Conflicts Rage In House Of Reps Over Role Of Police, EFCC In Investigating Budget Padding Allegations Against Speaker Yakubu Dogara, Others

According to emerging details

Some members of the House of Representatives took a position on the budget padding allegations by Jibrin on Wednesday, declaring that neither the police nor the EFCC had the power to investigate legislative proceedings.

Findings showed on Wednesday that the majority of the 96 committee chairmen and their 96 deputies considered the 2016 Appropriation Act as a law already in operation.
The development came as The PUNCH learnt that members of the Transparency Group were under pressure to back down on their confrontation with the leadership of the House.
An official of the House said, “The 1999 Constitution (as amended), particularly in sections 80 and 81, spell out the processes for the appropriation of government funds.

“The 2016 money bill did not only comply with the provisions of the constitution, but also followed all other legislative processes of passing bills by the National Assembly.

“The question that has remained unanswered is what the police and the anti-graft agencies want to investigate.”

Investigations showed that the chairmen and their deputies had discussed the issue and resolved that the budget conformed to the provisions of the law.

One of the chairmen, who heads the House Committee on Army, Mr. Rima Shawulu, told The PUNCH that lawmakers considered the involvement of the police and the EFCC in “purely parliamentary processes” as a waste of resources and man-hours.

“The police and the EFCC cannot investigate the internal proceedings of the House. Neither the House rules nor the Constitution of this country gives them the power to do so.

“What are they coming to investigate? That Jibrin said budget was padded? If he said budget was padded, he must bring the original. Where is the original?

“Let him publish the original. What will the police do in this case? That the House did not follow its process before the President signed the budget into law?

“If they are saying the zonal intervention projects are not being executed as passed in the budget, that is criminal, but that is not the case here.

“There is no place in the legislative process for the police or the EFCC.”

The PUNCH gathered that this was the position that the Speaker and the three other principal officers accused by Jibrin would make known to the police and the EFCC when they eventually appear before the security agency.

The others are the Deputy Speaker, Mr. Lasun Yussuff; the Chief Whip, Mr. Alhassan Ado-Doguwa; and the Minority Leader, Mr. Leo Ogor.

Meanwhile, the meeting of the Transparency Group, a group of legislators backing Jibril, failed to take place for the second time on Wednesday.

Findings showed that the lawmakers came under pressure to stop their attacks on the principal officers of the House.

But the group was said to have insisted that the budgeting process was flawed and must be reviewed.

One of the key members of the group, Mr. Baballe Bashir, confirmed that the group was under pressure.

He, however, denied that the pressure was the reason the group could not meet.

Bashir, who is from Kano State, explained that many members had travelled to their constituencies to attend to pressing demands by their constituents.

He admitted that the group had sought a review of the budgeting process to address the “glaring cases of exclusion” in the distribution of zonal intervention projects.

“Our position is that there is so much that we must address in the budget so that the problems will not repeat themselves,” Bashir added.

He stated that the group had not backed down on the call for investigation into the allegations made by Jibrin.

Punch