Name the 325 members supporting you, reps challenge Dogara

Members of the Transparency Group of the house of representatives say they are not ready to negotiate any terms with Yakubu Dogara, the speaker, over the “budget padding” affair.

Abdulmumin Jibrin, the former appropriations chairman, accused Dogara and 12 others of padding the budget by inserting unnecessary projects.

Speaking to journalists on behalf of the group over the weekend, Yusuf Bala Ikara said that after accusations of the “abuse of office, breach of trust and amassing wealth through illegal way”, the group was worried about the tarnished image of the legislature.

He challenged the speaker to publish the 325 members he claimed were backing him on the matter.

“We in the transparency group are saying we won’t negotiate with anybody. We are going to continue with our struggle and that is our position today,” Ikara said.

“We insist that Dogara must resign to allow proper investigation to be carried out or he should reconvene the house if he has the number and tell the whole world that this is the number he has. We challenge them to publish that 325 members if they actually have them.

“But I believe they don’t have such numbers, if they have it they should publish it; we challenge them.

“This is not something personal; we are not attacking Dogara. No, we are talking about the public. These issues have generated some much interest. The whole country is on national assembly.

“Our name is being tarnished. Our image is damaged. We have been called so many names, thieves, robbers rogues.”

Ikara said if Dogara was a good leader, he should reconvene the house to address the issue, which he described as “bothering the country”.

He denied claims that they were aggrieved because they were not given juicy committees, saying: “This is coming from the Dogara side just to douse the tension.”

The lawmaker added that they were not working with Jibrin but decided to engage the media when the former appropriations chairman went public with his allegations.

He said his group was also challenging Femi Gbajabiamila, the house leader, over his alleged role in the budget padding.