Budget padding: Lawmaker exposes what Buhari is plotting to do to Dogara, others
– A federal lawmaker, Linus Okorie, claims President Buhari is plotting the downfall Yakubu Dogara and other members of the House of Reps
– He said the plot to remove Dogara as speaker of the House would definitely fail
– The lawmaker criticised the SSS and other government agencies for sealing some offices in the National Assembly
Linus Okorie, a member of the House of Representatives from Ebonyi state, has accused the President Muhammadu Buhari-led government of plotting to remove the speaker of the House, Yakubu Dogara and the entire house leadership.
The lawmaker claimed the presidency was plotting to do this by capitalizing on the allegations raised by Jibrin Abdulmumin, the former chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Appropriations, who was sacked recently.
In a statement issued on Monday, August 1, Okorie, who declared his loyalty to Dogara, said the plot would fail as the speaker and other members of the house had not done anything illegal, Premium Times reports.
Buhari reportedly plotting to remove Dogara
READ ALSO: Budget Padding: Why I exposed Dogara – Jibrin
The Peoples Democratic Party lawmaker and a two term member of the House wondered why the lawmakers were being branded corrupt.
He explained that the house has the constitutional powers to “amend, reduce from or add to” the budget estimates brought forward by the executive and that that was what the lawmakers did.
According to him, the constituency projects were never implemented by the legislatures but by the executive arm and wondered why the lawmakers were being branded corrupt.
Okorie said should the attempt to change the leadership of the house succeed and a new leadership forced on it, the President Buhari-led government would have completely “unitarized” Nigeria’s democracy and completed the push for a repressive and totalitarian brand of “democracy” hitherto unknown to literature.
READ ALSO: ICPC chairman receives petition against Yakubu Dogara
The lawmaker also faulted the State Security Services and other government agencies for sealing some offices in the National Assembly.
There had been accusations and counter accusation over budget padding between Jibrin and the leadership of the house.
Jibrin, after he was removed from his position as chairman of the House of Representatives Appropriation Committee, released statements accusing the Dogara and some other principal officers of budget padding and corruption.
According to sources, he submitted damning evidence to the DSS which linked Dogara, his deputy, Yusuf Lasun; the House Whip, Alhassan Doguwa, and the Minority Leader, Leo Ogor to the padding the budget.
Buhari has reportedly ordered the Department of State Services (DSS) and the police to carry out a full investigation into the alleged the N480bn budget padding.
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