Members of the House of Representatives Committee on Appropriation have<\/p>\n
dissociated themselves from the allegations of the former chairman of the
\ncommittee, Hon Abdulmumin Jibrin, against the speaker and other members of
\nthe House leadership, saying he hijacked the entire process.<\/p>\n
In a press briefing at the National Assembly yesterday, the members also
\nstated categorically that there was no breach in the appropriation process
\nthat will warrant any external investigation.<\/p>\n
They explained that Hon. Jibrin Abdulmumin acted on his own and stressed
\nthat Members of the Committee on Appropriation are standing with the
\nspeaker because they know the allegations are not true.<\/p>\n
“We, members of the Committee on Appropriation saddled with the
\nresponsibility of treating the 2016 and subsequent National Budget are
\nsolidly in support of Mr. Speaker, Rt. Hon. Yakubu Dogara and other
\nPrincipal Officers of the House of Representatives.<\/p>\n
“We, therefore, request that Hon. Jibrin Abdulmumin should tow the path of
\nhonour and conduct himself in a manner befitting an Honourable Member of
\nthe House of Representatives.<\/p>\n
Speaking on behalf of the committee, the deputy chairman, Hon Chris
\nAzubogu, said the members noted “with total dismay and disappointment, the
\nconduct of the former Chairman of the Committee on Appropriation, Hon.
\nJibrin Abdulmumin.”<\/p>\n
They added, “As Members of the Committee on Appropriation, we want to
\nstate categorically clear that the ousted Chairman’s action does not in
\nany way reflect the position of the Committee. He has constantly allotted
\nall the actions and decisions of the Committee to himself without
\nconferring with the Members.<\/p>\n
“We wish to state that we totally disassociate ourselves with all the
\ncalculated plot to pull down the integrity of the Leadership and Members
\nof the 8th House of Representatives.<\/p>\n
“For the avoidance of doubt, we wish to state that a comprehensive
\ncollation of the reports of the budget from the various standing
\nCommittees of the House was done by the Appropriation Committee which was
\nin the process of deliberation when the ousted Chairman unilaterally
\nhigh-jacked the entire budget to a hideout with his consultant without the
\nconsent of the Committee, that was the last time the Committee saw the
\nbudget only for Hon Jibrin Abdulmumin to resurface about three weeks
\nlater, with a report purported to have come from the Committee.”<\/p>\n
He reiterated that the speaker removed the erstwhile chairman of
\nAppropriations after Members approached him with a complaint and a demand
\nto remove Abdulmumin as the Chairman of the Committee.<\/p>\n
“In his calm and peaceful manner, Mr. Speaker sought to resolve the matter
\namicably in the overall interest of the House and the Nation. In his usual
\nrecalcitrant manner, Hon Abdulmumin preferred the confrontational approach
\nwhich irked the Members to request for his urgent removal from office.
\nThis request was overwhelmingly supported by the entire House.<\/p>\n
“In response to this demand by Members, Mr. Speaker has no choice than to
\nact accordingly in order to maintain the integrity of the whole House.”<\/p>\n
On budget padding, they stated categorically that there is no offence
\nknown to law in Nigeria as budget padding, otherwise, the entire work of
\nappropriation in the past and in the future will amount to nothing.<\/p>\n
They argued, “The entire essence of treating a budget would have been
\nunnecessary in the first instance if the National Assembly has no powers
\nover it.<\/p>\n
“Note that appropriation bill is like any other executive bill and it also
\nundergoes the same process of law making for it to become a law otherwise,
\nthere will be no need for Mr. President to present an estimate to the
\nNational Assembly for consideration.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Members of the House of Representatives Committee on Appropriation have dissociated themselves from the allegations of the former chairman of the committee, Hon Abdulmumin Jibrin, against the speaker and other…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":51703,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-51702","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-exclusive"],"yoast_head":"\n