2016 Budget "Padding": DSS, Police Get Buhari’s Nod On Probes

Speaker, House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara and Former Chairman of the House of Representatives’ Appropriation Committee, Abdulmumin Jibrin

…set to grill Dogara, other principal officers•DSS seals off Reps appropriation c’ttee office•President won’t interfere –Presidency

There are strong indications that the police and Department of State Services have received the backing of President Muhammadu Buhari, to carry out full investigations into the ₦480bn budget padding in the House of Representatives.

Sunday PUNCH report continues:

Correspondents gathered on Saturday that the security agencies had already swung into action by scrutinizing documents collected from a former Chairman of the House of Representatives Appropriation Committee, Abdulmumin Jibrin, as part of the investigations into the budget padding.

Investigations showed that Buhari, as part of his commitment to the anti-graft war was favourably disposed to investigations into the allegations in spite of his closeness to the Speaker of the House, Yakubu Dogara.

It was learnt that Jibrin, who visited the DSS headquarters in Abuja on Friday, submitted written demands by four principal officers of the House during the vetting of the 2016 budget by the National Assembly.

It was gathered that the lawmaker made copies of the same documents available to the police detectives as investigation into the scam began last week.

It was also learnt that security agencies had started scrutinizing the documents with a view to determining members of the House that would be quizzed.

It was gathered that the DSS, during the week, would start the investigation with the questioning of civil servants working in the National Assembly Budget Office and that other affected principal officers would subsequently be invited.

Jibrin had, in his petitions to the security agencies, accused the Speaker of the House;  Dogara, his  deputy, Yusuf Lasun;  the House Whip, Alhassan Doguwa, and the Minority Leader, Leo Ogor, of  padding the budget.

It was gathered that security officers were banking on using as evidence written demands by the principal officers to establish a criminal case against the House leadership.

Sources said Jibrin had submitted “incontrovertible” evidence linking the four men to the budget padding incident that embarrassed the Federal Government.

Among the documents, said to have been provided by the petitioner, was the breakdown of the amount that was added to the budget which was allegedly to be shared by Dogara and his cohorts.

In one of the demand notes, the speaker was to get ₦3bn;  the deputy speaker, ₦2.55bn; House leader and chief whip, ₦1.8bn each; deputy leader and deputy chief whip, ₦1.5bn each; minority leader and minority whip, ₦1.4bn each; while the deputy minority leader and deputy minority whip would each get ₦1.3bn, totalling ₦17.5 bn.

Other evidence that may be used to establish a case against the house leadership include the document on the ₦20bn projects allegedly inserted in the 2016 budget under the service wide vote.

It was also gathered that detectives were examining a document showing the 2,000 projects inserted into the budget by 10 standing committees’ chairmen which was approved by the speaker. The projects amounted to ₦284bn. The total amount of the budget padding was said to be ₦480bn.

Sunday PUNCH was made to understand that the documented evidence, in possession of the petitioner, would make it difficult for the house leadership to escape prosecution for malfeasance unless a political solution was adopted.

Further findings indicated that Jibrin had received the full support of the President and the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami in his quest to torpedo the house leadership.

It was learnt that Jibrin had met with Malami where he was assured of the Federal Government’s support for his anti-corruption crusade in the National Assembly.

A top government officer, who confided in correspondents, said, “Security agencies have received the backing of the President to probe the allegation.  The President has said that there is no sacred cow in the fight against corruption.  You know he is close to Dogara, but he will not stop the security agencies from investigating anybody.”

A source stated that though the government knew that Jibrin was not entirely blameless in the unfolding saga, it would not overlook the   allegations against the principal officers.

When asked about the status of the investigation into the budget padding, the Force Public Relations Officer, Donald Awunah, declined comment, saying he did not have any information on it. “I can’t speak on the investigation, I know nothing about it,” he said.

But when contacted, the Presidency said that the President would not ‘interfere with the budget padding allegation in the House.’

The Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Mr. Femi Adesina, who said this in an interview with one of our correspondents, also stated that budget padding would not occur again in the Buhari administration.

Adesina said the President had made it clear to all those concerned that he would not tolerate a situation where he would present a budget and the federal lawmakers would pass a document completely different from what he submitted to them.

How Jibrin maintains informants at N’Assembly

Meanwhile, details emerged on Saturday on how the former Chairman, House Committee on Appropriation, Mr. Abdulmumin Jibrin, ruffled the Speaker, Mr. Yakubu Dogara, and three other principal officers with his ‘budget padding’ allegations for over a week.

