The two gladiators in the ongoing budget padding scandal in the House of Representatives, Speaker Yakubu Dogara and former committee chairman on appropriation, Abdulmumuni Jibrin, continued their war of words on Saturday.
While Jibrin accused the Speaker of bribing some of his committee members with $20000 to address a press conference and implicate him in the scandal, Dogara reacted by questioning the sanity of his former ally.
Denying the allegation of bribery, the Speaker who spoke through his Deputy Chief of Staff, CID Maduabum said he did not at any time meet or hand over any money of any sort to any member of the appropriation committee.
Dogara described Jibrin as a “despicable character” who shouldn’t have been allowed to get to the hallowed chambers in the first place.
‘My attention has been drawn to a statement issued by the disgraced and sacked former chairman of appropriation committee, Abdulmumin Jibrin wherein he falsely, recklessly and maliciously claimed that I distributed $20,000 to each member of the committee to address the media where they stated their grouse against him.
“I wish to state that I did not at any time meet or hand over any money of any sort to any member of the House Appropriation Committee. This accusation is not only a lie but pure fiction, a figment of his imagination which can only come from a man whose soul is deeply corrupted.
“It is really shocking that this kind of despicable character could slip through the political process and become an honourable member of the House of Representatives, a highly respected institution where we all passed through.
“This has confirmed that Hon. Abdulmumin Jibrin is a serial blackmailer, a man with the basest of motives whose sanity has become questionable,” he said.
