APC in reconciliation talks with Dogara, Jibrin

dimeji akinloye

August 2, 2016 8:33 PM

Jibrin was said to have declined to comment on the outcome of the meeting, saying it will be made public when the time is right.

Speaker Yakubu Dogara and Abdulmumin Jibrin

The All Progressives Congress (APC) has said that plans are still ongoing to reconcile the Speaker of the House of Representatives,

The party's Deputy National Chairman North, Lawal Shuaibu, stated this on Tuesday, August 2, after a meeting with Jibrin that lasted for about four hours.

“We are discussing with them and it is an ongoing consultation, we are not done with them, we sat with the speaker, we just finished sitting with him and we would continue to sit with him,” Shuaibu said.

“I, that summoned him, the national secretary of the party and the national vice chairman of his zone sat down to discuss, there is nothing like passing any judgment on any member of the party, we only play our role as the umpire in this matter to see how we can create some atmosphere of peace and unity among our members.

“I was reading today in the paper that we called him to discipline him, discipline him on what? whatever happens in the house of representatives or the senate under the constitution and their rules they are immune.”

Shuaibu said all the party is trying to do is hear directly from both parties and find a way to resolve the crisis.

“What we did actually was that we heard from him. We have heard earlier from the speaker but because it was not in the newspapers, like you just went and published nobody knew we held a meeting with the speaker,” he said.

“I want to say what we discussed, honestly speaking was to get a better brief because we have to be carried along.”

ALSO READ: Budget Padding Scandal - Why I've been silent, Gbajabiamila

The lawmaker had accused Dogara and 11 principal officers of the House of padding the 2016 budget by fraudulently inserting projects running to several billions of naira.

He had also dragged the accused to the Economic Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and other anti-graft agencies, seeking them to probe his fingered colleagues.

dimeji akinloye