a rowdy session as it resumes today
(Tuesday) in connection with the alleged
budget padding scandal in the chamber in
which the House principal officers have
been accused by the sacked House
Chairman of the Appropriation Committee,
Abdulmumin Jibrin.
The PUNCH gathered in Abuja, on Monday
that members, backing the call for
resignation of the Speaker, Yakubu Dogara;
Deputy Speaker, Yussuff Lasun; the Whip,
Alhassan Ado-Doguwa; and the Minority
Leader, Leo Ogor, had concluded plans to
ensure the matter would be debated by the
lawmakers.
However, it was learnt that the leaders of
the House and their supporters had argued
that the issue could be handled as an
internal affair of the House.
The PUNCH also gathered that Jibrin might
be suspended during plenary today.
A member, who spoke with one of our
correspondents on condition of anonymity,
said, “We definitely cannot continue like
this. No individual member is greater than
the House. The way Jibrin is going about
his agitation is an embarrassment not only
to himself and the House but the All
Progressives Congress as the governing
party. The House must take a stand.
“What I think is likely to happen is that we
may either hold a closed-door session to
deal with this matter once and for all or
allow our ethics committee to deal with it,
but we have to take a decision.”
Jibrin’s allegations will not be ignored —
Transparency Group
The Chairman of the Transparency Group, a
pressure group within the House,
Muhammad Soba, said issues raised by
Jibrin would not be swept under the carpet.
Soba, in an interview with The PUNCH,
said, “We will demand that the accused
persons step down for proper investigations
to be carried out. It is as simple as that.”
Members of the TG held a secret meeting
and resolved to summon Jibrin, The
PUNCH learnt on Monday.
One of our correspondents learnt that the
meeting, which was held at an undisclosed
location in Abuja, on Monday night, had
close to 80 members in attendance.
It was gathered that members of the group
sent words to Jibrin to appear before them
to state his case and explain the level of
his involvement in the budget padding
saga.
Members of the group also agreed to resist
any attempt to pass a vote of confidence in
Dogara and those accused of complicity in
the saga and reject any attempt to suspend
the embattled Jibrin.
A member of the group, who spoke to The
PUNCH on condition of anonymity on
Monday, stated, “We met with close to 80
of our members in attendance. Our
demands are not difficult for the Speaker
and his group to meet; they should simply
step aside and submit themselves for
investigations. If they are found blameless,
they can come back.
“We hear there is a plot to suspend
somebody. It is our considered opinion that
it will be hasty without giving all concerned
a fair hearing.”
Budget padding allegation, not our priority
–Whip
But the Whip of the House, Ado-Doguwa, in
an SMS to The PUNCH, explained that the
alleged budget padding scam was the least
of the challenges facing the House.
Ado-Doguwa stated, “The unfortunate
budget padding matter, in my opinion, is
not going to be a priority issue at all.
“Even though the House may wish to
address its shortcomings through our
internal legislative code, I am confident we
will have no time to waste on the budget
padding issue because we all believe the
matter is mischievous and unfounded and
therefore lacks merit to attract our special
attention.
“We, as leaders, will not allow ourselves be
distracted by politically-motivated
trivialities.”
In response to what is going to top the
agenda of the House on resumption,
Doguwa said, “Robust oversight of
ministries and agencies of government vis-
a-vis the implementation of the 2016
budget through our committee systems will
be our key priority.
“Other priorities will be to continue on the
lawmaking process from where we stopped.
We have over 116 bills at various levels of
legislative considerations; we will continue
on such bills.
“The President’s possible request for
emergency powers will also be on the
priority as a House of the people. We will
also give attention to any request that is
intended at improving the lot of our
people.”
I don’t care if House suspends me –Jibrin
Jibrin has said he will not be bothered if
his colleagues in the House suspend him
when the House resumes on Tuesday
(today).
He stated this on a live television
programme titled, ‘Politics Today’ on
Channels Television on Monday.
He added, “On the issue of suspension, I am
less bothered. Perhaps that is the sacrifice I
will have to make for the country and for us
to be able to deal with the issues of
corruption in the House, but I doubt very
much that the 360 members, having
followed the events of the last two months,
and of course the letter I wrote to each
member last week, will go on the floor of
the House and start talking about
suspending me.”
The lawmaker said even if he was
suspended, he would continue to fight
corruption and ensure that Dogara, and the
three other principal officers in the House
were brought to justice.
Jibrin added, “Whatever happens on
Tuesday and the rest of the days we want
to spend in the House before the end of the
year, one thing is certain and I say this
without any element of contradiction, I will
continue to pursue this issue until justice is
served on Speaker Dogara and other
principal officers whether I am suspended
or not.”
Senate focuses on economy, may summon
finance minister, CBN gov
On resumption on Tuesday (today), Senate
President Bukola Saraki is to address his
colleagues after which they may or may not
debate his speech, which is expected to set
the tone for Senate deliberations in the
weeks ahead.
A statement by the Senate President’s
Media Office on Monday said Saraki would
dedicate his welcome address to the state
of the economy.
The statement partly read, “The Senate
President’s address will coincide with the
return of the 8th Senate from its annual
recess.
“His Excellency’s speech will announce that
the Senate will focus the majority of its
legislative days on solutions to tackling the
recession and the timely passage of the
2017 federal budget.”
It further quoted Saraki as saying, “During
our annual recess, I and many of my
colleagues in the Senate returned to our
constituencies to witness the impact of the
economic downturn on local communities.
“The conditions on the ground demand that
we put forth our best efforts to get the
economy moving and people back to work.”
0 comments:
Please no spamming in the comment box.