Things have now gone totally awry between House of Representatives Speaker, Yakubu Dogara and his erstwhile main man, ‎Abdulmumin Jibrin.

Revelations after last Wednesday’s removal of Jibrin as chairman of the House Appropriation Committee indicate that trouble has brewed between the two over the past couple of months but things fell, totally, apart on Wednesday when the Falcon no longer heard the Falconer.

Anarchy would have completely descended on the house but for the lucky happenstance that the House is now on a short recess.
Those who follow the politics of this new dispensation will understand what this means, especially with all the accusations and counter accusations of last week.

Before the convocation of the National Assembly a little over one year ago, three men aspired to the position of Speaker. These were Yakubu Dogara, who later emerged, Femi Gbajabiamila and the man, Abdulmumin Jubrin.

In the course of what looked like the discriminating support of the All Progressive Congress (APC) establishment for Gbajabiamila’s candidature, Jubrin aborted his ambition and declared support for Dogara.
He went on to become the main spokesperson of the Dogara group and was handsomely rewarded with the chairmanship of the appropriation committee in line with the rub-my-back, I-rub-yours tradition of legislative politics in Nigeria. Twelve months on and the centre can no longer hold for these two men.

Of course one could say that there is nothing unusual about friends in politics turning against each other since the only enduring thing in politics is self interest but the damaging allegations from one side to the other in this feud are alarming and sufficient to send all parties out of the house were we in a more honourable society. But this is Nigeria.

Each side has presented its story as if the other party is the prime enemy of the state but Nigerians are discerning enough to see that the unfolding drama in the House of Representatives is the story of gross abuse of power and selfishness that has become the driving force of politics in Nigeria.

Starting with the appointment of Jubrin and so many others into the leadership of committees, leaders of the house have without doubt, served nothing but their own interests. And the attempts to pad the 2016 budget, as either party has alleged, has nothing to do with the people, even of their constituencies, but the selfish benefits of the dramatis personae.

Hopefully, Nigerians will insist on the transparent conclusion of this matter and see that everyone complicit receives the reward of their misdemeanor.

The time has come for us to insist that those who choose feathering their own nests over the welfare of the people who elected them into office are not worthy of the office.

http://www.sabinews.com/dogara-jibrin-politics-self-interest-niran-adedokun/

K