Lawmaker says Dogara is begging Reps not to impeach him

The former Chairman of the House committee on appropriation, Abdulmumin Jibrin, has alleged that the Speaker,

According to him, Dogara begged members of the North-East caucus for forgiveness in a meeting which was held on Monday, September 19, 2016, Punch reports.

Jibrin also said “When a grievous allegation of this nature is raised, there is a laid down rule to investigate such issue and it should not be investigated internally.

“The speaker should step down for proper investigation. Nobody is hunting him, but he should step down for a committee to do its work and investigate the issue.

“The speaker begged us that we should forgive him. He also begged for the principal officers.

“He said that the House should forget what happened in the 2016 budget.”

However, the House of Representatives spokesman, Abddulrazak Namdas, dismissed Jibrin’s statement saying “The speaker decided to meet with leaders of all caucuses to discuss the way forward on the current recession and the way forward when the House resumes.

“Allegation that the speaker begged for forgiveness and that members of North-West caucus passed a vote of no confidence on the Chief Whip, Rep. Ado Doguwa, is not true.

“That the meeting was done in bad light was not true as well; Jibrin has made these allegations before and has not said anything new.

“This house has its resolutions; we have our process and will commence its work soon.

“None of us is above the rule we have set. If Jibrin has issues, let him put up a motion and if he has the numbers then so be it.”

A group in the House of Representatives, known as the Transparency Group, has called on the Speaker and other principal officers indicted in the budget padding scandal to step aside.