In an official statement on Thursday, the suspended member of the
House of Representatives, Abdulmumin Jibrin, has issued 1-week ultimatum
to his colleagues who may have “illegally taken or stolen any money” to return it to the clerk of the National Assembly or risk being exposed.
The suspended former chairman of committee on appropriations, said
in the face of the country’s economic challenges, there was no better
time to return such monies, adding that for the principal officers, he
had given them a 72-hour ultimatum to make public the total amount they
received as running cost in their entire stay at the house.
The statement read in part:
“I wish to draw your attention to the fact that since you
suspended me yesterday and the suggestion of the ethics committee report
that my allegations were generalised and without proof, I have come
under intense public scrutiny and pressure to prove that there exists
systemic corruption in the house.
“I have taken it as a responsibility to prove to the public
that the House is a den of systemic corruption. As colleagues, I have
bound with many of you and built a life long friendship.
“I have some of you that I hold in high esteem. If you end up
at the receiving end of the actions I will be taking up in the next few
days, I want you to know there is nothing personal but commitment and
fervent desire to ensure that corruption is wiped out of the house and
reforms that will restore the battered image of the house and take back
the house to the Nigerian people are implemented.
“Consequent upon the above and before I proceed with the
aggressive steps I intend to take, I hereby demand that if you have
illegally taken or stolen any money meant for the running cost of your
offices for the entire stay in the house, you should return it within
one week to the clerk of the national assembly and for the purpose of
clarity, I am referring to about N10 million you collect from tax payers
monies monthly.
“The clerk will provide you with official account details,
failure to which I will take necessary action to ensure that you return
any money stolen and stand witness against you in case of prosecution.
“I have written to the Clerk of the National Assembly to stand
by in anticipation. In the face of the revenue challenges and biting
hardship the country is currently facing, there is no better time the
country needs such money than now.
“In the case of the Presiding and Principal Officers, in
addition to my demand in this letter which applies to them too, I have
written them yesterday and gave them 72 hours ultimatum to make public
the total amount they have received as running cost in their entire stay
in the House, failure of which I will proceed with necessary legal
action to compel them to make the total amount each of them have
received public.
“There are other issues of monumental corruption in the House
that I will be raising in the following weeks which we must all deal
with, but first lets get done with this one.”
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