Budget Padding: Reps set to impeach embattled Speaker Yakubu Dogara
– Text messages sent to members of the House of Representatives suggests that some lawmakers are already plotting to impeach embattled Speaker, Yakubu Dogara.
– But, both majority and minority leaders have said the plot will fail
Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara
Text messages sent to members of the House of Representatives suggests that some lawmakers are already plotting to impeach embattled Speaker, Yakubu Dogara.
According to a report by Punch newspaper, the text message is believed to be a plot to pitch Majority Leader, Mr. Femi Gbajabiamila against the Speaker. Recall that both men had a face off over who should emerge as Speaker.
Also, Gbajabiamila had refused to speak openly in support of Jibrin or Dogara, and the three other principal officers whom Jibrin had accused of padding the 2016 Budget.
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The alleged text reads: “Plot to destabilise the leadership of the House of Reps has taken a new dimension as the Attorney-General of the Federation, working with Gbajabiamila, Jibrin and the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, has drafted charges to arraign and detain principal officers of the House so that the Transparency Group, who recently met with Tinubu’s wife, will effect a leadership change with Gbajabiamila as Speaker and Jibrin as the Deputy.
“This is why Jibrin did not mention Femi (Gbajabiamila) in his allegations. The 8th House won’t be anybody’s rubber stamp. We will resist them like the Senate resisted them.”
But Gbajabiamila says he’s not plotting to remove the speaker.
In a communication to members, which was sent via text message, he said; “Since the budget controversy that engulfed the House about a week ago, I have pointedly maintained a dignified silence. I did this for the sake of the institution that I represent and which I have laboured hard to grow and protect, knowing that whatever I say could be impactful both within the House and outside it.
“I was determined to keep in place the glue that holds an otherwise fragmented House, protect its integrity and at same time avoid eroding the little confidence and vestiges of hope Nigerians have in us.
“Unfortunately, the controversy has now taken a different turn following the rather strange text making the rounds among members about my complicity in this rather sordid matter. I am being dragged into an arena I tried very hard to stay out of for the good of the House.
“The speakership election has come and gone. The election was divisive and acrimonious, but I have worked hard to heal the wounds, some of which still fester among members on both sides. It is my responsibility to bring together all tendencies in the House and I have worked well with the Speaker and all other principal officers in the interest of the institution and the country.
“The text message, which desperately seeks to finger me in some macabre plot to destabilise the House, is a throwback and echoes our dark post-speakership election history. The resurfacing of the faceless text messengers will not help us as a House, and let me quickly add that it will fail.
“My strongest critics and biggest political adversaries in the House cannot deny the fact that my commitment has always been to strengthen the legislature and its processes and our democracy as a whole.
“I consider everyone a friend and colleague and urge that as we collectively work towards a stronger legislature and strive to deepen our democracy, we do not pull back the hands of the clock or lose sight of the enormous responsibility placed upon us by providence as members of a critical arm of government.”
On Jibrin’s budget padding allegations, Gbajabiamila noted that judgment could not be passed on any official based on mere allegations.
“It is clear that our budget process needs radical reform. Allegations have been made, but I strongly believe that judgment should not be passed based on allegations.
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“We operate a constitutional democracy and we must at all times submit to its dictates and ethos. All parties are innocent until otherwise proven.
“This should be our guide. I plead with all members; the mudslinging must stop,” Gbajabiamila added.
In the same vien, the Minority Leader of the House, Mr. Leo Ogor, stated that the alleged plot against Dogara should be discarded. Ogor stated that nobody should “dream of the idea” of removing Dogara because the House was not thinking in the direction.
“There is fair hearing. Someone made allegations that have no basis, then the next day, you say remove Dogara. Any smokescreen to remove Dogara is a failed project even before it starts; a completely failed project. Disregard that text; it has no basis”, he said.
Meanwhile, the has APC sent a letter to Abdulmumuni Jibrin, summoning him to appear before a disciplinary committee at the party’s national secretariat in Abuja not later than the afternoon of Tuesday, July 2.
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