Tambuwal backs Dogara, Jibrin reveals three different padded budget
It was gathered on Monday that the Senior Special Assistant to the President on National Assembly Matters, Mr. Abdulrahman Kawu-Sumaila, was also supporting Dogara.
The moves by Tambuwal and the President’s aide were said to have deepened budget padding crisis in the House.
It was gathered that Tambuwal had been mobilising some members of the House from the North-West to support the Speaker.
A member of the House, who confided in Punch, state that, “It is an open secret that the Speaker is Tambuwal’s man. The Sokoto State governor was instrumental in the emergence of Dogara as the Speaker. He has not abandoned the man. He is mobilising members of the House for Dogara.”
It was learnt that although the Sokoto State governor had succeeded in convincing the North-West members of the House to support Dogara, the South-West members had, however, declined to support the Speaker.
Findings showed that members from the South-West had not forgotten the role Tambuwal played in the emergence of Dogara as the Speaker in June 2015, dumping Femi Gbajabiamila, the preferred candidate of the All Progressives Congress.
It was learnt that the budget crisis would have been resolved if the South-West members had signed the list of those who were ready to pass vote of confidence in Dogara.
Most members from the zone decided to be neutral by supporting neither Dogara nor Jubrin.
Jibrin meets with police panel
Jibrin on Monday met with the police Special Investigation Panel on the budget padding crisis. It was gathered that during the meeting, which began at 12pm at the Force headquarters, Jibrin submitted a large number of documents and other evidence to prove his allegations against the Speaker and the others he accused of padding the budget.
Sources said he also promised to bring more documents that were germane to the investigation into the alleged insertions under constituency projects in the 2016 budget.
A source explained that the SIP, led by an Assistant Inspector-General of Police, Amodu Ali (retd.), received the documents with a promise to diligently study them.
The source said, “Jibrin came with documents which he handed over to the SIP on Monday. It was obvious that he was well prepared to establish his allegations against the leadership of the House. He promised to bring more documents during the week.”
A source said, “This is a high-profile case, so, the SIP is not in a hurry to conclude it; members will take their time, carry out a forensic analysis of evidence provided, conduct a thorough and diligent probe and by the time they are through, no one would be able to fault the report of the investigation."
