Embattled former Chairman, House of Representatives Committee on Appropriation, Abdulmunin Jibrin, yesterday, wrote to the ruling party, the All Progressives Congress, APC, to explain why he levelled allegations against Speaker Yakubu Dogara.
Jibrin chronicled all his allegations in the letter and the way forward where he insisted the speaker must step aside for investigations to commence. The letter read in part: “I write to the leadership of our party, the various organs and chapters of the party, elected and appointed officials of our party, supporters, well wishers and members of our party in Nigeria, Africa and the world at large through your good office, the Chairman of our great party.
“I write you this letter for four very important reasons: To apologise and seek forgiveness of the party for the role I played in the election of Speaker Yakubu Dogara; to give a background of the current crisis as a result of the allegations I raised against Speaker and the 12 other corrupt members; to furnish you with the details of the allegations against Mr Speaker and the 12 others and; to provide urgent recommendation on the way forward before this crisis cause irreparable damage of our great party ‘’Mr Chairman, you will recall the crisis during and after the election of Speaker Yakubu Dogara, Deputy Speaker Yusuf Lasun and Whip Alhassan Doguwa. You will also recall the leading role I played in bringing these 3 Principal Officers on board.
‘’I recollect with deep regret and pains and can still hear the echo of your voice in the make or mar meeting at the ICC shouting ‘sit down Jibrin, sit down Jibrin, Jibrin sit down’, ‘you dare not walk out of this hall Jibrin’! Sen Lawali Shuaibu watched helplessly with the box of ballot meant for the mock elections as I forced myself up, stood my grounds, made my points, held the hands of Yakubu Dagara, a green snake under green grass, and pulled him out of the hall. ‘’You saw what I didn’t see.
A validation of the saying that ‘what an old man can see, a young man cannot even if he climbs a tree’ worst, an old man of over seven decades. The rest is history. ‘’The role I played to the best of my conscience at then, sir, was patriotic. I analysed the two candidates and felt Speaker Dogara has a better temperament to make a good Speaker.
“It was a narrow line of thinking, an error of judgment. It took only few weeks after the election for me to realize the corrupt and dangerous man inside the skin of Speaker Dogara.” ‘’That was when I started getting reports of his corrupt practices for many years in the House undetected. I fell apart will Speaker Dogara instantly. Contrary to public believe, we have never been close since few weeks after he emerged speaker.
‘’We practically disagreed on almost everything. From the appointment of Committee Chairmen, to splitting of Committees, to non disclosure of the finances of the house, to his greed of unifying everything under his control, commercializations of bills, divisive approach across ethnic and religious line, arrogance and power drunk, corruption and fraud during the budget period among many others. ‘’But who will I tell or run to having played such a leading role in bringing him on board. It was a painful,frustrating and depressing period for me.
He operates alone, keep weird relationships with top politicians. His God father is Sen Iyola Omisore. ‘’Speaker Dogara is of the habit of taking standing Committee Chairmen to swear Oath of allegiance before Omisore. During the build up to the appointment of committee Chairmen. I had a terrible disagreement with him. I stayed far away from him.
I was in london when he insisted he wants to see me. ‘’He came to my hotel room and we talked for hours. I gave him a lot of advice but I never knew it was getting in from one ears and out from the other. He was more interested in telling me about the forces who didn’t want me to be appointed Chairman appropriation as if I cared. He mentioned Former Speaker and present Governor of Sokoto state Aminu Waziri Tambuwal as one.
That is how narrow minded Dogara can be. ‘’I have always maintained to him that being Chairman appropriation is not in any way a favour to me. I dashed him money, he thanked me and left. The following day, he pleaded to me to join him at a house in london. I went and I saw him seated very comfortably with Sen Omisore. It was there he said he was going to appoint me Chairman appropriation and I should be reporting to Omisore!
‘’I was completely shocked. A nice lunch was served, we eat and We left. At least there are CCTV in london. I confided in a highly placed person who I wouldn’t want to mention his name. He advised me to remain calm and consentrate on my job My refusal to comply with such questionable instructions largely accounted for the anger of Mr Speaker towards me.
‘’It was much later that I realized that Sen Omisore had adopted Speaker Dogara as a god son since their days as Chairman appropriation and house services in the 6th Assembly respectively. ‘’Studying Speaker Dogara in the last one year and many things I know that it may not be proper to mention here, he does not wish the APC well, he is a cheap pretender, he is not loyal to the party and he will provide a solid platform for a massive attack against our party in the nearer future. I know what I am talking about.’’
(Vanguard)
