There are strong indications that moves by the All Progressives Congress, APC, to resolve the crisis in the House of Representatives over budget padding have failed.
It has been gathered that the ousted chairman of the house committee on appropriation, Mr. Abdulmumin Jibrin, was insisting on investigations of the petitions he submitted to security agencies.
The party, it was learnt, after the meeting it held with Jibrin on Tuesday, August 2, 2016, had been appealing to the lawmaker to withdraw his petitions so that the crisis could be handled as “a family affair.”
It was, however, gathered that while the former chairman of the appropriation committee had yielded to the party’s request not to discuss the issue in the media, he had not agreed to withdraw his petitions.
The APC, in a letter to the former appropriation committee on Thursday, August 4, 2016, directed the lawmaker to stop “transmitting an opinion on the matter to the public” adding that it was, “looking into it towards finding possible solution.”
But a chieftain of the party told Punch that Jibrin had told party leaders that since the speaker of the House, Yakubu Dogara, said padding was not a crime, security agents should be allowed to do their job by investigating the matter.
The APC National Working Committee member stated, “We are still trying to resolve the issue amicably. We have not been able to find an internal solution to the problem. Jibrin is insisting on pursuing the case.”
Jibrin had since Thursday stopped commenting on the allegation in the media after receiving a letter from the party leaders.
But the lawmaker, via his Twitter handle early on Saturday, August 6, 2016, made a veiled reference to a statement by Dogara that padding was not an offence, insisting that there was no going back on the crusade against budget padding in the House.
“I am carefully observing things with sealed lips while others are talking. I am with Nigerians and there is no going back on this crusade!!!”
