There are indications that the police have begun
probing the allegations of budget padding levelled against the Speaker, House
of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara and other principal officers by a former
House Committee Chairman on Appropriation, Adbdulmumin Jibrin.
It was learnt on Monday that the police
leadership had directed detectives to probe the allegations by Jibrin
that the Speaker colluded with his deputy, Yusuf Lasun, the Chief Whip,
Alhassan Doguwa, and the Minority Whip, Leo Ogor, to earmark N40bn
to themselves in the 2016 National Assembly budget.
Jibrin, an All Progressives Congress lawmaker from
Kano State, who was sacked by the House leadership last week, claimed that he
was being victimised by the Speaker because he objected to a request from
Dogara that he (Jibrin) should allocate projects worth N40bn to him in the 2016
budget.
Findings indicated on Monday that Jibrin might be summoned before the end of
the week to provide evidence on the allegations in his petition to
investigators, who it was learnt, would also invite all the people mentioned by
the petitioner.
A source said, “The
allegations made by the former House committee chairman on appropriations are
weighty and cannot be ignored or swept under the carpet because it borders on
corruption and an attempt to defraud the nation.
“So, the police have set
in motion machinery to investigate the allegations, ascertain the veracity of
the allegations, and get to the bottom of the corruption as stated by the
petitioner.”
But the Force Public
Relations Officer, Donald Awunah, said he had not been briefed about the
investigation into the petition.
“I am not aware of the
petition or the investigation into it and I have not been briefed about it
either. The fact is that when someone writes a petition, it goes to the Force
Criminal Investigation Department where it would be investigated, but I have not
been briefed about it, but I will find out and let you know,” he said.
..Punch
No comments:
Post a Comment