From Kemi Yesufu and Ndubuisi Orji, Abuja

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Everyone expected a big brawl on the floor of the House of Representatives last Tuesday when the Green chamber resumed for the second legislative year, after two months of recess. During the break, former chairman of the House committee on Appropriation, Abdulmumin Jibrin had regaled the world with tales of massive corruption in the Green Chamber, especially the padding of the 2016 budget by the Speaker,Yakubu Dogara and three other principal officers of the House.
The other principal officers accused were his deputy, Yusuff Lasun, Minority Leader, Leo Ogor and Majority Whip, Ado Doguwa.   The former Appropriation Committee chairman had accused the quartet of cornering N40 billion out of the N100 billion allocated to the House for themselves.
Jibrin, who sustained his expose on alleged corruption in the House through out the eight weeks recess also made other damning allegations against the House.  Apart from many statements he issued on the matter,  the Kano lawmaker also petitioned the Economic And Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC)  on the matter and petitioned different foreign missions.
According to him, his mission was to get the House leadership to step down and stop the alleged corruption in the lower chamber of the National Assembly.
Against this backdrop, everyone expected a big showdown between the pro and anti-Dogara legislators on the floor of the House on the first day of resumption.  But at the end of the day, the issue ended in anti-climax.
Expectedly, all eyes were on the lower chamber of the National Assembly.  As early as 10 am, the gallery was full to the brim by members of the public who had trooped out in their numbers to watch the much anticipated drama in the House. Security was tightened within and outside the chamber.
Anxiety heightened when the Speaker entered the chamber by by 11.09 am for the day’s business. After spending some time exchanging pleasantries with members of the House, he took his seat and called the House to order at exactly 11. 17 am.
Dogara proceeded to announce the death of the member of the House representing Ifako-Ijaiye Federal constituency and three former members of the House who served in the Third and Fourth republics.  After prayers were offered for the repose of the souls of the former legislators, the House adjourned by 11.31 am, 14 minutes after it was called to order.
As the House adjourned sitting to the following day,  not a few thought that the leadership had merely postponed the evil day. So, on Wednesday, the gallery was full again as the members of the public expected that the much anticipated showdown will happen that day.
After the usual opening formality and  Dogara called for the business of the day, there were two Points of Order, one by chairman, House Committee on Rules and Business, Emmanuel  Orker-Jev (APC,  Benue). And another by Aliyu Madaki(APC, Kano).
Apparently setting the tone for Orker-Jev’s motion, the speaker had in his opening speech stated: “Shortly after we adjourned for the recess, our colleague and erstwhile Chairman, Appropriation Committee, embarked on a strange propaganda clearly aimed not only at the destruction of the image of some members but a systematic destruction of the institution of the House of Representatives and indeed the legislature by portraying it to the public as an irredeemably corrupt institution.
“The chiefest motivation for his actions, as he has said severally and repeatedly is to have the four principal officers removed from their positions and not that the truth should be known.”
The Benue lawmaker was recognized to speak first. He said the public was expecting the legislators to tear up themselves over the budget padding allegations, but that House would disappoint such expectations by conducting the session peacefully. He further sought the leave of the speaker to move a motion on budget padding saga.
At this point, there were shouts of “No.  No. No”. Never the less,  Dogara asked him to move the motion.
Relying on order 61 of the House rules, Orker- Jev   said the former chairman of the House Committee on Appropriation breached the collective privilege of the members of the lower chamber. He moved that Jibrin be referred to the Committee on  Ethics and Privileges for dragging the chamber’s reputation in the mud and also, tainting the integrity of the Green Chamber with allegations against the leadership.
