From Felix Ikem, Nsukka

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A Senior Lecturer at the Department of Political Science, University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN) has asked the principal officers in House of Representative accused of  padding  2016 budget to resign.
Former chairman of House Committee on Appropriation, Abdulmumin Jibrin had accused Speaker Yakubu Dogara and other members of the House of padding the 2016 budget. Onuoha, told newsmen in Nsukka yesterday  that their resignations would ensure unimpeded investigations as their continue stay in office would influence investigations into the matter.
“The best thing  for  the Speaker and other principal  officers accused by   Mr. Jibrin , the former House committee  chairman on appropriation  of  padding  of 2016 is to resign to ensure unhindered investigations to  be carried out.  The allegation of budget padding by Jibrin is very weighty as it has to do with financial fraud and corruption by the suspected legislators,” he said.
He said this was a ‘litmus test’ for President Muhammadu Buhari to convince Nigerians and the international community that the present fight against  corruption was not selective.
“This is an opportunity for Mr President to prove that nobody is above the law in this country as well as confirm what he said during his inauguration that, he belongs to everybody and belongs to nobody. The way this matter is handled will either end budget padding in this county or give it a boost in future. Budget padding has been an indirect way of looting the country’s economy by legislators in the past,” he said.
The don said it was unfortunate that legislators, in spite of their jumbo salary and allowances, still use budget padding to loot the country’s economy.
“I am happy the whistle blower, Jibrin who is also involved has the boldness  to expose this high profile fraud going on in the lower chamber in the name of budget padding. What pains me most is that this huge money padded into constituency projects end up into their private pockets instead of using it to carry out people oriented projects for their constituencies. Without this revelation by the former chairman of appropriation committee, Nigerians will not know that such  people have been using budget padding to loot the economy,” he said.
Meanwhile, Jibrin, yesterday, said he would honour his party’s disciplinary panel summon.
Mr. Jibrin was summoned by the ruling All Progressives Congress to appear at the party’s national secretariat in Abuja not later than 2:00 p.m. yesterday over the unfolding budget padding scandal.
The APC on Monday said summoned Jibrin over the protracted House crisis.
The lawmaker, who represents Kano in the House on his Twitter handle, @AbdulAbmj explained that he was ready to honour the invitation, adding that he had not been to the Wuse 2 headquarters of the ruling party because the party was not able to reach him before yesterday.
“The  Party had stated that it has made several attempt to reach me through calls and text messages. I did not receive any, even if I did, schedules shuttling between security and anti-corruption agencies to provide support and evidence against Speaker Yakubu Dogara and nine others.
“It would have been very difficult for me to attend because of attempt by QUARTET of Speaker Dogara and others who were determined to kidnap me, until few days when my lawyers requested and got maximum protection for me from the DSS and police
“I’m confident that the party will do the rightful thing by throwing its weight to support our resolve to wipe out corruption in the House and direct Speaker Dogara, Dep Lasun, Whip Alhassan Doguwa and Minority Leader Leo Ogor to reconvene the house immediately and step down,” he tweeted.
He denied being asked to face the party’s disciplinary committee, saying, “The letter did not in anyway indicate it is a disciplinary committee. And I have responded that I will attend the meeting despite my tight schedules.”
In the letter, dated August 1, 2016, and signed by the party’s Deputy National Chairman for the Northern Zone, Lawal Shuaibu, the APC expressed cautioned Mr. Jibrin’s over his media campaign against the Speaker of the House, Yakubu Dogara, and other principal officers over allegation of budget fraud.
“To say the least, it is absolutely unacceptable to resort to media war as a means of settling scores without recourse to and/or exhausting the party’s internal dispute resolution mechanism,” the party said.