By Joshua Egbodo
Abuja
The House of Representatives has granted permit to the suspended former Chairman of its Committee on Appropriations, Hon. Abdulmumin Jibrin, to appear before its Committee on Ethics and Privileges, and respond to matters raised in two fresh petitions against him.
Jibrin, who was serving a 180-legislative day suspension since 24 September 2016, is by tradition, not allowed to enter the National Assembly premises, but the House through a resolution yesterday, granted him permit to appear and clear himself over the petitions “in the spirit of fair hearing”.
Chairman of the Ethics Committee, Hon. Nicholas Osai, in a motion on the matter explained that his panel was in possession of two petitions, one jointly signed by 10 of Jibrin’s constituents from Bebeji and Kiru local government areas of Kano state, bothering on “absenteeism and poor representation” and another from the National Youth Council of Nigeria (NYCN) on allegation that Jibrin owns and operates foreign bank accounts in contravention of the nation’s laws, among other graft allegations.
Osai in the motion titled: “Need to grant Hon. Abdulmumin Jibrin fair hearing in respect of petitions against him”, prayed the House to therefore grant the suspended lawmaker access into the House of Representatives, “only for the purpose of appearing before the committee when invited”.
Information available to us showed that the 10 Jibrin’s constituents were not happy after they through their lawyer, obtained his plenary attendance from Clerk of the House for the first and second session of the current assembly, which stood at 60 and nil days, respectively.