Budget Padding: Reps begin investigation

Rowdy session in the House of Reps

The House of Representatives Committee on Ethics and Privileges on Friday in Abuja commenced public investigation into allegations of fraud made by Rep. Abdulmumin Jibrin against the House.

This followed Wednesday’s resolution of the House which mandated the committee to investigate the allegations, bordering on breach of privileges of members.

It would be recalled that the former Chairman, House Committee on Appropriation, accused the leadership of the National Assembly of padding the 2016 budget.

In his allegation, Jibrin alluded that the corruption in the House of Representatives outweighed that of the Executive and Judiciary combined, and urged anti-graft agencies to investigate.

Testifying before Ethics and Privileges Committee, however, the Chairman, House Committee on Rules and Business, Rep. Emmanuel Orker-Jev, described Jibrin’s action as sundry act of misconduct against the House.

Orker-Jev, who tendered newspaper copies and video materials as evidence, prayed the committee to apply necessary sanctions against any member guilty of misconduct in accordance with the House rules.

He said that the allegations made by Jibrin were false, scandalous and had impinged on the image of the National Assembly.

According to him, the allegations have lowered the National Assembly in the estimation of the public as Nigerians now express disgust at the lawmakers.

“There are internal mechanisms of addressing such grievances.

“We need to redeem our image against allegations that oversight and public hearings conducted in the House of Representatives are riddled with corruption,” Orker-Jev said.

While adopting Orker-Jev’s evidences, the Committee on Ethics and Privileges expressed commitment to be fair and objective in the investigation.

It adjourned sitting on the matter to Sept. 26, 201 when Jibrin is scheduled to appear before the committee.

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