Hon Abdulmumin Jibrin, the embattled former chairman of
the House committee on appropriation has said made reply
to accusation leveled against him by some top members
of the House of Representatives.
Abdulmumin Jibrin alleges massive fraud against Dogara
and other top members of the House of Reps.
He made his reply in a statement titled: “THREAT OF
LEGAL ACTION BY YAKUBU DOGARA AND MY RESPONSE
TO THE PRESS CONFERENCE BY HON ABDULRAZAK
NAMDAS ACTING ILLEGALLY AND WITHOUT THE
CONSENT OF THE HOUSE ON BEHALF OF THE QUARTET
OF SPEAKER YAKUBU DOGARA, DEPUTY SPEAKER YUSUF
LASUN, HOUSE WHIP ALHASSAN DOGUWA AND MINORITY
LEADER LEO OGOR”
The statement reads: “After going through the press text
by Hon Namdas, I had made up my mind not to bother
wasting my time responding to a much publicized press
conference that turned out an anti climax but for my Hon
Colleagues and general public who may fall for such cheap
blackmail, I had to respond.
All the accusations were a compendium of lies put
together by the QUARTET who are desperately looking for
something to nail me but can’t find anything. Again for the
purpose of emphasis I did nothing wrong neither have I
abused my office, public trust or corruptly enriched my
self.
The press statement surely failed to make allegations on
me with precision like the specific allegations that I have
raised against the QUARTET which they are yet to respond
to a single one! I will respond to the lies they told one
after the other and explain other issues I believe my Hon
colleagues and the public should know.
As I mentioned in the past, I had written a lot on some of
these issues especially the 2016 budget which I intend to
publish in my personal memoir LIFE AT 40: MY STORY as
part of my 40th birthday in September. The memoir when
published will give an insight on my life so that the public
will understand some of these issues in proper
perspective.”
It further reads: “Let me also state that the way and
manner Hon members of the house, civil society groups,
security and anti corruption agencies and the general
public handle these issues and allegations will certainly
determine if people in different sectors who have the
courage to fight corruption, abuse of trust and offices will
have the necessary support and encouragement to step
up.
Just imagine if these QUARTET and their accomplice like
Hon Herma Hembe are found guilty and sent to jail. It will
be a defining moment and a huge accomplishment for our
fight against corruption. Today, my lawyers have officially
approached the EFCC and ICPC towards working out a
date for me to submit my petition and brief the agencies.
“Rather than respond to my allegations, he is threatening
me with court action. I stand by my allegations against
Speaker Yakubu Dogara and 3 others and I shall neither
apologize nor withdraw my statement. I know he will rush
to court in order to invoke the house rules that matter in
court cannot be heard on the floor of the house. He failed
to realize that the rules are not intended to protect corrupt
people. It is such a shame.”
In response to claims that his response displayed
immaturity and lacked temperament in dealing with top
government officials, Jibrin said: “At the level these matter
had gotten to I expected that what ever they will accuse
me of should be backed with instances. They failed to cite
such instances where I had displayed such qualities.
This is how we have systematically destroyed our
institutions because “maturity” and the right
“temperament” is when you can cover corruption, injustice
and abuse of office and public trust and you cannot stand
up anywhere you are for the truth without minding whose
ox is gored.
If that is the definition of maturity to the QUARTET, then I
shall gladly remain immature for the rest of my life. I am
not new to dealing with highly placed government officials.
They probably failed to research properly about me. With
the risk of sounding immodest, I started very in life.
I started business at the age of 19. I started meeting a
Nigerian president in my mid twenties. I have had an
extensive experience over the last two decades in the
process building a massive network in both the political,
business, academia, traditional, religious, union and civil
society among others in Nigeria and beyond. I was
prepared for leadership.”
Speaking on the collation of government information to
blackmail and complain of harassment, Hon Jubril said: ”
Who did I blackmail? No instances were provided just
complete lies.
It is a no news that I will have access and insight on a lot
of government information both classified and non having
served as chairman of the sensitive finance committee of
the House and until recently appropriation committee. But
because of my family upbringing, experience in life, training
and mentorship I have enjoyed all my life, I grew up to be
very organized by nature. I document everything that
should be documented.
I keep a diary of events. Hardly is there any record
regarding my job that I cannot produce and hardly is there
anything you will ask that I cannot explain or defend. I
thought that should not scare or intimidate any upright
leader who has nothing to hide but should attract any
leader to utilize such qualities effectively.
No, that will not attract Speaker Dogara and his 3 cohorts
who are so small minded and prefer to have a small group
of mediocres around them. I think they were shocked to
realize that I have everything documented. I did NOT
document it to blackmail anyone but just to keep the
records as part of my responsibility.
