•EFCC Assembles Crack Team To Probe
Principal Officers
•SERAP: Dogara, Lasun, Ogor Must Step
Aside

There is palpable apprehension among senators
that the budgetpadding crisis currently rocking
the House of Representatives might spill over to
the Senate. A source close to the Appropriation
Committee of the Senate told New Telegraph that
fear had gripped some senators over the matter.
The source, however, revealed that those in the
Appropriation Committee had resolved never to
make any statements that would attract the
attention of the public to the turbulent chamber.
According to the source, senators who were not
happy with the handling of the 2016 budget by
the Chairman of the Appropriation Committee,
Danjuma Goje, have also agreed that they would
not truncate the truce recently brokered in the
Senate.
“What is happening in the House over budget
padding is not different from what would have
happened in the Senate, but experience, they
say, is the best teacher. In fact, it would have
been worse in the Senate, but for the lingering
crisis that bedevilled the place since June last
year.
“I don’t think that any senator wants to provoke
another round of crisis for any reason because
they are tired of being in the mess. From all I
have seen, the senators want to be patriotic this
time around. They want to cover whatever sins
might have been committed during the 2016
appropriation exercise.
“Remember the last effort at stabilizing the
chamber by its leadership, when Senate President
Bukola Saraki had to reshuffle some committees
to accommodate and pacify his tormentors.
So, the anticipated padding controversy may not
be seen in the Senate, but I can tell you that
some senators are jittery because of the trouble in
the House,” the source said. When our
correspondent tried to contact Goje for his
comment, his line was not going through.
A source close to him said he was out of town. As
if the lawmakers were deliberately avoiding
journalists, other members of the committee did
not pick their calls while a senator who answered
said that he was not disposed to speaking with
the press on any issue at the moment.
It will be recalled that the Senate allegedly had a
stormy executive session on April 21, when many
senators protested against the leadership of the
Appropriation Committee because of the manner
it purportedly handled the budget with so much
secrecy.
It was learnt that Goje came under intense attack
from the members of the committee during the
closed session, for allegedly excluding them from
the budget approval process. It was further learnt
that the aggrieved lawmakers called for Goje’s
removal, but later resolved to allow him remain in
office since the Senate had, as at that time,
embarked on reconciliatory moves to resolve all
grievances in the Chamber by setting up an ad
hoc committee to reconcile all warring factions.
Meanwhile, there are strong indications that the
Economic and Financial Crimes Commission
(EFCC) may have assembled a team of detectives,
to examine a petition arising from the budget-
padding crisis rocking the House of
Representatives.
New Telegraph gathered from highly placed
sources that once the petition is found to have
merit, the commission may then commence
investigation into the allegations contained
therein.
A former Chairman of the House Committee on
Appropriation, Hon. Abdulmumin Jibrin has, since
his removal, sustained his allegations of diversion
of billions of naira against Speaker Yakubu
Dogara, his deputy, Yusuff Lasun; majority whip,
Alhassan Doguwa and minority leader, Leo Ogor.
But investigation by New Telegraph showed that
the anti-graft agency was in receipt of a petition.
Jibrin confirmed that his petition has since been
submitted at the commission.
One of the sources, who spoke in confidence with
New Telegraph, explained that owing to diligence
and best practice, petitions before the anti-graft
agency, are investigated based on merit, as those
found to be fraudulent are not acted upon.
“I think a team of the commission’s detectives are
now looking at the issues raised in the petition,
and this is the standard practice. The merit or
otherwise of the petition, will give proper direction
on the next action to take,” he said.
The Head of Media and Publicity of the EFCC, Mr.
Wilson Uwujaren, could not be reached for
comment. In a related development, the Socio-
Economic Rights and Accountability Project
(SERAP) has called on Dogara and other principal
officers accused to be involved in the alleged
budget padding to step aside pending the
outcome of investigation by the EFCC and other
agencies.
The group made this call through a letter dated
July 29 and signed by SERAP’s executive director,
Adetokunbo Mumuni. The group noted that its
call followed the confirmation received from the
EFCC that it is looking into SERAP’s petition to the
body on the allegations that the leadership of the
House of Representatives padded the 2016
budget to the tune of N481 billion.
“SERAP is now writing to request you to
immediately step aside from your position as
Speaker of the House of Representatives pending
the outcome of the investigation,” Mumuni
stated.
The group also urged the speaker to ensure that
other principal officers of the House suspected to
be involved in the alleged padding step aside
from their positions to allow for the investigation
by the EFCC and other agencies to go ahead
unhindered.
“The Speaker, as the head of the House, has a big
role to play in guiding parliamentarians to
embrace transparency by sending a powerful
message that allegations of corruption will not be
condoned, tolerated or covered up.
“SERAP believes that the House of
Representatives can neither function effectively
nor enjoy public trust and confidence as long as
the allegations of budget padding continue to
trail its leadership.
“By stepping aside and ensuring that others
suspected to be involved in the budget padding
also step aside until such a time as the
investigations by the EFCC and other agencies are
completed, you will be promoting acts that would
enhance the integrity and respect for the National
Assembly, as well as strict observance of the
constitution both in letter and spirit,” the letter
reads.
Also, Chairman of the House committee on Basic
Education, Hon. Zakari Mohammed (APC, Kwara)
has denied lobbying Jibrin for the inclusion of any
project in the 2016 budget. Zakari is one of the
10 committee chairmen Jibrin has submitted
their names to the EFCC for alleged corruption.
The lawmaker explained that he never at any
time during the consideration of the budget
contacted the ousted chairman for assistance. On
the submission of a petition against him at the
EFCC, Zakari said he was ready to face
investigation or interrogation from any anti-graft
agency.
“I have no file with EFCC or its allied agency, but
the same cannot be said of the former
Appropriation Committee chairman. Nigerians
should, therefore, disregard his accusations
because they are as a result of frustration of his
removal,” he said.

