With a cool, calm, urbane look, and a learned diction and disposition, I had become one of his many secret admirers. The morning after he triumphed over the obstacles placed on his path to realising his ambition of becoming the nation’s number four citizen, I placed a call to him, offering my felicitation on his victory. I was genuinely delighted that a young, articulate, progressive lawmaker had defied all odds to the speakership position of the boisterous House of Representatives.
In a contestation for power, I naturally side with the underdog, especially when it would appear that the other party was tending towards flaunting its power to oppress the ‘small man.’ So, it seemed then to me and I guess many Nigerians, when it was everywhere that the ruling party had tried to foist its leadership preference on the National Assembly.  I didn’t think it was right, and still don’t believe so. The members, in my view, ought to be allowed to elect leaders of their choice, without let or hindrance.
So, when Hon. Yakubu Dogara emerged Speaker, even though his name rang no bell at the time, I was one of those elated and told him so. “Thanks for your call,” he said.  “I am in my farms right now. We will talk when I get to Abuja.”
That would be my first and last time of interfacing with him.  But, as a keen observer of the political process, I have watched the youthful speaker navigate the deadly landmines in the polity: He waded through the turbulent House leadership imbroglio, after initially defying his party on allocation of top positions and committee headships.  He appeared to command the confidence and respect of majority of the members. He has this affable look of a man, who could hurt no one or do no wrong. And things appeared to sail smoothly in the House, unlike the Red Chamber, the Senate, which has etched its name in our hearts, as the assembly of commotion, brickbat, punch-ups and all kinds of unedifying tales.
Then, a fly flew into the ointment.  Dogara’s House has now become one crawling with worms from a smelling, rotten can. What happened? Hon. Jibrin, chairman of the House Appropriation Committee, who was fired or who resigned, depending on who’s telling the story, has stuck a pin in Dogara’s balloon of goodwill and called his integrity to question.  Jibrin says the speaker is the perfect opposite of what his calm exterior presents; that the man is no different from the crooked politicians that dot our political landscape. That he and other members of the House leadership ‘doctored’ the national budget and injected false and bogus figures into the appropriation act, to the tune of over N284bn.  And many of the projects were purely driven by selfish, self-serving, ethnic and other base sentiments, even as they were inflated, or to put it in the popular lingo, padded!
Since Jibrin fired his missile, the House, even though on recess, and the nation have known no peace. Many Nigerians are shocked and disappointed, even for a nation that has since lost its shock absorbers, following revelations of the bleeding of our nation in the scandalous looting of arms fund.
In a nation where citizens are battling to make ends meet, as a result of the economic recession, it’s baffling to hear that some lawmakers, allegedly led by the speaker, betrayed their oath of allegiance to the nation and their offices and injected ‘toxic’ figures in our national budget.
Jibrin, the angry whistle blower, says he has petitioned the relevant anti-graft agencies, EFCC, ICPC and the police, and vows that the speaker and his cohorts must have their day in court and face justice for their alleged acts of graft.
The House, as often happens on such occasions, has split into pro and anti-Dogara elements. Those on the speaker’s side allege that Hon. Jibrin is fighting the battle of a bitter man, having been kicked out as chair of the influential Appropriation Committee. If his mission was altruistic, why did he have to wait until he was shoved aside before screaming blue murder over alleged padding? The Dogara supporters strongly argue that he is only kicking to get even with the man who showed him the exit.
The anti-Dogara group, The Transparency Group, insists the speaker has to step aside, so that an independent body can investigate the allegations. They also demand his resignation or sack, if he’s found culpable in the padding mess.
What does the man at the centre of the storm have to say? He’s not worried or losing sleep because there’s nothing in our law books that criminalises ‘padding.’ His words: “I studied law and I have been in the legislature, and all this period I have never heard of the word ‘padding’ being an offence under any law.”  In other words, what he understands by what’s happening is that, this is just a storm in a tea cup. Even if the budget is inflated or padded, it means nothing; it amounts to no big issue. Really?
Of course, the speaker has been lampooned by a cross section of Nigerians for his statement. Lagos lawyer, Femi Falana, for example, calls the act of padding, a criminal action, because it violates Section 13 of the Fiscal Responsibility Act, which prescribes how the budgeting processes should be done.
This is where I stand on the padding scandal: It’s shameful, disgusting and disgraceful. Nothing justifies the action, if indeed it happened. If Speaker Dogara thinks it’s a small issue or nothing to worry about, he’s absolutely wrong. He should be worried, because what happened is a dishonourable act. Lawmakers should not be lawbreakers. If it was an honourable, legal act, why was the whole episode shrouded in a halo of conspiracy and secrecy? Did they consult their constituents before the alleged padding occurred? In whose interest did they carry out the midnight activity?
Speaker Dogara missed the point totally when in his defence he claimed there was no law in our statute, which criminalises padding. Even if it is not expressly stated, did he also find a clause anywhere that empowered lawmakers to insert bogus figures in the budget?
I find the speaker’s defence weak and disappointing. If he didn’t have what to say, he should have simply said ‘no comment,’ to the reporters’ inquisition.   How could he make such insensitive statement at a time Nigerians are angry and depressed over the economic recession, which has made a mess of their standard of living? It’s like telling the people to take a hike in the ocean for all he cares!
For someone I had thought was humble and calm, I find it difficult reconciling his response to the allegations and the man I thought he was. I don’t believe it is too late to do the needful: Let the Hon. Speaker and the other accused principal officers step aside, so that an unbiased and fair investigation can take place. It is possible they will come out unscathed and free. No one has adjudged them guilty. They only need to prove their innocence, because they carry a huge moral burden, which the allegation poses. How do we trust in the future that the budget is not padded, if the issues this time are not conclusively resolved? If the budgeting process is tainted, how much good can come out of it? Padded projects? Padded outcomes? This is the dilemma confronting the nation and the men at the centre of the storm!
As for Hon. Jibrin, he cannot claim to be the hero of the revelations emanating from the budget padding scandal, because he’s no one.  A man who becomes a whistle blower, after being shut out, after he has dined and wined with the alleged culprits, is as guilty as the men he accuses.  And also guilty of another offence: Opportunism. Let the music play on…

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