However, if the need arises to use such documents to
expose corruption and abuse of office, I shall not hesitate
to give it out even at the risk of such blackmail and
propaganda from the QUARTET.
Here again they failed to cite just a single instance. Which
agency did I harass? For what? It is my tradition in the
House except under such necessary circumstances, I do
not see heads of MDA’S like the way Speaker Dogara has
converted his office and home, and guest houses to center
of pilgrimage for head of MDAs. I don’t go to government
offices except on oversight. I will wait for Speaker Dogara
to tell the country who I harassed.”
In reaction to his being found guilty after internal
investigations by the leadership of the House, the ex-
chairman of the appropriation committee said: “This
accusation alone is enough for my colleagues and
Nigerians to clearly see the desperation, manipulation, lies,
blackmail and the poor quality of leadership of the
QUARTET.
When was the internal investigation instituted? Who are
those that conducted the investigation? How come I only
knew I was investigated through your press statement
yesterday? Why wasn’t I given fair hearing?
Under which house rules was I investigated without my
knowledge? Where is the report of the investigation? Isn’t
this the same speaker Dogara that openly defended our 3
colleagues accused of sexual harassment in the US on the
grounds that they were not granted the right to be heard?
Now Nigerians can imagine and start seeing the heavy
witch hunt that they mounted on me.
This is a huge shame and an embarrassment to the
Speaker and the 3 other principal officers. I challenge
Speaker Yakubu Dogara to answer the questions. This is
completely baseless.”
Speaking on the Daura project and friction between the
various arms of government, Jibrin said: “Yes, I take
responsibility for this as I will on any matter that I know I
am responsible for. I don’t know how to lie. I don’t need
permission or consent of Mr President to put in the budget
water scheme, agricultural and rural development projects
in Daura.
I have said severally and will repeat, are people of Daura
not Nigerians? During the budget process, people come to
the House from all over the country to lobby for projects in
their constituencies but nobody from Daura including Mr
President came to lobby. At a meeting with Mr Speaker
and some principal officers, I admit I told him that I have
looked at the budget, there was almost no project in
Daura.
I reminded him that Mr President will NEVER lobby us for
such but he is human and will appreciate if Nigerians in
Daura enjoy a bit of the budget so long as what ever
projects taken there is not too much compared to other
states. I also reminded them that he is twice the Head of
this country we should not abuse the fact that by his
nature he will never ask.
If he is a selfish leader, he can turn Daura to a small
London instantly. But he believes in fairness for all. That
is why great Africans like Mo Ibrahim instituted the
monetary award for African heads of states like Buhari
who will not steal under any circumstance.
What I did was in tandem to this. Now you can imagine
the quality of leaders like Speaker Yakubu Dogara who
wants to turn this against me and set me on collusion
with the presidency.
It is such a shame that our so called leaders can not
appreciate and support such a simple cause. A man like
Mr president who has held every position in the country
and twice president without any success to blackmail him,
is it the very few projects I put in Daura that will be used
to blackmail such a man? When Speaker Dogara and the 3
other principals inserted projects worth over 20billion in
their constituencies? God Almighty is with the innocent.
This is a non issue. They are just looking for more flesh to
tidy up their blackmail and lies. In EVERY BUDGET YEAR
such situations are found. The secretariat work extremely
hard during the budget period to insert all items into the
budget template. Since this job is done by human beings
like us, there are bound to be some errors like the
aforesaid and even more.
It is such a simple issue and there is a standard way of
dealing with it instantly through what we call
CORRIGENDUM. It is a correction to any appropriation act.
Indeed the first CORRIGENDUM I signed with respect to
the 2016 budget was for the projects of Speaker Yakubu
Dogara. One of such projects I later discovered was a
water project he diverted to his personal farm somewhere
in Nasarawa. Both of us have the records.
This I found very laughable. What did I do and how did I
do that? Again, a case of desperate Speaker Dogara
looking for something against me. Let me use this window
to explain something. After the standing committees of the
House forwarded their reports we discovered that over
2000 projects were inserted into the budget by just 10 out
of the 96 standing committees of the House.
My self and Sen Goje had to find a balance between the
executive submissions and standing committees reports. It
was during that period that we met the president. Mr
President belongs to all of us. Nobody be it presiding or
principal officer has the right to stop any member from
seeing the president.
Immediately we came out of the villa, i went straight to
brief Speaker Dogara. To say I was shocked with his
reaction was an under statement. He went ballistic! And
kept shouting, why should you go to the villa, why? I
looked at Dogara and remembered the quote “Power
corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely”.
Well, I ignored his selfish reaction and briefed him what we
intend to do moving forward. In the following days, we
consulted wildly with ministers and got their key inputs.
