Damilola Oyedele in Abuja
The sacked Chairman of the Committee on Appropriation, Hon. Jibrin Abdulmumin, wednesday appeared before the Presidential Advisory Council against Corruption (PACC), where he again made allegations of corruption against the principal officers of the House of Representatives, and demanded reforms in the legislature.
The embattled lawmaker testified before the Prof. Itse Sagay led council for about four hours, where he accused Speaker of the House, Yakubu Dogara, Deputy Speaker, Yussuff Sulaimon Lasun, Chief Whip, Alhassan Ado Doguwa and Minority Leader, Leo Ogor, of corruption and abuse of office.
Speaking with journalists after the session, the lawmaker said he is committed to pursuing reforms that would rid the National Assembly of corruption.
“I am equally ready to answer queries from any of the anti-graft agencies because as we speak none of my colleagues has written anything against me as a person. Rather all the allegations I levelled against the 4 principal officers and nine others has not gotten any response till date,” he said.
Abdulmumin reiterated his call to Dogara to resign from office, saying the Speaker has no moral standing to continue to parade himself as the number four citizen of the country.
“I have taken them through all the allegations against Mr. Speaker, the deputy speaker, the whip of the house and of course the minority leader and nine other members. It has been a challenging six weeks and some of my colleagues that we share the same vision within the house of representatives, we have remained resolute, we have remained focused, we would do all within the laws of our land to ensure that justice is served on these corrupt members of the house of representatives,” he added.
Abdulmumin refuted reports that he is out to rubbish the legislature, but noted that he wants to ensure comprehensive reforms to sanitise the budgeting system.
“It is a committee and they have their terms of reference. I do not know what they are going to do but a lot of revelations were made, I also know that they are men of integrity and they have taken all my submissions and they asked a lot of questions to which I provided answers and I am sure that within the powers of what they can do, they would take decisive actions,” the lawmaker said.
“The issues of allowances that I raised is a simple matter, anybody who I have mentioned, I mentioned the 10 principal officers anybody who believes judiciously for the purpose he is meant for, is to come to say I have collected this amount but I have used it properly,” he said.
“It is up to the 10 principal officers to come and tell the country if they used it judiciously, if not, they would face the law. That is the point: I don’t think anybody should drag the entire House to it but if any member wants to make a sacrifice and come out and say this is what I have received and defend how I have spent it. It is fine and good for his own image, it’s not proper to drag everyone into this,” he added.
