TheCable

There is a new song in town. It’s a popular one. And for days now, it’s being sung and played aloud in Abuja, specifically at the House of Representatives although the sounds and tunes have boomed round Nigeria and indeed outside the country. I believe you must have heard it.

But in case you still don’t know what I’m talking about, I’m referring to the recent allegations of budget padding and other wrongdoings by Abdulmumin Jibrin, former chairman of the House of Representatives committee on appropriations, following his removal from the ‘juicy’ position, against the speaker, Yakubu Dogara; deputy speaker, Yusuf Lasun; house whip, Alhassan Doguwa; and minority leader, Leo Ogor.

Now, you know the song. But we can still go over the lyrics -the embarrassing allegations Jibrin has made! Disclosures which also help shed some light on the controversy that occurred earlier in the year concerning the 2016 budget!

Jibrin alleges that the budget screening by his appropriations committee was hijacked by Dogara and a cabal within the house. That Dogara and the three other principal officers took away the entire appropriation committee secretariat to a secret location where all sort of insertions were made into the budget. And that Dogara also directed him to introduce about N20 billion project to the budget, under service wide vote, using the name of National Assembly, an instruction he personally told the speaker would be “a controversial line item.”

Jibrin also explained how he discovered that about 10 only out of the 96 standing committees of the house introduced about 2,000 projects without the knowledge of their committee members, amounting to about N284 billion.

And in another round of revelations and disclosures on Sunday, Jibrin further says Mr. Speaker and his deputy diverted millions of naira all in the name of paying for guest houses and official residence. He accuses Dogara of frequent abuse of his office through the solicitation of inappropriate favours from agencies and multinationals, a clear conflict of interest. He insists Dogara forced an agency to grant loans aside blackmailing a construction company to do some work on his “Asokoro plot.”

To further add some punch to his allegations, Jibrin is suggesting that President Buhari, with “his disdain for corruption and corrupt people,” would ban Dogara from the Presidential Villa if only he had an idea of his real nature and how the speaker has promoted corruption so badly in the house alongside the principal officers.

The former chairman of the house committee on appropriations is now demanding that the leadership of the house gives room for investigation into the allegations against them.

However, will Dogara agree to this right and indeed fair demand? I believe he should. Indeed, he must. And if he won’t, Nigerians must demand it!

Meanwhile, because the House of Reps, right from 1999, has been home to series of scandals, I believe this current one shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone. For these politicians, it’s only true to type.

Despite being one of the staunchest supporters of Dogara and doing all in his power to ensure that the speaker held on to his seat despite the opposition from their party’s leadership, Jibrin says he judged Yakubu Dogara by his “innocent” looks in working to make him speaker of the house, but now regrets supporting his speakership ambition.

He says his allegations are not against the House of Representatives as an institution as Dogara and the others desperately wants members of the house and the general public to believe but against the quartet only. He adds that he is well able to prove these allegations. I believe Dogara and co must also be ready to defend themselves of these allegations.

However, this fact must be clear and well-understood to all Nigerians. The spat between these men would not have come to light if Jibrin hadn’t been removed from his position as House Committee Chairman on Appropriation. So, this is not about patriotism or love for country. It’s simply the advancement of self-interest on the altar of fake and pretentious patriotism.

Meanwhile, while I do not in any way want to prejudge the Speaker before he is proven guilty or innocent of the allegations against him, I still believe if Dogara were really a saint and a model politician he would want Nigerians to see him as, he would certainly not have to adopted the sly and cunning manner through which he emerged as speaker like Saraki did in the Senate last year. For me, that’s the style of politicians with no moral scruple or qualms. And it’s one of the easiest signs to know politicians who are out there, not for public service or public good, but for their own self interest and agenda.

Therefore, even though Dogara looks likeable and harmless, is intelligent, and has generally tried his best to successfully carry the various interests in the house along as a leader, his politics of self-interest, no matter how well he wants to cloth it in the garb of nationalism, is a dent on his credentials. Politicians of such likes, our country must be wary of!

Even if he were goaded on by his supporters, for decency, morality and posterity sake, he ought to have applied some brakes and wisdom concerning how he went about achieving his personal ambition of becoming Speaker. At that moment in his life, Dogara gave no damn about his legacy. He cared less about posterity not realising he gravely hurts himself doing so.

However, it’s good that he has denied the allegations, describing them as a “drowning man’s desperate attempt to nail him.” But that is clearly not enough. It’s too feeble a defence to be taken seriously to the allegations Jibrin has raised.

Nigerians want answers: Is it true or false for instance, that he, Speaker Dogara, blackmailed a construction company into doing some work on a plot of his at Asokoro? Dogara needs to defend himself comprehensively on this matter and on others raised against the house leadership. In case he doesn’t know, many Nigerians believe there are elements of truth to the allegations raised by Jibrin. That is why Dogara, as a matter of urgency, must clear the air if he is still interested in restoring the remainder of his public image and redeeming his damaged integrity. And this, of course, also stands for his co-accused.