Investigations showed that the All Progressives Congress lawmaker from Kano State operated largely under cover since he began taking on Dogara last week, except for his announced brief appearance at the headquarters of the Department of State Services in Abuja on Friday night.

Findings revealed that Jibrin ran a ‘Mobile’ office’ with a laptop computer, mobile phones and hard copies of the 2016 budget.

One National Assembly aide, who understood his movements, confided in correspondents that Jibrin kept a safe distance from his Abuja residence and reportedly avoided using cars he was easily identified with.

It was gathered that soon after he kick-started his media war against the four principal officers, Jibrin initially shuttled between his Kano and Abuja residences.

However, in the last four days, Jibrin, who had also served as the Chairman, Committee on Finance in the 7th Assembly, stayed undercover in Abuja, coming out only to hold brief discussions with family members and aides before disappearing again.

But, the Chairman, House Committee on Media and Public Affairs, Mr. Abdulrazak Namdas, denied that anybody was after Jibrin.

Namdas also said “claims” by Jibrin that Dogara sent the police and DSS operatives after him were “unfounded.”

Efforts to get Jibrin’s comments failed on Saturday. He rarely answers his calls or responds to text messages.

DSS seals off Reps secretariat

In a related development, the secretariat of the Committee on Appropriation at the House of Representatives was sealed off on Saturday by operatives of the Department of State Services.

Two unarmed officers of the agency blocked the entrance to the secretariat as of 4.40pm when correspondents visited the National Assembly.

The operatives barred the Clerk to the Committee, Dr. Abel Ochigbo, from entering his office.

Although Ochigbo and other members of staff were in possession of the keys to the secretariat, they were not allowed access into the office.

Our correspondent observed that one of the operatives blocked Ochigo when he wanted to open the door and denied him access.

The two operatives were among the regular officers posted to the National Assembly by the DSS.

The operative, who barred Ochigbo, simply said he was under “instructions” not to allow anybody into the office.

“No, no; you cannot enter there please,” he said and blocked Ochigbo.

The security personnel did not listen to the clerk’s explanations but later made phone calls and tried to pass his phone over to the operative so that he could speak with someone on the other end of the line, but the man declined to receive the phone.

The operative turned his back at journalists all the while and had a phone to his ear as if he was speaking with somebody, but he was not really talking into the phone.

Ochigbo later explained that he suspected that the office was shut because of the development over the budget.

He said, “I think it is to safeguard the place because of the issues going on.

“These people (DSS) are our colleagues from other departments; there are sergeant-at-arms personnel here.

“I assure you that everything is intact inside the office. Nothing has been vandalized. No member of staff has been harassed for whatever reason.”

Ochigbo added that he had actually worked in the office earlier in the day unhindered, but clarified that the security men were deployed primarily to provide security.

Budget Padding Latest: Dogara, Lasun, Doguwa, Jibrin, Others In The Eye Of The Storm

L-R: Deputy Speaker Yussuf Suleimon Lasun, Speaker Yakubu Dogara

Daily Trust reports that Rep Abdulmumin Jibrin was a staunch supporter of Speaker Yakubu Dogara during the election of presiding officers in the House of Representatives for the 8th Assembly. The young lawmaker nominated Dogara for the job and was seen as a close ally of the speaker. Things, however, fell apart between them following the sacking of Jibrin as chairman, Committee on Appropriation, after he was accused of padding the 2016 budget. Jibrin has resolved to expose alleged corrupt practices in the budgetary process committed by the principal officers of the House, an action that has put both him and the leadership in the spotlight. Our reporter looks at the characters that have focused Nigerians’ eyes on the Green Chamber. 

Speaker Yakubu Dogara

Dogara first came to the House in 2007 on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), representing Bogoro/Dass/Tafawa Balewa Federal Constituency of Bauchi State.

After Dogara got the APC ticket to return to the House in 2015, he eventually won for the third time, and decided to go for the speaker’s seat. He was nominated by Abdulmumin Jibrin on the day of the election and won the seat on June 9, defeating APC’s preferred candidate, Femi Gbajabiamila.

Dogara’s House got embroiled in leadership crisis for about two months, and when finally the issue was resolved, he went ahead to constitute standing committees, jerking them up from the 89 operated during Tambuwal to 96.

On October 21, Dogara announced chairmen of the committees and rewarded mostly his loyalists in an unprecedented manner, including Jibrin. He gave the opposition PDP 45 chairmanship positions, while his party, the APC, got 48.

