•Rep reveals Speaker Dogara’s dirty secrets
•How house leadership padded budget with N40bn

By Iheanacho Nwosu and Kemi Yesufu, Abuja

The 2016 budget controversy took a new turn yesterday with ousted chairman of the House Committee on Appropriations, Abdulmumin Jibrin, calling for the immediate resignation of Speaker, Yakubu Dogara, his Deputy, Yussuff Lasun, and other principal officers of the House, over alleged shady deal.
Jibrin in the statement entitled: “My Resignation”, stated that Dogara,  Lasun, Majority Whip, Alhassan Doguwa and Minority Leader, Leo Ogor, should resign because they allocated N40 billion to themselves in the last budget appropriation.
Controversy trailed the removal of Jibrin, as Appropriation Committee chairman on Wednesday with Dogara announcingf at plenary that he willingly resigned from his position.
But in his statement yesterday, Jibril alleged the principal officers picked on him because he refused to cover up their unilateral decision to allocate to themselves N40 billion out of the N100 billion allocated to the entire National Assembly.
“The four of them met and took that decision in addition to billions of wasteful projects, running over N20 billion they allocated to their constituencies. They must come out clean.
“My inability to admit into the budget almost N30 billion personal requests from Mr. Speaker and the three other principal officers also became an issue. I have every documented evidence to this effect.
“After the submission of the first version of the budget, which was returned by Mr. President, I briefed members in executive session and told them as agreed at our pre-budget meeting with chairmen and deputy chairmen of standing committees,
“We simply adopted their reports with little amendments. Nobody faulted my submission. Members insisted they must know how the N100 billion was allocated. I told them the truth. Since after that meeting, Mr Speaker with the suport of the three other principal officers effectively blocked me from briefing members, ensured I was not at the last executive session and refused to investigate issues I raised that I believe must be addressed if we intend to build a better budget system for the House.”
The lawmaker accused Dogara of twisting facts with regard to the circumstances that led to his resignation.
“I am obliged to make further statement after listening to the full statement of Speaker Yakubu Dogara on why I had to leave as Chairman, Appropriation.  It is a fact I went up to the Speaker and told him clearly I wanted to leave. He confirmed this in his statement but it appeared he wished he had fired me instead of my personal decision to step down.
“Thereafter, I proceeded to my office. I was, therefore, not surprised when an aide of mine walked into my office to inform me that the Speaker had announced my departure. I was relieved and went straight to adress the press and released a statement. It was only later in the evening while monitoring the news that I watched the full statement he made on the floor. Speaker Dogara’s statement was a complete misrepresentation of the facts, false, mischievous, unfair and a calculated attempt to bring my name to disrepute, blackmail, silence and use me as a scape goat.
“The plan is to execute it just before the recess so that by the time we return I would have been buried and the issue forgotten. Mr. Speaker, this issue will never be swept under the carpet. We are closing for recess with it and we shall commence the next session with this issue. This was the last option they had after every attempt to find something to nail me failed.”
Jibrin also identified his staunch opposition to the move to amend the constitution to include presiding officers of the National Assembly under the immunity clause for the Speaker, turning against him and portraying him in negative light.
But Dogara in a statement issued by Chairman, House Committee on Media, Abdulrazak Namdas, dismissed Jibrin’s claims that he was relieved of his position because he opposed immunity clause bill as laughable and untrue.
The statement read: “We wish to say that it is the prerogative of the Selection Committee of the House  to appoint and remove Committee Chairmen. That power has been so exercised in the case of Hon. Abdulmumin Jibrin, as chairman of Appropriation Committee.
“Most of the allegations on the 2016  budget process and his opposition to immunity of presiding officers  are non-issues and mere afterthought manufactured simply because the House relieved him of his position.
“If he had all these ‘facts’ before, why didn’t he make them public? Why is he doing that now?”
The House maintained that  Jibrin, like any other member of the House knows that there are conventions and precedents, as it relates to budgets and projects for principal officers of the National Assembly.
“Why is he making it an issue now? In any case, he is entitled to his opinion as a Nigerian and as a legislator while acting within the laws ol Nigeria and rules of the House.
“We must make it abundantly clear that he was not removed because of his support or otherwise on immunity bill. Afterall, he is not the only one who opposed the bill.
“The bill is still pending before committee on review of constitution and it has to be voted upon by each and every member of the House, get Senate concurrence, endorsed by two-third of the 36 State Houses of Assembly and be assented to by the President. It is a cheap blackmail on the part of Hon. Jibrin to even insinuate that he was removed because he opposed immunity bill.”
The chamber cautioned Jibrin not to “distract the House from giving legislative support on  important issues facing the government concerning the revival of the economy, insecurity in the country, pursuit of anti-corruption measures, poverty alleviation, infrastructural development etc. The Nigerian people are simply not ready to waste their time on personal issues and personal egos of our leaders. We should face the urgent tasks before us for which we were elected.”