by Ahanonu Kingsley
Few days ago, the speaker of Nigeria’s lower parliament was quoted as saying that ‘budget padding’-an offence he was recently accused of by fellow member of parliament-is not a crime. Consequently, in response to calls for him to step down, Mr Dogara insisted he’d not resign.
The above stance of Hon. Dogara is coming on the heels of the allegations that the speaker and some other 14 principal officers of the house were involved in series of budget inflation to themselves amounting to the tune of over N400 billion. This allegation was made by Hon. Abdulmumini Jibrin who was forced to blow the lid over this following his removal as the chairman house committee on Appropriations.
It would be apropos to quickly add,as a reminder, that Jibrin himself was forced out of his chairmanship as a result of myriads of allegations that pointed to the fact that he played a significant, if not a dominating singular, role in circumventing the original proposals in the 2016 budget draft as presented by the executive to the House.
Hon. Jibrin was, among other things, accused of removing some critical projects proposed by the executive and converting the funds made for such expunged projects for the benefits of his constituency. The view to this was brought to the fore during the impasse between the National Assembly and the Federal Executive that delayed the signing into law of the Appropriations Bill for 2016 by President Buhari.
It was this revelation and following backlash from many quarters that Mr Dogara, the House Speaker is believed to have shown Mr Abdulmumin Jibrin the way out last.
Subsequently, supposedly angered by such action to throw him out, which itself is seen as an effort by the House leadership to save its face in the aftermath of the budget imbroglio, the deposed chairman of the Appropriations Committee went wild, resorted to make obstreperous allegations in what is understood as an effort of dragging everyone down.
But then, arising from the action of the aggrieved Jibrin-even though it is not the substance of this piece- a quick question arises, which seems very crucial to ask here. This question is: Going by the’deep’ knowledge of Jibrin that Mr Dogara and some other principal officers of the House did influence the budget for their gains(to which himself is a part of, been the committee chair), what essentially restrained him from doing what he did earlier than now?
The question, simply put is: why did Abdulmumin Jibrin wait to be booted out to cry out the foul played over the budget? This question-in its very importance, as earlier hinted, is not the focus here.
The flaming reaction by Jibrin, supposedly sparked by obvious frustration, has opened our eyes to the fact that even the hands that seemingly wants to clean the Augean stable are not neat. The lid has been removed, and we’ve discovered how the speaker’s hand is sullied too.
But what has the astonished Speaker has, in response, to say? He obviously did not clearly refute the allegation that he too had been involved in padding the budget. Hear what was his reaction, instead: “I studied law and I have been in the legislature all this period, and I have never heard of the word ‘padding’ being an of fence in any law.”
However, for Dogara to have stated that the budget padding for which he is accused of is not a crime against his understanding of any (Nigerian) constitution, is for me a soft admittance of his culpability of the allegation against his person. And if admitting, it is therefore very necessary to boldly tell Rt Hon. Dogara that his assertion is very strongly wrong.
Budget padding, otherwise known as budget insertion, amount to the stealthy inclusion of proposals not originally in the presented draft or the exclusion of included items with the purpose of inventing items that favour the smuggler. As understood, this practice beats conscience, tries to cheat common sense of the draftees and seeks to favor the selfish goals of the inserters-all to the detriment of the masses’ interests.
Budget padding is corruption, and it’s therefore a crime against the Nigerian state, its constitution and its citizens. For Yakubu Dogara to come out and endeavor to defend his action as not criminal-even with his status as a lawyer and a serial timer in the legislative chamber- either shows how he lacks integrity and how unknowledgeable he is. It heavily shows how a joy-ride he has taken our sensibilities for.
But Mr Speaker is learned and should know what the constitution says about illegal tampering of government documents.
Mr Dogara knows that “budget padding” is perfidious. As such, against inchoate defense of his act and the futile bid to snub conscience for the sake of holding onto power, which he’s taking, Mr Yakubu Dogara should tow the path of honour. Mr Dogara should resign.
In addendum: it is so unfortunate that I have to call for this. Honestly, this is against my sentiment; I had been one of the firm admirers of Mr Speaker, right from his emergence. But for honour’s and country’s sake, I call for this, and strongly too.
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Op–ed pieces and contributions are the opinions of the writers only and do not represent the opinions of Y!/YNaija
Ahanonu Kingsley writes from Owerri. He can be reached via Conscience4net@gmail.com
