Budget padding: The plot to silence Jibrin

The allegations made by Abdulmumin Jibrin against some principal officers of the House of Representatives, have gotten him into more trouble than he may have bargained for.

He has now run to the courts to shield him from possible suspension from the House, and or arrest by the police or Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) for allegedly embezzling funds to the tune of N17 billion.

Jibrin, the former chairman of the House Committee on Appropriation had accused the Speaker of the House, Yakubu Dogara and three others of illegally inserting items into the 2016 Appropriation Bill.

The three others are the Deputy Speaker, Yusuff Lasun; Chief Whip, Alhassan; and the Minority Leader, Mr. Leo Ogor.

It was gathered on Friday that the EFCC may have re-opened a case against Jibrin stemming from several petitions against him, over his role in money laundering allegations and contract abuses in his Bebeji/Kiru Federal Constituency in Kano State.

He was also reportedly once arraigned by the EFCC with a former Governor of Nasarawa State, Mr. Aliyu Akwe-Doma, on money laundering charges to the tune of about N15 billion.

Another case involved N2bn, which he reportedly laundered in the name of Green Forest Investment Limited, a firm he owned. However, the charges were later abandoned.

Also, Jibrin who had initially advocated for the House to resume sitting, so as to have Dogara and the others answer for their role in the budget padding allegations, has also run to the court to stop the House from reconvening.

Read also: Jibrin weeps for Nigeria for celebrating corruption

According to him, there are plans by the officers involved to reconvene the House with an aim of suspending him from the chambers.

Jibrin in an affidavit filed at a Federal High Court in Abuja with suit No. FHC/ABJ/CS/595 is seeking an order of the court stopping the House from suspending him from the House pending the determination of the substantive suit.

Jibrin in the affidavit deposed in the Court against the House of Representatives, the Clerk, the Speaker and 12 other members of the House, said if the respondents/defendants “are not immediately restrained, he would be suspended as a member of the House and this will greatly prejudice him and thousands of his constituents who rely on him to afford them their due representations in the Federal legislature.”

He named the respondents to include the House of Representatives, the Clerk, the Speaker and 12 other members of the House.

He also filed another suit with reference number, FHC/ABJ/CS/539 on August 9, begging the court to stop the police from arresting him.

Joined in the suit as respondents are are The Nigeria Police, the Inspector General of Police, the Commissioner of Police, FCT, Dogara, Deputy Speaker, Yusuf Lasun, Leo Ogor and the Attorney General of the Federation.

In the affidavit attached to the suit, Jibrin alleged that Dogara and co have “plotted with the 1st to 3rd respondents (Police, IG and Compol, FCT) to nab him and also put him out of circulation and so as to lay their hands on the said documents and destroy the evidence therein and avoid a leakage of their roles in the budget issue.”

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