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| Dogara and Jubrin |
August 12, 2016
Chief John Odigie Oyegun
The National Chairman
All Peoples Congress APC
National Secretariat
Wuse II
Abuja
Dear Sir
DETAILS OF THE ALLEGATIONS I MADE
AGAINST SPEAKER YAKUBU DOGARA, DEPUTY SPEAKER YUSUF LASUN, HOUSE WHIP ALHASSAN
DOGUWA AND MINORITY LEADER OF THE PDP LEO OGOR AND 9 OTHER STANDING COMMITTEE
CHAIRMEN: THIS IS A LITMUS TEST AND DEFINING MOMENT FOR THE ANTI-CORRUPTION
STAND OF THE APC AS THE WHOLE WORLD IS WATCHING (Full letter below)
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;
1- To apologise and seek
forgiveness of the party for the role I played in the election of the extremely
corrupt Speaker Dogara
2-To give a background of the current crisis
as a result of the allegations I raised against Speaker Dogara and the 12 other
corrupt members
3-To furnish you with the details
of the allegations against Mr Speaker and the 12 others and
4-To provide urgent recommendation
on the way forward before this crisis cause irreparable damage to our great
party
APOLOGY TO THE APC
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 eco 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 7 decades. The rest is history.
The role I played to the best of
my conscience at then sir was patriotic. I analysed the 2 candidates and felt
Speaker Dogara has a better temperament to make a good Speaker. It was a narrow
line of thinking, an error of judgement. 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, commercialization 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 comfortable 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 concentrate 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.
In a nutshell, it will be
dangerous and potentially disastrous for the party to keep Speaker Yakubu
Dogara on that seat. I wish to state that I deeply regret the role I played in
the emergence of Yakubu Dogara as Speaker. I seek the understanding and forgiveness
from you, our leaders and every member of the APC family that was hurt by my
action. Thank God Almighty, Iam young and energetic. I will be 40 on September
9th. I promise that moving forward, I will dedicate and completely commit myself
to achieving the goals set out by the party. This case should serve as a lesson
for everyone in the future.
BACKGROUND OF THE CURRENT CRISIS
Mr Chairman sir, let me reemphasis
that I did nothing wrong. I committed no offense. I have never abused my office
or corruptly enrich myself in the 5years I have spent in the House. No one has
ever accused me of corruption in the House until lately, after raising
allegations against Speaker Dogara, corruption started fighting back. They
start bringing up baseless allegations. I am pretty sure the anti-corruption
agencies will do their job and all our party men and women will know the truth
at the end of the day. My offense has been my refusal to be used as conduit to
facilitate free flow of corruption in the House of Representatives. I came
under severe pressure during the budget period to break procedures and commit
fraudulent actions. When they could not use me, the Speaker connived with few
committee chairmen and they opened a bazaar of corrupt insertions into the
budget. I complained to the Speaker but he took no action only for me to
discover later that he, his deputy, Whip and Minority Leader were indeed the
ring Leaders of that corrupt cabal in the House. All they wanted was to do away
with me, considered the obstacle. The Speaker and the 3 others were in the tick
of the plot. The only time they call on me is when they need someone on
television. I was blackmailed that it is my job as Appropriation committee
Chairman to defend everything about the budget whether I agree with it or not.
I did my work as appropriation
committee chairman diligently. I followed all the laws and procedures. I have
all the documents and video recordings of proceedings intact. Problem started
when the President returned the budget. I was invited to a meeting of body of
Principal Officers. The speaker shamelessly denied he knew anything about the
insertions. He knew very well that he and the 3 other Principal Officers
connived with some Committee Chairmen to commit the fraud. By then, I could not
take the pressure anymore from Nigerians who thought I wrote the budget alone
while the Speaker, the 3 other Principal Officers and the Committee chairmen
involved wickedly kept quiet. I told the
meeting clearly that they were the culprit. The meeting became much tensed to a
point where Lasun and Ogar wanted to exchange blows with me. I maintained my
calm and to the God Almighty that I worship, I apologized to them. I was
overwhelmed but I knew I cannot continue to cover up anything again. It was at
that meeting that they requested me not to tell my colleagues at the executive
session that the four of them stole 40billion out of the 100 billion meant for
constituency projects. I told them clearly I cannot.
