had on Monday submitted a petition against Speaker, Yakubu Dogara, and other leaders of the House to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), the Independent Corrupt Practices Commission (ICPC) and other anti-corruption and security agencies in the country.
Both Jibrin and Dogara, who are at the centre of the budget-padding scandal, are from the North.
Meanwhile, the Chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Interior, Adams Jagaba has pointed an accusing finger on former Chairman of the House committee on Appropriations, Abdulmumin Jibrin, saying that the former lecturer, now anti-corruption crusader, is living above his means.
Jagaba, who made the accusation yesterday while speaking with journalists in Abuja, wondered how Jibrin, who is a lawmaker and a former lecturer, lives in “a posh personal apartment at the highbrow Maitama District” of Abuja.
He added, “Ordinarily, I would have ignored the said publication, but I am compelled to respond for posterity sake.
“Without sounding immodest, my anti-corruption crusade dates back to my first term between 1999 and 2003, when I exposed the plot of the Presidency which attempted to bribe Honourable Members for the purposes of effecting a leadership change in the House of Representatives.
“As chairman, House Committee on Anti-Corruption then, I exhibited the money meant for that plot on the floor of the House at plenary.