We prepared two scenarios, one to provide a balance
between the House submission and that of the executive
while the other is to carry largely the standing committees
recommendations.
I discussed everything with Mr Speaker and he asked me
to stay action to allow him consult with other principal
officers. In between he travelled to London. It was from
London that he called and instructed me to adopt the
committee version. At that point all the great consultative
work we did with the ministers became a waste. And I
knew he did that deliberately to embarrass me and ensure
we fail in the eye of our executive counterparts.
That is how vindictive Speaker Dogara can be. At a
meeting of Principal officers of the House, When Mr
president returned the budget because he considered
insertions by NASS too much, I explained that we had
worked out a balanced scenario for the budget with the
executive but the Speaker directed that we forward the
other version. The Speaker unfortunately tried to deny and
the atmosphere became tensed.
The duo of Lasun and Ogar took time to direct that when
we go into the executive session that morning, I should
talk less to members when I am asked to give my briefing
and specifically say nothing about the N40billion they
took. I rejected that. I told them my reputation is at stake.
At that point everybody in the country was attacking me.
Where on earth will I say I took 40billion to? Even the best
accountant in the world cannot hide such huge sums.
Lasun and Ogor almost brought down the roof of the
office. I maintained my calm and apologized to Mr Speaker
and the rest of them. It was at that meeting that I was
asked to stop further comments to the press. God
Almighty is a living witness. We proceeded to the executive
session, I briefed my colleagues and told them the truth.
Since then Speaker Dogara and the 3 others effectively
blocked me from further meetings and briefing sessions
and sponsored an extensive internal and external
propaganda against me to give my colleagues and the
general public the impression that everything about the
2016 budget is Hon Jibrin.
That is why many members carried on without the true
picture of what transpired and of course their anger
towards me. But since I started opening up, I have
received hundred of calls from my colleagues querying why
I didn’t let them know all these. They will soon realize that
I am not alone and members will not allow such serious
allegations of corruption to be swept under the carpet.
I kept pressure on the Speaker to allow me opportunity to
brief my colleagues to no avail. The insincerity and
conspiracy of silence from the few standing committee
chairmen that inserted about 2000 projects into the
budget and unnecessary movement of huge sums of
money didn’t help my case.
Some of the biggest culprits are chairmen of standing
committees on Power Hon Dan Asuquo, Higher education
Hon Zakari Mohammed, Water resources Hon Aliyu Pategi,
health Hon Chike Okafor, interior Hon Jagaba Adams, FCT
Hon Herma Hembe and police affairs Hon Haliru Jika
among few others.
So I was taking heat both within the House and outside. It
was a very trying moment for me but praise be to God
Almighty.”
Making revelations regarding the increment of budget size
by 250 billion naira and the Kano film village project, the
embattled Rep said: “There has never been any version of
the 2016 budget that was produced with an increased size
of 250billion naira. It is an extension of the wicked
propaganda and and desperate search for lies and
blackmail by Speaker Dogara and the 3 others. If at all
there is, let them bring it out.
One single allegation that I may probably carry on with it
and keep explaining for the rest of my life is the 4.1 billion
worth of project I allocated to my constituency. When this
allegation came out, I was already under instruction by
Speaker Dogara to stop talking to the press. I could not
respond.
By the time it became convenient for me to speak, the
tempo had died down. I decided to simply include it in my
40th birthday memoir to be released in September. There
was nothing like projects worth 4.1billion naira in my
constituency in any version of the budget.
It was a huge blackmail which I only later realized it was
instigated by Speaker Dogara and the 3 others. Aside few
projects in my constituency, I was more interested in
projects that will help not only Kano but the whole of
Nigeria like the Kano Film Village, Irrigation projects, dams
and roads. At the end I succeeded in promoting the Kano
film village which has raised unnecessary controversy.
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The Kano Film village is designed by the Nigerian Film
cooperation NFC Jos to be a world class film village with
ultra modern training institute, cinematography center,
theater, premiere square, diverse skill acquisition center,
male and female hostels, hotel accommodation, 1,500
capacity conference hall, shopping mall, eateries, mini zoo,
Nigerian and world culture exhibition center, history and
documentation center, clinic and every conventional
facilities that are required for a world class film village.
When I saw the proposal of the project and knowing the
massive potentials of the Kannywood, I did not hesitate to
buy into it for many obvious reasons. It will create
massive employment opportunity for our teeming youth,
open up sources of revenue for the federal government,
boost economic activities in kano which is the 2nd largest
commercial city in Nigeria, serve as a center to promote
our country, culture, people and many more through films.
Today, it’s a shame we have no standard films on the
lives of our founding leaders like Awo, Zik, Balewa, Ahmadu
Bello, Aminu kano and the host of others. We do not take
advantage of films to promote our good culture and sell
every aspect of our country from our economic potentials
to tourism attraction.