We then moved into the executive
session. Members were very angry with me. They have every reason to be because
they do not have full information of what transpired. I was called upon to address
the session. I prayed quietly and stepped forward. They asked me about cuts in
their budgets, the Speaker knew the answer and kept quiet, they asked about the
insertions, all the culprits were seated there but the Speaker kept quiet, they
asked about their missing 40billion, the Speaker kept quiet. At that point, I
told them that the Speaker and the 3 other Principal Officers took the money
and shared it to themselves and few others. The session went ballistic! I was
scared to say more than that. After that meeting, the Speaker and the 3 others
became even angrier with me. They were determined to embarrass and disgrace me
using every means possible. They just wanted me out of out of the job. They
quickly in an arrangement strange to parliamentary practice set up a
harmonization committee and appointed one of them the Deputy Speaker, Lasun as
Chairman all to send a message to members and the public that there is no more
confidence in me and I am the culprit and provide a more comfortable avenue to
continue their fraud and poisonous insertion in the budget. Deputy Speaker
Lasun did a great job. He indeed FANTASTICALLY loaded the budget with poisonous
insertions for the QUARTET aided and abetted by the Speaker.
In protest that my secretariat was
taken away from me on two occasions for such insertions to be made on the
instruction of Speaker Dogara, I refused
to sign the harmonized version until a compromise was brokered by Sen Danjuma
Goje that the Deputy Speaker who headed the harmonization should also sign.
After the budget was signed into law, the QUARTET resumed their hunting for Hon
Jibrin. They went everywhere In search of something to nail me, they could not
find any. They were frustrated but remained desperate. At that point, I was
already fed up but I was sure I will stand up to them and expose them. The
immunity debate gave me a chance to prove to them that enough is enough. At
that point, I had made up my mind to leave. The whole environment was filthy.
The smell of corruption was all over Speaker Dogara. Everybody knows he and his
gang of few other members like Hon Herma Hembe were very corrupt front, back, left,
right and center. He isolated himself with a very few small-minded rogues in
the House. I informed the Speaker on three occasions that I want to leave but
he always replied me that he would call me later so we could discuss. On
Wednesday the 20th July I went up to him and told him I will announce my
resignation if he doesn't. He still said to me let's meet at 10pm in the night.
They just wanted to ensure I was disgraced out of office.
He went on at the end of the
session and announced that I had resigned but they had taken a decision already
to sack me on allegation of offenses regarding the 2016 budget. A budget fiasco
they and I know too well they are the culprits. I had to respond for so many
reasons. It provided me an ample opportunity to open up on the mess they
perpetrated in the budget and corruption in the House in order to force reforms
that will restore the battered image of the House. Mr Chairman, believe me or
not, this is what I have always wished and prayed for an opportunity to
do. Secondly, it is important to say my
side of the story so that Nigerians will know I committed no offense. I was
worried about my image. I have a family and children. The best I can bequeath
to them is a good name. I therefore set out and released dozens of allegations
against the Speaker and 12 others. Until date they have not responded to any of
the allegations. In contrast, I have responded to all the allegations they
raised against me which largely bothered on immaturity, betrayal and so on. My
responses are in the public glare.
I proceeded to submit petitions
based on the allegations to the EFCC, ICPC, DSS and the NPF for investigation
and prosecution. While I have attended several meetings with these agencies to
give insight on the allegations, provide documents and codes on how to crack
these kind of corrupt cases and others in the House, they on the other hand
continue to evade the anti-corruption agencies. They have used the period to
intensify lobby in high places for a safe landing, hurriedly clean up the mess
on their desks, share money to some members for signature of confidence vote,
offer incentives of committees to the Transparency and Integrity groups which
the groups rejected, embarked on an expensive media campaign to launder the
image of the Speaker and attack my person and worst of all Speaker Dogara sponsored black mail to drag
the executive, senate and highly placed individuals into this matter with cheap
lies that the padding allegations, if dealt with decisively will bring down the
whole country. What a blackmail on the entire country!
When Mr Speaker and his cohorts
realized that I was out for a real show, having submitted my petition and
documents to the anti-graft agencies which clearly shows my innocence and them
as the culprits in the whole budget issues, he made a disgraceful about-turn.
