Speaking with Journalists after a meeting of about 30 minutes with
\nPresident Buhari at the Villa on Friday, Dogara said as a lawyer and old
\nhand in the legislative affairs, padding was not an offence under the law.
\nAsked if he was perturbed by the peddling of his name in the allegation,
\nDogara said he was not in any way worried, saying that the onus of proof
\nrested with Jubrin.<\/p>\n
Below was the detail of the chat with Journalists:<\/p>\n
Journalists: What informed your visit on a Friday?<\/p>\n
Dogara: I can\u2019t come and see my President? Do I need any reason to come
\nand see my President. It\u2019s a private visit<\/p>\n
Journalists: Was the issue of alleged budget padding discussed?<\/p>\n
Dogara: What is budget padding?<\/p>\n
Journalists:The language emanated from your chamber?<\/p>\n
Dogara: I don\u2019t know, educate me. I am lawyer and the speaker and I have
\nnever heard of the word \u201cpadding\u201d. What does padding mean?<\/p>\n
Journalists: Your former chairman of appropriations is saying you padded
\nthe budget?<\/p>\n
Dogara: Ask him. He who alleges must prove. That\u2019s the law in Nigeria<\/p>\n
Journalists: Are you not going to defend yourself?<\/p>\n
Dogara: Am I before a court?<\/p>\n
Journalists: There are people saying you should reconvene the House before
\nSeptember resumption time and step aside for thorough investigations?<\/p>\n
Dogara: We have rules and regulations. This is not a mock institution. We
\noperate by rules and we will follow the rules<\/p>\n
Journalists: Will you resign?<\/p>\n
Dogara: Resign for what, for what?<\/p>\n
Journalists: On the allegations?<\/p>\n
Dogara: What is the allegation?<\/p>\n
Journalists: That you and some members of the house padded the budget?<\/p>\n
Dogara: What is padding? You haven\u2019t told me. Ask Jibrin what is padding?
\nFor me, I studied law and I have been in the legislature and all this
\nperiod I have never heard of the word \u201cpadding\u201d being an offence under any
\nlaw. If I don\u2019t know, you are the media, research the law and\u00a0 let me know<\/p>\n
Journalists: Are you worried?<\/p>\n
Dogara: Worried for what? Worried over nothing. Why should I be worried.
\nAs far as I am concerned, I am not worried over anything<\/p>\n
Journalists: Will there be sanctions for Jibrin?<\/p>\n
Dogara: I am not the chairman of Ethics committee of the House, so I
\nwouldn\u2019t know and I don\u2019t know what padding means.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Speaking with Journalists after a meeting of about 30 minutes with President Buhari at the Villa on Friday, Dogara said as a lawyer and old hand in the legislative affairs,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":51972,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-51971","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-exclusive"],"yoast_head":"\n