He has since parted ways with Jibrin following the controversy that trailed the 2016 budget in the National Assembly. Dogara is said to be unsettled since Jibrin’s outburst. Some of his colleagues believe that his greatest undoing as Speaker was appointing Jibrin to head a sensitive committee like appropriation.

Dogara, in what appears to be the most challenging part of his leadership so far, is being accused of trying to force Jibrin to allocate projects worth ₦40 billion in the budget.
Again on Monday, Jibrin alleged that Dogara paid millions of naira in the name of guest house and official residence, alleging further that the speaker “frequently abuses his office amounting to conflict of interest by soliciting for inappropriate favours from agencies and multinational companies. He forced an agency to grant loans and a construction company blackmailed to do some work at his Asokoro plot.”
Based on a document Jibrin released, Dogara got ₦3 billion worth of projects in the budget.
Jibrin made another allegation that Dogara diverted a water project to his farm in Nasarawa State and that he bribed members of the appropriation committee to carry out blackmail against him (Jibrin).

But Dogara had, through both the House spokesman, Abdulrazak Namdas, and his special adviser on media and public affairs, Turaki Hassan, denied the allegations.

On Tuesday, the House said through Namdas that it would conduct an internal probe into the 8-month tenure of Jibrin, to establish all the allegations leveled against him by members and some government agencies.

Namdas also said the House would refer Jibrin to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the Independent Corrupt and Related Offences Commission (ICPC) over his handling of the 2016 budget and his stewardship as chairman of Finance Committee during the 7th Assembly.

The speaker had also on Wednesday written Jibrin to retract the allegations within seven days or face legal action. But Jibrin said he stood by the allegations.

Should the EFCC decide to investigate the alleged scam as requested by Jibrin in a petition to the commission, Dogara’s leadership may be in for a big trouble.
Already, a group of representatives, under the name Transparency Group has thrown its weight in support of an external probe.

Deputy Speaker, Yussuf Suleimon Lasun

Until the contest for the speaker’s seat, many Nigerians, including reporters covering the House, did not know Lasun. Initially, when Lasun’s name was mentioned for the Number 2 position in the House, he came out to deny it, but he finally owned up on June 7 and was presented as candidate for the position.

He first came to the House in 2011 to represent Irepodun/Olorunda/Osogbo/Orolu Federal Constituency of Osun State under the then Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN).

Lasun was among the many lawmakers that did not sponsor any bill or motion in the House throughout the 4-year period they spent in the House (2011-2015).
In fact, it is believed that he rode on the back of Dogara to become deputy speaker. But since assuming office, he appears to be doing well in terms of presiding over plenary each time Dogara was not available.

When President Muhammadu Buhari withheld his assent to the 2016 budget, Lasun was appointed to head the National Assembly committee that liaised with a team from the executive arm to resolve the matter, a job he did well, according to his colleagues.
His name featured prominently among the principal officers that Jibrin has accused of allocating billions of naira worth of projects to their constituency.

Lasun is being accused of conniving with Dogara, Doguwa and Ogor to force Jibrin to insert projects in the budget to the tune of about ₦30 billion, in addition to other “wasteful projects.”

Jibrin equally accused him of paying millions for official residence and guest house. The lawmaker alleged that in the process, Lasun had an altercation with the chairman of the House Committee on FCT, Herman Hembe (APC, Benue), accusing the latter of “shortchanging them.” Lasun also got ₦2.5 billion projects on constituency projects based on a document Jibrin released.

Unlike Dogara, Lasun was yet to personally respond to any of the allegations.
He is also expected to be invited by the EFCC in case an investigation will be launched into the scandal.

Chief Whip, Alhassan Ado Doguwa

Like Dogara, Doguwa, who represents Doguwa/Tudun Wada Federal Constituency of Kano State, has been in the House since 2007, when he occupied the seat of deputy chairman of the Committee on Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) between 2007 and 2011 and chairman of the Committee on Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) from 2011 to 2015.

Doguwa was a member of the House in 1992 under the defunct Social Democratic Party (SDP). He was also in the PDP before joining the APC along with Dogara in 2014.
In the buildup to the speakership contest, Doguwa was at the forefront of the campaign for the current House Leader, Gbajabiamila, to become the Number 4 Citizen. When Gbajabiamila lost, Doguwa’s name was submitted by the APC leadership as the nominee for the Deputy House Leader.

But in a dramatic turn of events, Doguwa accepted Dogara’s offer to become the House Leader, against Gbajabiamila’s nomination for the position by the APC. Many saw this as a betrayal of his former ally. But in the end, Dogara yielded to pressure and made Gbajabiamila the House Leader, while Doguwa was announced as the Chief Whip.

