Dogara meets Buhari secretly, says budget padding not an offence

Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, has said that he will not resign his position as speaker despite allegations of budget padding.

A former Chairman of the House Committee on Appropriation, Abdulmumin Jibrin, had accused the Speaker of padding the 2016 budget.

Dogara, who spoke to State House House correspondents after a closed door meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, also said budget padding is not an offence.

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He said with his experience as a lawyer and a federal lawmaker of many years, he has never heard padding as being an offence under the law.

He asked “What is padding? You haven’t told me. Ask Jibrin what is padding? For me, I studied Law and I have been in the legislature and all this period I have never heard of the word “padding” being an offence under any law. If I don’t know, you are the media, research the law and let me know.”

Dogara arrived the Villa at about 2.30pm, but did not disclose the details of his meeting with the president.

Speaker Dogara was earlier in the day with President Buhari at the Graduation Ceremony of Course 24 of the National Defence College, Abuja.

By Timothy Enietan-Matthews

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