The ruling political party in Nigeria, the All Progressives Congress, APC, has ruled out the possibility of sanctioning the speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara and the former chairman of the House Committee on Appropriation, Abdulmuminin Jibrin over allegations of budget padding.
The APC deputy national chairman (North), Senator Lawal Shuaibu, told members of the Nigerian press in Abuja on Wednesday, August 10, 2016, that although the party constitution empowers the party to take certain steps on the matter, it will not play the role of a law enforcement agency.
“Article 7 subsection 5 of APC Constitution gives us the power to do certain things. So, you see, what we are doing is the right thing. But only we don’t want that in the public gallery,” Shuaibu said.
While ruling out the possibility of imposing sanction on the feuding duo, Shuaibu added, “What is padding? The party does not sanction anybody on that. What is of concern to us is where any member contravenes the party constitution in his conduct.
“That is why I refer you to Article 7, subsection 5 of our party constitution. We are not a law enforcement organisation. We don’t enforce law. We only ensure that the constitution is complied with. All members of the party are answerable to the party and answerable to their constituency.”
Jibrin created a storm when he was removed as head of the Nigeria’s House of Representatives’ powerful committee on appropriation by Speaker Dogara in June 2015. The APC renegade lawmaker has been using social media to make allegations against the speaker and other lawmakers.
Dogara has denied any wrongdoing and said he was not going to resign over the scandal because “budget padding” is not a crime.
Meanwhile, the APC has placed a gag order on Jibrin saying he should not speak publicly on the budget padding allegations any longer.
In a surprise move, the country’s inspector general of police set up a committee to probe the allegations against Yakubu Dogara, prompting a rebuke for President Muhammadu Buhari by human rights, Intersociety. The group slammed the president for meddling in the affairs of the independent arm of government, the legislature and seeking to replace its leaders by unconstitutional means.