Since then, Doguwa has been one of the close confidants of Dogara and is seen everywhere with the speaker.

Doguwa, Jibrin alleged, also manoeuvred his way to get projects worth billions allocated to his constituency, in addition to the alleged ₦30 billion projects manipulation. Doguwa equally got ₦1.8 billion under constituency projects based on a document from Jibrin.

But in his response, Doguwa said, “For me as an individual, and having been mentioned in the sacked chairman’s claims, I would like to say with all sense of responsibility that what he claimed was frivolous and unfounded.

“And as a principal officer, I know Jibrin was only relieved of his appointment due to widespread outcry and disenchantment among members of his committee for gross anomalies and absolute non-inclusion of members in the discharge of the duties of his erstwhile committee.” 

“Other issues he raised on our attempt to “selfishly” allocate funds to ourselves in the 2016 budget were also untrue. His mischievous claims were borne out of his overzealous attempt to divert public attention from the fact that he is the first in history of the National Assembly that has woefully failed as a chairman of such an important committee.”
Doguwa’s name is also on the list of lawmakers that Jibrin has submitted to the EFCC.
Minority Leader Leo Ogor

Leo Okuweh Ogor, as he fondly introduces himself on the floor of the House, is a fourth term member of the House, having first won election to represent Isoko North/Isoko South Federal Constituency of Delta State in 2003 on the platform of the PDP.
He occupied the position of the Deputy House Leader during Tambuwal. ‘The General’, as he is popularly called, Ogor also earned himself another name ,the ‘King Maker’ last year, due to his role in the emergence of Dogara as speaker. Ogor, as the arrowhead of the PDP members, went into a secret deal with the Dogara camp at the time for the PDP members to vote for the speaker massively and in turn have Ogor as deputy speaker.

However, Ogor was betrayed immediately after Dogara’s emergence on the floor, as the calculation immediately changed, which saw to the election of Lasun as Deputy Speaker.
But Ogor was said to have played a key role in the selection process, when he ensured that Dogara allocated not only 45 committees to the PDP, but also had the ones termed as ‘juicy’ to his party men. He is said to be part of any decision, be it major or minor, taken by Dogara so far.

Ogor was accused of using his position as the Minority Leader and his closeness to Dogara to insert projects worth billions of naira for himself in the budget. Ogor got ₦1.4 billion allocation for constituency projects, according to a document made public by Jibrin.

However, Ogor in his reaction, said Jibrin’s allegations were all lies and that they would take appropriate action when the House reconvenes from its ongoing recess in September.
Abdulmumin Jibrin

Jibrin, who will be turning 40 years on September 9, first came to the House in 2011, to represent Kiru/Bebeji Federal Constituency of Kano State. He immediately caused confusion in the House when he convened the meeting of all new comers to the House at the time.

At first, he was said to be gunning for speaker, but he later backtracked based on the ranking rule of the House. However, he continued to make a lot of noise and became popular among his colleagues, so much so that Tambuwal was forced to make him the chairman of the Committee on Finance, unprecedented for a greenhorn.

He made the committee very relevant and became ‘bully’ to most government agencies and officials, including the former minister of finance, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, especially when he raised 50 questions to her on the country’s economy in December, 2013.
After winning election for the second time in 2015, Jibrin declared for the speaker’s seat and campaigned vigorously for that. But he later shelved his ambition and aligned with Gbajabiamila, hoping to be elected deputy speaker.

When Gbajabiamila settled for Mohammed Tahir Monguno (APC, Borno) as deputy, Jibrin immediately switched camp and joined Dogara. He eventually spearheaded Dogara’s campaigns and nominated him for the speaker during election of presiding officers of the House. He was rewarded with the Appropriation Committee chairmanship position.

However, Jibrin’s relationship with Dogara became sour after his colleagues came up with allegations that he conducted himself like a ‘lord’ on the budget and ignored them all, especially whenever they called him on phone or visited him at home.

He allegedly allocated projects worth ₦4.3 billion to his constituency, in addition to other alleged infractions in the budget. Several government agencies allegedly wrote the speaker complaining about Jibrin’s demands before approving their budgets as well as ignoring members of the House, particularly those that served under him as appropriation chair.

Jibrin was also accused of hiding from the other members of the committee in working on the budget, but he had denied any wrongdoing in the process and said he was just a victim of coercion by the quartet of Dogara, Lasun, Doguwa and Ogor.