He announced to the whole world that padding is not an offense. Few days later,
he boasted that the anti-graft agencies have no power to investigate or
prosecute him that is why he has shunned all their invitations. There was
uproar all over the country against Speaker Dogara. Yet, in another shameful
and disgraceful about turn, he said in a statement yesterday that he was
misunderstood. Indeed! And added that no money was lost during the appropriation
exercise. But at the same time all of these are offenses if the accused is Hon
Jibrin. What a shame! The same Speaker who claimed he "sacked" me for
budget offenses.
Mr. Chairman, all the statements
of Mr. Speaker during the last few days have clearly proven my innocence. I
have decided to find appropriate constitutional and legal means to get the
Speaker and his co travelers to account for the damage to my name and person
and the trouble he has caused me and my family. Yes, he has the powers to
remove a committee chairman but it must be done with a huge sense of justice,
fairness and responsibility. The Speaker also claimed at the Civil Society
dialogue that we did lot a lot of work in the budget. Why did it take him this
long to come out and admit? Simple, it was myself and Goje that sorted out all
of that. He knew nothing about the efforts we made in that regard but
shamelessly he wants to take credit for it. Mr Chairman, I have taken my time
to explain this so that you will have a proper context to this crisis. Let me
reiterate that padding is an offense. Padding can be tried under Nigerian laws.
The Speaker can be investigated and prosecuted contrary to the claim of Mr
Speaker.
I have pledged maximum cooperation
to the anti-corruption agencies and I will provide them with guide and
assistance on how to unravel all these crimes and theft of our common wealth.
For instance, let's say an item in a budget proposed by the executive under
Power for the purchase of a transformer cost N2million and same amount was
budgeted. If the Chairman House Committee on power because he has the
"powers" to appropriate decides to add N3million to jack up the
allocation to N5million when it is a public knowledge that the transformer
cannot cost more than 2million naira, what do you call that? That essentially
means APPROPRIATION FRAUD! And such a chairman is a FRAUDSTER, a common
criminal. On the other hand, let's say he decides to irrationally reduce the
amount to 500,000 thousand naira knowing full well that the said amount cannot
buy the transformer, what do you call that? APPROPRIATION SABOTAGE and such a
chairman is a SABOTEUR. And let's say he just decided to take the entire
N2million away, the question is where has he taken it to? Let's follow up, we
might discover something shocking. I have no apology for saying this! Little by
little, I will be providing more in-depth details.
DETAILS OF ALLEGATIONS
Mr Chairman, I have decided to
capture properly the allegations I leveled against the Speaker and 12 others so
that you will understand the gravity of the matter at hand and also understand
that the allegations are beyond budget issues and includes tens of other
criminal allegations that cannot be swept under the carpet. The allegations are
against the following:
i.
Speaker Yakubu Dogara
ii.
Deputy Speaker Yusuf Lasun
iii.
House Whip Alhassan Ado Doguwa
iv.
Minority Leader Leo Ogor
v.
Hon Herma Hembe
vi.
Hon Mohammed Bago
vii.
Hon Zakari Mohammed
viii.
Hon Chike Okafor
ix.
Hon Dan Asuquo
x.
Hon Jagaba Adams Jagaba
xi.
Hon Haliru Jika
xii.
Hon Babanle Ila
xiii.
Hon Abonta Abonta
Speaker Yakubu Dogara and the
three others fraudulently shortchanged the House of Representatives and abused
their offices by unilaterally taking away 40 Billion Naira out of the 100
Billion Naira allocated for constituency projects and distributing same to
themselves and the trio of Deputy Speaker Yusuf Lasun, House Whip Alhassan Ado
Doguwa and Minority Leader Leo Ogor and others without the approval of the
House
Speaker Yakubu Dogara approached
our client with personal requests of about 30 Billion Naira to be inserted into
the 2016 budget. Our clients refusal to get that done caused a major rift
between them which has escalated beyond measure
Speaker Dogara acting in concert
with the afore-named trio and as against the advice of our client inserted
wasteful projects for their constituencies worth about 20 Billion Naira.
Our client also complained to
Speaker Dogara that the Chairmen of about 10 out of the 96 standing committees of
the House have inserted over 2000 projects worth about 284 Billion Naira but
his complaint was ignored because the Speaker was acting in cahoots with them.
