Dogara made criminal insertions in budget - Reps group

Members of the Transparency Group in the House of Representatives have said that Speaker Yakubu Dogara has made criminal insertions into the 2016 budget for which he should face trial. Dogara had on Friday after a meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari said that budget padding was not an offence as far as the Nigerian laws were concerned, adding that there was no reason for him to resign.

Speaker of the house of representatives Yakubu Dogara

A former chairman of the appropriation committee of the House, Abdulmumin Jibrin, had alleged that Dogara, his deputy, Yussuf Suleimon Lasun, chief whip, Alhassan Ado Doguwa and minority leader, Leo Ogor, have inserted “senseless” projects into the budget worth about N40 billion.

Since then, the speaker has been under pressure. But he told journalists after the meeting, which lasted for about 30 minutes that he was not aware of the term budget padding and that he was not worried about the allegations.

However, Bashir Baballe (APC, Kano), Agunsoye Oluwarotimi Ojo (APC, Lagos) and Abubakar Chika Adamu (APC, Niger), all of whom are members of the Transparency Group, said in a statement yesterday that Dogara had case to answer.

They said they were “appalled and deeply shocked to hear the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Rt. Hon. Yakubu Dogara, exonerating himself from the budget-padding scandal raging in the House. “For a person of Speaker’s standing to have the temerity to come out publicly in defence of an action that is clear negation of federal character principles and breach of trust is both disappointing and dishonorable. “The Speaker’s comments also endanger the spirit of the oneness of Nigeria. We gave the forgoing background to stress the criminal aspect of the Speaker’s action, which is against the letters and spirit of the constitution he swore to protect.

They alleged that Dogara made “criminal insertions (otherwise known as “budget padding”) to the tune of over N3billion to his constituency alone.

“While the entire Zonal Intervention for the three (3) Senatorial Districts of Bauchi State and 12 Federal Constituencies in the state amounts to N1,666,666,666, the Speaker criminally inserted about 200 percent of the amount, totalling N3,079,000,000 to his constituency alone!

“The same Speaker Yakubu Dogara diverted 50 percent of the total Capital Projects allocated to Bauchi State to the tune of N4,781,003,431 out of N9,231,289,842 allocated to the state to his constituency.

“If the above breach of trust and infringement of the Nigerian law are not criminal acts, the “insertions” of bogus projects aimed at siphoning public funds like vague “Youth Empowerment” to the tune of N450million and “Strategic Youth Empowerment” to the tune of N500million should be.”

They challenged Dogara “to explain to the general public the difference between “Youth Empowerment” and “Strategic Youth Empowerment” if it is not a fraud. Every discerning mind knows that this a riddle to hoodwink the general public against scrutinizing what is clearly a fraud.

“In the light of the above issues, members of the Transparency Group believe that any attempt to shy away from these criminalities without squarely addressing them is tantamount to legalizing corruption.

“We therefore call on our Honourable colleagues to toe the path of honour, integrity and yearnings of our constituents to avoid signing “Vote of Confidence” on the leadership of the House.

“The onus lies on the Speaker to come clean out of these allegations before we start exposing the sleaze and corruption surrounding the internal budget of the House.

“We hereby reiterate our call on Rt. Hon Yakubu Dogara to resign in order to pave way for proper investigation.”

Efforts to get the three lawmakers on phone to authenticate the statement failed. However, when contacted, the spokesman of the group, Rep Musa Soba (APC, Kaduna) confirmed the statement, saying the group stood by and supported the statement issued by the three lawmakers.