The suspended former chairman of the Appropriation Committee in the House of Representatives, Abdulmumini Jibrin, said yesterday that he will keep talking on the corruption in the House until the right thing is done.
Jibrin, who stated this while speaking to journalists in Abuja to commemorate what he called ‘I00 days of the budget padding controversy’, which comes up tomorrow, said Nigerians need to be reminded on the ills of corruption, which he said could be a thing of the past once it’s tamed at the National Assembly.
Besides suspending him for 180 legislative days over the budget crisis, the House has barred Jibrin from holding positions of responsibility till the end of the 8th Assembly.
“Yes, I’ve been suspended from the House but as a Nigerian, I’ll keep talking that corruption still persists in the House of Representatives which I know better. And unless Nigerians keep complaining, there’s nothing that will change for the better,” he said.
He alleged that there was conspiracy of silence in the House, saying most of the members were blackmailed by the leadership, including those that were initially in his support.
“I will continue with this matter (fight) and I’ve said it repeatedly that I will never apologise. It doesn’t make sense to me to apologise when I know that the people I’m faced with are corrupt. So, why should I apologise?
“May be they feel the three years that’s left for us is like 50 years…but because I’ve been in the system over and over again, I know that three years is like just today and tomorrow. So, even if they would succeed in ensuring that I remained suspended, the maximum they can go is three years,” he said.
Jibrin said he was optimistic that the anti-corruption agencies are pursuing all the petitions he filed, adding that he would be vindicated at the end of the day.
He, however, alleged that most of the anomalies that caused the delay in passing the 2016 budget into law were already creeping into the proposed 2017 budget, and therefore called on the executive to be on the lookout.