We don’t even care that we don’t have documentary and
films of our great religious leaders like Oyedepos, kuka,
Shiek Gumi, Sheik Dahiru Bauchi and many others. No
films on our great traditional leaders and institutions. If it
were in Europe or America, they surely would have
commenced films on the great lives of the late Oni of Ife
and his highness the late Emir of kano or even their
charismatic successors like ours, his Highness
Muhammadu Sanusi II.
Do we have to wait for foreigners to make films on our
great Gani Fewehinmi, Olusegun Obasanjo or the greatest
leader today on the African continent, a natural successor
to Nelson Mandela, President Muhammadu Buhari?
Unfortunately, the whole idea was misrepresented with
Speaker Dogara playing a clear script behind the scene
using a member from kano to oil the misinformation that
the center was going to be a dancing club and center for
all sorts of negative social activities.
Some of Our religious leaders in kano fell for these lies and
commenced protest against the project. A very sad
situation.”
Speaking on the proof of evidence and inaccessibility and
appropriation members, Jibrin stressed that he had and
will provide evidence on all the allegations at the
appropriate time.
“When the secretariat of the appropriation committee was
taken away from me twice how much more members of
the appropriation committee. I have shortchanged no one.
I left the committee in harmony with my members that is
why most of them were seated with me when I announced
my resignation.
A lot of them sympathized with me because they
understand very well the dirty game that was played by
Dogara. The few occasions when I attempted to open up
to members of appropriation committee, I was accused of
trying to topple the leadership of the House. It was a very
difficult situation.
I had lived life on a fast lane, I have slowed down
considerably. Everybody knows my schedules. I try to retire
home as early as I can. I avoid late night meetings or
unnecessary socializing like frequent parties organized by
the Speaker. I keep my weekends for my parents, family,
relatives and constituents. I go to work early enough and
hardly will you ever find a file lying down on my table
unattended. I mind my business as much as I can but they
will not let me be. So if anyone is accusing me of
inaccessibility, he is not being honest. May be they want
me to join the gang of late night plotters.”
He noted that as chairman finance, he had a very eventful
tenure. He said: “I conducted many investigations and left
an unblemished record. The committee was vibrant and we
recorded so many milestone. I won so many awards both
home and abroad and got inducted as fellow into several
professional bodies. I have never been accused of
corruption or any wrong doing all through my tenure. I
lobbied and attracted some projects to my constituency
which were executed and some are yet to be paid for by
government.
The allegations in these regards are not different from all
others. Desperate people looking for something to nail me.
It is a wild wild goose chase, baseless allegation and
arrant nonsense. They should forward what ever they have
to the EFCC.
I am not aware of any tradition, rules or decision of the
House that grants 40billion out of the 100billion naira
constituency funds to the leadership. This is a clear case
of fraud and abuse of trust committed by Speaker Yakubu
Dogara and the 3 others. This is one question they must
answer.
In conclusion, the Rep representing Kiru-Bebeji Federal
constituency said: “I have written so much about the
House which will further address these and many other
issues to be published in my 40th birthday memoir. Some
people may never understand why it is imperative that I
fight this to its logical conclusion.
It will force an internal reform in the House for the benefit
of the country. It will send a strong message to anybody
no matter how highly placed you are in the house, if you
get involved in corrupt acts or abuse your office, you will
face the law. It will also scare corrupt people from
attempting to get into the house.
And finally, I am 39 and will be 40 in September. I am
fairly blessed with everything that a man can ask for from
God on earth. I consider myself extremely lucky. All I have
left is my integrity. Many people including my colleagues
don’t know the facts of the issues. I must continue to
explain so that all the facts will be laid out. I will never
allow anybody to destroy my hard earned integrity
especially corrupt people like Speaker Dogara and the 3
others when they fight back.”
“Finally, I have responded to their allegations within 24hrs,
they are yet to respond to mine almost a week after. I am
once again calling on all Hon Members of the House of
Representatives and the general public to call on Speaker
Yakubu Dogara and the 3 others to answer the 20
allegations I have raised against them and reconvene the
House immediately to allow for an independent
investigation by the House,” Jibrin challenged his
colleagues.
Meanwhile, Speaker of the House of Representatives,
Yakubu Dogara, has issued a seven-day ultimatum to
Abdulmumin Jibrin to tender an unreserved apology to him
or face legal action.
Dogara alleged that he has been defamed. He also wants
a retraction of all allegations made against him by Jibrin .
The Speaker’s special adviser on media and public affairs,
Turaki Hassan, said the demands were part a letter written
and addressed to Jibrin by counsel to Dogara, Professor
Joash Ojo Amupitan (SAN) & Co.