Abdulmumin Jibril’s suspension

The crisis in the House of Representatives over budget padding came to an anti-climactic denouement two weeks ago with the suspension of Abdulmumin Jibril for 180 sitting days. Following his removal as  chairman of the Appropriations Committee last June, Jibril mounted a strident campaign against Speaker Yakubu Dogara and three other House principal officers, saying […]

The crisis in the House of Representatives over budget padding came to an anti-climactic denouement two weeks ago with the suspension of Abdulmumin Jibril for 180 sitting days. Following his removal as  chairman of the Appropriations Committee last June, Jibril mounted a strident campaign against Speaker Yakubu Dogara and three other House principal officers, saying they conducted themselves in a manner that was south of proper.  During the House’s long recess, Jibrin made many allegations against the leaders including budget padding, corruption and cornering constituency project allocations to themselves. 
When the House returned from recess, it referred Jibril to its Ethics and Privileges committee chaired by Ossai Nicholas Ossai (PDP, Delta). Jibrin however refused to appear before the committee unless its proceedings were made public. The committee said his refusal to appear before it was itself a defence.  Although some saw his refusal to appear as his undoing, Jibrin knew the odds were stacked against him because he had alienated most of his colleagues. A majority of the members had earlier declared their support for the speaker. As Chairman of the House Committee on Legislative Budget and Research Timothy Golu said, “The display by most of us today [22 September, 2016] was a natural thing to show our support for Dogara. No single member had any issue with the speaker.  He [Jibril] only had five members behind him.  If Jibril shows remorse and apologizes to the House, I can assure you that members would forgive him…but he has to tell Nigerians that all that he said were lies.” In other words, Jibrin was only expected to appear before the committee and apologize.
While the suspension may give Speaker Yakubu Dogara and the House some respite, the suspension throws up some questions agitating the minds of Nigerians.  Is Jibrin’s suspension the only resolution needed for the crisis?  What becomes of the serious allegations of wrongdoing he made against the House leaders and all the members? What became of the groups within the House that emerged in the wake of the allegations and lent their support to Jibrin’s claims?  One group in particular boasted that they numbered over a hundred and while they declared that they were not in support of Jibril, they confirmed that all his allegations were correct.
Additionally, what is the role of the presidency in this matter?  It would appear that any time Speaker Dogara visited the Presidential Villa, he came out emboldened. The first time he was there, he told Nigerians that budget padding was legal.  This may be true, but Nigerians found that statement insulting.  The second time he went to see the president alongside Governor Aminu Tambuwal of Sokoto State, himself a former speaker, Dogara came back to the House to oversee the suspension of Abdulmumin Jibrin.
Nigerians merely seek a transparent investigation of these allegations and have chosen to look beyond the messenger, who is of questionable credibility, and focus on the message.  Did Speaker Dogara and the three principal officers commit the misdeeds as alleged? Only a transparent and impartial investigation could provide the answer to these questions. If the House balks and refuses to do what is fitting, it is only adding to the sum of the sins Nigerians are counting against the National Assembly.  They should also understand that Nigerians would prod other agencies such as EFCC to do the probe. The National Assembly already suffers from negative perception from Nigerians.  The last thing it needs now is to bury another allegation without doing anything about it.
The national jury is still out on Jibril himself. While many Nigerians see him as a courageous, if latter day anti-corruption fighter who has exposed what many Nigerians suspect was happening behind the scenes, others see him as an opportunist who embarked on this “crusade” only after he was booted out of the Appropriations Committee for alienating all his members. One day, definitive judgment will be made.