Suspended lawmaker, Abdulmumin Jibrin, has
written an open letter to President Buhari, over the Budget padding allegations
he leveled against Speaker Yakubu Dogara and other principal officers of the
House of Representatives. Read the letter below ...
Your Excellency sir, let me
once again commend you for the good work you are executing and the credible
leadership you have offered our nation since assumption of office about a year
and half ago.
I write this letter to you as a last resort to seek action on
the allegations of budget fraud, abuse of office and corruption I leveled
against Speaker Yakubu Dogara and three other Principal Officers of the House
of Representatives and use your good office to ensure that urgent reforms are
implemented in the House to sanitize it from the monumental individual and
systemic corruption that has become the biggest business in the House of
Representatives.
Although I wrote you a letter few weeks ago, seeking audience to
provide you with comprehensive briefing on the allegations i raised and endemic
corruption in the House, iam yet to get a reply. However, I fully understand
that your busy schedule might have caused the delay. Had I got that opportunity
before I left the country, I am optimistic that you would have by now been in a
clearer picture of how corrupt the Speaker, our number four citizen is and the
three other Principal Officers, individual and systemic corruption in the House
and my crusade to continue to expose corruption in the House, Nigeria as a
whole and push for urgent reforms in the House.
I crave the indulgence of your excellency to pardon me for
resorting to an open letter to draw your attention to this matter. The need to
deal with the matter decisively and the urgency involved necessitated opting
for this channel. Besides, I am aware of some powerful forces working behind
the scene in cohort with some members of leadership of the House to ensure that
I never get access to you and the matter never see the light of the day.
Your Excellency, i attained a modest educational and career
height before joining the House. I come from a good home with a rich and
diversed background. My middle class parents brought me up in a very descipline
environment and instilled in me the virtures of hard work, honesty and courage.
It is a training that taught me never to respect a corrupt person no matter how
highly placed. I am a responsible young man with no passion for vengeance or
mischief. I know exactly where I am coming from and where I am heading. I know
exactly what Iam doing sir.
Sir, it is noteworthy to mention that in my 5 years in the House
as a two term member and Chairman House Committee on Finance 2011-2015 and
Chairman House Committee on Appropriation 2015-2016, I have never abused my
office or corruptly enrich myself. My offense was standing against budget
fraud, immunity for Principal Officers of the House and exposing corruption in
a way that has never been done or seen in the history of the House of
Representatives.
I am a product of the establishment but I have always been
uncomfortable and have always looked for the right opportunity or trigger to
rebel against the ills of the system through exposing fraudulent acts,
corruption and abuse of office in high places for the good of Nigeria and
Nigerians. My case whether people believe me or not is that of a young man who
is frustrated with the deep-rooted system of corruption in high places. I have
decided that enough is enough and I am ready to take on any corrupt person or
institution especially the House of Representatives. Some people have raised
issue that why did I wait until I left office before opening up. That assertion
is not true as I have always spoken within and outside on issues like this
since I joined the House in 2011. A simple research will confirm this.
Your Excellency, in the last few months I have raised grievous
allegations of budget fraud, abuse of office and individual and systemic
corruption against Speaker Yakubu Dogara and three other Principal Officers of
the House. I followed it with a petition to the security and anti graft
agencies including the DSS, EFCC, ICPC and the Police. I have had several
interactions with these agencies and pledged my continuous cooperation and
willingness to stand witness during prosecution.
I took it for granted that the House on resumption from recess
will do the needful by asking the Speaker to step aside and conduct a
comprehensive investigation in collaboration with the ongoing external
investigation, but what my colleagues did remains a shock to the country and
the world at large. They decided to punish me for exposing corruption, while
celebrating the people I accused of corruption. The Speaker of course took
advantage of the deep-rooted systemic corruption in the House to blackmail
members to support him. I have been suspended from the House for a year and
banned from holding any position for the rest of the 8th Assembly and I must
apologise to the House before I am allowed back even after the expiration of
the 1 year suspension.
Sir, this is an institution that is supposed to support you in
fighting corruption. You have taken on corruption and corrupt people
decisively, the crusade will be incomplete if corrupt elements are allowed to
infest the Legislative arm especially the House of Representatives. You should
by now know that you will never get the required support to fight corruption
with Dogara as Speaker of the House and most importantly if reforms are not
implemented in the House.