That in a bid to ensure that his
nefarious intentions are met, the Speaker took away the appropriations
committee secretariat on two occasions where several insertions were made into
the budget and this created avoidable tension during the budget process.
The Speaker also gave directions
to our client to create a strange line item in the service wide vote to allow
for a 20 Billion Naira insertion into the budget under the name of National
Assembly. Our client refused to accede to this request.
The Speaker fraudulently diverted
a Federal Government water project to his farm in Nasarawa State and the sources
of funding for the farm remain questionable.
The Speaker also made fraudulent
arrangements to deduct monthly from money meant for members’ office running
cost to fund a so-called dubious mortgage arrangement.
The Speaker abused his office by
directing an agency to grant loans and also arrange frequent private meetings
with heads of MDA's in a clear case of corruption and conflict of interest.
The Speaker acting in concert with
the above named trio allocated to themselves the entire 20% inputs reserved for
the House of Representatives after the harmonization exercise.
The Speaker fraudulently collected
undisclosed millions of Naira in a scam arrangement for the rent of houses and
guest houses acting in collusion with Deputy Speaker Yusuf Lasun and Hon.
Herman Hembe. It is a matter of public knowledge in the House that Lasun had
openly accused Hembe of having carted away some millions from the illicit money.
The Speaker has ordered that all
the computers in the appropriation secretariat be shut down and moved to his
office whilst the secretariat staff are being harassed to keep quiet and
suppress facts relating to the entire budget and there has been attempts by
agents of the speaker to burgle our client’s office to steal vital documents.
The Speaker also allowed several
wasteful procurement of needless items, including ones that are already in the
offices of members as a ploy to siphon funds of the House
The Speaker has despite several
protest from members continue to run the management of finances of the House
and its budget in absolute secrecy in the face of several allegations of sharp
practices
The Speaker was involved in money
laundry cases in the House and was the architect of the fraudulent multi
billion naira car purchase contract when he was Chairman House services
committee.
And allegations of harassment and
attempt to kidnap or kill me by Speaker Dogara and his corrupt gang.
He is using his office as Speaker
to sabotage the ongoing investigations.
1.Honourable Herma Hembe
Honourable Herman Hembe is the
member representing Vandeikya/KonshishaFederal Constituency of Benue State and
also the Chairman of the House Committee on the Federal Capital Territory.
Honourable Hembe lives way above his means from funds. Apart from being adept
at misappropriation, He has plenty questions to answer for movement of massive
amount of money in the Federal Capital Territory budget.
2.Honourable Umar Mohammed Bago
Hon Umar Mohammed Bago is the
member representing Chanchanga Federal Constituency of Niger State and also the
Chairman of the House Committee on marine transport. The fraudulent
investigative hearing organized by Hon Umar Mohammed Bago with support of
Speaker Yakubu Dogara wherein he invited about 1000 companies as a conduit to
extort money. The source of money used to fund the investigative hearing has
remained a mystery
3.Honourable Zakari Mohammed
Honourable Zakari Mohammed
represents Baruten/ Kaiama Federal Constituency of Kwara State and also the
Chairman House Committee on higher education. He made a complete mess of the
higher education committee budget
through massive movements of funds and hundreds of insertions. To investigate
allegations of bribery against him and Speaker Yakubu Dogara over roles they
played in the NNPC crude oil SWAP investigation.
4.Honourable Chike Okafor
Honourable Chike Okafor is the
member representing Ehime Mbano/ Obowo/ Ihitte of Imo State and also the
Chairman House committee on health. To investigate Honourable Chike Okafor for
being involved in and responsible for the movement of colossal amounts of money
in the Health Committee budget.
5.Honourable Dan Asuquo
Honourable Dan Asuquo represents
Akamkpa/Biase Federal Constituency of Cross Rivers State and also the Chairman
of the House Committee on Power. To investigate his involvement in and
responsibility for the movement of massive amounts of money in the Power
budget.
6.Honourable Jagaba Adams Jagaba
Honourable Jagaba Adam is the member
representing Kachia/Kagarko Federal Constituency of Kaduna State and also the
Chairman House committee on Power. To investigate his movement of massive
amounts of money in the interior budget.
