Call unfair – CISLAC
By Bode Olagoke
Abuja
Following the accusation and counter accusation of 2016 Budget padding allegedly involving the Speaker, House of Representative, Yakubu Dogara, his deputy, Yusuf Sulaiman Lasun, and two other principal officers, Nigerians from all walks of life, have called on the affected leaders of the Green Chamber to honourably step down pending the outcome of investigation into the matter.
A cross-section of Nigerians interviewed in Abuja by our correspondent, agreed that it is a thing of honour for Speaker Dogara and others to step down “so as not to be judges in their own cases.”
Reacting to the development, the National Publicity Secretary of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), Alfa Mohammed, said: “Of course, the way the scandal is going on, I think they should step aside pending the determination of the authenticity of the allegation.
I am strongly in support of their investigation and they should also by now step aside.”
In a similar reaction, former National Secretary of Labour Party (LP), Barrister Kayode Ajulo, said the essence of stepping down is that “if there is likelihood that their continuity in that office will have effect on the investigation, but I think in this case, it is a different body that will investigate the matter.”
Nigerians got to know about the padding allegation when the sacked Chairman Of The Appropriation Committee and a lawmaker from Kano state, Abdulmumin Jibrin, accused Speaker Dogara and three others of engineering “pervasive corruption” in the passed 2016 budget, the allegations which have been denied by the parties involved.
Also yesterday, a Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) called on the speaker and other House principal officers named in the scandal to step down until an independent body concluded the investigation.
SERAP said in a letter that: “Following confirmation received by SERAP from the EFCC that it has taken up and looking into SERAP’s petition to the body on the allegations that the leadership of the House of Representatives padded the 2016 budget to the tune of N481 billion, SERAP is now writing to request you to immediately step aside from your position as Speaker of the House of Representatives pending the out outcome of the investigation.”
The letter, dated July 29, 2016, and signed by its Executive Director, Adetokunbo Mumuni, SERAP also implored Dogara to ensure that other officers named in the scandal “step aside from their positions to allow for the investigation by the EFCC and other agencies to go ahead unhindered.”
The group further stated that it had carefully reviewed the documents dumped in the public domain by Jibrin and concluded that a strong case had been established against the top lawmakers that warranted law enforcement agencies’ investigation.
“SERAP has also reviewed several documents circulating on the internet on the alleged budget padding and we believe that these documents establish a prima-facie case of corruption, which deserves a thorough, transparent, independent and effective investigation by the EFCC and other agencies.”
The group, therefore, reiterated its position that Dogara and others named in the scandal must stand aside because “the House of Representatives cannot function effectively nor enjoy public trust and confidence as long as the allegations of budget padding continue to trail its leadership.”
But for the Executive Director of Civil Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC), Auwal Musa, the budget padding scandal “is not new to all the parties involved.”
He said: “If you ask the speaker to step down, this is something all of them have been doing together. I think it is unfair to say the speaker should step down because this is a problem that all of them have been doing for a very long time. What we need to do is to insist that
proper things be done.
“We have earlier said that this allegation should be investigated and that the man who made the allegation has no integrity has no credibility because he has been part and parcel of it all this while. So, why is it that he is talking now? He should have spoken up when he was not a beneficiary, but when he was affected, he is now making noise. But I think for credibility sake he (Jibrin) should actually submit himself for arrest because he has been perpetrating this fraud against Nigerian people.”