Budget Padding: 113 Lawmakers Sign To Unleash EFCC On Dogara, Others

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Following the allegation leveled against top members of the House of Representatives including the Speaker, Yakubu Dogara by the recently sacked Chairman, House Committee on Appropriations, Abdulmumin Jibrin, a total of 113 signatures has reportedly been collected in support of probing the allegation through the EFCC.

The Transparency Group of the House of Representatives on Wednesday called for the probe into the allegation of budget padding to the tune of N40 billion by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC.

The group while speaking with newsmen on Wednesday insisted that the probe be carried out by an external agency such as the EFCC to enable transparency in its results and findings.

Rep. Musa Soba (APC-Kaduna), speaking on behalf of the Transparency Group also noted that about 113 signatures had been collected from lawmakers from the six geopolitical zones and across party lines.

He noted: “We call for an external investigation into the matter, to enable us know if our principal officers are guilty or not.

“For this group, we say the budget was padded and as such, the budget being a document that belongs to all Nigerians, it is no longer an internal affair”.

Soba further challenged the Speaker, his Deputy and the Chief Whip of the House to desist from making Jibrin’s allegation a burden on the House and face the accusation square and fair.

“We urge the leadership of the House of Representatives to stop presenting the 2016 budget padding allegations as the problem of the entire house.

“Let those at the centre of the controversy answer to all the allegations made against them individually and collectively in line with legal practice and our criminal justice system”.

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