Pulse reports……………………..
The
phenomenon called Hon. Abdulmumin Jibrin, a member of the House of
Representatives and former Chairman of the Appropriations Committee in the
House will not go away for a very long time, despite efforts to clip his wings.
Jibrin who is
now fondly referred to as the Whistle Blower after he made damning accusations
that the Speaker of the House, Hon. Yakubu Dogara, the Deputy Speaker, Hon.
Yusuf Lasun, House Whip, Hon. Alhassan Ado Doguwa, and House Minority Leader,
Hon. Leo Ogor, and other principal officers of padding the nation's budget and
conniving to 'corner' and share among themselves, a whopping N40 billion out of
the N100 billion allocated to the entire National Assembly in the 2016 budget.
Since the
allegations came out, many forces within the House and the ruling All
Progressives Congress (APC), have tried to subdue the member representing
Kiru/Bebeji Federal Constituency of Kano State but he has become a stubborn
Grasshopper who has refused to be eaten by the hens in the House.
Many would
not know that Jibrin is a 'barrack boy' and was born in the military barracks
where his father was serving Lieutenant in the Nigerian Army. Do you now see
why he has become fly in the ointment in the House?
The powers
that be have tried in so many ways to shut him down, including a gag order
(that one lasted just a weekend), denial of privileges and several moves to put
him in check but the gadfly has refused to be cowed.
Now the House
has played its trump card by placing a blanket suspension on Jibrin which will
last for 180 legislative days in a House that seats three days in a week,
meaning that that Jibrin’s suspension would last more than a year. And that
also means that he will not be part of sitting allowances.
He is also to
apologize openly to the members of the House (something we all know will never
come from Jibrin).
The
suspension also comes with the recommendation that Jibrin will not be able to
hold any position of responsibility for the span of the current National
Assembly.
The reason
for Jibrin's suspension apart from the whistle-blowing is also hinged on his
refusal to honour the invitation of the Ethics and Privileges Committee set up
by the House.
That, in
itself, was a flaw on Jibrin's part as he should have accorded the Committee
the privilege of hearing him out since he has always claimed to have enough
evidence to nail Dogara and co.
So why did he
refuse to appear before the Ethics Committee is what is being frowned upon but
for those on the outside, it would seem the Speaker of the House acted as the
judge in a case he is an accused.
What baffles
Nigerians is the fact that Dogara and others fingered by Jibrin have not deemed
it fit to allow themselves to be investigated by stepping aside for a while. An
uninformed Nigerian will see this as a way of sweeping the case under the
carpet as always.
Another
worrisome fact is the deafening silence on the part of the Federal Government
in line with President Muhammadu Buhari's vow not to intervene in the affairs
of the National Assembly.
But the
signals are not very clear here; what does Jibrin hope to gain in this
particular fight? Does he ever hope to win with the apparent gang up against
him by other members of the House? Why hasn't the House allow an independent
body to investigate the allegations?
Does this not
show that the has failed to move beyond its normal ways of suspending anyone
who challenges the status quo, as was the case with the now Senator Dino
Melaye?
Why can't the
House give Jibrin's allegations a more serious attention instead of sweeping
them under the never ending carpet? Is this the last we are going to hear of
this case?
Only time
will tell.
Culled from Pulse ng
Naija i feel sorry
ReplyDelete