House of Reps speaker, Yakubu Dogara, has spilled some tea when approached by State House press after meeting this afternoon behind closed door with President Buhari.
As the budget padding scandal continue to rock the lower legislative chamber, embattled Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, on Friday, met President Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential villa, Abuja.
It was learnt that the speaker came into the Villa at about 2:25 pm and went straight into the president’s office.
Speaking with state house reporters as he emerged from the closed-door meeting at exactly 2:58 pm, Dogara said budget padding is not an offence and vowing not to step down from office despite growing calls on him to do so.
Premium Times reported that when approached by State House press on the allegations of budget padding levelled against him by the former chairman of the Appropriation committee, Abdulmumin Jibrin, Speaker Dogara simply said;
"I am a lawyer and have been a legislator for a while, I never knew of an offence called budget padding," he said, adding that budget padding is not an offence against any Nigerian law.
When asked if he discussed the alleged budget padding with the president, he replied with a question of his own: “What is budget padding?”
He was also reminded that Jibrin was accusing him of padding the budget, but he said: “Ask him, he who alleges must prove; that’s the law in Nigeria.”
Journalists: Are you not going to defend yourself?
Dogara: Am I before a court?
Journalists: There are people saying you should reconvene the house before September resumption time and step aside for thorough investigations.
Dogara: We have rules and regulations. This is not a mock institution; we operate by rules and we will follow the rules.
Journalists: Will you resign?
Dogara: Resign for what? For what?
Journalists: On this allegations?
Dogara: What are the allegations?
Journalists: That you and some members of the leadership padded the budget?
Dogara: What is padding? You haven’t told me. Ask Jibrin what padding is. For me, 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. If I don’t know, you are the media; research the law and let me know.
Journalists: Are you worried?
Dogara: Worried for what? Worried over nothing. Why should I be worried? As far as I am concerned, I’m not worried over anything.
Journalists: Will there be sanctions against Jibrin?
Dogara: I am not the chairman of ethics committee of the house so I wouldn’t know and I don’t know what ‘padding’ means.