Your Excellency, let me use this opportunity to inform you that
I have challenged my suspension in court because it is unconstitutional and the
seat belongs to my constituents who are proud of my anti-corruption crusade in
the House. My constituents have also filed a case in court to challenge the
suspension. I have also stated clearly that I will never apologise to any
member in the House or the House itself as I did not commit any offense and I
will continue to stand by all the allegations I raised.
Sir, I should also bring to your notice that the Speaker is
making frantic efforts to ensure that this matter is suppressed. They will do
all they can, including blackmailing you to ensure that the matter is not
investigated and culprits prosecuted. In your case, since they cannot find issues
of corruption associated with you, they will resort to frustrating any request
you forward to the House for approval with a view to arm twisting you or trying
to weaken you in the eyes of the public and international community. This is
how they operate. You should watch out and be vigilant.
On issue of reforms, your excellency may wish to use your good
office to decisively get the House TO END THE FRAUDULENT ALLOWANCES REGIME and
publish all entitlements of members, stop budget fraud, disclose internal
budget of the House, open up finances of the House for external audit,
implement e-parliament, activate electronic voting and attendance system,
introduce individual member's and standing committees' performance template,
revert to old house rules to avoid contempt of court and draconian powers
Speaker Dogara accorded himself, drop immunity for Principal Officers, pass the
anti corruption bills sent about a year ago by your good self, make Speaker
Dogara and others refund hundred of millions collected for rents, return 40
billion stolen from 100 billion zonal intervention funds, return projects
diverted to his farm and other fraudulent projects worth billions, compel
Speaker Dogara and other occused Principal Officers to step down for
prosecution and make the House apologise to Nigerians for the individual and
systemic fraud and corruption and gross abuse of office that has become the
hallmark of the House over the years.
Your Excellency, the House of Representatives stinks of
corruption and something urgent must be done to salvage the situation. I pray
that you direct the various agencies that I submitted petitions to expedite
action on the matter as Nigerians and the world are watching to see how we will
deal with this issue of incontrovertible corruption by Speaker Dogara and
others and systemic corruption in the House. We have a golden opportunity to
show the world that there is zero tolerance for corruption under your
leadership. Even more, is the willingness of a serving member in my person who
understands these issues and who has offered to stand as witness and provide
every support towards prosecution. There is no better way of demonstrating our
commitment to the fight against corruption than to use Speaker Yakubu Dogara,
Deputy Speaker Lasun, Whip Doguwa and Minority Leader Ogor as example.
I strongly believe that if the security and anti-graft agencies
expedite action on the allegations and the recommended reforms are implemented,
it will go a long way in resolving the crisis and provide the ventilation for
the House to commence the process of self-cleansing to repair its battered
image and restore the trust of Nigerians in the House. It is a reform that
Speaker Dogara has completely lost the moral ground to superintend.
Your Excellency, let me draw your attention to a major
constraint which has always been the threat to my life since the beginning of
the budget fraud saga. I have raised alarm severally that the House cabal led
by Speaker Yakubu Dogara are using Hon. Herma Hembe to either assassinate or
kidnap me or members of my family. Hon. Hembe has been stalking me. I have been
worried and written to the security agencies but none of these people have been
questioned. In fact at some point, they tried to use some elements in one of
the security agencies to abduct me. All these were reported by my lawyers.
It is against this background that I took the decision to stay
away from the country until my safety is guaranteed. However, I will be
available once my attention is required in respect of my petition against the
Speaker and others or any petition that may come against me. I am therefore
pleading with you sir to look at this issue with your usual dispassionate
approach. For whatever my limitations are as a person, how I am treated will
determine if in future people especially those within a system can defy
personal risk and speak out against corruption.
I pray that God Almighty continue to bless you with long life,
good health and more wisdom as you steer the ship of our great country.
Thank you.
Your son,
Hon Abdulmumin Jibrin, PhD MBA
APC Kano
Kiru-Bebeji Federal Constituency
Kano
APC Kano
Kiru-Bebeji Federal Constituency
Kano
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