Since he started making his allegations, Jibrin is said to have gone into hiding. He has, however, taken his accusations against the leadership of the House to the anti-graft agencies in the country seeking that the matter be investigated.
However, Jibrin may not escape investigation by the EFCC, as the House had already indicated interest to drag him before the commission.

Other Principal Officers involved in the saga

Although Jibrin mentioned only four out of the 10 leaders of the House in his allegations of budget padding, a document he released showed that the six other principal officers got certain allocations under constituency projects.

House Leader Femi Gbajabiamila

Gbajabiamila, who has been in the House since 2003, lost the speaker’s contest to Dogara last year. He was, however, compensated with the position of House leader at the insistence of the APC. He is said to be excluded from major decisions taken by Dogara, including that on appointing chairmen of committees.

In the 2016 budget, Gbajabiamila got ₦1.8 billion projects under the constituency intervention programme for his Surulere 1 Federal Constituency of Lagos State, according to the document.

Gbajabiamila has kept sealed lips on the allegations raised by Jibrin, and a source close to him said he did not want to take any position on the matter because he was part of the House leadership.

Deputy Leader Buba Jibril

Jibril, a third-term member of the House, has been representing Lokoja Federal Constituency of Kogi State since 2007. He is a staunch supporter of Dogara and became the Deputy House Leader after the resolution of the leadership crisis of the House.
Jibril got projects worth ₦1.5 billion in the budget under constituency projects, according to the document.

Deputy Chief Whip Pally Iriase

Iriase, a two term member of the House, was a strong supporter of Gbajabiamila, but he later aligned with Dogara after the leadership crisis.

The Edo State lawmaker, who represents Owan East/Owan West Federal Constituency, the document stated, had influenced the allocation of N1.5 billion projects to his constituency through padding of the budget.

Minority Whip Yakubu Barde

Barde represents Chikun/Kajuru Federal Constituency of Kaduna State. He is a third-term member of the House. He became a principal officer last year. The document showed that he diverted projects worth ₦1.4billion to his constituency.

Deputy Minority Leader Chukwuka Onyeama

Onyeama, who represents Ogbaru Federal Constituency of Anambra State, is said to have gotten ₦1.4 billion projects for his constituency.

Deputy Minority Whip Binta Bello

Binta, is the lawmaker representing Kaltungo/Shongom Federal Constituency of Gombe State. The only female principal officer in the House got ₦1.4 billion worth of projects for her constituency, according to Jibrin’s document.

STORMS IN THE PAST:

From 1999 when Nigeria returned to democratic rule, the seat of Speaker of the Federal House of Representatives has been embroiled in one controversy or another. All seven occupants of the office in the last 17 years had faced scandals that resulted in the removal of two former speakers.

Salisu Buhari (1999)

Buhari was the speaker of the House in 1999. During his few months in the saddle, his tenure was enmeshed in a certificate forgery scandal that swept him out of office. The allegation at the time was that he forged his certificate from the Toronto University. He was forced to resign and also vacate his seat as member of the House. On July 23, 1999 he resigned after much pressure.

Ghali Umar Na’abba (2000-2003)

Na’Abba became speaker in 2000 after the ouster of Buhari. He had a running battle with former president, Olusegun Obasanjo, beginning from 2002 when the House issued an ultimatum to the then president to either resign or face impeachment action. Na’Abba was said to have spearheaded the impeachment plot against the president.

Aminu Bello Masari (2003-2007)

Masari was speaker from 2003 to 2007. He completed his four-year tenure successfully. However, like Salisu Buhari, a certificate scandal nearly consumed him in office. The allegation was on a post-graduate diploma Masari was said to have obtained from United Kingdom.

The House launched an investigation into the matter in 2005 and cleared Masari of any wrongdoing.

Patricia Etteh (2007)

Etteh became the first female speaker of the House in June, 2007, but she was forced to resign barely five months after assuming office, following a scandal that had to do with the renovation of her official residence.

Some members of the House had, in September 2007, raised an allegation that Etteh authorized the spending of ₦628 million on renovation of her official residence and that of her deputy, Babangida Nguroje, and the purchase of 12 official cars meant for the House.

Although Etteh vehemently denied any wrongdoing, she later succumbed to pressure and resigned on October 30, 2007 alongside Nguroje.

Dimeji Bankole (2007-2011)

Bankole became speaker on November 1, 2007 after Etteh’s resignation in October of same year.

Bankole’s first scandal broke barely a week after his assumption of office, when it was alleged that he did not complete his mandatory service for the country under the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC). But Bankole provided his discharge certificate, ending the rumour.