‘Omisore is Speaker’s godfather,’ Jibrin says

The former committee head made the comments via a letter of apology written to All Progressives Congress (APC) Chairman, John Oyegun.

The letter reads:

“We practically disagreed on almost everything. His godfather is Sen Iyola Omisore. Speaker Dogara is of the habit of taking standing committee chairmen to swear oath of allegiance before Omisore.”

“During the build up to the appointment of committee chairmen, I had a terrible disagreement with him. I stayed far away from him. Who will I tell or run to having played such a leading role in bringing him on board? He operates alone, keep weird relationships with top politicians.

“I was in London when he insisted that he wanted to see me. He came to my hotel room and we talked for hours. I gave him a lot of advice, but I never knew it was getting in from one ears and out from the other,” Jibrin said.

“The role I played, to the best of my conscience at then, sir, was patriotic. I analysed the two candidates (Dogara and Femi Gbajabiamila, who is not the Majority Leader of the House) and felt Speaker Dogara had a better temperament to make a good Speaker.

“It was a narrow line of thinking, an error of judgement. It took only few weeks after the election for me to realise the … inside the skin of Speaker Dogara. That was when I started getting reports of his … practices for many years in the House undetected. I fell apart will Speaker Dogara instantly. Contrary to public belief, we have never been close since few weeks after he emerged Speaker.

“We practically disagreed on almost everything. From the appointment of committee chairmen, to splitting of committees, to nondisclosure of the finances of the House, to his greed of unifying everything under his control, commercialisation of bills, divisive approach across ethnic and religious line, arrogance and power drunk, during the budget period among many others. But who will I tell or run to having played such a leading role in bringing him on board.

“I wish to state that I deeply regret the role I played in the emergence of Yakubu Dogara as Speaker. I seek the understanding and forgiveness from you, our leaders and every member of the APC family that was hurt by my action. Thank God Almighty, I am young and energetic. I will be 40 on September 9th. I promise that moving forward, I will dedicate and completely commit myself to achieving the goals set out by the party. This case should serve as a lesson for everyone in the future.”

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Dogara emerged Speaker on June 9, 2015, despite being excluded from contesting by the APC which had chosen Femi Gbajabiamila as its sole candidate for the Speakership.

Jibrin has also accused Dogara of supervising the padding of the 2016 budget.