The House of Representatives on
Wednesday suspended its former Chairman, Appropriations Committee,
Abdulmumin Jibrin, from the parliament for 180 legislative days (roughly
one year).
He was also banned from holding any position of responsibility in the House for the rest of the 8th National Assembly.
In addition, he would tender a written apology to the House on resumption from suspension.
This followed the adoption of the report
of the House Committee on Ethics and Privileges which investigated
allegations of breach of privileges of the House and its members by
Jibrin.
The suspended lawmaker had soon after
his removal as chairman, Appropriations Committee, accused the Speaker,
Yakubu Dogara; the Deputy Speaker, Yussuff Lasun; Whip, Alhassan Doguwa,
and Minority Leader, Leo Ogor, alongside some committee chairmen of
budget fraud.
He also accused his colleagues of
systemic corruption which he said he had a divine mandate to expose with
a view to engineering reforms.
His public statements angered members of the House who were then observing their annual recess.
On resumption, the Chairman of the House
Committee on Rules and Business, Emmanuel Orker-Jev, moved a motion
citing a breach of the privilege of the House and its members against
Jibrin.
The matter was subsequently referred to the House Committee on Ethics and Privileges for investigations.
Presenting the report on the floor of
the House during plenary on Wednesday, the Chairman of the Committee,
Nicolas Ossai, said after a week-long investigations, his panel found
Jibrin guilty on all counts.
Ossai said, “Hon Orker-Jev underscored
the gravity of the allegations (made by Jibrin) as a calculated campaign
of calumny, denigration of the House and publication of false and
scandalous statements with libellous, contemptuous and defamatory
contents in various media platforms.”
He said during its sitting the committee
received oral evidences, electronic records and written documents from
Orker-Jev and Channels Television.
As part of his testimony before the committee, Orker-Jev was quoted as quoting Jibrin as saying,
“As it stands today, these corrupt elements have infested the House, making the institution a hub of systemic corruption.
“I repeat, there is massive individual
and systemic corruption in the House of Representatives. And all
Nigerians have a responsibility to avail themselves of this rare
opportunity to flush out corruption in the House.”
He tendered copies of The PUNCH, and
several other national and regional newspapers as well as discs
containing visual and audio recordings of Jibrin making these comments
on national television.
Ossai expressed regret at the
respondent’s refusal to honour the committee’s invitation even when it
agreed to make the hearing public.
The committee said from its findings, the fact that Jibrin made the statements credited to him was not in doubt.
It also said, “The committee found that
those statements were broad sweeping without proof; consequently the
committee views those statements as injurious, scandalous and
denigrating to the House as an institution.
“…That the committee considers that the
actions of Hon. Abdulmumin Jibrin, taken as a whole, amount to an
infraction of Sections 21 and 24 of the Legislative Houses (Power and
Privileges) Act and the rules of the House.
“The committee finds that Hon.
Abdulmumin Jibrin breached the practices, precedents and usages of the
House of Representatives in that the House has established procedure for
expressing and redressing grievances which he didn’t follow.”
The committee then recommended that
“Abdulmumin Jibrin, should be reprimanded in accordance with Chapter
9(1) of the Code of Conduct for Members of the House of
Representatives.”
Deputy Speaker of the House, Yusuf
Lasun, who presided over the session, put the committee’s report and its
recommendations to a voice vote and it was unanimously approved.
In his reaction to the development,
Jibrin said the entire process leading to his suspension was flawed and
as far as he was concerned, “it is a non-issue and complete nonsense and
it is not going to stand anywhere in the world.
“As you are aware, the matter is a
subject of litigation, I have instructed my lawyer, Femi Falana SAN, to
file charges of contempt against Speaker Dogara and of course the House
of Representatives and I’m sure the matter will move over to the
judiciary and decision will be taken. I’m pretty sure it will be in my
favour.”
Falana, who berated Dogara over the suspension of Jibrin, said the suspension would not stand the test of time.
In a message sent to our correspondent
via email, Falana said, “It is the height of contempt. It is a primitive
resort to self-help by the House of Representatives. Since the matter
is in court, the House deliberately breached its rule of not interfering
with pending judicial proceedings.
“In his desperation to cover up the
scandal the Speaker, Honourable Dogara, made himself the accuser,
witness, prosecutor and judge at the same time and thereby breached the
elementary rule of nemo judex in causa sua (thou shall not be a judge in
your own cause).”
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