https://newtelegraphonline.com/budget-padding-fear-grips-senators/

Can't happen in the Senate. Everybody in the Senate is involved in the largesse sharing. So who will blow the whistle.

mamabomboy:
Can't happen in the Senate. Everybody in the Senate is involved in the largesse sharing. So who will blow the whistle.

IPOB as a matter of urgency apologize publicly to President Buhari

You can see that you people always support criminals as activist, hero , freedom fighter and leader

sarrki:



IPOB as a matter of urgency apologize publicly to President Buhari

You can see that you people always support criminals as activist, hero , freedom fighter and leader

U OK?..... U didn't even get the message he was passing. Damn!

Bolustic:
.

space booked huh? .... Waiting for ur tribal comments as usual

kossyablaze:
space booked huh? .... Waiting for ur tribal comments as usual

See Extreme Painment o

kossyablaze:
U OK?..... U didn't even get the message he was passing. Damn!

Brown is not for you!!!

Just build on your message

Grow up

Don't insult elders of land

sarrki:


Brown is not for you!!!

Just build on your message

Grow up

Don't insult elders of land

whr u see insult in wat I said? Should be telling u to grow up instead n stop bigotn

Senate own go bad pass hor .... the cremedelcreme in the corruption industry of Nigeria politics are well sitted on that senate those in hor r learners .. make efcc storm senate asap make I see my guy from kwara state yansh

sarrki:

Brown is not for you!!!
Just build on your message
Grow up
Don't insult elders of land

Boss, good morning! How are you doing?

KINGinVAHALA:

Boss, good morning!
How are you doing?

Cool brother

sarrki:


Cool brother

Nice one boss, I guess you remember my moniker?
searched for you yesterday when voting for Mr Nairaland was ongoing but couldn't find you.

The padding we've seen under the HoR would be nothing compared to what we'd see when shiit hits the fan in the Senate.

My only fear is that the Senators might take pre-emptive steps to ensure no one spills the beans given what has been seen so far with the HoR.

Time will tell.