The budget scandal rocking
the National Assembly is
still generating heated
debate, and Nigerians are
yet to hear the last of it. Budget padding: Why Dogara,
Jibrin won’t be sanctioned -
APC Speaker of the House of Reps,
Yakubu Dogara has spoken out
regarding the budget padding
scandal. At a time when Nigeria is
battling recession, the headlines
of some of the national dailies
focuses on the budget padding
issue, while others tend to
other pressing matters. We begin with the Daily Sun which has it front page headline
as “I am not guilty –Dogara” According to the report,
Speaker of the house of
Representatives, Yakubu
Dogara, in an apparent fight
back on the budget padding
controversy yesterday said that no member of the National
Assembly can be investigated or
charged to court for performing
their constitutional responsibility
of lawmaking including the
budget process. READ ALSO: Fast all in one — UC Browser AUGUST 12 - S But former chairman of the
appropriation committee of the
house, Abdulmumin Jibrin
dismissed the speaker’s
position and challenged him to a
public debate on the matter. He said Dogara’s comment that
lawmakers cannot be tried for
doing their duty is diversionary
and meant to mislead the public. ‘I challenge speaker Dogara
and his cabal to a public debate
on their claim that the
fraudulent insertions they made
in the budget is not an offence
that can be prosecuted under the laws of Nigeria rather than
continue in their futile efforts
to blackmail the entire country
or continue their begging
mission to the party, they
should submit themselves to anti-corruption agencies and
answer thousands of questions
waiting for them’ But Dogara, who spoke in Abuja
at the Civil Society Dialogue
Session on one year of the
Legislative Agenda organised by
Policy and Legal Advocacy
Centre (PLAC), noted that the 2016 budget had been
controversial from the beginning
and that it took dialogue,
compromise and consensus to
produce a workable document. The Speaker argued that by
virture of the provisions of the
Legislative Houses Powers and
Priviledges Act, no member of
the parliament can be charged
to court or investigated for exercising their powers of law
making. Find out how at http://davesblog.over-blog.com/2016/08/trouble-in-national-assembly-dogara-forced-to-spill-secrets.html

following

are we still in this budget brouhaha
.buhari self