According to him,  in one instance, Jibrin said “ .. I have said that there is corruption in the House and I am waiting, I am waiting for anyone that will come and tell me that I am lying. Corruption exists in the House of Representatives, corruption exists in investigative panels, corruption exists during oversight visits and that is why I explain to people when they tell me to settle with Dogara, I say look, what I am doing is beyond Dogara. It is beyond Dogara. . . . . I want the system to change. We want the right people to be in the House….we are tired of members who only come to the chamber, lick Tom Tom, eat groundnuts and go back to their offices. I have to stop that. I want to see a situation where in 2019, if a Nigerian wakes up and says he wants to be a member of the House of Representatives, he has to be someone that when he sits in that chamber and you are seated in your living room, you should be able to say I am proud that this is a member of the House of Representatives.”
For over 10 minutes, there was commotion on the floor of the House.  After a little normalcy returned, the Speaker put the issue to question and those in favour of the motion had it.  Meanwhile, while the motion was being moved,  Jibrin had walked out of the House by 11.58 am.  He returned two minutes later. After sitting for another five minutes,  he left by 12.05 pm and did not return to the chamber until the end of plenary.
After Madaki was recognised to raise his Point of Order, holding two copies of different versions of the House Standing Orders, he sought to know which of the versions of the House rules, the chairman Rules and Business relied upon to move his motion.  At this point,  the House became rowdy again, with the Speaker’s supporters heckling him, asking him to sit down. But the lawmaker remained standing.
After the noise in the chamber subsided about 10 minutes after, Madaki continued with his submission. He said the allegations made against Dogara and the three other principal officers of the House, as well as the generality of the members of the Green Chamber, were very grave and that  the speaker and the three others should step down from their positions to allow for an investigation into the allegations.
Dogara said since Madaki admitted that the entire members of the House were accused of graft,   it meant the 360 of them would have to resign.  Therefore,  he challenged Madaki to first present his letter of resignation to him as speaker, before he would do same. The dismissal of Madaki’s argument excited the speaker’s supporters as they went into a frenzy. Sensing that the “ foe”  has been vanquished,  they started chanting the Speaker’s name and dragged in “ Ghana Must Go” bags containing green mufflers with the inscription: “I stand With Dogara” and distributed them to members.
The surprise, however, is the ease with which the pro-Dogara legislators contained Jibrin’s offensive against the Speaker.  Not a few had expected that anti-Dogora lawmakers would have at least put up a fight, especially as Jibrin, a day to the resumption formally joined the Transparency Group,  House members seeking an investigation into the allegations against the House leadership.  But unfortunately for the embattled former Appropriation Committee chair, apart from Madaki,  none of those seemingly with him stood up to speak on the matter.
Incidentally, the day before, Jibrin at a press briefing in his office at the National Assembly has exuded much confidence and insisting that Dogara must step aside as Speaker to allow for an unbiased investigation into his allegations against the House leadership.
He also alleged that the speaker, a day before the resumption of plenary, met with the six zonal caucuses of the House to beg for forgiveness for any wrong doing, and also alleging that Dogara wanted to use purchase of office items and cars to “ bribe and blackmail” lawmakers into silence on the matter.
Jibrin said that at the North West caucus meeting, the speaker was a pitiful sight as he begged House members from the zone for forgiveness but the issue had gone beyond “begging for forgiveness”.
Informed sources said one thing that may have helped Dogara in deflating the opposition against his continued leadership of the House was the long recess.  It was gathered that the Speaker used the recess to rally round lawmakers to his side.  That was why for instance,  the speaker’s camp had opportunity to print the “ I Stand With Dogara”, which they distributed and wore to celebrate the speaker’s triumph.
The former Appropriation committee’s chairman’s case was made worse by the fact that it unwittingly painted the entire house with corruption, hence the issue moved from being a case of him versus the House leadership to a case between him and the entire House.  That perhaps,  was his greatest undoing in his battle against Dogara and his men. Many believe that there was no way he could have got the support of many of the lawmakers who he denigrated by his comments.
Already,   the Ethics and Privileges Committee has commenced sitting with Orker-Jev testifying.  Jibrin is billed to appear today(Monday).