Jibrin Says He Will Not Appear Before House Ethics Committee

Speaking in Abuja, the lawmaker said
that the House has lost the moral
ground to discharge its legislative
functions as it has failed to address the
allegations decisively.

Representative Jibrin also made it clear
that he will not appear before the House
ethics committee which is investigating
him for breaching the privileges of the
House.
“I have given sufficient reason, I am not
going before any ethics committee. I
have explained to you, the chairman of
the ethics committee himself has
made a lot of public statements…that
there is nothing like padding and
padding is not an offence.
“And he is the person who is going to
pass a judgment on me,” he said.
The lawmaker displayed documents
which he says backs up the allegations
he has made against the Speaker and
some members of the House.
He also called on the Senate to take a
stand and insist that the allegations are
addressed by the House of
Representatives.
Meanwhile, the Chairman of the House
Committee on Ethics and Privileges,
Nicholas Ossai, has said that it will be in
the interest of Jibrin to appear before
the ethics committee.
Rep. Ossai said this when reacting to
comments that Rep Jibrin may not
appear before the committee, but noted
that the committee was yet to receive
any communication from the former
chairman that he would not be
appearing before the committee.
Rep. Ossai also made it clear that he
was not biased and the committee
would work impartially.
The House of Representatives
Committee on Ethics and Privileges, on
Friday commenced investigation into the
alleged breach of privileges of the
House by former Chairman of the House
Committee on Finance, Representative
Abdulmumin Jibrin.
The investigation followed a resolution
by the House to probe the allegations of
padding of the 2016 budget by some of
its members.
The Chairman of the House Committee
on Rules and Business, Rep Emmanuel
Orker-Jev, who sponsored the motion,
presented evidence of the reported
statements where Rep Abdulmunin
Jibrin had accused the House of
corruption.
He explained that the allegations made
had impinged on the image of the
National Assembly and that he took the
initiative to move the motion when other
colleagues approached him regarding
the same matter.
Abdulmumin Jibrin had given a
condition that must be met for him to
appear before the Ethics Committee to
defend allegations of budget padding he
made against principal officers of the
House.
After the House referred him to the
committee for investigation on
Wednesday, following deliberations on a
motion on the issue, the lawmaker in a
statement said he would only obey the
decision of the House “if the hearing will
be public”.