I’m a born-again corruption fighter now, there’s no going back

A former chairman of Appropriations Committee of the House of Representatives, Abdulmumin Jibrin, who has accused the speaker, Yakubu Dogara, of substantial fraud, has given reasons why he had to wait till now to speak out.

Mr. Jibrin started releasing details of alleged budget fraud involving Mr. Dogara and three other principal officers, Lasun Yusuf, Alhassan Doguwa and Leo Ogor, last week.
It came after he was removed as chairman of the appropriation committee.

“For those who keep saying why now, (they) should realize that for every situation like this to occur, there must be a trigger however it looks!” Mr. Jibrin said on Thursday.

“I woke up mid night yesterday to pray and suddenly realized I have become an accidental activist. This is noble and there is no going back!

“I am a product of the establishment but something in me has never been comfortable. I’m so glad that by September 9th my 40th birthday everybody would have known where I stand for the rest of my life; rural agriculture and fight against corruption especially in the NASS,” he said.

In his statement on Thursday, he said he would continue to make daily allegation of fraud and abuse of office against Mr. Dogara and his “senior cabal” until “law catches up with them”.
He raised another allegation that Mr. Dogara diverted a federal water project to his farm in Nasarawa State.

He raised 20 questions of corruption against the Speaker on Wednesday, same day he dismissed the threat of court action from the speaker.
He expressed the hope that Mr. Dogara and other principal officers will be removed, as a consequence of his allegations.

“When a new Speaker emerges and the other principal officers replaced, I will write to the presiding officers of both chambers to commence a radical internal reform in the entire NASS beyond budget to cover performance assessment, running cost and allowances, investigations, etc.

“If the reform so done on NASS is not made public latest by December, I shall take it up and lay before the general public even if I am alone.

“The idea is to do a cleanup, flush out corruption and corrupt members so that in 2019 only corrupt free people who want to serve will come in “God Almighty knows I am not perfect but as I approach 40 years in September, I have always wondered what is it that I can live and die for.”