TheCable

The leadership of the house of representatives says abuse of the 2016 budget process led to pressure by members to sack Abdulmumin Jibrin as chairman of the appropriations committee.

In a statement on Thursday, Yakubu Dogara, the speaker, Yusuf Lasun, the deputy speaker and other principal officers, said that in conjunction with the senate and a team from the executive, the house leadership rescued the budget when it was put into jeopardy by Jibrin.

“The decision to relieve the erstwhile appropriation chairman of his position was a collective decision of the leadership in response to unrelenting pressures from the overwhelming majority of honourable members who were irked by the former chairman’s gross abuse of the budget process,” they said.

“Both actions were taken in the best interest of the institution and the nation for which we take full responsibility.

“In the meantime however, the leadership of the house of representatives wishes to reaffirm that it took collective action, in conjunction with the senate and a team from the executive, to rescue the 2016 budget when it became obvious that the former appropriation chairman had placed both the document and the process in jeopardy resulting in a spate of agitation from ministries, departments and agencies.”

They described the allegations made by the former appropriations chairman against them as wild, baseless and unfounded.

“Truth may be slow but it usually always wins the race in the end. We have no doubts,” they added.

Jibrin had accused some members of the house leadership of padding the budget through the insertions of unnecessary projects.