The House of Representatives has accused Abdulmumin Jibrin, the ousted chairman of the Committee on Appropriation of inflating the 2016 budget submitted by President Muhammadu Buhari by N250 billion.
In a lengthy statement issued by the House spokesman, Abdulrazak Namdas on Tuesday, July 26, 2016, the House said Jibrin was removed on Wednesday, July 20, 2016 for "his incompetence, abuse of budgetary process and serial betrayal, including a proclivity to blackmail”.
The House alleged that Jibrin had inserted funds for the Muhammadu Buhari Film Village in his constituency in Kano without the consent or solicitation of President Buhari.
According to the statement, every time Jibrin gets up to speak on the floor of the House, there was spontaneous chorus of "ole! ole,! ole! or thief! thief! thief! Barawo! Barawo! Barawo!" from lawmakers.
The statement reads in part:
"It was also discovered that the former chairman, Appropriations, discreetly and clandestinely allocated monies for projects that are not clearly defined in the budget for the purposes of exploiting the ambiguities for personal gains.
"Furthermore, he was found to be responsible for some bogus allocations in the budget for projects that have no locations and were apparently never meant to be executed.
"Hon. Jibrin’s mishandling of the 2016 budget process nearly fractured the otherwise cordial relationship between the Executive and the Legislature and brought the National Assembly and the government to public ridicule.
"For reasons that were not noble and not in the Public Interest, Hon Abdulmumin had initially inflated the Budget by adding about N250b more to the total figure as submitted by Mr President. This, the National Assembly Leadership out rightly rejected as a form of financial recklessness and inability to appreciate the dwindling resources available to government necessitating that we act prudently. He was directed therefore to make even further cuts below Mr Presidents total figure.
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