Nigerian politician Abdulmumin Jibrin is calling on President Muhammadu Buhari to make a public statement on alleged corruption involving the countrys House of Representatives. Jibrin, an All Progressives Congress (APC) member from Kano state, told IBTimes UK he wants to expose the prevalence of systemic corruption in Nigeria.
The politician praised Buhari for his strong stance against corruption, but added he should address the evidence he allegedly holds against lawmakers he accused of being involved in the countrys budget scandal.
The silence of the presidency is no longer sending the right message to Nigerians and the international community. The president needs to come out and make a definite statement, Jibrin said.
Jibrin added he wrote a letter to Buhari to discuss the allegations of corruption, but claimed he had not received a response.
Buharis spokesperson Femi Adesina declined to comment on Jibrins claims telling IBTimes UK the president had no comments on the issue.
Jibrins claims and suspension
In September, Jibrin was suspended by the House of Representatives for 180 legislative days after accusing some officials of corruption.
Among other things, Jibrin claimed the Speaker of the House, Yakubu Dogara, and three other principal officers were corrupt and should resign. Jibrin alleged the lawmakers had manipulated the budget by creating fake projects in order to allocate themselves billions of Naira.
Dogara denied the allegations and told journalists the question of him resigning does not even arise.
Budget padding scandal
Nigerias 2016 budget was first presented by Buhari in December 2015 and was to be discussed at the senate on 13 January. However, hundreds of copies of official documents relating to the budget went missing.
In February, Buhari publicly admitted the budget proposal submitted to the National Assembly in December 2015 had been doctored and vowed to bring culprits to justice.
Our Minister of Budget and National Planning did a great job with his team. The minister became almost half his size during the time, working night and day to get the budget ready, only for some people to pad it. What he gave us was not what was finally being debated. It is very embarrassing and disappointing. We will not allow those who did it to go unpunished, Buhari promised. He also denied allegations of involvement in the scandal.
He also said there was not such an offence as budget padding in Nigerian law.
Removal from Committee on Appropriation
Jibrin first made the allegations after he was removed as a chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Appropriation in July.
The Premium Times website quoted several lawmakers as explaining Jibrin had been removed as a chairman because he was becoming increasingly unreliable.
The lawmakers further alleged Jibrin manipulated the final version of the budget and diverted over N4 billion to his Kiru/Bebeji Federal Constituency of Kano State, something Jibrin has denied.
This is the situation of someone shouting thief! on the streets, but people, rather than going after the thief, they face the person who raised the alarm, Jibrin said.
Death threats
Earlier this month, Jibrin went to London to receive an award for his anti-corruption crusade by the London-based African Voice newspaper.
The embattled politician later claimed he had received death threats and would not return to Nigeria unless his safety was guaranteed.
Many people have come to me and said please stop this struggle, because they are going to kill you. It is a tough thing to fight corruption, Jibrin said. But here I am, fighting to expose corruption. I am ready to risk my life.
I suspected I would be suspended because of the prevalence of systemic corruption in the house, he continued. Most of them are involved in this scam. This issue is going to involve many more people and it is a massive fraud.
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