Former House of Representatives committee chairman on Appropriation, Abdulmumin Jibrin, has admitted not speaking out on time about the alleged 2016 budget padding supervised by Speaker, Yakubu Dogara and three other principal officers.
The lawmaker from Kano said on Thursday that he was no longer confortable with the corrupt system in the House, vowing to put his life on the line to ensure the Augean table is cleansed.
He said he woke up recently to pray and vowed to rather be a an “accidental activist” than to keep quiet in the face of obvious fraud.
Jibrin started releasing details of alleged budget fraud involving Dogara and three other principal officers, Lasun Yusuf, Alhassan Doguwa and Leo Ogor, last week.
It came after he was removed as chairman of the appropriation committee.
“For those who keep saying why now, (they) should realize that for every situation like this to occur, there must be a trigger however it looks!” Jibrin said.
“I woke up mid night yesterday to pray and suddenly realized I have become an accidental activist. This is noble and there is no going back!
“I am a product of the establishment but something in me has never been comfortable. I’m so glad that by September 9th my 40th birthday everybody would have known where I stand for the rest of my life; rural agriculture and fight against corruption especially in the National Assembly,” he said.
In his statement on Thursday, he said he would continue to make daily allegation of fraud and abuse of office against Dogara and his “senior cabal” until “law catches up with them”.
He raised another allegation that Dogara diverted a federal water project to his farm in Nasarawa State.
He had 20 questions of corruption against the Speaker on Wednesday, same day he dismissed the threat of court action from the speaker.
He expressed the hope that Dogara and other principal officers will be removed, as a consequence of his allegations.
“When a new Speaker emerges and the other principal officers replaced, I will write to the presiding officers of both chambers to commence a radical internal reform in the entire National Assembly beyond budget to cover performance assessment, running cost and allowances, investigations, etc.
“If the reform so done on the National Assembly is not made public latest by December, I shall take it up and lay before the general public even if I am alone.
“The idea is to do a cleanup, flush out corruption and corrupt members so that in 2019 only corrupt free people who want to serve will come in “God Almighty knows I am not perfect but as I approach 40 years in September, I have always wondered what is it that I can live and die for,” he said.