7.Honourable Haliru Jika
Honourable Haliru Jika represents
Darazo/Gunjuwa Federal Constituency of Bauchi State and is also the Chairman of
the House Committee on Police Affairs. To investigate his movement of massive
amounts of money into the Police budget.
8.Honourable Babanle Ila
Hon Babanle Ila represent Tarauni
Federal Constituency of Kano state and is also the Chairman House services
committee. To investigate thoroughly the wasteful contracts awarded under his
and the Speaker's watch in order to justify spending and non disclosure of the
finances of the house
9.Hon Abonta Abonta
He is the Chairman House committee
on public petition. To investigate allegation of embezzlement, misuse and
misappropriation of millions of naira meant for the running of his office.
Just to bring you up to date
Sir, I have forwarded to the anti-corruption
agencies documents showing how Speaker Dogara and the 3 others allocated the
40billion naira they stole from 100billion for constituency project, how they
inserted about 20billion naira of wasteful projects, how they cornered the
entire 20% of inputs reserved for the house after the harmonization exercise,
attempts to force in about 30billion naira of wasteful projects into the
budget, attempt to force me to introduce a strange line item and insert about
20billion naira in the service wide vote using the name of NASS, evidence showing that indeed about 10
standing committees of the house made about
2000 insertions in budget worth
about 284billion naira and indeed
reports of 6 standing committees showing massive movement of money with clear
intent to commit fraud.
I have also commenced providing the anti-corruption
agencies clue on how investigative hearings in the house under Speaker Dogara
are used as conduit pipes to carry out massive corruption and how the house
services committee chairman and the Speaker runs and spend money meant for the
House in absolute secrecy. I will continue to cooperate with the
anti-corruption agencies and guide them on how to crack the code of corruption
that has assumed a monumental proportion under the very corrupt Speaker Dogara.
WAY FORWARD
Mr. Chairman sir, you will agree
with me that the world is watching to see how the APC will deal with this issue
of incontrovertible corruption in high places.
We have a golden opportunity to show the world that there is zero
tolerance for corruption in our great party the APC. Even more, is the
willingness of a serving member in my person who understands these issues and
who has offered to stand as witness and provide every support to the anti-corruption
agencies to investigate the allegations thoroughly and commence prosecution in
earnest. There is no better way of demonstrating our commitment to the fight
against corruption than to use Speaker Yakubu Dogara and the 12 others as
example. You will also agree with me that in the face of all these allegations
and back and forth in his utterances, Speaker Yakubu Dogara and the other
Principal Officers have lost the moral ground to continue in office.
They have become a baggage that
should be off-loaded by the APC before they inflict an irreparable damage to
the Party. From every part of Nigeria and the world, that is the opinion of
people. The party must act very quickly and decisively. In his usual
mischievous manner, Speaker Dogara is bandying around religious and ethnic
cards. He has so soon forgotten those that led the campaign that brought him up
as Speaker in the first place. As a way
forward, I wish to recommend the following;
1-To direct Speaker Yakubu Dogara
to reconvene the House and step down with other accused Principal Officers
immediately to allow for internal and external investigation without
interference so that sanity will return
2-To nominate a Speaker Pro
Tempore and mobilize our members to support him to take over and adjourn the
House until when we are due for resumption in September. This will give room
for consultations on the election of a new Speaker when we resume
3-To Insist on internal reform of
the activities of the House and ensure that the new Speaker implements it
fully.
4-To discuss on the possibility of
returning the N100billion constituency project component of the budget under
any of our laws so that all stolen money can be returned particularly the
40billion naira and equitably distributed to all constituencies.
5-To discuss if the party so
desire, I am offering to identify all the toxic insertions by Speaker Dogara
and 12 others in the budget so that they can be removed. We have different laws
under which that can be done.
I strongly believe that if these
recommendations are implemented, it will go a long way in resolving the crisis
and provide the ventilation for the House to commence the process of internal
reforms and self-cleansing to repair its battered image and restore the trust
of Nigerians in the House.
This will also provide a relief
for the party and the government that had been completely embarrassed with this
development.
Mr. Chairman, I am available and
always at your service should there arise a need for me to provide further explanation
in person as regard my letter.
Thank you very much for your
attention
Yours in service to the Nation
Hon
Abdulmumin Jibrin
APC-Kano
Kiru-Bebeji Fe
