Some members of the House of Representatives have said that the neither the police nor the EFCC has the power to investigate legislative activities.

This was as they were taking their stands on the budget padding allegations lingering in the House of Representatives.

An official of the House said, “The 1999 Constitution (as amended), particularly in sections 80 and 81, spell out the processes for the appropriation of government funds.

“The 2016 money bill did not only comply with the provisions of the constitution, but also followed all other legislative processes of passing bills by the National Assembly.

“The question that has remained unanswered is what the police and the anti-graft agencies want to investigate.”

The chairman House Committee on Army, Rima Shawulu, said lawmakers considered the involvement of the police and the EFCC in “purely parliamentary processes” as a waste of resources and man-hours.

“The police and the EFCC cannot investigate the internal proceedings of the House. Neither the House rules nor the Constitution of this country gives them the power to do so.

“What are they coming to investigate? That Jibrin said budget was padded? If he said budget was padded, he must bring the original. Where is the original?

“Let him publish the original. What will the police do in this case? That the House did not follow its process before the President signed the budget into law?

“If they are saying the zonal intervention projects are not being executed as passed in the budget, that is criminal, but that is not the case here.

“There is no place in the legislative process for the police or the EFCC.”

In related news, the Transparency Group, a group of legislators backing Jibrin, failed to have a meeting for the second time on Wednesday.

It was learnt that the lawmakers came under pressure to stop their attacks on the principal officers of the House.

One of the key members of the group, Baballe Bashir, confirmed that the group was under pressure.

He admitted that the group had sought a review of the budgeting process to address the “glaring cases of exclusion” in the distribution of zonal intervention projects.

“Our position is that there is so much that we must address in the budget so that the problems will not repeat themselves,” Bashir added.

He stated that the group had not backed down on the call for investigation into the allegations made by Jibrin.